11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
— Romans 11:11-32, ESV

The Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has become a staple in our country.  You can find one in virtually every government agency, the vast majority of colleges and universities, and in many corporations.  The intentions are good.  We ought to discourage the kind of homogeneity that leads to racial prejudice, ensure equal opportunity and benefits for all races and classes, and find ways to include those who have been otherwise marginalized in our society.  

A backlash is beginning to occur, however, as the outcomes of DEI have proven to be not as kind as its intentions.  Bloated bureaucracies have created an enormous waste of resources.  Faulty philosophies like critical race theory and intersectionality have pitted people against one another rather than uniting race and class.  Different kinds of reverse discrimination have often been the outcome.

There is no doubt that our country needed a civil rights movement, a push for affirmative action, laws guaranteeing equal employment opportunity, and even DEI to a degree to right two centuries of racial wrongs.  But when any race is favored at the unfair expense of another race, it is still racism any way you look at it.  

Surely the kingdom of God is free from any type of racism, isn’t it?  Not so fast, my friend.  God has always favored one race over another.  Yet at the same time, He has done so to promote diversity among His people, equal opportunity to call upon the name of the Lord, and the inclusion of the vilest of sinners into the saved group of saints who will live with Him forever.  

Like most of God’s word, virtually all of the book of Romans, and especially this long and winding text, the subject at hand is salvation.  It tells of how “God so loved the world” that He has saved people from all over the world (ref. John 3:16).  God has done so using His own DEI program, favoring all races by focusing on one race at a time, the Jews in the Old Covenant and the Gentiles in the New Covenant.  

God favored the Jews over the Gentiles, so that the Gentiles might look to the Jews for salvation from God.

Adam and Noah notwithstanding, God made His first major covenant of salvation with a cat named Abram.  By grace God called Abraham, in faith Abram followed God, and the original recipient of the Old Covenant became Father Abraham.  The year was near 2000 BC.

God made Abraham three promises.  Number one, God promised Abraham salvation by grace through faith in God.  Number two, God promised that Abraham’s descendants, Abraham’s family and race of people, the Jews (so called after Abraham’s great-grandson Judah), could be saved by grace through faith in this Old Covenant.  Number three, a specific descendant of Abraham and Judah would be the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior, not only of the Jews, but of the whole world.

So before Paul, the book of Romans, and the New Testament, God favored one race for two thousand years.  From Abraham to Jesus, God shed His grace on the Jewish people, the nation of Israel.  But at the same time, God commended and commanded diversity, equity, and inclusion from Israel.  

The Old Testament Jews were to so live and worship YHWH that people of other races and nations would want to know and love this one, true, and living God.  One of the greatest expressions of this was uttered by the prophet Zechariah.  The Jews were to live so as,

“Men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’” (ref. Zechariah 8:23).

Some days they did, some days they didn’t.  Then the day came for that third promise to be fulfilled.  Two thousand years after Abraham, Jesus Christ was born, lived, died, rose again, and gave us the New Covenant.  

God favored the Gentiles over the Jews, so that the Jews might look to the Gentiles for salvation from God.

Since the first coming of Christ, for two thousand years now, God has favored one class of people called “the Gentiles.”  Gentiles are diverse, encompassing all races except the Jews.  Gentiles have equity of opportunity, for the most part, to call upon the name of the Lord.  Gentiles are inclusive, accepting all into the New Testament church, who repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are a DEI people!

Paul points out two truths to Gentile Christians in this part of the text, and third one in the next.    

Number one, Israel’s “trespass” (a serious sin or mistake) was their by and large rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah; therefore, the door was opened wide for “salvation [to] come to the Gentiles.”  You will remember this was Paul’s missionary motif, rejection from Jews which opened the door for Gentiles.  For two millennium now, Gentiles can come in to a personal and corporate relationship with God, not through Israel, but through Christ and His church.  However, a Gentile church must always leave the door open for Jews to come in.

Number two, no Gentile who professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved unless they “stand fast through faith” and “continue in His [God’s] kindness [grace].”  In other words, perseverance is the only possible proof that a person possesses saving faith in Jesus.  Any presentation of the faith that does not put repentance on the front end and perseverance on the back end is not a true presentation of the gospel and can lead to false professions of faith.

Number three, which will require some elaboration from the ensuing paragraph, is there is only one “olive tree,” called by two names, which is the ultimate “mystery” of God.

God favors Jews and Gentiles and forms them into one kingdom where all of the citizens are saved.

Archbishop Ussher, the seventeenth century Irish scholar who was the first to venture dating the Bible, considered there were two thousand years from the days of Adam to the days of Abraham.  We know there were two thousand years between the days of Abraham to the days of Jesus, Peter, and Paul.  We further understand two thousand years have passed since then.

Consider this passage of Scripture as we prepare to look at the last paragraph of out text at hand:

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
— 2 Peter 3:8-10

It seems as if we have walked through six days of human history, two from creation to Old Covenant, two from Old Covenant to New Covenant, two in the New Covenant.  Perhaps the seventh day will signify “the day of the Lord,” which is in this context the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

This is also the context of vs. 25-32.  The day will soon conclude when the “partial hardening” of the Jews will be over and “the fullness of the Gentiles will come in.”  On this day, “All Israel will be saved.”  What day?  The day when “the Deliverer will come,” the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

On that day all sins of all the saved will be dead and buried, “I will take away their sins,” says the Lord.  On that day “the gospel” will be complete and God’s “elect” will be gathered.  On that day God will “have mercy on all,” all of the saved Jews and saved Gentiles who have passed through the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, God’s very own diversity, equity, and inclusion program.

I cannot be certain of any date.  No man can (ref. Matthew 24:36).  But I do know “All Israel” cannot be limited to Jews, because most Jews have not been saved by grace through faith in Christ.  I do know “All Israel” cannot exclude the Gentiles, for multitudes of Gentiles have been saved by grace through faith in Christ in the last two thousand years.  I believe “All Israel” is the “mystery” of “the gospel,” that God’s people are one olive tree.  Call them Israel, call them the church, call them both (ref. Galatians 6:6), but one day God is coming for the tree, and when He does, you want to be one of the branches!

So let us love everyone, with great diversity.  Witness to everyone, that all may have opportunity.  Include everyone, who repents and believes the gospel, into the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Be a part of God’s DEI program!