Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible



Not that God's message has failed. For not everybody who is descended from Israel really belongs to Israel, nor are they all children of Abraham because they are descended from him, but he was told, "The line of Isaac will be called your descendants." That is to say, it is not his physical descendants who are children of God, but his descendants born in fulfilment of the promise who are considered his true posterity.

God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" read more.
So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it.

He will go before him with the spirit and the power of Elijah, to reconcile fathers to their children, and to bring the disobedient back to the wisdom of upright men, to make a people perfectly ready for the Lord." Verse ConceptsHeraldPower, HumanSpirit, Emotional Aspects OfProphecies Concerning ChristForerunnersDivine MessengerCausing People To TurnPeople Going BeforeAcquiring WisdomFathers And SonsPowerful Individualsparentingdisobedience

Elijah was a man like us, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three years and six months there was no rain in the land. Verse ConceptsAnswered Prayerdrought, physicalElijah, Prophecies OfRainMiracles Of ElijahPrayer, Offered WithAsking PermissionThree And A Half YearsLack Of RainLike People By NatureGod Answered PrayerMonthsPassion



God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? Verse ConceptsGod, All knowingForeknowledgeCastawaysGod's ForeknowledgeGod Not ForsakingIsrael HardenedScripture Says






God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? Verse ConceptsGod, All knowingForeknowledgeCastawaysGod's ForeknowledgeGod Not ForsakingIsrael HardenedScripture Says



who has been making this known from of old.' Verse ConceptsGod Speaking Of OldGod's Things Revealed

The apostles and elders had a meeting to look into this matter. After a long discussion, Peter got up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose that of you all I should be the one from whose lips the heathen should hear the message of the good news and believe it. And God who knows men's hearts testified for them by giving them the holy Spirit just as he had done to us, read more.
making no difference between us and them, but cleansing their hearts by faith. Then why do you now try to test God, by putting on the necks of these disciples a yoke that neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? Why, we believe that it is by the mercy of the Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are."

As they could not agree among themselves, they started to leave, when Paul added one last word. "The holy Spirit put it finely," he said, "when it said to your forefathers through the prophet Isaiah, " 'Go to this Nation and say to them, "You will listen, and listen, and never understand, And you will look, and look, and never see! For this nation's mind has grown dull, And they hear faintly with their ears, And they have shut their eyes, So as never to see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their minds, and turn back, And let me cure them!" ' read more.
"Understand then that this message of God's salvation has been sent to the heathen. They will listen to it!"

Then what do we conclude? That heathen who were not striving for uprightness attained it, that is, an uprightness which was produced by faith; while Israel, straining after a law that should bring uprightness, did not come up to it. And why? Because they did not seek it through faith, but through doing certain things. They stumbled over that stone that makes people stumble, read more.
as the Scripture says, "See, I will put a stone on Zion to make people stumble, and a rock to trip over, But no one who has faith in it will be disappointed."

I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous. But if their false step has so enriched the world, and their defeat has so enriched the heathen, how much more good the addition of their full number will do! But it is to you who are of the heathen that I am speaking. So far then as I am an apostle to the heathen, I make the most of my ministry, in the hope of making my countrymen jealous, and thus saving some of them. For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead? If the first handful of dough is consecrated, the whole mass is, and if the root of a tree is consecrated, so are its branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you who were only a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, in place of them, and made to share the richness of the olive's root, you must not look down upon the branches. If you do, remember that you do not support the root; the root supports you. "But," you will say, "branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in!" That is true; but it was for their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is through your faith that you stand where you do. You ought not to feel proud; you ought to be afraid, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you. Observe then the goodness and the severity of God??everity to those who have fallen, but goodness to you, provided you abide by his goodness, for otherwise, you in your turn will be pruned away. Those others too, if they do not cling to their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from a wild olive and unnaturally grafted upon a cultivated one, how much easier it will be to graft them upon the olive to which they properly belong! For to keep you from thinking too well of yourselves, brothers, I do not want you to miss this secret, that only partial insensibility has come upon Israel, to last until all the heathen have come in, and then all Israel will be saved, just as the Scripture says, "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will drive all ungodliness away from Jacob, And this will be my agreement with them, When I take away their sins." From the point of view of the good news they are treated as enemies of God on your account; but from the point of view of God's choice, they are dear to him because of their forefathers, for God does not change his mind about those to whom he gives his blessings or sends his call. For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have had mercy shown you because they disobeyed, so they are now disobedient in order that they in turn may experience the same mercy as you. For God has made all men prisoners of disobedience so as to have mercy upon them all.

