Reprobation in Israel

Part of what Paul teaches in these verses serves to summarize and reiterate what he has taught in Romans 9–11 thus far. He speaks of Israel trying unsuccessfully to obtain righteousness by law, just as he taught in 9:30–31. He also speaks of election and reprobation, the great topics of the body of Romans 9. But Paul also uses these verses to move his argument of 11:2–10 to a conclusion. The natural Israelites, the physical descendants of Abraham, were largely set on trying to compile their own righteousness. But only the elect of God, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, actually obtained this righteousness as a gift of God through justification. So once again we see that only a portion of natural Israel is saved, and that by the decision of God. But then Paul goes on to say that “the rest were blinded.” This, of course, is a reference to the doctrine of reprobation, the process by which God passes by people lost and dead in sin, and declines to predestine them to eternal life. By this inaction, He predestines them to eternal condemnation. Paul gave us an example of this in Romans 9—Jacob’s brother, Esau. But Dr. James M. Boice points out that “in Romans 11 . . . [Paul] is writing about Israel, which means that he is applying the doctrine of reprobation to the allegedly ‘chosen’ people.” While God’s work of election among the Jews preserves a remnant, His work of reprobation limits the number of Jews who are saved. Thus, not only is God the reason there is a remnant of the Jews, He is the reason there is only a remnant.

Paul offers several Old Testament texts to support this argument. First, Isaiah 29:10 and Deuteronomy 29:3–4 speak of God giving a “spirit of stupor,” of blinding eyes, and of stopping ears. This, of course, is the natural state of man, and God has only to leave men in this state to ensure that they will not be saved. Second, Psalm 69:22–23 again mentions eyes being blinded, but it also speaks of “their table” (presumably the blessings conferred upon the Jews, Rom. 9:4–5) becoming “a snare and a trap.” In God’s sovereign will, the Jews placed inordinate faith in the blessings God gave rather than God Himself. Thus, the majority of them were not prepared to accept the Christ when He appeared. Only the remnant, those whose hearts had been prepared to receive Him, were ready.