Paul reiterates in verses 1-11 his answer to the same question in
chapter 9, focussing here on other cases where a
remnant has been preserved.
Verse 1 Paul opens this part of his letter with another
rhetorical question: "Has God cast away His people?" He also uses the phrase "Certainly not!" or *God forbid" () regularly in this letter. On this occasion, he puts himself forward as an example to evidence his
argument, "to show that God has not rejected His people
en masse. An Israelite of pure descent, he is, nevertheless a true believer". Later in the chapter (Romans 11:13), Paul also refers to himself as the "apostle of the gentiles" ().
Verse 25–27 Historian
Paula Fredriksen reads these verses as Paul's attempt to explain why, by the middle of the first century AD,
gentiles appeared to outnumber Jews in the Christ-following movement. She argues that Paul offered a reinterpretation of an
apocalyptic prophecy: God has deliberately made most of Israel temporarily insensible to the
gospel, so that
apostles like Paul would have more time to reach gentiles across the nations. Only after the full complement of nations had been gathered in would God restore Israel's receptivity. For Paul, she contends, this was not a rejection of Jews, but a temporary postponement; God's promises to Israel remained irrevocable. She then traces how centuries later,
Augustine of Hippo reinterpreted this same passage, arguing that "all Israel" referred not to actual Jews but to "spiritual Israel," meaning the church. == Verse 34 ==