Exegetical Paper: Romans 11:25-32

Though scholars currently argue over whether Romans 16 is original or not, I will support its originality simply for this paper's sake.
See footnote 1
I originally was going to put following this sentence, "Isn't it great when that happens?" But I decided that this was not the time or place to make a joke.
This term of endearment is mostly absent from the other "Deutero-Pauline" letters.
It is also used in T. Benj. 10:11 "all Israel will be gathered to the Lord" and in m. Sanh. 10:1 "all Israel will have a share in the world to come."
Most commentators agree that Paul is the first Christian writer of the New Testament canon with 1st Thessalonians. Luke's Jesus in 4:14-30 also has a Christian interpretation of the OT, Matthew's genealogy is ridden with OT prophecies, and Mark's use of Isaiah 40 are other instances of New Testament writers interpreting OT Scriptures.
Again, scholars have written loads of books discussing the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline corpus.
Barnett lists many other contemporaries of Barth that totally disregarded his treatment of Romans.
TH3417
THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION
Fall 2014


Michael Sterns
Exegetical Paper: Romans 11:25-32




















Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to translate, read, and draw out meaning from the text Romans 11:25-33. Using commentaries, the bulk of this paper is exegetical. Many theologians over the years have read this passage, along with Romans 9-11, as Paul's doctrine of election. This paper seeks to both see Romans 11:25-32 in light of its own context and Barth's treatment thereof.
Translation: 25For I do not wish you all to have ignorance, brothers [and sisters], of this mystery, in order that you should not be wise in yourselves, because a blindness in this respect has happened to Israel that until this fulfillment of the nations (Gentiles) should come in. 26And in this manner, all of Israel will be saved, just as it is written: 'Out of Zion the Deliverer will come to remove ungodliness from Jacob. 27For this is my covenant to them when I should take away their sins.'
28On one hand according to the gospel [they are] enemies for your sake, and on the other according to election [they are] beloved for the fathers' sake. 29For the gift and the calling of God are unrepentant. 30For just as you once did not believe in God, but now these disobedient ones have been showed mercy. 31And now just as these have not believed, that through your mercy even they might have mercy. 32For God has shut them all in disbelief in order that [God] should show them all mercy.
Date of Composition: According to Moo, around 57 C.E.
Author: Paul (Rom 1:1)
Audience: To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints (1:7)
Textual Variants: -Metzger writes that there is a text-critical problem in v25 with the lacking of the preposition παρά (465). It is included in brackets, but the more difficult reading is typically the right one (Jewett, 694).
-v32 "all things" is found in other manuscripts. This variation causes an interpretive difference between God having mercy towards all creation or specifically all humanity. In Galatians 3:22, Paul writes that "whole world" is a prisoner of sin.
Delimiting the Passage: The "mystery of Israel" is difficult distinguish from its context. Paul immediately moves into doxology 11:33-36, so the reader can distinguish between this passage and the one that follows. Most commentators split Romans into four parts: 1:1-4:22 on grace and wrath, 4:23-8:39 on grace and law, 9:1-11:36 on God's gracious plan, and 12:1-16:27 on grace and the structures of life (Achtemeier, 25-26). Romans 9-11 is the portion of Romans specifically dealing with Israel, and this passage 11:25-32 looks at the questions Paul asks in 9:22-24. This pericope deals with the mystery of salvation for the people of Israel, but Jewitt argues that it is a salvation for both Israel and all peoples (695). He goes on to say that this passage is broken into two parts: the disclosure of the mystery with scriptural support vv25-27 and the theological explanation and the significance for salvation vv28-32 (Jewitt, 695). Cranfield says that this passage is the theme of the whole argument that Paul makes from 9-11 (281). This "mystery of Israel" is then the climax and theme of Paul's discussion on Israel, and therefore delimiting this passage from the rest of the text is rather non-existent because Paul is finishing his earlier argument. The use of ekloge in v28 (selected), klesis v29 (calling), and eleeo v31 (mercy) gather together the key elements and main points of chapters 9-11 (Dunn, 677). This passage is the thesis of Paul's whole argument that began in Chapter 9: the mystery of God's sovereign choice. Paul in this passage as he has throughout Romans showcases his strong argumentative capability, and he discusses the mystery of God's plan for salvation. Paul uses this word, μυστηριον, later in the epistle in 16:25 to discuss the inclusion of the Gentiles in God's redemptive plan. However, in this instance, Paul is discussing the God's redemptive plan for "all Israel." Paul uses this word more frequently in 1st Corinthians 2:1, 7, 4:1, 13:2, 14:2, and 15:51.
