Are all sinners redeemable?
Paul notes that God rejected Israel ‘for a time’ in order to make her jealous. However, he specifically makes the point that God was not, in doing this, permanently rejecting Israel: far from it.
Mirroring God’s attitude, Paul says to the Romans [Berean Study Bible at biblehub.com], “I am speaking to you Gentiles ... in the hope that I may provoke my own people [Paul was a Jew] to jealousy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead [a kind of resurrection]?”
Then he continues:
Now
if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot have been
grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root [that’s
Israel], do not boast over those
branches. If you do, remember this: you
do not support the root, but the root supports you.
You
might say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in’.
That is correct: they were broken off because of unbelief [literally,
‘unfaith’], but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural
branches, He will not spare you either.
Take
notice therefore of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who
fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also
will be cut off. And if they [Israel]
do not persist in unfaith, they will be
grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
If
you were cut off from a wild olive tree and, contrary to nature, were grafted
into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural
branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
And to reiterate!:
I
do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: a hardening in part has come to
Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And thus all Israel will be saved.
Paul draws this from his own tradition’s scriptures – in the prophets:
The
Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take
away their sins. [Referencing Isaiah
59 and 27]
So...this tells me there is another very highly dangerous sin that – apparently – is impossible to come back from: conceited arrogance as to superiority – “I’m better than you and you’d better believe it”. In other words: hubris.
But just why is it impossible to come back from it? Here is another critically important truth:
Repentance is not simply a thing we can conjure up by ourselves, at will, when we feel like it, when we are hard-pressed to experience God’s mercy and kindness.
That might be remorse, but it’s not repentance; Paul calls it ‘presuming upon the kindness and forbearance of God.’ Isaiah calls it an improper fast (see his chapter 58).
Consider these scriptures [from the Berean Study Bible at biblehub.com]:
Acts 5:29-32 – “But Peter and the other apostles replied, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him’.”
Acts 11:15-18 [Peter again] – “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as He had come upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, as He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift as He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God? When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life’.”
2 Timothy 2:23-26 [Paul to his apprentice Timothy] – “But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling. And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing. He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.”
Romans 2:3-4 – “...when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?”
2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slow to fulfil His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.”
God leads sinners to repentance; it is a grace gift. Blogger Burk Parsons [https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/gift-repentance/] wisely notes, “Just as our righteousness is a foreign, or “alien,” righteousness from Christ (you’ll find that clearly in Paul’s letter to the Romans), so is our repentance. It is granted to us by God Himself.”
If we think we can flippantly ‘pick up’ repentance at will, then ‘put it down’ when it’s too inconvenient, God knows – because of what we see in John 2:23-25. The same text that gives us John 3:16, a little earlier notes, “While he[Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the signs He was doing and believed in His name. But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all men. He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.”
It’s rather like the story with the parables: God knows if the heart is right; and repentance will not be granted to one who remains arrogant and self-righteous, presuming upon the kindness and forbearance of God and trying to outsmart or defraud the Holy Spirit.
Coming full-circle to the questions at the beginning: God remains in control; He ‘grants repentance unto eternal life’ to those He knows. And he has made it plain that, if one is privileged to enjoy the fruits of His salvation and spiritual blessings in Christ by being in that sphere of influence and then fall into the trap of hubris and superiority and judgement, He withholds repentance because of the outrageous suffering it inflicts again on His Son Jesus. And without repentance, there is no access to His life. In that sense, salvation can be ‘lost’.
Next: “We have not sinned.”
Self-righteous hubris – which righteousness works?
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