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24 results for “Romans 11”
Clear searchThe olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
…Grafted into Israel? The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor Romans 11 pictures Gentile believers as branches taken from a wild olive tree and grafted into a cultivated olive tree. They now share its nourishing root alongside branches which belong to…
Read article →Defining the position before testing it
…(Matthew 3:9). Paul distinguished the children of the flesh from the children of promise (Romans 9:6-8). Every Jewish person, like every Gentile, must believe in Christ. None of these truths is under dispute. The disputed inference is that Christ's fulfilment, Gentile inclusion,…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…atural branches and anticipated those branches being grafted into "their own olive tree" (Romans 11:17-24). Israel's blindness was partial and temporary; the nation's gifts and calling remained irrevocable. Later supersessionism therefore cannot be projected backwards as though i…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
…following the argument through the covenants, the prophets, the teaching of Jesus, Acts, Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and the history of Christian interpretation, the cumulative answer is no. God has judged Israel severely. The nation remains largely in unbelief and cannot inheri…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
…an? Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation Romans 9:6 is often used as a definition of spiritual Israel: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." —Romans 9:6 The usual argument is straightforward. Physical descent from Jac…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
…the flesh" as Israelites to whom belong "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants" (Romans 9:3-5). He can say there is no difference in the sinner's need and the gospel's availability (Romans 10:12), then distinguish Israel from the Gentiles throughout Romans 11. Equality a…
Read article →Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ
…venant standing. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). This must not be confused with saying that the Old Testament was mistaken, morally useless, or detached from Christ. The law remains holy, just, and good; it reveals sin, bears…
Read article →The LORD, Zion, and the meaning of Beulah in Isaiah 62:4–5
…Him. Complete restoration reunites God, people, and land. The Future Conversion of Israel Romans 9–11 confirms that ethnic and national Israel has not vanished from God’s redemptive purpose. Paul identifies his “kinsmen according to the flesh” as Israelites and says: “To whom per…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
…d forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." —Romans 11:1 His first answer is the believing remnant: God had not rejected every Israelite. His argument then goes further. Israel's fall is not final, their blindness is "in part", and it…
Read article →Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
…upon Gentiles crossed a boundary Peter had not expected God to cross in that way (Acts 10-11). James led the Jerusalem assembly by appealing to the prophets. John wrote of the Lamb, temple, feasts, testimony, tribes, Jerusalem, and new creation through imagery saturated with Isra…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
…dentifies the bones: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel." —Ezekiel 37:11 Israel says that its bones are dried, its hope is lost, and its people are cut off. God opens the graves, brings the people into the land of Israel, and puts His Spirit within them (Ezeki…
Read article →Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew
Does Romans 2:28-29 Make Christians "Spiritual Jews"? Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew Paul's description of the inward Jew is often treated as a decisive redefinit…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…and Israel experiences partial hardening "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25). This present period is not evidence that God has abandoned Israel. Jewish people continue to be saved through faith in Christ, and the gospel goes to all nations. It means tha…
Read article →Responding to five common criticisms without defending what Scripture does not require
…ccording to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." —Ephesians 3:11 The mystery was hidden in earlier ages and revealed through the apostles, but hidden does not mean unplanned (Ephesians 3:3–10). Christ's death occurred according to God's determinate cou…
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
…be stated or demonstrated from the text. Christ confirms the promises made to the fathers Romans gives us an inspired explanation of how Christ's coming relates to Israel's promises: "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm…
Read article →What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God
…e Qur'an calls Allah "the Loving" and repeatedly speaks of those whom Allah loves (Surahs 11:90; 85:14; 2:195; 3:159). Islamic theology does not ordinarily teach that Allah was deficient before creation or that he needed creatures in order to acquire an attribute. A Muslim may ar…
Read article →A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God
…s become Jews. The New Testament continues to identify believing Gentiles as Gentiles. In Romans 11, they are wild olive branches grafted into a rich covenantal root. They receive genuine blessing and equal standing, but Paul continues to distinguish them from Israel's natural br…
Read article →Governmental restraint, the final ten kings, and the preparation of the temple
…authority can obstruct a rival. An ungodly government can still restrain a greater evil. Romans 13 describes civil authority checking wrongdoing; that principle does not require every ruler to be righteous. Rome’s wickedness would therefore be no decisive objection to its servin…
Read article →A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
…o then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." —Romans 11:5 The earliest Church was born from that believing remnant. Jesus, the apostles, the women who followed Him, the believers gathered before Pentecost, and the thousands added in Jer…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy." —Romans 15:8-9 Christ came "for the truth of God" to confirm what God had promised to the fathers. Paul does not say that Christ's coming changed those promises into something different from…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…nounced seventy years of Babylonian domination and also the appointed return (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10-14). Severity and mercy are not competing portraits of God. Both show that He means what He says. Israel's unbelief cannot cancel God's truth Paul confronts the principle early…
Read article →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
…scape transformed for His arrival. Verse 5 promises the revelation of His glory; verses 9–11 announce His coming as ruler and shepherd. The consolation is God’s own presence. Then Isaiah 40:12–26 enlarges the horizon. Who measured the waters? Who instructed God? What nation could…
Read article →Christ the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing
…l from wild branches, and anticipate mercy upon Israel after the fulness of the Gentiles (Romans 9:3-5; 11:1, 13, 17-29). The Church is one body precisely because distinguishable people have been reconciled in Christ. If no distinction remained in any relevant sense, Paul's langu…
Read article →What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises
…t them. Unbelieving branches may be restored, because God is able to graft them in again (Romans 11:17-24). The Church's unity does not require historical amnesia. Jewish and Gentile believers possess the same righteousness, Spirit, access, and hope in Christ. Yet Paul can still…
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