Romans 11.15-If God's Rejection Of Unsaved Israel Reconciled The World, Then Their Acceptance Will Bring About A National Regeneration
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday July 12, 2009
Romans: Romans 11:15-If God’s Rejection Of Unsaved Israel Reconciled The World, Then Their Acceptance Will Bring About A National Regeneration
Lesson # 366
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 11:11.
This morning we will study Romans 11:15, which teaches that if God’s rejection of the nation Israel as a result of their rejection of Christ reconciled those Gentiles who trusted in Christ, then their acceptance by God when they have faith in Christ at His Second Advent will bring about a national regeneration.
Now, let’s pick it up with the beginning of the third paragraph, which begins in verse 11.
Romans 11:11, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.”
Romans 11:12, “Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!”
Romans 11:13, “But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.”
Romans 11:14, “If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.”
Romans 11:15, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”
This passage is explanatory in that it provides additional information regarding Paul’s statements in Romans 11:12-14.
Paul’s statement in Romans 11:15 explains his statement in Romans 11:12 in that it provides additional information with regards to the latter.
His statement in Romans 11:12 that Israel’s transgression in rejecting Christ meant infinite wealth (unmerited blessings) for the Gentiles is explained in Romans 11:15.
The infinite wealth (unmerited blessings from salvation) for the Gentiles is explained in Romans 11:15 as the Gentiles being reconciled to God.
Paul’s reference to the restoration of Israel at the Second Advent of Christ in Romans 11:12 is further explained in Romans 11:15 as a national regeneration.
That Romans 11:15 is explaining Romans 11:12 is indicated also by the fact that Paul is writing once again rhetorically, which is indicated by the parallelism.
The protasis in Romans 11:15 explains Paul’s statements in Romans 11:13-14 in the sense that his desire to provoke his fellow unsaved Jews to jealousy through the function of his ministry to the Gentiles so as to save some of them has reconciled the Gentiles to God.
The protasis in Romans 11:15 reiterates what Paul said in the protasis of Romans 11:12 that God’s rejection of Israel through their transgression in rejecting Christ meant the reconciliation of the world’s inhabitants, i.e. the Gentiles.
From this protasis, he infers that if God’s rejection of Israel for their rejection of His Son reconciled the Gentiles to Himself, then how much more will result from God accepting Israel when they have faith in His Son at His Second Advent.
The obvious inference is that there will in fact be a national regeneration of Israel.
Romans 11:15, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”
“If” is the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
As we noted many times in our study of the book of Romans, the idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that, then...”
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument God’s rejection of Israel because of their rejection of Christ reconciled the world’s inhabitants, i.e. the Gentiles.”
The responsive condition would say: “Of course we agree that this is an historical fact.”
Paul’s readers would agree that Israel’s transgression is riches for the world’s inhabitants and their failure to accept by faith Jesus Christ is riches for the Gentiles since they would know this first hand since many were born-again Gentiles.
The apodasis is “(then) how much more will God’s acceptance of Israel at Christ’s Second Advent bring about when the nation trusts in Christ but a national regeneration of the nation.”
Paul is not attempting to prove that his protasis is true rather he is saying with the first class condition that we agree that this is a fact of history that the Gentiles have been reconciled to God because of Israel’s rejection of Christ.
Romans 11:15, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”
“Their rejection” does not refer to Israel’s rejection of Christ but rather it refers to God’s rejection of unsaved Israel as a result of their rejection of His Son Jesus Christ.
This is indicated by the context in that this word apobole, “rejection” stands in direct antithesis to the noun proslepsis, “acceptance,” which refers to God accepting Israel for accepting His Son at His Second Advent.
Furthermore in Romans 11:16-24, Paul issues a warning to the Gentiles to learn from Israel’s failure since they too can be rejected by God like Israel by failing to exercise faith in Christ as Savior.
“The reconciliation of the world” is a reference to those Gentiles who exercised faith in Christ and experienced reconciliation with God since the statement “their rejection is the reconciliation of the world” parallels the statement in Romans 11:12 that “their transgression is riches for the Gentiles.”
The latter statement in verse 12 is an obvious reference to saved Gentiles since the noun ploutos, “riches” refers to the infinite unmerited spiritual benefits that were received by the Gentiles through faith alone in Christ alone.
Reconciliation is God’s peace treaty with the entire human race and is appropriated by making the non-meritorious decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
“Their acceptance” refers to God accepting Israel when she trusts in Jesus Christ at His Second Advent since it stands in antithesis to the noun apobole, “rejection,” which refers to God rejecting Israel for rejecting His Son Jesus Christ.
“Life from the dead” refers to the national regeneration of the nation of Israel when they will receive eternal life as a result of exercising faith in Jesus Christ at His Second Advent.
“Regeneration” is a ministry performed by the Holy Spirit on behalf of a person the moment they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior where He creates a human spirit for the person so that they might receive the imputation of eternal life.
Titus 3:5, “He (God the Father) saved us, not on the basis of deeds (human works) which we have done in (human power) righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”
Regeneration is related to the indwelling of the Spirit since Romans 8:9-11 teaches that the Christian possesses eternal life because the Spirit indwells his soul.
Therefore, we can see from our study of Romans 11:15 that this passage is a first class conditional statement.
The protasis reiterates and explains further his statement in Romans 11:12 by establishing the historical fact that God’s rejection of Israel because of their rejection of Christ reconciled those Gentiles who trusted in Christ.
From this protasis, Paul infers in the apodasis assuring his readers that when God accepts the nation of Israel for having faith in His Son at His Second Advent there will be a national regeneration.
Therefore, Paul is teaching that if God rejected the nation of Israel for rejecting His Son Jesus Christ during His First Advent, there will certainly be a national regeneration of the nation of Israel when they have faith in Christ at His Second Advent.
On the Day of Atonement, at the Second Advent of Christ, Israel will as a nation trust in Jesus Christ as Savior (Ezekiel 37; Zechariah 12:10; 14:9-21).