Romans 11.7-Israel Diligently Sought After Righteousness But Never Obtained It And Was Hardened But The Elect Remnant Did Through Faith
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 25, 2009
Romans: Romans 11:7-Israel Diligently Sought After Righteousness But Never Obtained It And Was Hardened But The Elect Remnant Did Through Faith
Lesson # 358
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 11:1.
This evening we will study Romans 11:7 and in this passage, the apostle Paul teaches that the majority of Israelites sought after righteousness but never obtained it but the elect remnant did through faith but the majority of Israelites were hardened because of unbelief in Christ.
Romans 11:1, “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.”
Romans 11:2, “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?”
Romans 11:3, “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.”
Romans 11:4, “But what is the divine response to him? ‘I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.’”
Romans 11:5, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice.”
Romans 11:6, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
Romans 11:7, “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened.”
“What then” denotes that what is introduced at this point is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching contained in Romans 9:6-11:6.
Paul’s statement in verse 7 makes clear that the inference is from his teaching in Romans 9:6-11:6 since his statement in this verse gathers up everything he has taught in Romans 9:6-11:6.
His statement in Romans 11:7 supports his major premise in Romans 9:6 that not all Israelites are considered by God to be His covenant people Israel since he states in Romans 11:7 that the elect obtain righteousness and the rest in Israel did not.
He also speaks in Romans 11:7 of God hardening the majority in Israel, which goes right back to his teaching in Romans 9:6-29.
Furthermore, in this verse, Paul speaks of the elect obtaining righteousness, which echoes Romans 9:6-29, which speaks of election.
In Romans 11:7, he speaks of Israel not obtaining righteousness, which they were seeking, which echoes his teaching in Romans 9:30-10:21.
Therefore, Paul’s statement in Romans 11:7 summarizes his teaching from Romans 9:6-11:6 in that he is summing up the situation in Israel in his day.
This verse makes clear that God draws a distinction between Israelites, those who are elect have exercised faith in Christ whereas the non-elect are hardened by God for not exercising faith in Christ.
The second “What” is the relative pronoun hos (o^$) (hos), which refers to righteousness since Paul’s statement that Israel did not obtain what they were seeking echoes Romans 9:30-10:3.
The word does not have an explicit antecedent but is determined by Paul’s statements in Romans 9:30-10:3, which echoes his statement here in Romans 11:7 since in Romans 11:7 he is using similar language to that which he used in Romans 9:30-10:3.
“Israel” refers to the unsaved citizens of the nation of Israel who are descendants racially of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose name was changed by the Lord to Israel.
This is indicated in that Paul in Romans 11:7 speaks of Israel not obtaining the righteousness they were seeking, which echoes Paul’s statements in Romans 9:30-10:3.
Romans 11:7, “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened.”
“Is seeking” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb epizeteo (e)pizhtevw) (ep-eed-zay-teh-o), which is used of the unregenerate citizens of Israel in Paul’s day and means “to diligently seek after” righteousness.
It indicates that the majority in Israel attempted to obtain righteousness by being justified through obedience to the Law rather than receive the gift divine righteousness through faith alone in Christ alone.
“Has not obtained” is composed of the emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo), “not” and the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb epitunchano (e)pitugxavnw) (ep-ee-toong-khan-o), “has obtained.”
In Romans 11:7, the verb means “to obtain” and refers to the majority of Israelites in Paul’s day “securing” righteousness “for their own possession.”
The verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which means “never” and denies the fact that Israel as a nation obtained righteousness by diligently seeking after it through obedience to the Law.
“Those who were chosen” is used by Paul in relation to the election of those racial, descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who exercised faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and help to compose “spiritual” Israel (Romans 9:6) and the remnant in that nation (Romans 9:27-29).
Ekloge in these verses describes this remnant of born-again Israelites in Paul’s day as those who were “chosen’ or “elected” to the privilege, responsibilities and blessings related to the four unconditional covenants to Israel.
They were also “chosen” and “elected” to possess an eternal relationship and fellowship with the Trinity and service to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ.
God elected or chose the remnant in Paul’s day before the foundation of the world in the sense that God, in His foreknowledge, which is based upon His omniscience, knew before anything was ever created, that they would believe in His Son in time.
God elected or chose them before the foundation of the world since He knew beforehand that they would accept Jesus Christ as Savior in time and therefore elected them to privilege.
Romans 11:7, “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened.”
“Obtained” is the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb epitunchano (e)pitugxavnw) (ep-ee-toong-khan-o), which once again means “to obtain” however, unlike the first time the word appears in Romans 11:7, this time it refers to the remnant in Israel.
This word indicates that the remnant in Paul’s day “secured” righteousness “for their own possession.”
Paul’s teaching in Romans 9:30-10:21 indicates that the remnant obtained righteousness through faith alone in Christ alone unlike the majority in Israel who sought to obtain it by obedience to the Law.
“The rest” refers to unregenerate Israelites as indicated by the verb poroo, “were hardened” and it is used in contrast to the remnant.
“Were hardened” is the verb poroo (pwrovw) (po-ro-o), which is used in a figurative sense of the hearts of the majority of unsaved Israelites in Paul’s day, which were “hardened” in the sense that they were unwilling to accept the gospel message by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
This is not the same verb that Paul used in Romans 9:18.
In Romans 9:18, “harden” is the present active indicative form of the verb skleruno (sklhruvnw) (sklay-roo-no), which is used in respect to God referring to His action in rendering the sinner insensitive to His word for rejecting His word and that if not reversed results in eternal condemnation.
In Romans 11:7, the verb poroo is used of unregenerate Israel in Paul’s day and means “harden” and refers to the Father’s judicial decision of rejecting unsaved Israel for their unwillingness to accept the gospel so as to be declared justified.
Poroo in Romans 11:7, like skleruno in Romans 9:18 does not refer to God electing or predestinating unsaved Israelites to eternal condemnation since God desires all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).
So in Romans 11:7, the verb poroo is used of unregenerate Israel in Paul’s day and means “harden” and refers to the Father’s judicial decision of rejecting unsaved Israel in Paul’s day for their rejection of His Son Jesus Christ as Savior.
It refers to God giving Israel over to the consequences of their rejection of Christ, namely eternal condemnation.
This word refers back to Paul’s teaching in Romans 9:6-29, which viewed Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior from God’s perspective whereas Romans 9:30-10:21 viewed this rejection from Israel’s perspective in that they were culpable.
Therefore, in Romans 11:7, Paul poses a question that is the result of an inference from his teaching in Romans 9:6-11:6.
His statement in Romans 11:7 teaches that Israel never obtained the righteousness that they diligently sought after in the past and continued to do so up to the time he wrote this epistle.
He then says that in contrast with this group that sought after righteousness through obedience to the Law, the elect remnant obtained righteousness through faith in Christ and the majority were hardened by God for their unbelief.