Did They Stumble So As To Fall Beyond Recovery?
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Romans 11:11a “Again I ask did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?"
Some view the Bible as a “Tale of Two Peoples”. The Old Testament is full of the promises of God to the Jews and the New Testament as the promises of God to the Gentiles. But that same Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we accept the Bible as the “Tale of Two Peoples” then it is easy to miss the link between the two.
The apostle Paul wrestled with that very question in the Book of Romans. He was Jew by birth but now a Christian by faith when writing this work. He asks and answers the
rhetorical question, “Again I ask – did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?” The seeds of Replacement Theology had already fallen into the soil of the early church and Paul is addressing the question some were asking, “Was God finished with the Jews and has now simply transferred all the promises He had made to them to the Christians?
We must go back to a familiar passage in Gen 12:1-3 for the answer.
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing."
A close reading of this shows us there are three parts to the promise: the promise of being a great nation; the promise of having a great name, and a promise of being a blessing.
Now go back and read it, and look for the conditions the descendants of Abraham must keep to secure the promise.
Didn’t see them?
Look again. That’s right . . . there are none! Although some of God’s promises have conditions the recipients must keep in order to receive them, these promises do not.
Paul came to the right conclusion when faced with the question in Romans 11 and so must we. The resounding answer is, that God did not reject His people and change His
plans or his promises for them. He has never cut them off; He chose them as His people, and they are our elder brothers and sisters of the faith.
God’s plan is not yet complete for our Jewish friends or for us, and we Christians have been given a holy opportunity to stand with them and the nation of Israel in their time of need.
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