So I ask, Paul continued, God has not rejected his people, has he?  Absolutely not!  For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.  God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew (προέγνω, a form of προγινώσκω)!^[1]  The word προέγνω leads me directly back to Romans 8:28-30 (NET):

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew (προέγνω, a form of προγινώσκω) he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Do you not know (οἴδατε, a form of εἴδω; literally see) what the scripture says about Elijah, Paul continued, how he pleads (ἐντυγχάνει, a form of ἐντυγχάνω) with God against Israel?  “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!”^[4]  To plead against is certainly a valid translation.  But to fully appreciate Paul’s sarcasm I think I must revisit the other two times he used ἐντυγχάνει in Romans, as well as the story when the Lord determined that Elisha would replace Elijah as prophet.

The Spirit helps us in our weakness, Paul wrote, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes (ἐντυγχάνει, a form of ἐντυγχάνω) on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.^[5]  And, Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justifies.  Who is the one who will condemn?  Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding (ἐντυγχάνει, a form of ἐντυγχάνω) for us.^[6]  So I begin to see the contrast that Elijah sounded more like an accuser than an intercessor, Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!

The Lord strengthened and helped Elijah flee from Jezebel for forty days.  But after he had spent the night in a cave at Horeb, the Lord spoke to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”^[7]  I have been absolutely loyal to the Lord, the sovereign God, Elijah answered, even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.  I alone am left and now they want to take my life.^[8]

After a demonstration where Elijah saw that the Lord was not in a mighty wind, an earthquake, or a fire, but a soft whisper,^[9] He gave him another chance to answer the same question, Why are you here, Elijah?^[10]  But Elijah gave exactly the same answer.  So Elijah’s prophetic ministry was close to its end, at least for the time being.  Go back the way you came and then head for the Desert of Damascus, the Lord told him. Go and anoint Hazael king over Syria.  You must anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to take your place as prophet.^[11]

He doesn’t seem to be angry with Elijah.  The Lord simply recognized that Elijah had reached the end of that measure of faith He had distributed to him: For by the grace given to me, Paul wrote the Romans, I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith.^[12]

Elijah thought he had performed the ultimate empirical test before all Israel, proving once and for all, The Lord is the true God!^[13]  He didn’t understand that, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,^[14] the soft whisper rather than the cacophony of wind, earthquake or fire.  But the Lord said to him, I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him.^[15]

But what was the divine response to [Elijah]? Paul continued in Romans, “I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal.”  So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen (ἐκλογὴν, a form of ἐκλογή) by grace.  And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.^[17]  Earlier Paul wrote, when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac – even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election [ἐκλογὴν, a form of ἐκλογή] would stand, not by works but by his calling [καλοῦντος, a form of καλέω] – it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[19]

The word translated calling above, καλοῦντος in Greek, is a form of καλέω, as is ἐκάλεσεν translated called in, And those he predestined, he also called (ἐκάλεσεν, another form of καλέω); and those he called (ἐκάλεσεν, another form of καλέω), he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.^[20]  And Paul described God as the One who makes the dead alive and summons (καλοῦντος, a form of καλέω) the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.^[21]

What then? Paul continued.  Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect (ἐκλογὴ; i.e., ἐκλογὴν χάριτος, those chosen by grace) obtained it.  The rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day.”  And David says, “Let their table become a snare and trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and make their backs bend continually.”^[22]

But why?  Why would God do this to his chosen people?  For this is what the Lord has commanded us, Paul and Barnabas said in Pisidian Antioch, “I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”^[23]  And to the Romans Paul wrote, I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they?  Absolutely not!  But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.^[24]

Even in Acts Luke made it plain, When the Gentiles [in Pisidian Antioch] heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed (τεταγμένοι, a form of τάσσω) for eternal life believed.^[26]  This knowledge that God calls people to salvation “in a certain order” should fill one with hope.  Now if [Israel’s] transgression means riches for the world, Paul continued, and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration (πλήρωμα) bring?^[28]

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, Jesus said, because the patch (πλήρωμα, or filling) will pull away from the garment and the tear will be worse.  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the skins burst and the wine is spilled out and the skins are destroyed.  Instead they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.^[29]  This was Jesus’ answer to a question asked by John the Baptist’s disciples, why Jesus’ disciples did not adhere to their religious norms, and those of the Pharisees.