Literary Analysis
Form Criticism: This passage is part of Paul's larger epistle to the Romans. For all its systematic and bulky theological nature, it still remains a letter written to the Christian believers in Rome (Byrne, 13). This letter, for Dunn, has missionary purposes (15:18), apologetic purposes (1:16-17), and pastoral purposes (16:1-16) (liv-lviii). Paul writes to fellow children of God (8:14, 15, 19, 21, 9:8, 26), whose father is Abraham (4:16), and whose relationship with Paul and with each other are conveyed in the formulas "all you who have faith" (1:16, 3:22, 4:11, 10:4, 11), "all of you" (1:8), and "all who call upon the name of the Lord" (10:12-13). The standard structure for letters in antiquity consisted of three basic elements: an opening which mentioned the sender and addressee with a greeting, the body of the letter, and the closing which normally included a farewell and wishing of good health (Byrne, 14). It can never be known whether this letter was meant for one specific congregation dealing with certain problems, but Paul's personal greetings to "greet also the church that meets at their house" in 16:5 might indicate that Paul gave permission to distribute this letter to other people. This pericope stands within the body of the letter, and it opens with a "stylized disclosure formula that prepares the audience for something significant" (Jewett, 695).
The early church relied on letters because of the necessity to communicate important matters of the gospel to different Christian communities over long distances (Watson, 709). The Greek word ἐπιστολή originally referred to an oral communication sent by a messenger (O'Brien, 706). Paul was a Hellenized Jew, and as one, he had all the Hellenistic forms of letters at his disposal. Scholars in the past hundred years, mainly in the work of G. A. Deissmann in Licht vom Osten, have been discussing the differences between letters and epistles, but for the sake of this paper, the distinction is unimportant (Anderson, 93). For Deissmann quoted in O'Brien, Paul writes both a letter In Romans, as natural and situational, and an epistle, as mechanical and literary (706).
The climate in which Paul is writing is hard to infer. In the introduction to the letter, Paul thanks God through Jesus Christ that the Romans' faith is being reported throughout the world 1:8. In Barth's commentary on Romans, he says the power of the gospel is that it spreads to all people (32). Paul himself has never been to Rome (1:11, 13), but the power of Christ and the message of his resurrection have spread to the capital of the Western world. Paul spends a great deal highlighting certain doctrines from chapters 1-8, but now he moves into a mysterious aspect of the gospel. This mystery has been hidden in God for a long time, and Paul knows within his spirit that what he is writing is true (9:1). The Roman Christians whom Paul is addressing must realize that they cannot rely on their own ideas about Israel's relation to the plan of God now actualized in the person of Jesus Christ (Fitzmyer, 618).
Redaction Criticism: Paul employs a Septuagint word μυστηριον denoting divine plan found in Dan 2:18, 19, 27 which is a translation of the Aramaic rãz. Fitzmyer says that Paul's use is close to the Qumran use where it also means a hidden secret that is revealed in 1QpHab 7:1-4, 13-14, 8:1-3 (621). This word is also used in the Deutero-Pauline corpus Col 1:26-27, 2:2, 4:3, Eph 1:9, 3:3, 4, 9, 5:32, and 6:19. In Mark 4:11, this word is employed in the same way. This divine plan of salvation is in three successive stages: first the unbelief of the greater part of Israel—a divine hardening, a completion of the coming in of the other nations, and finally a salivation all Israel (Cranfield, 280). The full coming in of other nations finds similarities in Jewish speculations found in the apocalypse of Baruch xxiii (Sanday, 335). This divine mystery is a significant inversion of the way the gospel is preached according to Paul earlier in 1:16.
