Romans 11.21-God Did Not Spare Unsaved Jews For Their Unbelief And He Will Not Spare Unsaved Gentiles For Their Unbelief
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 28, 2009
Romans: Romans 11:21-God Did Not Spare Unsaved Jews For Their Unbelief And He Will Not Spare Unsaved Gentiles For Their Unbelief
Lesson # 374
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 11:11.
This evening we will note Romans 11:21, which teaches that the reason why Gentile Christians should never think arrogantly but rather reverence God is that God did not spare the natural branches, unsaved Jews because of their unbelief and He will not spare unsaved Gentiles either for their unbelief.
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?”
Romans 11:16, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.”
Romans 11:17, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree.”
Romans 11:18, “Do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.”
Romans 11:19, “You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’”
Romans 11:20, “Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear.”
Romans 11:21, “For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.”
This passage teaches that the reason why Paul’s Gentile Christian readers in Rome should never think that they are superior to the Jews as a race but rather reverence God is that God did not spare the unsaved Jews because of their unbelief and He will not spare unsaved Gentiles either for their unbelief.
“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 that God by no means spared the natural branches.”
The responsive condition would say: “Of course we agree that He didn’t.”
Paul’s readers would agree that the unsaved Jews were rejected by God because they rejected His Son as Savior.
The apodasis is “(then) God will not spare unsaved Gentiles if they too reject His Son as Savior.”
Paul is not attempting to prove that his protasis is true rather he is saying with the first class condition that we agree that God rejected those Jews who rejected His Son as Savior.
The first class condition would then persuade them to respond to the conclusion that like unbelieving Jews God will not spare those Gentiles who reject His Son as Savior.
Therefore, Paul’s audience would have to come to his conclusion if they submit to this line of argumentation.
He wants them to come to his line of argumentation because he does not want his Gentile Christian readers to erroneously and presumptuously conclude that God accepted them because they have more merit than the Jews.
Both Jew and Gentiles don’t have any merit with God whatsoever as Paul makes clear in Romans 1:18-3:19.
Saved Jews and Gentiles are accepted by God because of their faith in His Son Jesus Christ in the sense that they are accepted by God based upon the merits of the impeccable person of His Son Jesus Christ and the merits of His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
Therefore, it is essential that they agree with him on this point since it will protect them from arrogance and racial bigotry towards the Jews and would promote unity among Jew and Gentile Christians in the churches in Rome.
He also wants them to understand God’s grace policy and that God’s grace and human merit are mutually exclusive.
Romans 11:21, “For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.”
“God” is the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the Father since the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity.
“Did not spare” is composed of the emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo), “not” and the third person singular aorist (deponent) middle indicative form of the verb pheidomai (feivdomai) (fi-dom-i), “did spare.”
In Romans 11:21, the verb pheidomai means “to spare” from divine judgment, i.e. eternal condemnation and is used of those Jews who reject Jesus of Nazareth as Savior.
The verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which is used to deny the reality of an alleged fact of God sparing those Jews who reject His Son as Savior.
It therefore emphatically negates the idea that God spared from eternal condemnation those Jews who rejected Jesus Christ as Savior.
“The natural branches” refers to the unsaved Jews and are synonymous to the branches broken off the olive tree mentioned in Romans 11:17.
That “the branches” in Romans 11:17 and 21 refer to unsaved Israel is indicated by the statement in Romans 11:20 “they were broken off for their unbelief.”
Romans 11:21, “For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.”
“Either” is the adverb oude (ou)dev) (oo-deh), which is used with the negative adverb ou, “by no means” that appears in the protasis and together, they form a correlative clause that combines two negative clauses together that appear in the protasis and apodasis of this first class condition.
Oude and ou serve to connect two concepts: (1) Protasis: “if God did not spare the natural branches.”: God judged unsaved Jews. (2) Apodasis: “He will not spare you, either.”: God will judge unsaved Gentiles.
“He will not spare you” is composed of the third person singular future (deponent) middle indicative form of the verb pheidomai (feivdomai) (fi-dom-i), “He will spare” and the genitive second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (suv) (soo), “you.”
In Romans 11:21, the verb pheidomai means “to spare” from divine judgment, i.e. eternal condemnation and is used of those Gentiles who reject Jesus of Nazareth as Savior.
The verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the adverb oude, “neither.”
It emphatically negates the idea that God will spare from eternal condemnation those Gentiles who reject Jesus Christ as Savior.
The personal pronoun su refers specifically to those Gentiles who reject Jesus Christ as Savior since there is never any condemnation for those Jews and Gentiles who have exercised faith in Son Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Also, su refers to those Gentiles who reject Christ since the word parallels the natural branches in the protasis.
Therefore, Paul in Romans 11:21 teaches his Gentile Christian readers in Rome that the reason why they should never think that they are superior to the Jews as a race but rather reverence God is that God did not spare the unsaved Jews because of their unbelief and He will not spare unsaved Gentiles either for their unbelief.
Thus, he is teaching his readers that you are not saved based upon the fact that your race has more merit than the Jewish race because God will not spare Gentiles who reject His Son like He did not spare Jews who rejected His Son.
He is saying to his Gentile Christian readers in Rome in Romans 11:20-21 that you are saved based upon your faith in Christ and not because your race has more merit than the Jewish race.