Romans 11 is usually understood to predict a mass conversion of Jews near the end of the age. While such a conversion might occur, it’s not what Paul is discussing. Paul is discussing the way that the prophetic promises of Israel’s restoration were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. To that end, he refers to Israel as clay for God. His description of God as a potter emerges from Jeremiah 18. In Jeremiah 18, God is working at His wheel, the clay resists His hand, and God reworks the clay for another purpose. Israel is the clay, and God’s “purpose of election” is to bless the nations. Every single Israelite, whether they wish to or not, will fulfill that purpose.

Paul says that they fulfill it in two ways:

1. The remnant “according to the election of grace” fulfills it because they are the “root” onto which the Gentile branches are grafted. The Gentiles share in the nourishing root of the olive tree and are sanctified precisely because of the Jewish remnant. God blesses the Gentiles through faithful Jews.

2. The “rest.” These are the unfaithful Jews, and they too fulfill God’s covenant purposes. 11:11-12 says that the nations are saved “through their trespass.” Their trespass means riches for the nations. How? Romans 7 explains. In Israel, the unfaithful were means to draw the Devil in. Satan attacked and accused Israel, and as he did so, the powers and principalities came to concentrate on one spot- the shoulders of the Messiah. By killing Christ, he destroyed himself. The unfaithful Israelites were instrumental in this. The word “trespass” is specifically used in Romans 5 to refer to this. The Torah came to increase the trespass.

But Paul then says that if their trespass means riches for the nations, their inclusion will mean life from the dead. This is a reference to Romans 6:1-7, where one is justified and raised from the dead by being baptized into Christ’s resurrection.

(Romans 11:22-27) Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

This does not predict an end-time conversion of Jews. The “rest” are “hardened” because, as in Romans 2, they resist the kindness of God. They are reworked for another purpose. The word “until” does not mean that it will inevitably be reversed. Paul’s point is that the singular olive tree of Israel has come to include the nations. The unfaithful have been broken off, the faithful have been grafted in. And this is why it is “in this way” that Israel is saved. Paul quotes from Isaiah 59, which he quoted earlier in Romans 3:14-15 to lead up to the faithfulness of Christ. Yet he changes a word. Instead of “to Zion”, Paul says “from Zion.” In Isaiah 59, God takes up the garments of the High Priest and comes to the remnant of Israel. After this, the nations flow to Zion in Isaiah 60. Paul sees that the Messiah, having put His Spirit on the remnant of Israel, now comes “from Zion” to bless the nations. His redemption of the remnant and the inclusion of the nations are both part of Israel’s salvation.

The point with respect to unbelieving Jews is that God has not irrevocably cast them off. They can come into the family again in the same way that Gentiles come into the family- by faith. This is why the Gentiles are not to “boast against the branches.” They are not to boast in their ethnic identity any more than Jews were to boast in theirs. To create an alternative ethnic covenant is just a different form of the Judaizing error. Israel was called to be the light of the world, and now that the Gentiles have been called, they acquire Israel’s priestly vocation. They are to be missionaries to the Jews just as the Jews were to them.

The conclusion of Paul’s argument at first glance appears to be difficult for my reading. But as we will see, it is not:

(Romans 11:28-29) As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Paul has very carefully written this sentence, and each key word reminds us of an earlier passage in the letter.

1. As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake.

This comes from Romans 5:10. While we were enemies, the Messiah died for us. The same Messiah who died for unbelieving Gentiles died for unbelieving Jews. It is absurd, then, to say that Jews because of their Jewishness, cannot be saved.

2. But as regards election.

Two key passages. In Romans 11:6, the remnant is according to the election of grace. This is a restatement of and allusion to Romans 4:16-17:

(Romans 4:16-17) That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring–not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”–in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Romans 11 says that it must be by faith so that it might be in accordance with grace. Romans 4 says the same thing- and specifically applies this to Abraham’s fatherhood of many nations. Because it is by faith, all nations, including the Jews, are invited into the family. As regards the election of Abraham, then, Jews are just as free to come to the family as every other person is.

3. They are beloved

This is from Romans 9, where Paul quotes Hosea:

(Romans 9:24-25) even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.’”

This quotation of Hosea refers to the restoration of the Northern Kingdom, and Paul, for good reason, applies it to the Gentiles. The division of Judah and Israel is a sign of the division of humanity, and their reunification is fulfilled in the reunification of humanity, which comes with the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles to one another. The person who was not beloved may yet become beloved. This looks back into 9:13, where Jacob is “loved” but Esau is “hated.” The one who is hated (or outside God’s covenant) may become “loved” by faith. Jews are capable of this reconciliation just as much as Gentiles are.

4. For the sake of the patriarchs.

The patriarchs, of course, are discussed extensively in Romans 4 and Romans 9. In both cases, the patriarchs are called to father a worldwide family. Paul quotes Genesis as “out of Isaac I will call a seed.” This runs forward to 9:24: “even us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.” The Jews are beloved through the patriarchs because the transnational family is open to all nations- that including the Jewish nation.

5. For the gifts

The gift is only used to refer to one thing in Romans:

(Romans 5:15-17) But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

We have already seen above that Israel’s “trespass” meant riches for the nations. But Paul specifically contrasts the trespass of Adam (recapitulated in Israel) with the gift of Christ, the gift which undoes the trespass of Adam. If the trespass of Adam, belonging to the nations, can be undone in Christ, then surely the trespass of Israel can be undone by the free gift of that same Jesus Christ. The issue, as before, is about the possibility of including a Jew who repents in the family. And as before, Paul answers affirmatively.

6. And calling of God are irrevocable.

I’ve already discussed the “call” above. Those whom God foreknew He also called, according to Romans 8:29. This is picked up in Romans 11:2 where God does not cast off the people He “foreknew.” God foreknew the people Israel, and indeed, He has not cast them off. He has not abolished the nation to create a new one, but glorified the people Israel into the Church in Christ. “Out of Isaac I will call a seed” becomes “even us whom He has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.” Paul is simply making the other side of this point. It is not only from the Gentiles, but also from the Jews. God does not revoke His call. Jews are welcome to the family on the same condition as everyone else- faith.