The inability to understand God was no different during the time of Israel where they attempted to create a more visible and manageable God in Exodus 32:1-6 (Achtemeier, 190). Paul combines two texts from Isaiah 59:20-21a and part of Isaiah 27:9 as an indication of how Israel will be saved. These two passages are combined because they both feature the motif of the removal of sin from Israel that is to be accomplished by a deliverer from Zion (Byrne, 350). The first part of this pericope is Bible, and the second part is Paul's theological interpretation of that text. However, Paul edited the text from Isaiah 27:9 to say that "out of Zion" instead of "to Zion." Evidently this variation comes from the LXX Ps13:7 (Sanday, 336). What this editorial change does is that it has Jesus (the deliverer) coming from Zion to save all rather than Jesus coming into Zion. For Dunn, this change shows that Paul does not wish to renew the idea of Israel's national primacy in the last days (682).
Paul, in essence, highlights the expected Jewish thought (Deut 30:1-5, Neh 1:9, Jer 23:3, 29:14, Ezek 11:17, 36:24, Mic 2:12, 4:6-7, Zeph 3:19-20, Zech 10:8-10, Sir 36:11, Bar 4:37, 2 Macc 2:18, Jub 1.15, Pss of Sol 17.26-28, 1 QSa 1.1-6) of salvation of Israel in the restoration of those scattered throughout the Diaspora (Dunn, 681). Paul after all is ethnically Jewish, but he writes to Roman Christians to emphasize that the gospel is "all who call upon the Lord Jesus will be saved" 10:13 (Barth, 38). Paul's self-identity as a Jew and the concern for his people is a dialogue throughout the letter (Dunn, xli). Israel's rejection of the gospel, of the stumbling block that is Jesus, is explained not on the idea of some alleged impossibility to accept it as some Gentiles would assume but rather as an opportunity for God to extend mercy to both Jew and Gentile (Jewett, 710).
Literary Criticism: This pericope has a prostasis-apodasis structure that builds up the case for similarities between the experiences of the Gentiles and Israel (Byrne, 352). The basic formula for a prostsis-apodasis structure is you-they-you-they. Again, Paul is a master rhetorician. Paul maintains the style of a personal address, but he does so by moving from a second person singular vv17-24 to a second person plural vv25-31. Vv25-27 have the style of a resolution, with the introduction of the mystery as the solution to the problem of divine hardening, which Paul had deliberately introduced and emphasized earlier in 9:18 and stressed again in 11:7, and the reuse of fulfillment (Dunn, 677). This particular pericope works within the style of an enthymeme because it is a formal argument of the artificial type in which a major premise is supported by a minor premise and then a concluding inference is drawn (Jewett, 28). The concluding inference is that God has mercy on all humanity v32.
Vv28-32 are written with so much particular care in regards to both its rhetorical structure with nine lines of epigrammatic contrasts and its ability to provide a fitting summary and climax to the whole of the preceding argument (Dunn, 677). The thesis in v28 concerns the enmity and election of Israel is presented in the form of "an elegant, antithetical parallelism with homoioptoton in the – endings of 'enemies' and 'beloved' and the - of 'you' and 'patriarchs,' as well reduplication in the prepositions κατά and διά" (Jewett, 695). Sanday writes that Paul's rhetorical skills are on display drawing the argument from chapters 9-11 to a close (333). This pericope is not only the climax of Romans11 but is also the sum of all Romans 9-11 (Moo, 712). But the tone throughout the pericope is respect. Paul does not use his masterful ability in rhetoric to be condemning. He begins by addressing his audience with "brothers [and sisters]" v25. He has legitimate respect for the Romans. He refers to them as brothers and sisters in Christ rather than children as he says in Gal 4:19. Paul uses this address ἀδελφοί quite frequently throughout his corpus.
