There is only one covenant which includes a promise to take away the sins of Israel:
"As it is written, "There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." (Romans 11:26b-27).
The above covenant is talking about the promised New Covenant, which is the New Covenant in Christ's blood (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Matthew 26:28).
Just as Paul states that a remnant of Israel remained (part of Israel was not hardened, Romans 11:4-5), so it is written (where the New Covenant promise is given), that God will never cut off ALL the seed of Israel for all that they have done (Jeremiah 31:37).
The Deliverer who took away their sins, was Jesus, BUT:
In Romans 11:7 Paul states that the elect remnant of Israel obtained what Israel was diligently seeking, but the rest were hardened. The rest did not obtain it. This is what Paul means when He says in Romans 11:28-29:
Romans 11:28-29:
"As concerning the gospel, they (the rest who were hardened) are enemies, and this has been to the Gentiles' benefit (because salvation was extended to the Gentiles through the rejection of God's salvation on the part of Israel that was cut off);
but as touching the election, they (the elect remnant of Israel) are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."
Misinterpretation of what Paul stated above, and the insertion into the text of a meaning that is not in the text has brought about the corrupted interpretation taught by many churches, which switches what Paul is saying about the elect remnant of Israel in Romans 11:28-29 being "beloved for the fathers' sakes", to Paul speaking about the hardened part that has been cut off as being "beloved for the father's sakes".
In Romans 11:8 Paul is repeating Jesus' reference to the pattern that had existed throughout the history of Judah:
Uzziah: 10th king of Judah
Isaiah 6
1 In the year that king Uzziah died (740/739 B.C) I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And Yhwh have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
Isaiah 6: Talking about THE REMNANT
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
It was a prophecy about (what was then still) the coming exile of Judah to Babylon (597-587 B.C).
Only a remnant (1/10th) were saved, and only the faithful remnant returned from Babylonian exile 70 years later. The rest had been broken off and remained broken off. Many others remained in Babylon by choice. They had been and remained broken off forever.
Jesus: Talking about the rest of the Jews who were about to be broken off - and referring back to Isaiah's prophecy about those ancient Jews - in order to point out that the same pattern has continued throughout the history of the Jews:
Matthew 13
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.Uzziah: 10th king of Judah
Isaiah 6
1 In the year that king Uzziah died (740/739 B.C) I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And Yhwh have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
Isaiah 6: Talking about THE REMNANT
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
It was a prophecy about (what was then still) the coming exile of Judah to Babylon (597-587 B.C).
Only a remnant (1/10th) were saved, and only the faithful remnant returned from Babylonian exile 70 years later. The rest had been broken off and remained broken off. Many others remained in Babylon by choice. They had been and remained broken off forever.
Jesus: Talking about the rest of the Jews who were about to be broken off - and referring back to Isaiah's prophecy about those ancient Jews - in order to point out that the same pattern has continued throughout the history of the Jews:
Matthew 13
14 And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest
at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them.Jesus to THE REMNANT (in the same passage):
"But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." Matthew 13:16
Paul (talking about the rest who had been broken off):
Romans 11
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Romans 11:1-5 Paul talking about THE REMNANT:
1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Like Jesus, Paul is referring to the same pattern happening throughout Judah's history. He is not prophesying that the rest who were broken off, will return.
In Romans 11:14 Paul nevertheless expresses having hope that he could save some of his fellow-Israelites who have been broken off by causing them to become jealous of his gospel message of salvation which he has been preaching to the Gentiles, and by what he has been saying about part of Israel having been cut off through their unbelief.
In Romans 11:17 Paul tells us that some of the branches of the 'tree' were broken off through their hardening, and that believing Gentiles, like a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the remnant of Israel who were not broken off, and participate in the richness of the olive root.
In verse 18 Paul admonishes and warns Gentile believers not to boast over the branches (who were broken off), and telling them to remember that the Gentile believers do not support the root, but the root supports them;
and in verse 11 he states that Israel / the Jews had not been given over by God to their stumbling with the intent that they should fall, but salvation had come to the Gentiles through their fall, pointing out in verse 12 that "if the fall of them (those who were hardened) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their FULLNESS [pleroma]?"
In Romans 11:25-27 Paul uses the same word expressing "fullness", saying that he "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 FULLNESS [pleroma] 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."
Speaking to the Gentiles who believe in Christ, in Romans 11:22-23 Paul tells the Gentiles that God has shown them kindness and will continue to show them kindness, "provided you continue [epimeno] in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off."
Then Paul says that IF any (citizens of or members of) the hardened part of Israel do not continue [epimeno] in their unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again."
- Gentiles must make sure that they continue in God's kindness.
- Jews - the part of Israel that was broken off through unbelief - must not continue in their unbelief.
Note: If the hardened part of Israel had not been broken off from Israel and if it has not remained broken off, then individual Jews would not need to be grafted back into Israel after repenting from unbelief to faith in Christ.
In verse 32 Paul states that God has consigned ALL (all human beings - Jews and Gentiles, showing NO favoritism) to unbelief, in order that he might have mercy upon all who do not continue in their unbelief.
Romans 11 does not have a future application: The deliverer has already come out of Zion, and has already established the promised new covenant with them, and has already taken away their sins. It's not a prophetic passage. It's talking about what at the time Paul was writing, was (and still is) reality.
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