Romans 11

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¹I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ✦ ²God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, ✦ ³“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? ✦ ⁴But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ✦ ⁵Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ✦ ⁶And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. ✦ ⁷What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. ✦ ⁸Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.” ✦ ⁹And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. ✦ ¹⁰Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.” ✦ ¹¹I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ✦ ¹²Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! ✦ ¹³For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ✦ ¹⁴if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. ✦ ¹⁵For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ✦ ¹⁶For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. ✦ ¹⁷And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, ✦ ¹⁸do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. ✦ ¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” ✦ ²⁰Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. ✦ ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. ✦ ²²Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. ✦ ²³And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ✦ ²⁴For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? ✦ ²⁵For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ✦ ²⁶And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; ✦ ²⁷For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” ✦ ²⁸Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. ✦ ²⁹For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ✦ ³⁰For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, ✦ ³¹even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. ✦ ³²For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. ✦ ³³Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! ✦ ³⁴“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” ✦ ³⁵“Orwho has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” ✦ ³⁶For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

In this chapter

Concept Wisdom

Where this chapter connects

Rom 11 ·32 Rom 9 ·13 Eph 3 ·10 Eph 2 ·7 Rom 3 ·7 Acts 13 ·6 1 Cor 10 ·5 Jude 1 ·5

Christ at the center

Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.

How Romans 11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed
Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Romans 11YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Romans 11David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Romans 11Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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