Theological Analysis
Key Words: All Israel
If Jesus Christ means salvation for both Jews and Gentiles, then any refusal of that claim calls God into question (Wasserburg, 181). Calvin believed that this verse referred to a "spiritual Israel," but this interpretation is neither faithful to the text nor to actual human beings. Following Moo's commentary, the best way to approach the question to "Who is all Israel" is start with Paul's definition of Israel (720). Paul has used the name "Israel" ten times thus far in chapters 9-11, and each time refers to ethnic Israel (Moo, 721). But how does Moo handle Rom. 9:6? He says that "all Israel" does not mean "every Israelite," and this difference is important (Moo, 722). Israel has always understood itself as the company of the elect and beloved (Billerbeck quoted in Käsemann, 315). The phrase πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ is a Hebraic term which occurs in the Old Testament 148 times and designates historic, ethnic Israel, and in the synchronic sense of the generations of Israel at the time of the author (Fitzmyer, 623). Paul, most likely, uses this term in the same manner of the Old Testament because of the eschatological sothesetai. This word was highly linked to Christ's parousia, The beginning of the sentence καὶ οὕτως has temporal weight meaning that "all Israel will be saved" cannot be understood on its own terms but in light of its preceding context. Dunn writes that this καὶ οὕτως has more significance than the following καθὼς γέγραπται (681).
The repeated emphasis on "all"—"all who believe (1:16, 3:22, 4:11; 10:4, 11-13), "all injustice" (1:18, 29), "all who judge" (2:1), "All who bring about evil/good (2:9-10), "all under sin" (3:9, 12, 19-20, 23, 5:12), "all the seed" (4:11, 16), "all Israel" (11:26) etc—mean the entirety of people including Jews and Gentiles (Dunn, lxiii). "All Israel" probably has the same meaning as the "full number" in 11:12 (Fitzmyer, 623). This "all" is probably made up of the "remnant" in 9:27, "chosen" and "obtuse" 11:7, and "some" in 11:17. All could mean a physical number or an eschatological expectation of the predestined full number of Jews and Gentiles as some exegetes have gathered from the εἰσέλθῃ (Jewett, 700-701). Even though it could be a distant event, the question remains to why such a large portion of Israel, in Paul's time, had not accepted the gospel (Wasserburg, 182).
As It Is Written
This is not the first time that Paul had used this phrase in this letter. He used the phrase in 1:17, 2:24, 3:4, 10, 4:17, 8:36, 9:13, 33, 11:8, 11:26, and 15:3, 21. In this instance Paul quotes from Isa 59:20-21 in a form closer to the LXX than to the MT (Fitzmyer, 624). Trito-Isaiah is telling of the spiritual destiny of Israel using the names "Zion" and "Jacob," but in the LXX introduces a different nuance in reading, "He will come as the deliverer for the sake of Zion and will turn godlessness away from Jacob" (Fitzmyer, 624). As mentioned earlier, Paul edits the text that he works from "As It Is Written." He changes the singular "sin" in the Isaiah oracle to the plural "sins," where some have interpreted to be an instance where Paul disagrees with the theology presented from the text (Jewett, 706). Instead of a general sin, Paul has specific sins in mind (Moo, 729).
Paul is a self-proclaimed apostle to the Gentiles (Rom 1:5, 11:13, and Gal 2:8), but what business does he have quoting Hebrew Scripture to a predominately Roman Christian audience? Proclaiming Jesus as Messiah for the Gentiles, and all peoples, without the law seems to create schizophrenia in Paul (Wasserberg, 180). For an audience with a large Gentile Christian population, and in a letter pushing for a cooperative mission to the barbarians in Spain, Isaiah's formulation that the Messiah came "for the sake of Zion" would have been misleading and offensive; Paul instead changes it to ensure that there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles (Jewett, 703). It makes sense that Paul would change Scripture and alter it to fit into his needs, but the implications that this alteration creates are limitless.
For starters, Paul becomes one of the first known Christian interpreters of the Old Testament. And more importantly, Paul reads the Hebrew Scriptures christologically. The "deliverer" is Yahweh in the MT and LXX, Talmud's writer also ascribes a messianic interpretation, but Paul reads this text to point to Jesus of Nazareth (Fitzmyer, 624). Some write that Paul was a product of his time by interpreting the oral traditions of Scripture (Porter, 107). Paul was well trained in the Tarsian grammar school in the realms of literacy, numeracy, and basic compositional skills (Porter, 119). He then used his training (Phil 3:5, Acts 23:6, and 26:5) to get a firm grasp on the Scriptures, including of course the Torah and also the prophets and the writings, as evidenced in this letter to the Romans (Dunn, xl-xli). Paul's ability to both interpret Scripture and preach it showcased his hermeneutical abilities. Paul was not simply reading the Old Testament, but he was using it in order to prove that God is merciful to all.
