Romans 11 Footnotes

11:7-8 Though most Jews have rejected the message of salvation in Jesus, a remnant within the total population—the elect—did obtain it (vv. 5-6). The rest were “hardened”—a curious term. Since the entire point of 9:30–10:3 and 10:16-21 is that Israel was responsible for its rejection of God’s salvation despite the prophets’ best efforts to call them to repentance, Paul did not mean that God determined their obstinacy. If God hardened some Jews’ hearts so they could not believe, it makes no sense for God to say through Isaiah, “I spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the path that is not good, following their own thoughts” (Is 65:2). This passage from Isaiah that Paul cited goes on to castigate Israel for provoking God and repudiating his laws.

Other uses of the hardening metaphor, indicating a calcifying or callous-building effect, often make clear that hardening of the heart is a self-induced state (e.g., Mt 13:15; Mk 6:52; 8:17; 2Co 3:14). Even the explicit statement that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart follows a series of events showing that Pharaoh was hardening his own. (Ex 8:15,19,32; 9:7,34-35; 1Sm 6:6; see Ex 9:12; 10:1; 11:10; 14:8). So, though God may indeed solidify people’s resolve to reject the truth, apparently he does so because they have first resolved themselves to do so. God does not harden hearts that would otherwise have been responsive to him. Jesus’s quotation of Is 6:9-10 made this very point (Mt 13:14-15).

11:22 Paul’s warning extends to the Christian church as a whole. On the one side, God’s election of Israel did not guarantee each individual Jew’s salvation. On the other side, we cannot presume that all members of a church are saved. The same God is both kind and stern—kind to those who follow him but stern to those who wander. Paul issued the warning to “remain in his kindness” or risk being cut off.

11:25-26 Paul showed here that hardening is not a permanent sentence against Israel, even though it resulted from their rejection of the message about Christ. First, he reaffirmed that only a part of Israel was hardened. That is, many Jews of Paul’s day did acknowledge Jesus as Lord and were saved. Nevertheless, at the end of the age, the Jews will turn en masse to Christ (or some believe that Jews throughout the church age will respond to the gospel). When Paul stated that all Israel will be saved, he did not intend “all” without exception but “all” as in a very large number (see 1Sm 25:1; 1Kg 12:1; 2Ch 12:1; Is 45:25; Dn 9:11; Mk 1:5; Lk 3:21; Ac 13:24). Paul used similar connotations for “all” and “many” in Rm 5:18-19 (see a similar usage of “all” in 11:32).