The Rigged Race
I’d like to start off with a very well-known sports story. Every track and field fan in the ancient Mediterranean world had heard it, rather like every baseball fan has heard “Casey at the Bat.” The story is related in Homer’s Iliad, an epic which all literate people in the Mediterranean world would have been familiar with.
In the race held in honor of Patroklus there are three contestants: Antilochus, Aias, and Odysseus. As the three runners reach the homestretch, Aias is in the lead, with Odysseus on his heels. As they near the finish, Odysseus prays for speed [Illiad 23.769]. The goddess Athene answers his prayer by making his limbs light [Illiad 23.771] and by tripping up Aias [Illiad 23.774] on the manure left by the cows which were sacrificed during the opening ceremonies. Odysseus passes Aias and finishes first. But Aias picks himself up from the manure and finishes ahead of Antilochus. The Apostle Paul accesses this familiar story to talk about the sequence of Jewish and Gentile salvation. Romans 11:11-15.
“Consequently I say, have they tripped up so as to fall? By no means! But through their tripping up, salvation is to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Now if their tripping up is riches for the world, and their defeat is riches for the Gentiles, all the more their completion. Now I speak to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am the emissary to the Gentiles, I magnify my service, if somehow I may provoke my flesh and save some of them. For if their being jettisoned is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be, but life from the dead?”
In the logic of the race, everybody who finishes in front of the pacesetter wins; everybody who finishes behind the pacesetter loses. Just as story of the footrace honoring Patroclus, here in the Book of Romans God interferes. The whole thing is rigged. God trips up the frontrunner and allows the Gentiles to shoot past Israel. The shock will fill Israel with competitive zeal. As a result of God’s interference both contestants will win: the Gentiles will win by finishing ahead of Israel, and Israel will win by finishing as the pacesetter. When the pacesetter crosses the finish line the game is up; Israel’s salvation spells the end of the world. Let’s fill out that scenario from another passage. Romans 9:30-10:4
“What therefore can we say? The Gentiles who weren’t pursuing right-standing have received right-standing, right-standing from faithfulness. But Israel, who pursues the Torah of right-standing did not attain the goal of Torah. Why so? Because not from faithfulness, but from works. They stumbled on the obstacle rock, as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion an obstacle rock, a stumbling stone, but the one trusting him will not be shamed.’ Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on their behalf is salvation. For I testify on their behalf that they do have zeal for God, but it’s not informed. For being ignorant of right-standing from God, they seek to establish their own, not submitting to right-standing from God. For Mashiach is the end of Torah in regard to right-standing for every trusting [Gentile].”
Israel has zeal, but Israel doesn’t know how to run. Israel doesn’t understand that Mashiach has made the Gentiles very competitive runners. Israel supposes synagogue Gentiles are spiritually immature and condescendingly wants to feed them pabulum. Israel supposes that all the Gentiles can manage are a few minimal commandments. The Apostle Paul terms these minimal commandments “works of Torah” or "works" or being “under Torah.” Throughout his writings he battles against “works of Torah.” Israel has misunderstood God’s plan for saving the Gentiles and has substituted a missionary program of their own. That’s how I would understand Romans 10:3-4:
"For being ignorant of right-standing from God, they seek to establish their own, not submitting to right-standing from God. For Mashiach is the end of Torah in regard to right-standing for every trusting [Gentile].”
But Israel’s slipup is not simply a dramatic moment that makes for an exciting story. Israel’s slipup is actually all part of God’s masterplan to buy time for Gentile salvation. Israel’s slipup is God’s doing. Israel’s misstep is another way of speaking of God’s forbearance in delaying his judgment of the Gentiles. Modern readers might not pick up on that, because they’re unfamiliar with the story of the rigged race. But the intended audience would get the hint.
Remember, within the logic of the footrace, when the pacesetter attains the prize, time is up. Anybody not ahead of the pacesetter will be a loser. If Israel crosses the finish line too soon, the Gentiles are lost. God has rigged the plan of salvation in such a way that the maximum number of people get ahead of Israel. Let’s read about that in Romans 11:25-31.