Covenant
In v27, Paul quotes Jeremiah 31:33 to show that God is fulfilling God's covenantal relationship with humanity. Though a potentially depression theological concern about the future well-being of his kinsmen, Paul then reverts back to his understanding of God and God's covenant with all Israel. The salvation for Israel, and for all humanity for that matter, is pure grace and mercy (Fitzmyer, 625). The salvation of all is a continuity of the covenant first extended to Israel (Dunn, 684). This verse harkens back to Paul's doctrine of the new covenant in 2nd Corinthians 3:7-18.
The Hebrew word berit is most often translated as covenant. Throughout the Old Testament, God establishes four covenants: with the world through Noah (Gen 6:18, 9:8-16), the promise of land and posterity to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3, 15:18, 17:1-4) then repeated to Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (Gen 26:1-5, 28:13-15, 48-50), the royal and eventual messianic covenant with David and his children (2 Sam 7:1-17, Ps 89, Is 9:2-7, Pss. Sol. 18-19), and the conditional covenant formed between God and Israel at Sinai (Ex 19-24, 34, Deut 5-28). The overarching covenant is the one between God and Moses, and this one is the one in which to understand all other covenants (Childs quoted in Campbell, 246).
The gospel
Paul introduces his letter to the Romans by discussing his purpose: to preach the gospel. The gospel that Paul preaches is defined in his prescript in one sentence which [God] promised beforehand through [God]'s prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning [God]'s Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of [God]'s name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ (1:2-6). Paul's Christology is the theological ground and starting point, and it is the only topic broad enough to bring together his various emphases (Moo, 25). In Romans, Paul teaches the "yes" to the Abrahamic promise and to the future of Israel (Moo, 27). The heart of the gospel is that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (5:8). This extension of mercy to Gentiles is the same mercy that Paul expects and understands God to extend to Israel who had experienced a temporary hardening of the heart.
The same Christ that saved Gentiles is the one who saves all Israel. There cannot be a "no" to them when Gentiles have a "yes." This "yes" that God speaks to all humanity in Christ is the good news. In fact, there are no such Gentiles because Gentiles are grafted into the tree of Israel (Barth, 418). All are one brought in by the grace of God. The gifts of God and God's call are irrevocable. When God gives, God gives. God does not change God's mind in giving to humanity. The word ἀμεταμέλητος stresses God's faithfulness. God is not like humanity that God should repent (Num 23:19, 1 Sam 15:29, Ps 110:4, Jer 4:28, Ezek 24:14, Zech 8:14). It is the same God who calls all that gives to all in Christ. God is acting towards all humanity in mercy through the person of Christ (1:16, 3:22, 5:18, 11:32). The best picture of God that humanity has is the one in the person of Christ. This God for us, who joyfully and graciously chose to be for us, elects and saves all in Christ.
Principal Theological Themes
Paul
Paul was an amazing, seemingly legendary, figure in the New Testament. He was a missionary, theologian, and writer in the early church. However, much of the historical understanding of Paul is found in another writer. According to Luke, Paul was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37-38, 22:25-28) and was born in Tarsus (22:3). Luke also says that Paul had rabbinic training (also in 22:3) by Rabbi Gamaliel (5:33-39). He persecuted Christians (Acts 8:1, 26:9-11). He then had an encounter with Jesus and converted to Christianity (Acts 9, 22, 26). He traveled as a missionary three times (Acts 13-14, 15:36-18:22, and 18:23-20:38). The book of Acts ends with Paul arrested and on trial. Thirteen of the letters in the New Testament are attributed to Paul the apostle, and he is sometimes credited with Hebrews as well though this view is not commonly accepted. The issues that most Pauline scholars have are typically in relation to the way that Paul presents himself and the way that Luke in Acts does. But if we accept Pauline authorship for Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, 1st Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, and Philemon, we can see the way that Paul identifies and defines himself. First, he is a Jew. He is from the seed of Abraham (Rom 11:1) and of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil 3:5). He was zealous for the ancestral traditions (Gal 1:14), and he saw that his persecution of the young church coming from this zeal (Phil 3:6). Second, he converted to following Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, and he was appointed to take this gospel of God's Son to the Gentiles (Rom 1:1, 5, Gal 1:15-16). Paul never talked about his direct encounter with Christ as Luke does in Acts, but he does speak of his commission (Dunn, xli).
