He will never stop loving the elect.
Exactly. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the fathers of the elect.
God does not have two people, one in the body of Christ and one outside the body of Christ.
I never said he did. You and I read the passage and what Paul is saying in almost the same way, except that you
change what Paul says in verse 28 to:
"As concerning the gospel, they (those who have been broken off through their unbelief) are enemies for your sakes: but
as concerning the election, YOU are beloved for the father's sakes."
But that's not what Paul wrote.
This is what he wrote:
As concerning the gospel, they (those who have been broken off through their unbelief) are enemies for your sakes: but as concerning the election,
THEY are beloved for the father's sakes.
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
God still
loves them because
HE remembers His election of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and His covenant with Abraham. Though they are unfaithful, yet God is faithful.
THEREFORE,
They also,
if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in
again. For as all of you in times 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 has concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Questions: Did Joseph continue to love his brothers in all the time he was estranged from them, or not?
Did Joseph weep so loud when the reconciliation came that the whole house of Pharaoh heard his loud sobs, or not?
Did Paul say that he could wish that he would become accursed from Christ
for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, or not?
And did he say that he had
great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for those who had been broken off, or not?
Did he call them those
"who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises", or not?
Did he refer to them as those
"WHOSE ARE THE FATHERS, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.", or not?
So what do you think Paul means when he says,
As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes:
but as concerning the election, they are beloved FOR THE FATHER'S SAKES. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Paul is telling you that those who have been broken off are still
BELOVED of God for the sake of the fathers - because
though they have been unfaithful, yet God is faithful.
What's wrong with Christ caring about and LOVING His lost sheep of Israel
and wanting nothing more than for them ALL to be grafted back in again?
We can glean from scripture in the account of Joseph and in many other accounts, as well as in what Paul said about the continual pain and sorrow in his heart because of Jews being cut off how God feels about it, how Jesus feels about it.
He who was born a Jew, of a Jewish woman in a Jewish family in a Jewish town in a Jewish community in a Jewish homeland. How do you think
HE feels about the fact that most of His kinsmen according to the flesh are cut off?
As concerning the gospel, THEY are enemies for your sakes: but as concerning THE ELECTION, they are beloved for THE FATHER'S sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
"who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. WHOSE ARE THE FATHERS, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."
IMO Romans 11 is misread alike by all who believe there are two Israel's, as well as by nearly all who know there is only one Israel - the latter misread it because they either fail to see. or
see but fail to fully grasp the meaning of the words
"BELOVED FOR THE FATHER'S SAKES. FOR THE GIFTS AND THE CALLING OF GOD ARE WITHOUT REPENTANCE.
I agree, it's not complicated if you understand the faithfulness of God and understand that God's faithfulness is not nullified by their unfaithfulness:
".. to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.
WHOSE ARE THE FATHERS, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.".
Christ is not done yet. He's coming back, you know?