Part 11

010:018 But, I ask, have they not heard? Yes, indeed: "To the whole world the preachers' voices have sounded forth, and their words to the remotest parts of the earth."

010:019 But again, did Israel fail to understand? Listen to Moses first. He says, "I will fire you with jealousy against a nation which is no nation, and with fury against a nation devoid of understanding."

010:020 And Isaiah, with strange boldness, exclaims, "I have been found by those who were not looking for Me, I have revealed Myself to those who were not inquiring of Me."

010:021 While as to Israel he says, "All day long I have stretched out My arms to a self-willed and fault-finding people."

011:001 I ask then, Has God cast off His People? No, indeed. Why, I myself am an Israelite, of the posterity of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin.

011:002 God has not cast off His People whom He knew beforehand. Or are you ignorant of what Scripture says in speaking of Elijah-- how he pleaded with God against Israel, saying,

011:003 "Lord, they have put Thy Prophets to death, and have overthrown Thy altars; and, now that I alone remain, they are thirsting for my blood"?

011:004 But what did God say to him in reply? "I have reserved for Myself 7,000 men who have never bent the knee to Baal."

011:005 In the same way also at the present time there has come to be a remnant whom God in His grace has selected.

011:006 But if it is in His grace that He has selected them, then His choice is no longer determined by human actions. Otherwise grace would be grace no longer.

011:007 How then does the matter stand? It stands thus. That which Israel are in earnest pursuit of, they have not obtained; but God's chosen servants have obtained it, and the rest have become hardened.

011:008 And so Scripture says, "God has given them a spirit of drowsiness-- eyes to see nothing with and ears to hear nothing with-- even until now."

011:009 And David says, "Let their very food become a snare and a trap to them, a stumbling-block and a retribution.

011:010 Let darkness come over their eyes that they may be unable to see, and make Thou their backs continually to stoop."

011:011 I ask, however, "Have they stumbled so as to be finally ruined?" No, indeed; but by their lapse salvation has come to the Gentiles in order to arouse the jealousy of the descendants of Israel;

011:012 and if their lapse is the enriching of the world, and their overthrow the enriching of the Gentiles, will not still greater good follow their restoration?

011:013 But to you Gentiles I say that, since I am an Apostle specially sent to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry,

011:014 trying whether I can succeed in rousing my own countrymen to jealousy and thus save some of them.

011:015 For if their having been cast aside has carried with it the reconciliation of the world, what will their being accepted again be but Life out of death?

011:016 Now if the firstfruits of the dough are holy, so also is the whole mass; and if the root of a tree is holy, so also are the branches.

011:017 And if some of the branches have been pruned away, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among them and have become a sharer with others in the rich sap of the root of the olive tree,

011:018 beware of glorying over the natural branches. Or if you are so glorying, do not forget that it is not you who uphold the root: the root upholds you.

011:019 "Branches have been lopped off," you will say, "for the sake of my being grafted in."

011:020 This is true; yet it was their unbelief that cut them off, and you only stand through your faith.

011:021 Do not be puffed up with pride. Tremble rather--for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.

011:022 Notice therefore God's kindness and God's severity. On those who have fallen His severity has descended, but upon you His kindness has come, provided that you do not cease to respond to that kindness. Otherwise you will be cut off also.

011:023 Moreover, if they turn from their unbelief, they too will be grafted in. For God is powerful enough to graft them in again;

011:024 and if you were cut from that which by nature is a wild olive and contrary to nature were grafted into the good olive tree, how much more certainly will these natural branches be grafted on their own olive tree?