Just as Abraham had faith in God and it was credited to him as uprightness. So you see, the real descendants of Abraham are the men of faith. The Scripture foresaw that God would accept the heathen as upright in consequence of their faith, and preached the good news in advance to Abraham in the words, "All the heathen will be blessed through you." read more.
So the men of faith share the blessing of Abraham and his faith. For there is a curse upon all who rely on obedience to the Law, for the Scripture says, "Cursed be anyone who does not stand by everything that is written in the Book of the Law and obey it." That no one is accepted as upright by God for obeying the Law is evident because the upright will have life because of his faith, and the Law has nothing to do with faith; it teaches that it is the man who does these things that will find life by doing them. Christ ransomed us from the Law's curse by taking our curse upon himself (for the Scripture says, "Cursed be anyone who is hung on a tree") in order that the blessing given to Abraham might through Jesus Christ reach the heathen, so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.






God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? Verse ConceptsGod, All knowingForeknowledgeCastawaysGod's ForeknowledgeGod Not ForsakingIsrael HardenedScripture Says



who has been making this known from of old.' Verse ConceptsGod Speaking Of OldGod's Things Revealed










And Isaiah cries out about Israel, "Although the sons of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, Verse ConceptsRemnantSmall RemnantsGod Saves The NeedyMany In Israel

Show 1 more verse
I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy.

Then what do we conclude? That heathen who were not striving for uprightness attained it, that is, an uprightness which was produced by faith; while Israel, straining after a law that should bring uprightness, did not come up to it. And why? Because they did not seek it through faith, but through doing certain things. They stumbled over that stone that makes people stumble, read more.
as the Scripture says, "See, I will put a stone on Zion to make people stumble, and a rock to trip over, But no one who has faith in it will be disappointed."

For Jews insist upon miracles, and Greeks demand philosophy, but we proclaim a Christ who was crucified??n idea that is revolting to Jews and absurd to the heathen,


I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous.

I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous. But if their false step has so enriched the world, and their defeat has so enriched the heathen, how much more good the addition of their full number will do! But it is to you who are of the heathen that I am speaking. So far then as I am an apostle to the heathen, I make the most of my ministry, in the hope of making my countrymen jealous, and thus saving some of them. For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead? If the first handful of dough is consecrated, the whole mass is, and if the root of a tree is consecrated, so are its branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you who were only a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, in place of them, and made to share the richness of the olive's root, you must not look down upon the branches. If you do, remember that you do not support the root; the root supports you. "But," you will say, "branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in!" That is true; but it was for their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is through your faith that you stand where you do. You ought not to feel proud; you ought to be afraid, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you. Observe then the goodness and the severity of God??everity to those who have fallen, but goodness to you, provided you abide by his goodness, for otherwise, you in your turn will be pruned away. Those others too, if they do not cling to their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from a wild olive and unnaturally grafted upon a cultivated one, how much easier it will be to graft them upon the olive to which they properly belong! For to keep you from thinking too well of yourselves, brothers, I do not want you to miss this secret, that only partial insensibility has come upon Israel, to last until all the heathen have come in, and then all Israel will be saved, just as the Scripture says, "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will drive all ungodliness away from Jacob, And this will be my agreement with them, When I take away their sins." From the point of view of the good news they are treated as enemies of God on your account; but from the point of view of God's choice, they are dear to him because of their forefathers, for God does not change his mind about those to whom he gives his blessings or sends his call. For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have had mercy shown you because they disobeyed, so they are now disobedient in order that they in turn may experience the same mercy as you. For God has made all men prisoners of disobedience so as to have mercy upon them all.