“For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of this mystery, that you should not become wise in your own estimation. Because insensibility in part has come over Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and thus all Israel will be saved. As it is written, ‘The Deliverer shall come out of Zion, he shall turn away transgression from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I remove their sins.’ As regards the good news they are enemies for your sake, but as regards divine choice they are loved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and choice of God are irrevocable. For just as you were once disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy because of their disobedience, so also these now have become disobedient with respect to your mercy, in order that they also may obtain mercy.”
In my understanding the Apostle Paul is teaching Israel is not culpable for failing to see God’s new way for non-Jews to enter his family. Israel is not culpable for failing to see that Jesus has ushered in the world-to-come. God himself has blinded Israel. If anything, Israel’s unique blindness is proof of her unique election. Gentiles can see well enough what God is doing in the world because God has enlightened their eyes in the face of Jesus. Israel doesn’t see anything new is happening because God has blinded his servant.
The big surprise here is the reversal of Jewish and Gentile salvation. Before Mashiach, God’s faithfulness to the Gentiles was dependent on his faithfulness to Israel. For hundreds of years Israel was the only game in town. A non-Jew who desired to worship the true and living God had to become part of Israel. The normal sequence of salvation was “to the Jew first, and also the Greek” [Romans 1:16; 3:29-30 Acts 13:46]. But according to the Apostle Paul, Israel’s salvation has now become strangely dependent on Gentile salvation. The fullness of the Gentiles will come in first, and only then will all Israel be saved. The Apostle Paul calls this unexpected reversal a mystery. Romans 11:25-26.
“For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of this mystery, that you should not become wise in your own estimation. Because insensibility in part has come over Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and thus all Israel will be saved.”
Well, what does the Book of Romans have to do with Seventh-day Adventists? Historically, we’ve been interested in endtime scenarios, but Romans 11 has never grabbed our attention. Where the Book of Revelation [14:7] says, “Fear God and give glory,” that has resonated with us. But where the Book of Romans [11:20] says “Don’t be haughty, but fear” (same Greek vocabulary, by the way), it hasn’t registered.
Seventh-day Adventists have a detailed doctrinal system. We have 28 agreed-upon points which we believe summarize essential Bible teaching, particularly the special truths for the time in which we live. But our 28 fundamentals never so much as drop the name “Israel” or “Jew.” When you think about it, there’s something strange about summarizing the Bible without mentioning Israel. This is like summarizing geology without mentioning rocks, or summarizing medical practice without reference to sick people. It’s not something you'd do by accident. It’s actually quite difficult to do. It requires deliberate avoidance. Seventh-day Adventists have deliberately avoided Israel. Our 28 fundamentals treat the artifacts of Israel: Israel’s book, Israel’s sanctuary, Israel’s ritual, Israel’s diet, Israel’s justice, but they studiously avoid Israel. It’s as if we preferred a museum experience rather than interacting with live people.
Perhaps already in his day the Apostle Paul sensed that the long-awaited ingathering of the Gentiles might threaten the plan of salvation. The Gentiles were responding in droves to the gospel, but many Jews wished to welcome them into the family only under the old rules. Many Jews did not consider Jesus a candidate for mashiach. The Gentiles were turning from the works of darkness and idolatry to the true and living God. The Gentiles were undergoing a miraculous transformation. Israel’s response was limited.It seemed like the Gentiles were beating Israel at her own game. The heathen were out-repenting Israel.
But if Israel should be marginalized by the new majority, how then would God honor his word? After all, God’s word was the story of Israel, the promises were to Israel, the covenant was with Israel, and the true worship belonged to Israel. How would the Gentiles benefit from Israel’s gifts if they disconnected from Israel? A Gentile church operating independently of Israel would be just another new religion. A Gentile church operating independently of Israel wouldn’t be in on the plan of salvation. The very success of the mission threatened to undermine the mission. The Apostle addresses these concerns at the beginning of Romans chapter 11.
“Consequently I say, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I also am an Israelite, of Avraham’s seed, of the tribe of Binyamin. God has not rejected his people, whom he knew in advance.”
The Apostle’s first line of defense is to lay out the similarities between Jesus-confessing Gentiles and Jews who don’t confess Jesus. The Apostle wants to say that Jews who don’t confess Jesus are nevertheless intimately related to Jesus-confessing Gentiles. Even though the Jewish side doesn’t recognize it, both experience the same divine reality, which sets them apart from the heathen world. They’re connected whether they think they are or not.
