No Regrets. thoughts on Romans 11:29

… for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

(Romans 11:29)

When I read “irrevocable” I am struck by the non-emotional juridical nature of what is expressed. It is similar to the proclamation of God’s covenantal faithfulness. His reliability is celebrated throughout the sacred text. These declarations abound through the whole of Scripture: “God is just. God is righteous. He keeps His word. He is faithful to His covenant.”

To “revoke” means to “end the validity or operation of a decree, decision, or promise.” ^[1]  When something is irrevocable it is “unalterable”, ^[2] “not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered.” ^[3]

Usually, “irrevocable” is used to describe a formal decision, official or personal. It is a word conveying contractual commitment. You can’t cancel something that is irrevocable. You can’t send it back and get your money returned.

I appreciate the work of practically every modern translator of Romans 11:29. They write, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” [4] The non-revocable nature of God’s gifts together with the Jewish people’s irreversible calling is part of Paul’s concluding argument. Yet, it is not a precise translation. Rather, it is an unspoken corollary to what Paul was actually saying. It is true, but not exactly what Paul was trying to convey. What the apostle was teaching was much more personal than this.

The Greek word ametameleta means “without regret, without remorse”.[5] We find the root seven other times in the New Testament. We discover the first two in Jesus’ confrontation with religious leaders in Matthew 21.

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’  ²⁹ “And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. … ³² “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him. (Matthew 21:28-29,32)

Matthew also used this word to describe Judas Iscariot’s emotional turmoil.

Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, (Matthew 27:3)

In 2 Corinthians there’s a section where the root of this word is used twice and the exact word, once:

For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it– for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while–  ⁹ I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.  ¹⁰ For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:8-10 )

These verses clearly show that there is an emotional component to this word. This is true of humanity, but is it true of God? Hebrews 7 has a description of God’s determined, covenantal, steadfast emotional life:

(for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, “THE LORD HAS SWORN AND WILL NOT CHANGE HIS MIND, ‘YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ‘”) (Hebrews 7:21b)

God established an eternal priesthood through the equivalent of a sacred oath. This quotation from the Septuagint employs the word used to describe Israel’s “irrevocable” gifts and calling. He will not go back on His covenant. He will not repent of, or regret, His purposes.

Quickly, take a look at three verses where this word is used in the Septuagint.

And Samuel did not see Saul again till the day of his death, for Samuel mourned after Saul, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. (1 Samuel 15:35 LXE)

And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord saw, and repented for the evil, and said to the angel that was destroying, Let it suffice thee; withhold thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing-floor of Orna the Jebusite. (1 Chronicles 21:15 LXE)

And he remembered his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercy. (Psalm 106:45 LXE)

We just looked through some of the uses of ametameleta. In using this word Paul was trying to convey this: In spite of everything, despite majority Israel rejecting His Son and spurning His love, God is NOT SORRY He gifted and called Israel. He is not sorry for the gifts He gave (Romans 9:4-5), He does not regret calling Israel. In this section Paul was not revealing the judgments of God. He was opening up something about God’s love for Israel. This word conveys an emotion.

Here is a paraphrase that tries to give the sense.

… Concerning God’s choosing Israel as a people, although they are enemies, they are still deeply loved for the sake of the patriarchs; He does not sorrowfully regret the gifts He has given them or calling them to Himself and His service. God has not rejected His people. (Heavily paraphrased Romans 11:28-29: 11:1,2)

Do we believe that God delights in, and will eternally uphold, the glorified Messiah’s everlasting priesthood? If so, apply the same emotional sense to His relationship to Israel.

Despite everything that God has gone through in His love-relationship to Israel, the unfulfilled desire, jealousy, hurt, anger, He does not regret lavishing His gifts upon them. Neither does God remorsefully repent of calling them. They are that valuable to Him. He loves Israel and the Jewish people people and because of the strength of that great love their gifts and calling are irrevocable.