Romans 11:1-12 - A Remnant Of Israel Remains
1 Then, I ask, has God repudiated his People? Never! Why, I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin! 2 God has not repudiated his People, his predestined People! Surely you know what scripture says in the passage called 'Elijah'? You know how he pleads with God against Israel:
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have demolished thine altars; I alone am left, and they seek my life.
4 Yet what is the divine answer? I have left myself seven thousand men who have not knelt to Baal. 5 Well, at the present day there is also a remnant, selected by grace. 6 Selected by grace, and therefore not for anything they have done; otherwise grace would cease to be grace.
7 Now what are we to infer from this? That Israel has failed to secure the object of its quest; the elect have secured it, and the rest have been rendered insensible to it ??8 as it is written, God has given them a spirit of torpor, eyes that see not, ears that hear not ??down to this very day.
9 And David says, Let their table prove a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened, that they cannot see, bow down their backs for ever.
11 Now I ask, have they stumbled to their ruin? Never! The truth is, that by their lapse salvation has passed to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous. 12 Well, if their lapse has enriched the world, if their defection is the gain of the Gentiles, what will it mean when they all come in?