“Consigned To Disobedience”
Text: Romans 11:1-32
8-20-2023
In the name of Him who has shown mercy to our undeserving souls, dear friends in Christ. Today is one of those days where I really wish we all spoke and understood the Greek language. The reason why is because it would save us a lot of time in studying our text from the Epistle Lesson. Normally, I can give you a simple definition of the Greek words that are behind the translation so you get the true meaning. But in this passage, there are a couple of them that require a lengthier explanation in order to coax out the richer sense of the word. And that’s no trivial thing, especially not with the text before us. So, bear with me and listen closely so that we can get at the meat of what St. Paul is trying to teach us.
What really concerned me was the English wording of the last verse because it’s ripe for misinterpretation. Verse 32 says, “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that He may have mercy on all.” I’m not trying to second-guess the translators or be nitpicky, but that word “consign” isn’t very helpful. In their defense, it takes a longer explanation to get at the full meaning. First, though, we need to get rid of our wrong definitions. You see, when we hear that God “consigned all to disobedience” we may be tempted to think that God somehow “assigned” or “predestined” sinners to be disobedient. That’s not what consigned means here. Nor does it mean that God gave up on them and took them to a “consignment” store where they could be sold off. And the redneck dictionary definition for it is wrong too: “Did the con sign the papers for his release from jail?” Clever, but still incorrect.
The Greek word there literally means to “enclose or shut in together, someone or something.” Actually, if we look at how it’s used in Luke 5:6 we’ll get a clearer example of its root meaning. The disciples were out fishing and this word is used to describe how the net “enclosed a large number of fish.” Do you get the picture? Well, that’s what Paul is saying in verse 32 of our text, however he’s not referring to fish. He’s saying that both Jews and Gentiles, that is: all human beings, are caught up in the net of disobedience towards God. And Paul is trying to make the point that it doesn’t matter how you got there, the end result is the same. If you rebel against God and reject His mercy which is given through Jesus Christ, you are enclosed in that net of disobedience. The end result for everyone who is caught in that net will be eternal damnation in hell.
In the previous chapters of Romans, the apostle Paul has been explaining how the Jews swerved into the ditch of believing that they could work out their own salvation through their religious activities. Therefore, they had no need for Jesus and His righteousness which was made available to them through by faith. So, even though God had made an irrevocable promise to Abraham and his descendants, some of those offspring, not God, had revoked the promise. God had chosen them by grace to be His people and would never reject them. But they had rejected Jesus and in doing so, they were disobedient to God’s invitation call to receive mercy. This persistent and stubborn disobedience cut them off from God’s grace and doomed them for hell.
You see, the plan went like this: God chose Israel purely by grace with no merit of their own. And He showed them mercy by forgiving their sins and blessing them. Israel, then, was supposed to be a beacon to the rest of the world, showing other people God’s kindness and love. This was intended to attract those outsiders to also trust in God. The problem was that the Jews had interrupted the flow of that plan by refusing to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. But you can’t stop God or thwart His plans. In response to their disobedience and rejection, He bypassed Israel and sent the message of salvation directly to the Gentiles through the apostles. The Gentiles were ecstatic about that. But Paul had to warn them to not become arrogant or conceited about their call to receive God’s grace and mercy. It would be easy for them to start thinking that this made them better than the Jews who had been disobedient. After all, they hadn’t rejected God’s call to mercy. No, they happily obeyed and believed. Ah, but they had forgotten what they used to be. Paul reminds them that at one time they too had been disobedient and cut off from God’s mercy. In that condition, both Jew and Gentile were “consigned” or caught together in the same net of disobedience.
And here’s where we need to pause and tackle another Greek word. I’ve been using the word disobedience as it appears in the text. That’s not a bad translation, but here again there is a richer meaning behind it. The root word is the same one where we get our word “apathy” from. But it’s more than just a lazy, not giving a rip, attitude. Actually, that Greek word is closely related to the one for “unbelief.” Now we’re getting closer to the mark. For any person who has received God’s gracious invitation, the greatest act of disobedience is the refusal to believe in God’s promises of grace through Jesus. That’s something the Gentiles had done in their previous days of unbelief. So, they should be sympathetic rather than arrogant towards the Jews, because they too had once been consigned or caught up in that net of unbelieving disobedience. Had God consigned them there so that they could all be condemned and destroyed by His wrath? No. Rather, so that they could all be shown mercy.
It was an ironic twist. The Jews were supposed to be the attracting beacon for the Gentiles. But due to the Jews’ rejection of God’s plan of salvation, the Gentiles were given the Gospel. Not only so that they could be saved. They were now going to be used by God as a beacon to attract the Jews back into the faith. Seeing the blessings being showered on the Gentiles, the Jews were allowed to see what they had lost. It was intended to make them jealous to want to get it back again. All of this was nothing but sheer mercy on God’s part. He never gave up on delivering His grace to the Gentiles, and He never gave up on doing the same for the Jews who had fallen away. He masterfully used the circumstances of each group in order to reach the other.
And now, here’s how this applies to you and me. Some believers have fallen for the trap of incorrectly defining what St. Paul says here. The thinking goes like this: Since God has “consigned” me to disobedience then I have no choice in the matter and therefore my sinfulness is His fault. If so, then I may as well go out and enjoy my sinning. We shake our heads when the radical homosexuals try this, don’t we? They try to justify their perversion by blaming God for supposedly creating them this way. But are we any different? Even though God created us with heterosexual desires, that doesn’t give us a license to let them run wild and uncontrolled. And if it’s not your sexuality, then just pick your favorite, pet sin and consider how you use this same argument to justify it.
Rather than provide us with a way to excuse our sinful behavior, God has caught us all up together. Yes, that vile sinner over there is caught in the same net of disobedience as you. And that’s no small matter because as we’ve seen, that disobedience is a lack of trust and faith in God on our part. That unfaithfulness leads to being cut off from God’s grace and mercy which can only lead to eternal destruction in hell. But God has consigned us all to this net of disobedience so that He could show us mercy. And He has! Like the Jews, God has chosen you to be His child. In the holy waters of Baptism, He made you an irrevocable promise to love and forgive you. Even though God will never go back on His promises, at times we do! At times we reject and walk away from the free gift of His grace. In response, what does God do? Does He cut us off eternally from His loving grace and consign us to hell? No. Since His promise is irrevocable, He calls us to repentance so that we can be shown mercy again and again.
And the lesson from St. Paul is this: Having received God’s mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, we ought not be arrogant about the sinners and unbelievers around us. We were once caught up in that same net of disobedience. But we have been led to repent and be forgiven by God. Now, God’s plan is to use us as His beacons to our sinful world. He showers us with His love and forgiveness so that those outside the Church will be attracted to His loving kindness. By it, He also intends to reignite the faith of those inactive members of our church who have wandered away from Him. As God continues to grant us His forgiving grace, He uses us to create a jealous desire within those who have drifted from their faith. Being forgiven and redeemed by the blood of Christ fills us with a joy that emanates for all to see. God had consigned us to disobedience so that we may receive His mercy. And all who have received His mercy are now consigned for eternal life in heaven. May our loving Lord keep us ever in the one true faith, and may He use our lives then as beacons of mercy to all sinners. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!