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Theodore Rex, by Edmund Morris, presents Theodore Roosevelt as a figure larger than life in the history of U.S. presidents. Among the apostles of Jesus Christ there was also one who stood apart. The Apostle Paul described himself, however, not as another King Saul (his royal namesake) but as Christ’s servant Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles.
Saul/Paul was not a follower of Jesus in Galilee or Jerusalem. It was to Peter, not Paul, that Jesus said, ‘ “On this rock I will build My church.’ ” Paul writes that he was one born out of due time. He was not in the Upper Room before Jesus went to the cross or when the risen Christ joined His disciples there. Rather, Paul persecuted to the death those who were disciples of Christ. During just such a mission of zealous hatred, Jesus appeared to him in the blinding light of glory. “ ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ” Jesus asked him.
The Lord then commissioned Paul, a chosen vessel, to bear His name before the gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. Paul served the risen Christ of glory. He preached Christ crucified for our sins but raised for our justification.
In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle to the gentiles reflects on his gospel, the gospel he preached to Jews in their synagogues and to gentile rulers on their thrones. Again and again, the Jews rejected Paul’s gospel. Zealots plotted to kill him, as Paul himself had done before Christ appeared to him. Yet Paul never turned against Israel, God’s ancient people. Paul asks the question, “Has God cast away His people?” His strong answer: “Certainly not!” Rather, he says: “Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:28–29).
Paul shows that Israel’s rejection is not total, for God has chosen and preserved a remnant. In the history of Israel, the remnant was sometimes small, for they went into captivity in Babylon. The remnant was also sometimes hidden. The prophet Elijah once thought that he alone was left, for it seemed that King Ahab and his Queen Jezebel had established the worship of Baal, the god of the Sidonians, as the official worship of Israel. Yet the Lord told Elijah that there were seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal. By His grace alone, the Lord still kept His own.
God’s preservation of a remnant shows His goodness. Yet God’s judgment on unbelief also shows His severity. When those who bear His name reject Him and blaspheme, God gives them over to their own unbelief. He confirms their rejection. This is the “hardening” of which Paul speaks. They do not obtain salvation, but are broken off for unbelief.
Paul teaches God’s sovereignty in election. Were it not for His free grace, all would remain under His judgment. The rejection of Israel is never total, for God preserves a remnant.
What is more, Israel’s rejection is not final. In His judgment on unbelieving Israel, God shows mercy to the gentiles. The loss of Israel, their failure, brings God’s grace to the gentiles. The gentiles were shut up in sin; they were enemies of God; they had no hope of heaven, no inheritance with the people of God.
Paul sees a great wave of mercy streaming from unbelieving Israel to bring filling and fullness to the nations. Paul’s gospel floods those who knew only the emptiness of sin. They receive the surging of God’s eternal goodness. This is one goal of his ministry.
Yet Paul sees more. The wave of mercy that rushes to the gentiles comes sweeping back again. Paul has not in the least forgotten the Israelites. He seeks to bring in gentiles so his own people will be made jealous. They are the people of God’s promise. God is their God; they are His people. If the gentiles can be filled with God’s Spirit, if they come streaming in to know the Lord, then Israel must surely remember His covenant promises, the very Old Testament promises that Paul preached. Indeed, the returning wave of God’s grace must sweep Israel into its own heritage.
Here Romans 11 moves to a climax. Paul states his great purpose in ministering to the gentiles—he seeks to arouse his own people to jealousy. “Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.” The translation of Romans 11:31 in the English Standard Version follows the major manuscripts from the fourth century: (The second “now” is missing in one earlier papyrus copy.)
Paul does not speak merely of a conversion of Israel that must wait for some future time. That conversion is now going on. We should be praying for the conversion of the Jews in our own time. We thank God for the labors of the Scottish Mission to Israel and for Jews for Jesus in its global ministry. The Lord Jesus rules from His throne. Our calling is to seek the blessing of God for which the apostle prayed and gave his life. We pray for that repentance and faith that results from the preaching of the gospel in these days between the ascension and the return of the Lord in judgment (Rom. 10:14ff; 11:11, 14, 22). In prayer, we add Paul’s doxology:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”