You must submit to it as discipline. God is dealing with you as his sons. For where is there a son whom his father does not discipline? But if you have none of that discipline which all sons undergo, you are illegitimate children, and not true sons. When our earthly fathers disciplined us we treated them with respect; should we not far more submit to the Father of our spirits, and so have life? read more.
For they disciplined us for a short time and as they thought proper, but he does it for our good, to make us share his holiness.

This is why I, Paul, whom Jesus the Christ has made a prisoner for the sake of you heathen??2 if at least you have heard how I dealt with the mercy of God that was given me for you, and how the secret was made known to me by revelation, as I have just briefly written. As you read that, you will be able to understand the insight I have into the secret of the Christ read more.
(which in past ages was not disclosed to mankind as fully as it has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets) that through union with Christ Jesus the heathen are fellow-heirs with the Jews, belong to the same body and share the promise with them, through the good news

I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous. But if their false step has so enriched the world, and their defeat has so enriched the heathen, how much more good the addition of their full number will do! But it is to you who are of the heathen that I am speaking. So far then as I am an apostle to the heathen, I make the most of my ministry, in the hope of making my countrymen jealous, and thus saving some of them. For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead? If the first handful of dough is consecrated, the whole mass is, and if the root of a tree is consecrated, so are its branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you who were only a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, in place of them, and made to share the richness of the olive's root,

Therefore, my dear brothers, have nothing to do with the worship of idols. I appeal to your good sense. Make up your minds about what I say. Does not the consecrated cup which we bless mean that in drinking it we share in the blood of Christ? Does not the bread that we break mean that in eating it we share in the body of Christ? read more.
Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Think of the Israelites' practices. Do not those who eat what is sacrificed have divine fellowship at the sacrificial altar?

That is why, from the day I first heard of it, I have never given up praying for you and asking God to fill you, through full spiritual wisdom and insight, with a clear knowledge of what his will is, so that the lives you live may be worthy of your Master and wholly pleasing to him, and you may be fruitful in all kinds of good deeds, and may grow into fuller knowledge of God. Then, so mighty is his majesty, he will nerve you perfectly with strength for the cheerful exercise of endurance and forbearance in every situation, read more.
and you will thank the Father who has entitled you to share the lot of God's people in the realm of light. He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the realm of his dear Son, by whom we have been ransomed from captivity through having our sins forgiven.

All who are under the yoke of slavery must treat their masters with the greatest respect, so that the name of God and our teaching may not be abused. Those who have Christian masters must not think lightly of them because they are brothers; they must serve them all the more faithfully, because those who benefit by it are believers and hence dear to them. These are the things you must teach and preach.

Dear friends, do not be surprised that a test of fire is being applied to you, as though a strange thing were happening to you, but be glad that you are in a measure sharing the sufferings of the Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may be triumphantly happy. If you are being abused for the sake of Christ, you are blessed, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the uprightness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have been given a faith as privileged as ours; God bless you and give you perfect peace through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For his divine power has given us every requisite for life and piety, through our coming to know him who through his glory and excellence called us to him. read more.
Thus he has given us his precious and splendid promises so that through them you may escape the corrupting influences that exist in the world through passion, and come to share in the divine nature.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. Through him he chose us out before the creation of the world, to be consecrated and above reproach in his sight in love. He foreordained us to become his sons through Jesus Christ, in fulfilment of his generous purpose, read more.
so that we might praise the splendid blessing which he has given us through his beloved Son. It is through union with him and through his blood that we have been delivered and our offenses forgiven, in the abundance of his mercy which he has lavished upon us. He has given us perfect insight into his secret purpose and understanding of it, in following out the design he planned to carry out in Christ, and in arranging, when the time should have fully come, that everything in heaven and on earth should be unified in Christ??11 the Christ through whom it is our lot to have been predestined by the design of him who in everything carries out the purpose of his will,

We know that in everything God works with those who love him, whom he has called in accordance with his purpose, to bring about what is good. For those whom he had marked out from the first he predestined to be made like his Son, so that he should be the eldest of many brothers;


I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!"






