“For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?”
The full verse · Romans 11:15 · KJV
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Asked by
Paul: the apostle to the Gentiles, who magnifies his office hoping to "save some" of his own people (Romans 11:13-14)
The Scene
Paul, speaking directly "to you Gentiles," has just said he magnifies his ministry hoping to provoke his own people and "save some of them" (Romans 11:13-14).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionPaul is explaining why he cares so much about Israel even as the apostle to the Gentiles. Their casting away had already brought reconciliation to the world. Their receiving, he reasons, would bring something far greater. Gill calls this an argument "from the lesser to the greater." Barnes says "the receiving of them" means the same as their "fulness" in Romans 11:12. The question lifts Gentile readers' eyes to what God may still do for Israel.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe question carries its own answer: Israel's receiving will be nothing less than "life from the dead" (Romans 11:15). Paul supports this hope with a picture: "if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches" (Romans 11:16). He then goes on to the olive tree (Romans 11:17-24) and to the promise that "all Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11:26).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsBarnes explains "the casting away of them" as their rejection as God's special people, "their exclusion from their national privileges, on account of their unbelief." "Reconciling" means bringing enemies to peace; Barnes says it "denotes, commonly, a pacification of contending parties." Barnes adds that by their unbelief "the way had been opened to preach the gospel to the Gentiles." The commentators read "life from the dead" differently. Matthew Henry sees it as Israel's own return, a change like a resurrection from death in sin to a life of righteousness. Gill applies it rather to "the reviving the work of God among the Gentile churches."
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows that God does not waste rejection. He used Israel's casting away for "the reconciling of the world," and He has not closed the door on Israel. Barnes calls "life from the dead" a "bold and striking figure," and explains that "The resurrection of the dead was an image of the most vast and wonderful event that could take place."
Whatever the exact reference, Paul reaches for the strongest image he has. Only God gives life to the dead. Israel's future receiving, like the Gentiles' reconciliation, will be God's work from start to finish.
Look Closer
What does Paul compare Israel's future receiving to?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord, You can bring life from the dead; for whom have I stopped praying because they seem too far from You?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- What does it tell you about God that Paul pictured Israel's return as "life from the dead"?
- Share how seeing one person come to faith stirred the faith of others around them.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Pray with hope for people who seem cast off. Paul was sent to the Gentiles, yet he still longed to "save some of them" (Romans 11:13-14). Your love for one group never has to cancel your hope for another.
This doesn't make Romans 11:15 a calendar to calculate or a reason to judge anyone's standing before God. Paul's hope rests on God's own faithfulness, for "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Romans 11:29). Leave the timing with God, and keep praying.
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Keep questioning
“Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”
“Have they stumbled that they should fall?”
“For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?”
“Hath God cast away his people?”