Romans 11:1–10 (ESV)
The Remnant of Israel
11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God
has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone
am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present
time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot
see,
and bend their backs forever.”
Paul, chosen by God’s grace revealed in Jesus
Christ, is a living example that God has preserved for Himself a remnant in Israel. Those who become hardened and spiritually callous are in danger of God’s frightening judgment. However, through the suffering for sin that Christ endured, even the sin
of unbelief is forgiven in those who trust in His grace.
I pray: O Lord, may the physical descendants of Abraham receive the promised salvation delivered in the Gospel
of Jesus. Amen.
Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1931.