Romans 11

After Joshua led the invasion into what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories, the tribe of Benjamin got assigned a tiny plug of ground just north of Jerusalem. The 12 tribes united into a single nation, but later split in two, with the northern Jewish nation of Israel and the southerners as Judah. The tribe of Benjamin was eventually absorbed into the tribe of Judah, which became the nation of Judah.

1 Kings 19:10, 14

1 Kings 19:18. Baal was a god of fertility in family, fields, and flocks. Canaanites, who were native to what is now Israel, worshiped Baal. Joshua led the Jews in killing many Canaanites while the Jews reclaimed the land that the Bible says God promised to the descendants of Abraham. But Jews continued to worship Baal and other Middle Eastern gods off and on throughout Old Testament times.

“Grace” sounds like a vague word that’s hard to define. In fact, it’s a specific word that can be hard to define: charis. When Bible writers use it to describe God’s expression of grace to people, the word comes in different shades: mercy, kindness, love. We have to look for context clues if we want to understand how the writer used the word. One interpretation of God’s grace is this: “Grace is God accepting us the way we are and exactly where we are in our lives, yet it’s also his unwillingness to leave us there.” That may cover all the shades of “grace.” We should probably add that Paul says we can’t earn the right to any of it (Romans 9:16). In the Casual English Bible, we typically substitute “kindness” for “grace,” because the word “kindness” is more easily grasped and is a key feature of grace. But in Paul’s letter to the Romans, we go back to “grace” because this is Paul’s greatest surviving work and the most theological. Some scholars describe this letter as the first thorough work of Christian theology. If you can handle Romans, you can wrap your welcoming arms around God’s grace.

Isaiah 29:10; Deuteronomy 29:4

Psalm 69:22-23. Bible experts debate what Paul was trying to communicate through this quote. The table may have meant the food that idol-worshiping Jews ate after sacrificing it in a pagan temple. Or it may have referred to Jews struggling to obey the Jewish laws, which included eating only kosher food. The bent backs may have referred to working as slaves or having to constantly work hard to survive or to bowing to cry in grief. These are just a few of the possible ways of interpreting what Paul was hoping to communicate to the Romans.

Paul may have been thinking of the turning point in his ministry, when he realized he wasn’t getting far with the Jews but he was having wonderful success with non-Jews. “We had to bring God’s message to you Jews first. But now that you’ve trashed it and condemned yourselves as unfit for eternal life, we’re going to take God’s message to everyone but you—to non-Jews” (Acts 13:46).

Some Bible experts say Paul seems to be emphasizing that Christians should not presume that God will be good to them, as though that was the mistake many Jews made. Instead of presuming on God’s goodness as though they have a right to it, Christians need to take responsibility for their actions. They should live as citizens in God’s kingdom. God is their spiritual Father, and there should be a family resemblance.

Paul seems to be referring to the strategy he mentioned in Romans 11:11, “The intent is to make the Jews jealous enough to want it too.”

Bible scholars debate what Paul meant when he talked about the salvation of “all of Israel.” Did he mean that all Jews go to heaven? Was he talking about the Jewish people in general, allowing for the possibility that some would choose salvation and others would not? Or was he talking about saving the identity of the Jewish nation of Israel—the physical entity instead of the spiritual? In this case, Paul could be talking about Jews scattered around the globe returning to the land that the Bible says God promised to Abraham’s descendants.

The Greek word is often translated “Deliverer” or “Savior.”

Paul uses the word “Zion,” another name for Jerusalem.

Isaiah 59:20-21; 27:9. The guarantee is described as a “covenant,” or a contract.

Isaiah 40:13

Job 41:11

Literally, “Amen.”