In Romans 11:2 the Apostle says Israel who does not confess Jesus is foreknown by God. Earlier in Romans 8:29 he had said that the Gentiles are foreknown by God.
In Romans 11:29 the Apostle says Israel who does not confess Jesus is called. Earlier in Romans 9:24 he had said that the Gentiles are called.
In Romans 11:15 the Apostle says Israel who does not confess Jesus experiences reconciliation and life. Earlier in Romans 5:10 he had said that the Gentiles experience reconciliation and life.
In Romans 11:21 the Apostle says God does not spare the natural branches. In Romans 8:32 he had said God did not spare his own son.
The Apostle draws a few of these striking similarities before chapter 11. In Romans 9:4 he says adoption belongs to Israel who does not confess Jesus. Earlier in Romans 8:15-16, 23 he had said the Gentiles receive adoption.
In Romans 9:4 he says the glory belongs to Israel who does not confess Jesus. Earlier in Romans 8:18 he had said the glory is revealed among the Gentiles.
I can’t understand these bold comparisons any other way than that the part of Israel who doesn’t confess Jesus is nevertheless united in God’s eyes with those Jews and Gentiles who do. Israel, including the segment which God has blinded, still has a mission task to perform on behalf of the unredeemed world.
For those who might object that God can no longer gainfully employ his servants who have failed to confess Jesus, the Apostle Paul offers an argument. He argues that the remnant of Jesus-confessing Israel sanctifies the part of Israel which doesn’t confess him. In Romans 11:16 he argues,
“For if the challa is holy, the dough is also. And if the root is holy, the branches are also.”
According to Numbers 15, every batch of dough in the Land of Israel is subject to an offering. The Bible doesn’t spell out the procedure, but Jewish tradition says if the baker pronounces a blessing, pulls off a hunk, and throws it into the fire, God gets a sample of raw dough before it all goes up in smoke. The Bible doesn’t spell out what this offering accomplishes, but Jewish tradition figured God’s hunk of dough sanctifies the rest of the batch. In Romans 11:16 the Apostle Paul is drawing an analogy with sanctification of bread: the small part dedicated to God sanctifies all the rest. Of course, the Apostle Paul proudly counts himself among that remnant which sanctifies all the rest. I would propose that to this day, the minority of Jews who confess Jesus still continue to sanctify the majority who don’t.
I’m not saying that every last Jew who’s ever lived will be saved, any more than I’m saying all Christians will attain final salvation. In the accompanying description of the olive tree, the Apostle Paul talks about Jewish branches being broken off the Israel tree who do not get grafted back in, so there are some exceptions. The word “all” in “all Israel will be saved” refers to Israel as a whole, the totality of Israel, but it does allow for individual exceptions. There are some Jewish individuals who will not be saved, but the Apostle goes ahead anyway and says,
“And thus, all Israel will be saved.”
The Apostle’s next line of defense for Israel’s poor performance relative to the Gentiles is the olive tree metaphor. Romans 11:16-24.
“And if the root is holy, the branches are also. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you who were a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and became a partaker in the rich root of the olive tree, do not brag against the branches! If you brag, it is not you who support the root, the root supports you. You may say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ Very well. They were broken off for lack of faithfulness, but you stand only due to faithfulness. Do not think highly of yourself, rather fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Hence, observe the goodness and severity of God. On those who fell, severity; but on you, the goodness of God. If you continue in his goodness, otherwise you too will be cut off. And these also, if they do not continue in lack of trust, they will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off the naturally wild olive tree and grafted into the cultivated olive tree contrary to nature, how much more will these the natural be grafted into their own olive tree!”
It may be that the force of the Apostles argument hasn’t impacted us because we’ve scrambled the simile and mixed the metaphor. Ellen White construes the olive tree as the old and new Israel.
“The unbelief and malice of the Jews did not turn aside the purpose of God; for a new Israel was grafted into the old olive-tree.”
