NOTES for Rom 11:20-21
The path by which Israel, the chosen people of God, walks is difficult. Often it is a path against the "goads," to quote the Lord's words to Paul himself, a path of resistance to God's will. The apostle has already said much about this in this epistle, and his pain for his kinsmen according to the flesh, for his brothers and sisters, is very great. And yet, speaking about the reasons that led to Israel's falling away from God, Paul insistently reminds us: they fell away, but God did not take away their election; God calls them, and Christ died for them too. More than that, it is very important for the apostle to convey to the Roman community, and through them to all other Christians converted from the Gentiles, an essential warning: to remember the fate of those who fell away from God and draw the corresponding conclusions from it. The most important thing from which he wants to protect the newborn Church is the sickness of self-exaltation.
Our personal meeting with the Lord is always an enormous gift. At first we walk stunned by the grace unexpectedly received. I think all of us remember the happiness of realizing divine love and forgiveness on the one hand, and the undeservedness of this gift, our unworthiness, on the other. But a person is so made that he easily and joyfully remembers the first and just as easily forgets the second. And looking at our brothers and sisters who for one reason or another turn away from God and fall away from the church, one wants to say to oneself: well, this will not happen to me, it cannot happen. And here it is, the message to us from the apostle Paul: "They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be proud, but fear." Do not look at your brother's path; "before his own Lord he stands or falls" (Rom 14:4Rom. 14:4), he has his own relationship with God, and God's design for each of us is completely unique. Look to yourself, watch yourself, and fear falling away from Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.