God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? Verse ConceptsGod, All knowingForeknowledgeCastawaysGod's ForeknowledgeGod Not ForsakingIsrael HardenedScripture Says



who has been making this known from of old.' Verse ConceptsGod Speaking Of OldGod's Things Revealed

The apostles and elders had a meeting to look into this matter. After a long discussion, Peter got up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose that of you all I should be the one from whose lips the heathen should hear the message of the good news and believe it. And God who knows men's hearts testified for them by giving them the holy Spirit just as he had done to us, read more.
making no difference between us and them, but cleansing their hearts by faith. Then why do you now try to test God, by putting on the necks of these disciples a yoke that neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? Why, we believe that it is by the mercy of the Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are."

As they could not agree among themselves, they started to leave, when Paul added one last word. "The holy Spirit put it finely," he said, "when it said to your forefathers through the prophet Isaiah, " 'Go to this Nation and say to them, "You will listen, and listen, and never understand, And you will look, and look, and never see! For this nation's mind has grown dull, And they hear faintly with their ears, And they have shut their eyes, So as never to see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their minds, and turn back, And let me cure them!" ' read more.
"Understand then that this message of God's salvation has been sent to the heathen. They will listen to it!"

Then what do we conclude? That heathen who were not striving for uprightness attained it, that is, an uprightness which was produced by faith; while Israel, straining after a law that should bring uprightness, did not come up to it. And why? Because they did not seek it through faith, but through doing certain things. They stumbled over that stone that makes people stumble, read more.
as the Scripture says, "See, I will put a stone on Zion to make people stumble, and a rock to trip over, But no one who has faith in it will be disappointed."

I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous. But if their false step has so enriched the world, and their defeat has so enriched the heathen, how much more good the addition of their full number will do! But it is to you who are of the heathen that I am speaking. So far then as I am an apostle to the heathen, I make the most of my ministry, in the hope of making my countrymen jealous, and thus saving some of them. For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead? If the first handful of dough is consecrated, the whole mass is, and if the root of a tree is consecrated, so are its branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you who were only a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, in place of them, and made to share the richness of the olive's root, you must not look down upon the branches. If you do, remember that you do not support the root; the root supports you. "But," you will say, "branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in!" That is true; but it was for their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is through your faith that you stand where you do. You ought not to feel proud; you ought to be afraid, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you. Observe then the goodness and the severity of God??everity to those who have fallen, but goodness to you, provided you abide by his goodness, for otherwise, you in your turn will be pruned away. Those others too, if they do not cling to their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from a wild olive and unnaturally grafted upon a cultivated one, how much easier it will be to graft them upon the olive to which they properly belong! For to keep you from thinking too well of yourselves, brothers, I do not want you to miss this secret, that only partial insensibility has come upon Israel, to last until all the heathen have come in, and then all Israel will be saved, just as the Scripture says, "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will drive all ungodliness away from Jacob, And this will be my agreement with them, When I take away their sins." From the point of view of the good news they are treated as enemies of God on your account; but from the point of view of God's choice, they are dear to him because of their forefathers, for God does not change his mind about those to whom he gives his blessings or sends his call. For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have had mercy shown you because they disobeyed, so they are now disobedient in order that they in turn may experience the same mercy as you. For God has made all men prisoners of disobedience so as to have mercy upon them all.