That’s from Sketches from the Life of Paul page 51. If we’re talking about straight replacement of one entity with another, then the metaphor should have been two trees. The old tree would be uprooted or chopped down, and the new tree would grow in its place. Ellen White’s explanation here overlooks continuity. The point of the Apostle’s illustration is that while a new element has been introduced, branches are grafted in, there’s also continuity: the old tree remains with its root system in place and some of the old branches continue to thrive right alongside the grafted-in branches. Ellen White’s explanation here oversimplifies: it’s not simply a matter of the new replacing the old.
In Acts of the Apostles page 377 Ellen White puts forward an alternative interpretation. This time she construes the olive tree as the remnant. Quote.
“Paul likens the remnant in Israel to a noble olive tree, some of whose branches have been broken off.”
On the same page she further elaborates,
“The true stock of Israel — the remnant who had remained true to the God of their fathers.”
My question here is if the tree is the remnant, then who would the branches represent? It seems incorrect to claim branches are an offshoot of the remnant. Branches should be broken off the tree, not off the remnant! If the olive tree signifies the remnant and its broken-off branches signifies a further offshoot of the remnant, where all of a sudden did “all Israel” go? When the Apostle unpacks the olive tree metaphor, his emphasis is on “all Israel” being saved. But Ellen White’s explanation doesn’t relate to “all Israel.” She focuses on the remnant, but overlooks the fact that the remnant exists for the sake of “all Israel.” She misses the point of the illustration, at least the Apostle’s point.
I think both Ellen White’s alternatives are more in the nature of evasions than literal explanations of what the Apostle is actually saying.The fact that she offers alternatives may indicate she didn’t have a definitive understanding.
Some Christians have suggested the olive tree is Jesus, because there’s a Bible verse that says mashiach is the sucker that grows up from the stump of Yishai [Isaiah 11:1]. Romans 11:24 however, describes believing Gentiles in terms of branches contrary to nature:
“For if you were cut off the naturally wild olive tree and grafted into the cultivated olive tree contrary to nature, how much more will these the natural be grafted into their own olive tree!”
If the olive tree were Jesus, in what sense are Jews naturally part of Jesus and Gentiles contrary to nature? To me at least, the combination of Jesus and the Gentiles seems to go perfectly well together. What would be contrary to nature about Jesus and the Gentiles? Furthermore, Romans 11:18 describes the Gentiles bragging that they support the root.
“If you brag, it is not you who support the root, the root supports you.”
Do any Jesus-confessing Gentiles really brag that they’re the ones who support him? I’ve certainly never heard any bragging of that sort.
Furthermore, if the tree is Jesus and the branches are Gentiles, where all of a sudden has Israel disappeared to? The explicit topic in Romans 11 is Israel. How, when the topic under discussion is Israel, can we leave Israel out of the picture? It’s all very nice to suggest the tree is Jesus, but Jesus just doesn’t fit the bill here.
It’s ironic that the Apostle talks about Israel being blind, but when it comes to understanding his illustrations of the rigged race and the olive tree, it’s Christians who aren't seeing the obvious! It’s not that the illustration of the rigged race and the olive tree are obscure or intellectually challenging. They simply remind us what we don’t wish to hear. We don’t wish to acknowledge our dependence on Israel, to acknowledge our indebtedness to others, or to share the mission. We’d really rather go it alone. Seventh-day Adventist have been pretending that a denomination within Western Christianity can be the endtime remnant of Mother Israel’s seed “those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus” [Revelation 12:17]. Seventh-day Adventists have been fantasizing that we can somehow return to apostolic purity by tweaking Western Christianity. Scripture rebukes us,
“If you brag, it is not you who support the root, the root supports you.”
If we’re willing to face Romans 11 without artifice and evasion, it can transform our identity. It can transform our understanding of our own unique mission task in the plan of salvation. I wish to commend the Thousand Oaks Seventh-day Adventist Church for your vision for Jewish ministry. But frankly speaking, the biggest obstacle to Israel’s salvation is not Israel’s blindness. God can remove Israel’s blindness just as easily as he imposed it. The biggest obstacle to Israel’s salvation is Christian bragging, Christian imperialism, Christian unilateralism, the Christian claim to have a monopoly on cooperation with God. What delays the end is the lack of Christian continuity with Israel. It’s not only Israel that needs provoking. Seventh-day Adventist Christians need provoking too. Until both Israel and the Church cross the finish line nobody gets a prize for winning.
