Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against Him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so He could have mercy on everyone.
Romans 11:30-32
You were rebels, the Jews rebelled and you received mercy. They rebelled and God’s mercy comes to you, so that they might share in the mercy as well. The end result for all is MERCY. Wow what a deal! Everyone ends up on the mercy side.
God has imprisoned / handed over everyone to disobedience so that He could have mercy on them all. Mercy mercy mercy. No matter which way you look at it the ledger comes out on MERCY. This passage seems a little repetitive doesn’t it? Come on Paul, in three verses you have mentioned mercy 4 times. Isn’t that a little over the top?
Paul never wastes words nor is repetitive for the sake of being repetitive. He wants to hammer home the mercy theme. Remember his mercy theme in Chapter 9:14-18? There is a delicate balance in God between hardening and mercy. Don’t get caught on the wrong side of the ledger! Remember the lesson of Romans when God gave them over. Where sin abounds grace does so much more abound. That is God’s way. All of this is a summation of Paul’s argument thus far.
One more element of this section requires comment before I leave it. Some see a universalist theme in verse 32. Does it mean that all will be saved? No, not all are saved, Paul has already made that abundantly clear. A remnant are saved. But God will have mercy on all. We all need mercy: Jew first and then the Greek. His long-suffering is mercy. His patience is mercy. His hardening is mercy. But of course when you are to the point of being given over then it is too late.
If you are a recipient of God’s mercy (and you are) bask in it. Then do something about it. Don’t let His mercy to you be in vain. Come running back to Him before it is too late.
The grace of God is the mending glue for broken hearts.
Anon
Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.
Martin Luther King, Jr