Listen to TDW: https://georgepwood.com/mp3s/romans_11_11-16.mp3

—–

Can bad choices nonetheless have good results?

If I read Romans 11.11-16 correctly, the answer to that question is yes. Throughout Romans 9-11, Paul has been reflecting on Israel’s bad choice in rejecting Jesus Christ. Although Christ fulfilled all of God’s promises to them, many in Israel nevertheless rejected him in his own day. This seems at first glance to be a failure in God’s plan. But Paul sees the matter differently.

Here’s what he writes:

“Again I ask: Did they [that is, Israel] stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

“I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.”

Notice several things:

First, Paul is quite clear that Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ is a mistake. He describes it using various negative terms: “stumble,” “fall,” and “transgression.” In our day and age, we tend to think that all religious choices are more or less equal, that they are mere preferences. I prefer Christianity. Others prefer Buddhism. Still others atheism. Who’s to say which preference is correct? Paul would be incredulous at our spiritual relativism. For him, it’s Christ or nothing. And he is, of course, correct. The world’s various religions and philosophies make contradictory truth claims. One may be right, or all may be wrong. But in terms of simple logic, not all can be right.

Second, according to Paul, Israel’s bad choice had good consequences for us Gentiles. When Israel closed the door on Jesus, he simply opened another door to the Gentiles. Not every bad choice has such a good consequence, but in God’s providence, some do.

Third, God isn’t finished with Israel yet. Regarding the Jews, Paul is a short-term pessimist and long-term optimist. In other words, regarding his own generation, Paul didn’t expect too much evangelistic success. But he firmly believed that that Gentile experience of God’s blessings would eventually bring Israel around to accepting Christ. That is what he means when speaks of “the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.” Elsewhere in the Bible, envy is a vice. In this context, however, it is a virtue, for it describes the deep-seated desire of the Jewish people to experience the blessings of salvation. And in the end, they will.