| 章 |
| 11:1 |
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
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| 11:2 |
God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel:
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| 11:3 |
"Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"?
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| 11:4 |
And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
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| 11:5 |
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
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| 11:6 |
And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
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| 11:7 |
What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
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| 11:8 |
as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day."
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| 11:9 |
And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
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| 11:10 |
May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."
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| 11:11 |
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
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| 11:12 |
But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
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| 11:13 |
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry
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| 11:14 |
in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
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| 11:15 |
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
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| 11:16 |
If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
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| 11:17 |
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
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| 11:18 |
do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
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| 11:19 |
You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."
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| 11:20 |
Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
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| 11:21 |
For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
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| 11:22 |
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
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| 11:23 |
And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
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| 11:24 |
After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
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| 11:25 |
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
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| 11:26 |
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
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| 11:27 |
And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
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| 11:28 |
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
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| 11:29 |
for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
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| 11:30 |
Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
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| 11:31 |
so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.
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| 11:32 |
For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
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| 11:33 |
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
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| 11:34 |
"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"
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| 11:35 |
"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"
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| 11:36 |
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
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