A Door That Never Closes
How is it that despite continued Jewish hostility to the gospel and despite seeing Gentiles outnumber Jews in the Christian church Paul can still hold out hope that the Jews will someday turn to Christ (Romans 11.12,15,23-24,26-27)? I believe the answer is to be found in the nature of God’s covenant promises which, Paul says, belong irrevocably to the nation of Israel (Romans 9.4-5 cf. 11.29).
Many evangelicals have a habit of reading the Old Testament in terms of prediction. The Law or Prophets speak in advance of an event that must take place. Once such an event comes to pass, it is “fulfilled”, over and done with, never to be repeated.
But the covenant promises of God were not predictions of single events, but the promise of a repeating cycle in God’s interaction with His people. Moses presents that cycle in Leviticus 26 and in a longer formal covenant in Deuteronomy 28.1-30.20.
STEP 1: When Israel obeys God, she will be blessed in the land (Leviticus 26.1-13; Deuteronomy 28.1-14)
STEP 2: When Israel disobeys God, she will be disciplined with hardships to lead her to repentance (Leviticus 26.14-26; Deuteronomy 28.15-24).
STEP 3: Failure to repent will eventually lead to Israel being driven from her own land (Leviticus 26.27-39; Deuteronomy 28.16-68).
STEP 4: If after being driven out of the land, Israel repents and returns to the LORD, she will be restored and returned to the land (Leviticus 26.40-46; Deuteronomy 30.1-10).
The covenant promise cycle is then set to repeat.
Paul, a Pharisee immersed in the Old Testament, would have been familiar with this covenant format. Though Step 4 doesn’t predict Israel’s return to the LORD, it always allows for it, because of God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises. This covenant faithfulness, highlighted at the end of the Leviticus passage, makes the gift and calling of God irrevocable (Romans 11.29).
Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God.
But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 26.44-45)
Paul’s hope for Israel’s eventual turning to Christ is grounded, then, not in prediction but in the faithfulness of God to His promises that remain perpetually in force. As long as the cycle Moses outlined in Leviticus and Deuteronomy holds, the door is never finally closed—and for Paul, God’s faithfulness guarantees that it never will be.
Many evangelicals have a habit of reading the Old Testament in terms of prediction. The Law or Prophets speak in advance of an event that must take place. Once such an event comes to pass, it is “fulfilled”, over and done with, never to be repeated.
But the covenant promises of God were not predictions of single events, but the promise of a repeating cycle in God’s interaction with His people. Moses presents that cycle in Leviticus 26 and in a longer formal covenant in Deuteronomy 28.1-30.20.
STEP 1: When Israel obeys God, she will be blessed in the land (Leviticus 26.1-13; Deuteronomy 28.1-14)
STEP 2: When Israel disobeys God, she will be disciplined with hardships to lead her to repentance (Leviticus 26.14-26; Deuteronomy 28.15-24).
STEP 3: Failure to repent will eventually lead to Israel being driven from her own land (Leviticus 26.27-39; Deuteronomy 28.16-68).
STEP 4: If after being driven out of the land, Israel repents and returns to the LORD, she will be restored and returned to the land (Leviticus 26.40-46; Deuteronomy 30.1-10).
The covenant promise cycle is then set to repeat.
Paul, a Pharisee immersed in the Old Testament, would have been familiar with this covenant format. Though Step 4 doesn’t predict Israel’s return to the LORD, it always allows for it, because of God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises. This covenant faithfulness, highlighted at the end of the Leviticus passage, makes the gift and calling of God irrevocable (Romans 11.29).
Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God.
But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 26.44-45)
Paul’s hope for Israel’s eventual turning to Christ is grounded, then, not in prediction but in the faithfulness of God to His promises that remain perpetually in force. As long as the cycle Moses outlined in Leviticus and Deuteronomy holds, the door is never finally closed—and for Paul, God’s faithfulness guarantees that it never will be.