Beware Contempt for God's Beloved Enemies
Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. (Romans 11.18)
A consistent problem in apostolic Christianity was cultural conflict between Jews and Gentiles in the church. To address the problem, Paul in Romans 11 depicts Israel as a cultivated olive tree growing from a holy root (the promises to Abraham). Jewish Christians, he says, are the natural branches (11.18,21,24). Believing Gentiles are not; they are wild olive branches grafted onto the Jewish tree (11.17-19), partaking of the blessings from the ‘root’ (11.18)—the promises to Abraham.
Paul addresses the judgmentalism of the Jew against Gentiles elsewhere (e.g. Romans 14.2-3b cf. 2.17-29). In Romans 11 he speaks to the arrogant Gentile Christians who despise Jewish Christians. Gentiles, most likely in the majority in the Roman church, would find it easy to be critical of the strange holiness practices of Jewish Christians. Those sensitivities would seem foreign.
Paul commands the Gentile Christians to keep the picture straight. “YOU’RE the foreigner,” he says. “Your Roman culture isn’t the foundation of Christianity; the promises to Abraham mediated to you through Israel and its Christ are. Remember the grace you received and don’t demean your Jewish brothers and sisters! The covenant promises are theirs!”
Paul anticipates the Gentile response: “But the Jews were broken off, and we have taken their place!” (11.19). One can almost hear the Romans protesting: “But the Jews rejected Jesus! They framed him and had him crucified! They persecute you wherever you go while we Gentiles embrace King Jesus with open arms! Surely Christianity can no longer be a Jewish thing! It has become a GENTILE thing, and the Jews must conform to OUR ways!”
Paul agrees that some branches were broken off because of unbelief and that the Gentiles found a place of blessing because of belief. The proper response to that truth, Paul says, is not condemnation of or disdain for the Jews—not even unbelieving ones!—but humility and fear of God who keeps, not only His promises, but His threats (11.20-24).
If anyone had reason to despise unbelieving Jews, it was Paul. But he urges the Gentile Christians at Rome to adopt a different perspective on them:
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11.28-29).
Unbelieving Jews who oppose the gospel, Paul says, are enemies of Christians. The apostle makes no bones about it. But then his reasoning takes this unexpected turn: “But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.”
Who is beloved? “They” are—a group, a people—not merely isolated individuals.
Beloved by whom? Who else but God? And beloved by God, not because of good individual life choices; in fact, beloved despite a bad one: unbelief! They, as a people, are beloved by God in their unbelief!
And God loves them, not for their own sake, but for the sake of their forefathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom God chose to give the original promise of blessing.
And they are loved by God for the sake of the patriarchs because “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” Paul applies this irrevocable call, not to Jewish believers, but to the unbelieving Jews.
If they, as a people, cut off from participation in their own covenant promises, are still loved by God in that state of unbelief, Gentile contempt for Jews is not just wrong—it is rebellion against God’s own posture.
A consistent problem in apostolic Christianity was cultural conflict between Jews and Gentiles in the church. To address the problem, Paul in Romans 11 depicts Israel as a cultivated olive tree growing from a holy root (the promises to Abraham). Jewish Christians, he says, are the natural branches (11.18,21,24). Believing Gentiles are not; they are wild olive branches grafted onto the Jewish tree (11.17-19), partaking of the blessings from the ‘root’ (11.18)—the promises to Abraham.
Paul addresses the judgmentalism of the Jew against Gentiles elsewhere (e.g. Romans 14.2-3b cf. 2.17-29). In Romans 11 he speaks to the arrogant Gentile Christians who despise Jewish Christians. Gentiles, most likely in the majority in the Roman church, would find it easy to be critical of the strange holiness practices of Jewish Christians. Those sensitivities would seem foreign.
Paul commands the Gentile Christians to keep the picture straight. “YOU’RE the foreigner,” he says. “Your Roman culture isn’t the foundation of Christianity; the promises to Abraham mediated to you through Israel and its Christ are. Remember the grace you received and don’t demean your Jewish brothers and sisters! The covenant promises are theirs!”
Paul anticipates the Gentile response: “But the Jews were broken off, and we have taken their place!” (11.19). One can almost hear the Romans protesting: “But the Jews rejected Jesus! They framed him and had him crucified! They persecute you wherever you go while we Gentiles embrace King Jesus with open arms! Surely Christianity can no longer be a Jewish thing! It has become a GENTILE thing, and the Jews must conform to OUR ways!”
Paul agrees that some branches were broken off because of unbelief and that the Gentiles found a place of blessing because of belief. The proper response to that truth, Paul says, is not condemnation of or disdain for the Jews—not even unbelieving ones!—but humility and fear of God who keeps, not only His promises, but His threats (11.20-24).
If anyone had reason to despise unbelieving Jews, it was Paul. But he urges the Gentile Christians at Rome to adopt a different perspective on them:
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11.28-29).
Unbelieving Jews who oppose the gospel, Paul says, are enemies of Christians. The apostle makes no bones about it. But then his reasoning takes this unexpected turn: “But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.”
Who is beloved? “They” are—a group, a people—not merely isolated individuals.
Beloved by whom? Who else but God? And beloved by God, not because of good individual life choices; in fact, beloved despite a bad one: unbelief! They, as a people, are beloved by God in their unbelief!
And God loves them, not for their own sake, but for the sake of their forefathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom God chose to give the original promise of blessing.
And they are loved by God for the sake of the patriarchs because “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” Paul applies this irrevocable call, not to Jewish believers, but to the unbelieving Jews.
If they, as a people, cut off from participation in their own covenant promises, are still loved by God in that state of unbelief, Gentile contempt for Jews is not just wrong—it is rebellion against God’s own posture.