ROMANS UNWRAPPED 189

"For as YE in time past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through THEIR unbelief: even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy THEY  also may obtain mercy.   For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." 
                                                                                                                                  Romans 11v30-32

"MERCY UPON ALL".   This is the glorious climax to the gospel.   We human beings are utterly dependent on the mercy of God; there is no blessing without it.   There is nothing of human merit, or achievement, it is all on the mercy of God, which has now been dispensed to everyone who will receive it.   The difficulty posed by the "All"  here is removed when we understand, as we should do, that Paul is speaking here, not of individual salvation, but of God's dealings with two groups of people namely Jews and Gentiles.   This is abundantly clear with the use of "Ye" and "They."   God has offered mercy to both Jew and Gentile equally.   There is no concept here of universal salvation, simply that God offers mercy to all who will receive it.  

Paul has just explained that God's gifts and calling are IRREVOCABLE.   This is so because God is perfect, He is Omniscient, He knows the end from the beginning, He makes no bad judgements.   We speak of "the benefit of hindsight,"  which if we possessed, we would have perfect vision.   God requires no hindsight because He has perfect foresight, He makes no mistakes.   Paul's exposition here is to magnify God, and to make us feel small in His presence, who acts in perfect judgement in everything He does.   His standard is beyond us all, which is why we are cast upon His mercy if we would have a relationship with Him, which is what the epistle is all about.   Contained in the above verses is the fact that God has designed all of history to display the glory of His integrity and the wonder of His mercy to all mankind.   The word here for "unbelief" is better understood as "disobedience."   This has been Paul's theme from the very beginning, indeed he begins and ends the epistle on the same note; that faith in God is obedience to God; that no faith in God is disobedience to God.   Romans 1v5; Romans 16v26.   There he speaks of "the obedience of faith."   Faith is obedience, anything else is disobedience.   Until we understand the truth of this, we will not understand the need for Divine mercy.  

In these verses he speaks of four things:

• Gentile disobedience.
• Divine mercy on Gentiles.
• Jewish disobedience.
• Divine mercy on Jews.

All four of these facts are well documented in Holy Scripture.   Acts 14v16-17   "Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.   Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."   In the same chapter in verse 27 the record shows the mercy of God to Gentiles who had walked in their own ways  "And when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles."   Acts 14v27.   Jewish disobedience has been well covered in this epistle.   In a sense Jewish disobedience was worse than that of the Gentiles, because they sinned against light and privilege, and ended up crucifying their own Messiah, the greatest act of sin that has ever been perpetrated.   Paul says in Galatians 3v22-23  "The scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of  Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.   But before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed."

This brings us to the amazing climax "God has concluded them all in unbelief (disobedience) that He might have mercy upon all.   The word for "concluded" is "shut up together."   It means enclosed, put fences around, corralled.   The word is used in Luke 5v6 to describe a fishing net enclosing a multitude of fishes.   This word shows the awesome power of God, which is what Paul wishes to convey here.   The God who can take a group like the Jews, and shut them up to a certain way of dealing, then do the same with Gentiles (all nations of the earth apart from Jews), and do this over vast periods of time, is a God to be held by all of us in supreme awe.   That this same God, who can act with us as he will and when he will, at the same time will offer to all of us His mercy, demands our attention; demands our repentance; demands our humility; demands that we cast ourselves upon Him for His mercy.