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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Romans 11:2 - 11:7
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An example from history:
v. 2. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
v. 3. Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, and digged down Thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life?
v. 4. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
v. 5. Even so, then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
v. 6. And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more work.
v. 7. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for.
St. Paul quotes a Scripture-passage from Elijah, from the section of the Old Testament which treats mainly of the life and deeds of Elijah, in confirmation of his contention. Even in the darkest days of Israel there was ever a remnant, a small number of such as remained true to the Lord and were saved. The Prophet Elijah at that time had addressed himself to the Lord in a word of pleading against Israel, a form of accusation, stating in brief that the children of Israel had killed the Lord's prophets, that they had utterly destroyed His altars, and that he, the prophet, had been left as the only one of the true believers, and even his life was in constant danger on account of their enmity and hatred, 1Ki_19:10. King Ahab and his adulterous wife Jezebel were especially active in their efforts to extirpate the true religion in Israel. And therefore Elijah was totally discouraged, believing that the worship of the true God was practically abandoned, and that no true worshiper of God remained. But the divine oracle, or answer, showed that the situation was altogether different from his conception of it. For the Lord had left for Himself, had retained for His own, seven thousand men that had not bowed their knee to Baal, in the cult of the Phoenician goddess Baaltis, or Astarte. In the midst of general apostasy and persecution the Lord had reserved for Himself these faithful few. And thus at the present time also, so St. Paul argues in conformity with Old Testament experience, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. The people of Israel in general have spurned the grace of the Lord and have been in turn rejected by Him; but a few of the nation have proved themselves true Israelites; they have accepted the Savior, they have entered the Church of Christ. And this they have done because of the election of grace, because God, in His wonderful grace and mercy, chose them to that end. Out of the mass of the children of Israel, all of them redeemed by the blood of Christ, God has selected them to become partakers of His salvation.
And the fact that this election is made on the basis of God's grace only is brought out in its full strength by the apostle: But if out of grace, then no more out of works, since otherwise grace is no more grace. Grace ceases to be grace just as soon as the work and conduct of man is mingled with it in any nay whatsoever. The terms "grace" and "works" are mutually exclusive. If the thoughts, acts, and conduct of men influenced God in His election of grace, then this election ceases to be one of grace, and the doctrine no longer belongs to the Gospel, but to the Law. If out of works, then there is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. If one wants to speak of works and of grace also, at the same time and in the same connection, there is again a contradiction in itself, because a work that does not actually obtain its object in the form of a reward no longer has merit, cannot be considered a performance which has intrinsic value. What, then, is the conclusion of the entire argument, if the assumption of v. 1. cannot stand, if it cannot be true that God has rejected His own people? The situation is this: Israel, the nation as such, has not obtained that after which it strove so earnestly. The people as a whole, the nation as such, was determined to merit eternal salvation by works; but since this method is not God's way, and since they refused to accept the method which He held out to them in the Gospel, salvation was lost to them on account of their own perverseness; their rejection is their own fault, just as it is that of all such as place their trust in their own work and self-chosen way to heaven.