Recent scholarship has done much to read Paul in Paul's own context. This so-called New Perspective on Paul attempts to read Paul as he says he is: a Jewish Christian. E.P. Sanders, James Dunn, and now N.T. Wright have written multiple books on this "new perspective" in contrast to the over-emphasized Lutheran idea of justification by faith. These scholars wrote that to read Paul the same way that Luther did as against justification by works was an improper hermeneutic (Dunn, lxv). Dunn goes on to say that "there can be little doubt that the tension between his gospel and the law and his concern to resolve that tension provide one of Paul's chief motivations in penning the letter" which is especially evident in chapters 1-11 (Dunn, lxvi). To read Paul as a pre-Lutheran is problematic, and just as problematic as viewing Judaism as "works righteousness." So, who is Paul and what is his relation to Israel?
As a converted Jew, Paul is not debating with an alien system but with himself and his own past (Dunn, xli). Paul is extremely anguished in Rom 7:21-24, 9:1-3, 10:1, and 11:2. It cannot be known whether there were Jewish-Christians within his Roman audience. That information is simply not available, but the tone in which this section is written is like an internal dialogue. Some commentators have said that this section is the most heart breaking for Paul to speak of his kinsmen as separated from God. He is a Hellenized but devout Jew, a converted Pharisee dedicated to being an apostle, and a leader of the mission to the Gentiles (Dunn, xliii). All these tensions are especially evident throughout Romans, but even more so during Paul's handling of Israel in chapters 9-11.
Election
In v28, Paul says, "On one hand according to the gospel [they are] enemies for your sake, and on the other according to election [they are] beloved for the fathers' sake." This verse sums up the message of the argument in vv11-28 (Sanday, 337). The grammatical construction of this sentence is used to contrast two different conditions but brought together into one thought. This theological explanation of the mystery is opened with an elegant paromoiosis of two ideas (Jewett, 706). There is a parallel between election and gospel. The prepositions that Paul uses in this formulation are deliberate and purposefully ambiguous. The κατά + accusative specifies to the relation but not the precise nature of the gospel and election (Dunn, 684). Israel's current state of enmity is not part of the content of the gospel; Israel's hardening is not the full scope of the salvation proclaimed in Paul's definition of the gospel (Byrne, 351). Instead their enmity is for the sake of the Gentiles.
This election that Paul speaks of is not speaking of Christian election such as in 8:33 but is strictly speaking of Israel in 9:11 and 11:8. Paul wishes to use this election to showcase the character of God's free and gracious choice (Dunn, 685). God loves Israel. God chose Israel (and it is the Gentiles that are grafted into the tree of Israel 11:11-24). In the Old Testament and related literature, it is evident that God loves the patriarchs (Deut 10:15, 33:12, Isa 41:8, Josephus Ant. 1.3.9), loves Israel's king (2 Sam 12:24, Neh 13:26), loves those who seek wisdom (Wis 7:28), and righteousness (Prov 15:9), and God loves Israel as a whole (Deut 7:7, 9-13, Ps 127:2, Isa 63:9, Hos 11:1, 14:4, Prov 3:12, Ps. Sol. 18:4) (Jewett, 707). The everlasting character of the covenant of Israel is echoed in 11QTemple 29:7-8: "They will be my people, and I shall be theirs forever; I shall dwell with them forever and ever" (Fitzmyer, 626). What Paul is trying to do is reconcile the fact that Israel had experienced a hardening and had not accepted Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. It is a mystery. Yet God remains faithful to Israel, and God does not regret it v29. And Israel's disobedience served as the cause of "your" salvation v31 (Jewett, 710). Israel's election, that is the means in which God graciously chose Israel, is the same for Gentiles.
Conclusion
Romans 9-11 is quite possibly the most confusing section of Paul's letter to the Romans. As he writes, he tries to answer and solve the mystery of salvation for all Israel. Within this section, he painstakingly admits that his own people have experienced a hardening of heart. It took a divine encounter with Christ for Paul to come to terms with this stumbling block. Paul wants his Christian Roman audience to know this mystery that had been revealed to Paul.
