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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Romans 11:1 - 11:2
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A Remnant of Israel Saved.
Meeting a further objection:
v. 1. I say, then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
v. 2. God hath not cast away His people which he foreknew.
The apostle here in his own words states a false conclusion which some of his readers might draw from his previous presentation. Is it to be inferred that God has rejected His own people, those who are in truth His own? Note the emphasis on the pronoun "His. " There is a vast difference between the people of the Jews and His people Israel. Considering that fact: Is the doctrine of Paul inconsistent with the Word of God? Paul answers with great emphasis: By no means! God would be contradicting Himself were He to reject His own people. And to substantiate his words, Paul refers to his own case. He himself was an Israelite according to the flesh, the blood of the patriarchs of old flowing in his veins. He was a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob, or Israel. The fact that Paul claimed for himself a part in the kingdom of the Messiah showed that he did not teach the rejection of the true Israel.
The apostle repeats his assertion in v. 2: Not did God reject His people whom He foreknew. The true Israel, the spiritual Israel, the real children of God, stood before the eyes of God from eternity as His own people, as those whom He had selected for His own, whom He, according to His eternal counsel, chose for His own. That fact makes the later rejection of the people an impossibility.