So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Romans 11:11-16
Contemporary Christians typically fall into one of two camps when it comes to our relationship with the Jewish people: ignorant ambivalence or ignorant zeal. By ignorant ambivalence, I mean that many evangelicals do not understand the significance of ethnic Israel in God’s redemptive plan and so are ambivalent about seeing God’s promises to Israel fulfilled. By ignorant zeal, I mean that many other evangelicals do not understand the significance of the church in God’s redemptive plan and so are overly zealous for the modern nation of Israel, not so much for Jewish evangelization. With a brief examination of Paul’s words here in Romans 11, I hope to move us toward knowledgable zeal for the evangelization of the Jewish people as part of the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan for all the nations.
In the passage quoted above, Paul explains that the vast majority of Jews in his day (and down to the present) have trespassed against God. How so? He explains earlier in Romans 10:3-4, “…being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” In short, the Jews have not submitted to God’s righteousness which is given to all through faith in Christ alone. But now, the promises intended for the Jews to enjoy as the blessing was extended also to the Gentiles, have been extended to the Gentiles with little participation from the Jews. The Gentiles’ enjoyment of salvation is now intended by God to provoke the Jews to jealousy and to an eager desire to inherit what has long been promised to them.
But then Paul makes an amazing ‘lesser to greater’ argument: “Now if their [the Jews] trespass means riches for the world [the Gentiles], and if their [the Jews] failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their [the Jews] full inclusion mean!” God’s original intention in choosing Abraham and his offspring was for the Jews to be the means of blessing to all the nations. Now Paul argues that the Jews have failed to do this as a people because of their unbelief, and yet astounding blessing has come to the nations even still through the Messiah. If the Jewish people have failed in their mission and yet these riches have come to the Gentiles, how much greater blessing can the nations expect when a vast number of Jewish people are included in the blessing themselves! To put it another way, when the Jewish people on a large scale embrace the promises of God through faith in the Messiah, the blessing upon the Gentiles will not be less, but more. He does not name the blessing specifically here, but elaborates on it further in verse 15.
He writes, “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” The vast majority of the Jews have been rejected because of their hardness of heart toward Jesus the Messiah, and yet now the believing Gentiles have been reconciled to God. When the vast majority of the Jewish people are accepted by God through their embrace of Jesus the Messiah, the blessing upon the world will not be less, but greater. Here he describes it as “life from the dead.” As I read it, the most straightforward meaning of this passage is that a large-scale conversion of the Jewish people to Jesus will result in the return of Jesus and the final defeat of death through the resurrection of the dead to final judgment and blessing. Others think “life from the dead” refers to a massive spiritual revival resulting from the conversion of the Jews. But whichever of these things is true, the point is that this is an extraordinary blessing we should all desire. And the way in which it occurs is through a large-scale turning of the Jews to Jesus the Messiah.
For this reason then, evangelicals should prioritize the evangelization of the Jewish people wherever Jews are found scattered throughout the world. Such prioritization is the apostolic pattern. As Paul wrote to the church in Rome at the beginning of this letter, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) When Paul entered a new city, he went first to the synagogues to reach the Jews. Only after he was rejected by them in each place did he then focus his energies on the Gentiles. In Antioch in Pisidia for example, after the Jews began to revile Paul and Barnabas they said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you [Jews]. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” (Acts 13:46) Paul, as a Jewish follower of Jesus, was better suited for this type of ministry to Jews than any of us Gentiles. But we should learn from Paul’s priorities to also prioritize the evangelization of the Jews.1 And we should not underestimate the role that Gentiles can play in introducing Jewish people to the Messiah.
Some mistakenly think that Jews don’t need to be evangelized. Others think Jewish evangelization is not worth the effort because of their resistance to the gospel and the low return on investment of missions dollars spent. Still others oppose the evangelization of the Jewish people because it feels like Christian imperialism. But whatever our reasons for not evangelizing the Jewish people, when we neglect to do so we are acting contrary to scriptural example and teaching. The Lausanne Occasional Paper on Jewish Evangelism gets it right: “Jewish resistance to evangelisation is to be expected, but it is puzzling that Christians would deprive Jews of the gospel of Jesus. He is, after all, the very best gift of God, and gentiles have received Him from the Jews.“2 In light of the gift we have been given by God through the Jewish people, let us prioritize sharing the good news with the Jewish people that they too might delight themselves in Jesus the Messiah and that God’s greater blessing would come to all nations.
1This does not imply political support for the modern nation of Israel, nor does it exclude such support. The question as to whether or not to prioritize the evangelization of the Jewish people and the question as to whether or not to support the modern state of Israel are entirely separate questions, and answering the first question in the affirmative does not determine the answer to the second question.
2Lausanne Occasional Paper 60: Jewish Evangelism: A Call to the Church. Accessed at: https://lausanne.org/content/lop/jewish-evangelism-a-call-to-the-church-lop-60
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