The doctrine of election is the sum of the gospel because of all words that can be said or heard it is the best: that God elects [hu]mani[ity] and that God is for [hu]man[ity] too the One who loves in freedom (Barth, CD II.2.32). The hope for Israel is the same hope for the church (Barth, CD II.2.34). This doctrine of election is most evident in Paul's treatment of Israel. Bruce McCormack calls Barth's doctrine of election the greatest contribution to theology (quoted in O'Neil). Barth writes almost 500 pages in his extensive theological work in the Church Dogmatics discussing his doctrine: God's infinite and all encompassing yes to us in the person of Jesus. Though my treatment is oversimplification of his doctrine, he is extremely christocentric in his exposition of the doctrine. Where other theologians had developed their doctrine of election to develop two types of people as elect and reprobate, Barth seems to smooth over the tension of double-predestination by concluding that in Christ all are elect.
Barth developed his doctrine of election in his own context and read Romans in his own context. His commentary on Romans ruffled many biblical scholars' feathers. Many asked whether it could even be considered a commentary. Jülicher, a New Testament scholar in Barth's time, called Barth a Gnostic, a pneumatic, and an Alexendrian; Karl Ludwig Schmidt likened Barth to Marcion (Burnett, 431). Many in Barth's day did not outright accept his commentary on Romans or his doctrine of election. The most consistent charge against Barth was that he had not done justice to the "historical Paul" (Barnett, 431).
In this paper, I have tried to exegete the text to the best of my own ability, to read Paul in his own context within the biblical canon, and to draw my own conclusions from the text. If Romans 9-11 is where Barth derives his doctrine of election and Romans 11:25-32 is the thesis of that section, then my exegetical paper would attempt to address a part of Barth's doctrine of election. Though an impossibility to fully develop a doctrine that completely differs from him, I have tried to see where I would edit his own doctrine. Barth is an important figure for the doctrine of election. His doctrine, though, tries to "solve one of the great puzzles of history" (Barth, CD II.33). This great puzzle is the way in which God relates to humanity.
Barth wrote in the midst of trying to figure out another puzzle: the question of Jews (judenfrage). Barth declared that this judenfrage was more important than the question for war (kriegsfrage) (Stegemann, 2). Barth writes in CD II.34 that the Christ who elects is "not from Greece, not from Rome, not from Germany, but from Israel!" Barth was adamant in declaring the Jewish-ness of Christ in a time of anti-Semitism. Barth writes in an environment that is hostile towards Jews. He combats Calvin who says that the church is the new Israel, so in essence, Barth is writing against a secessionism from Judaism, which appears to be a mirror image of Paul's own context of writing to Roman Christians who might be ignorant of this mystery of God's faithfulness v25.
Barth, like Paul, uses his context to interpret situations. Where Paul had edited and deleted words from the Septuagint, Barth takes some liberties to develop his doctrine. What Barth did well was highlight the character of God: God hardens some in order to save all and confines all to disobedience to show mercy to all. Barth's doctrine of election is one of hope. It does not fully satisfy, nor solve the mystery of "all Israel will be saved." But neither did Paul. Instead of giving an outlined, detailed account of the way in which ethnic Israel will be saved and believe in Christ, Paul instead uses ambiguous language and ends with doxology.
Giving praise to God is something we should do more often. Theology is often about trying to figure out the mysteries of God. Too many times we have tried to "speak for God" as Job's friends did, and it has proven problematic. Barth's emphases on the hope and the character of God are important themes. The good news is supposed to be good, and it must be good news to all. The love of God is that God shows mercy to all. God's eternal will is the election of Jesus Christ (Barth, CD II.2.33). If it is an eternal action then it has never not happened. This God that elects always elects. The very God who shows compassion to all is the one revealed by the person of Jesus. Paul, through some revelation, must declare this mystery to his audience in order to rid them of their ignorance: God is merciful. We all are a little ignorant, and we sometimes forget the mercy of God. All Israel will be saved because it is the same God who saves Israel that saves us. Thanks be to God.






Works Referenced
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