Just as Abraham had faith in God and it was credited to him as uprightness. So you see, the real descendants of Abraham are the men of faith. The Scripture foresaw that God would accept the heathen as upright in consequence of their faith, and preached the good news in advance to Abraham in the words, "All the heathen will be blessed through you." read more.
So the men of faith share the blessing of Abraham and his faith. For there is a curse upon all who rely on obedience to the Law, for the Scripture says, "Cursed be anyone who does not stand by everything that is written in the Book of the Law and obey it." That no one is accepted as upright by God for obeying the Law is evident because the upright will have life because of his faith, and the Law has nothing to do with faith; it teaches that it is the man who does these things that will find life by doing them. Christ ransomed us from the Law's curse by taking our curse upon himself (for the Scripture says, "Cursed be anyone who is hung on a tree") in order that the blessing given to Abraham might through Jesus Christ reach the heathen, so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous. But if their false step has so enriched the world, and their defeat has so enriched the heathen, how much more good the addition of their full number will do! But it is to you who are of the heathen that I am speaking. So far then as I am an apostle to the heathen, I make the most of my ministry, in the hope of making my countrymen jealous, and thus saving some of them. For if their rejection has meant the reconciling of the world, what can the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead? If the first handful of dough is consecrated, the whole mass is, and if the root of a tree is consecrated, so are its branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you who were only a wild olive shoot have been grafted in, in place of them, and made to share the richness of the olive's root, you must not look down upon the branches. If you do, remember that you do not support the root; the root supports you. "But," you will say, "branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in!" That is true; but it was for their want of faith that they were broken off, and it is through your faith that you stand where you do. You ought not to feel proud; you ought to be afraid, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you. Observe then the goodness and the severity of God??everity to those who have fallen, but goodness to you, provided you abide by his goodness, for otherwise, you in your turn will be pruned away. Those others too, if they do not cling to their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from a wild olive and unnaturally grafted upon a cultivated one, how much easier it will be to graft them upon the olive to which they properly belong! For to keep you from thinking too well of yourselves, brothers, I do not want you to miss this secret, that only partial insensibility has come upon Israel, to last until all the heathen have come in, and then all Israel will be saved, just as the Scripture says, "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will drive all ungodliness away from Jacob, And this will be my agreement with them, When I take away their sins." From the point of view of the good news they are treated as enemies of God on your account; but from the point of view of God's choice, they are dear to him because of their forefathers, for God does not change his mind about those to whom he gives his blessings or sends his call. For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have had mercy shown you because they disobeyed, so they are now disobedient in order that they in turn may experience the same mercy as you. For God has made all men prisoners of disobedience so as to have mercy upon them all.




Jesus answered, "Is not the day twelve hours long? If a man travels by day he will not stumble, for he can see the light of this world; but if he travels at night he will stumble because he has no light."

Jesus said to them, "You will have the light only a little while longer. Go on while you still have the light, so that darkness may not overtake you, for those who go about in the dark do not know where they are going. While you have the light believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." With these words Jesus went away, and disappeared from them.


I ask then, has God repudiated his people? By no means. Why, I am an Israelite myself, I am descended from Abraham, and I belong to the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people, which he had marked out from the first. Do you not know what the Scripture says in speaking of Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life." read more.
But what is God's reply? "I have left myself seven thousand men who have never knelt to Baal!" So too at the present time there is a remnant selected by God's mercy. But if it is by his mercy, it is not for anything they have done. Otherwise, his mercy would not be mercy at all. What follows? Israel failed to get what it sought, but those whom God selected got it. The rest became callous; as the Scripture says, "God has thrown them into a state of spiritual insensibility, with eyes that cannot see and cars that cannot hear, that has lasted down to this day." And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; Make their backs bend forever under their burden!" I ask then, has their stumbling led to their absolute ruin? By no means. Through their false step salvation has gone to the heathen, so as to make the Israelites jealous.