by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
“I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?<\/em>” (Romans 11:1-2)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The question continues: Who are His people?<\/strong>\u00a0What we have been seeing is that it is not <\/b>all ethnic Israel. First, the positive proof is simply that Paul, an ethnic Jew, was accepted and in a right relationship with God through his conversion to Jesus as the Messiah.<\/strong> Then <\/b>just remember all of the apostles, the 120 in Acts 1, the 3000 in Acts 2, etc., etc.! They were all ethnic Jews – believing ethnic Jews.<\/p>\n
Second, the negative <\/b>idea has already been argued.\u00a0God’s wrath is against all<\/strong> who sin (Romans 1:18)<\/p>\n
The ethnic Jews, while having an advantage (cp. Romans 3:1-4), did not make use of it but rather rejected <\/b>Jesus as the promised Messiah, son of David, and promised seed of Abraham.<\/p>\n
Jesus’ statements concerning those who reject him:<\/p>\n
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God<\/em>” (John 3:18).<\/p>\n
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him<\/em>” ( John 3:36 cp. Also John 8:24; 12:47-48; Matthew 10:32-33; 7:23; 25:41,46).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Great Commission repeats this in plain, inclusive language:<\/p>\n
“He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned<\/em>” (Mark 16:16).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thus, not all Israel (ethnic Israel) is of Israel (the accepted remnant of Israel – those believing in Jesus) (Romans 9:6). ‘Israel’ (unbelieving ethnic Israel) stumbled over Christ (Romans 9:30-33). They rejected Jesus as the Christ, and thus neither believed nor confessed Him as Lord (Romans 10:9-11). Most were ‘disobedient and obstinate people<\/em>‘ (Romans 10:16, 21). Those among ethnic Israel that remained ‘unbelievers’ were broken off and were condemned (Romans 11:20-22).<\/p>\n
Yet<\/strong>, any one of them could <\/b>be saved if <\/b>and when <\/b>they turned and trusted in Jesus, becoming disciples of Jesus. This is the ‘and so<\/strong>‘ (an adverb indicating manner) beginning Romans 11:26. Translated ‘And so<\/em>‘ in KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, NASB95, NIV, AND NLT. It is translated ‘in this way<\/em>‘ in the ESV, CSB, NET, and CEB. This is not ‘then’, but ‘in this way’ – by believing in Jesus. This is how a Gentile can be saved. Thus, Peter stated, after the conversion of Cornelius: “But we believe that we<\/em> (any ethnic Jews) are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they<\/em> (any and all non-Jews, thus Gentiles) also are<\/em>” (Acts 15:11).<\/p>\n
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me<\/em>” (John 14:6). Are you trusting Jesus?<\/p>\n
L.A. Mott stated:<\/p>\n
“The statement does not mean that all fleshly Israel will actually be saved any more than the previous statement means that all the Gentiles will be saved. Remember that 25f is confirmation of what was said in 23f – in other words, confirmation of a conditional manner. “Shall be saved” (26) is the same thing as “shall be grafted in” (23). One is literal; the other figurative. But verse 23 spells out the conditional nature of this salvation — “if they continue not in their unbelief.” Paul certainly did not expect all Israel any more than all the Gentiles to be saved (1 Thess. 2:16; 2 Thess. 1:5-10).” [Thinking Through Romans<\/em>, pg. 153].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Hugh DeLong “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1530],"class_list":["post-95958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-people"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":95958,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":95958,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":95958,"position":2},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. 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Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":95958,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":95958,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95958"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95961,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95958\/revisions\/95961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}