Read Part One here
The last time Tricia Miller and I sat down together, we walked through the lives of two remarkable women of the Hebrew Bible — Esther, who risked everything “for such a time as this,” and Ruth, the Moabite who bound herself to a people not her own. Both took real risks because they understood the moment they were in.
This time we turned from narrative to argument — from the stories of Israel to Paul’s great wrestling over Israel. Tricia is director of the Partnership of Christians and Jews at CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis. CAMERA monitors media around the world in English, Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic; Tricia’s particular work is watching what is happening in the Christian world as it relates to Israel, antisemitism and the church. Her PhD is in Hebrew Bible, and when she opens the New Testament she reads it with that whole story in view.
So we opened to one of our favorite books — Romans — and to the chapter I believe is its climax.
Why this chapter, and why now
Tricia framed the stakes before we ever got to the text. The evangelical world, by and large, loves Israel and the Jewish people. And precisely because of that support, those who oppose Israel — whether out of blatant antisemitism or for theological reasons — have learned to target the evangelical church directly. The tools are false theology, rewritten history, propaganda and lies, all of which results in turning that support away.
That is not a fringe problem. There are Christian media outlets and Christian organizations actively trying to persuade believers to turn against Israel, and the broader culture — mainstream outlets and major social-media influencers alike — is pushing an anti-Israel narrative right now. Tricia’s answer to all of it is to put solid ground back under Christians’ feet: biblical, historical, ethical, factual reasons to stand with the Jewish people.
Which is exactly why Romans matters. In his letter to the Romans, Paul lays out the relationship between Jew and Gentile more fully than almost anywhere else in the New Testament. “What advantage then hath the Jew? … unto them were committed the oracles of God.” (Romans 3:1–2) He is teaching new Gentile believers in Rome — people who, as Tricia pointed out, had very likely never met a Jew, since the Jews had at one point been expelled from the city. Paul has to start at ground zero and explain to these new gentile followers of Jesus who these people are and how much their own faith depends on them. And it all builds to chapter 11.
"Has God cast away His people?"
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people whom he foreknew?” (Romans 11:1)
Paul’s own answer is immediate and emphatic. In English it reads “God forbid” or “by no means.” In the Greek it is about as strong a denial as the language allows — absolutely not. Whatever else Romans 11 is going to say, it is built on that foundation: God has not rejected the people He chose.
That word “chose” matters. As we discussed last time, antisemitism has no rational basis a natural mind can explain; at its root it is spiritual — ultimately a rebellion against God Himself. God called the Jewish people the apple of His eye. To set yourself against them is, in a real sense, to poke God in the eye. So when Paul opens with that emphatic no, he is closing the door on the deepest excuse hatred has ever used.
A warning to the grafted-in
Here is the part of the chapter that ought to stop every Christian in their tracks. Paul warns the Gentile believers in Rome not to be arrogant — not to boast against the branches.
Tricia made an observation I keep returning to. Paul’s letters almost always address real problems in the churches he writes to. So the very fact that he has to warn first-century Gentile believers against arrogance toward the Jewish people tells us the problem was already there, in seed form, that early. What we now call supersessionism, or replacement theology — the idea that God is finished with Israel and the church has simply taken its place — was something Paul was already pushing back against in the first century. And his correction was blunt: these people are an integral part of your faith. Do not be arrogant toward them.
Have we heeded that warning across two thousand years of church history? We both had to admit: no, we largely have not.
"Beloved for the fathers' sake"
“As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11:28–29)
“The fathers” here points back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — and to the covenant God made with Abraham all the way back in Genesis, which Scripture repeatedly calls eternal and unconditional. God is a promise-keeping God. His gifts and His calling are not revoked.
I told Tricia I’ve met Christians who feel something like jealousy at the idea that God still holds a relationship with the Jewish people. The old reasoning goes: they rejected Jesus, so God must have rejected them. Paul says the opposite. And Tricia drew out why that should actually be the most comforting thing in the world to a Christian.
How do we Gentiles know we are secure in our relationship with Jesus? We look at Israel. If God could break the eternal, unconditional covenant He made with Abraham — if He has truly cast off the Jewish people — then what confidence does any Christian have that He will keep His relationship with us? None. God’s faithfulness to Israel is the guarantee of His faithfulness to the Church. They stand or fall together.
The mystery, still unfolding
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, ‘There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.’” (Romans 11:25–26)
Notice the words “in part.” The blindness Paul describes is partial, not total, and it is temporary — it lasts “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” This is not a prophecy Paul files away as already fulfilled. For him it is still future. To anyone who says the prophecies have all been accomplished and Israel’s part in the story is finished, Paul would say: not yet.
Christians sometimes ask me how the Jewish people will react when they discover their Messiah is Jesus. My reply: how is the church going to react when it discovers that Jesus is an Orthodox Jew? So whether we know it or not we are connected to the Jewish people through Jesus — the Jew, Israel’s Messiah, our Saviour — so there is simply no way to be separated from them.
The olive tree
This is the image at the heart of the chapter, and Tricia walked us through it carefully.
The olive tree represents Israel. The Jewish people are the natural branches, there because of the covenant God made with Abraham at the very beginning. We Gentiles are the wild branches, grafted in because of our faith in Jesus the Jew. And then comes Paul’s warning: do not boast over the natural branches, because you do not support the root — the root supports you.
A branch has no life apart from the root. We were grafted into the root that is Israel, and if we reject that root we have no life. Paul says it plainly: a wild branch that becomes arrogant can be cut off. That is a serious warning. And when you look honestly at church history, Tricia said, it can feel as though we have spent centuries trying to chop down the very root that holds us up.
Get involved
I’m grateful, as always, to Tricia for a conversation that was both ancient and urgently current. If you want to keep learning, visit CAMERA at camera.org; Tricia sends a short newsletter once or twice a month for Christians who want reliable information about Israel, and you can email her to be added.
And don’t settle for being a bystander or a student of prophecy. God wants you involved in what He is doing in Israel. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. If you can, get on a plane and go — visiting Israel is a tremendous experience and a blessing. And if you can’t go, you can still be part of the work: support Leket Israel, the national food bank and largest food rescue organization in the country, as we feed Israel’s needy.
God bless.