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Paul clarifies whether God has rejected his people. In this chapter, Paul points out that not all Jews have rejected God’s message of salvation. There is still a faithful remnant. Paul, himself, was a Jew, as well as Jesus’ disciples and mostly all the early church missionaries. In verse two Paul refers to Elijah’s incident. In I King 18, Elijah takes the challenge to prove the reality of God to the Israelites and to the Baal’s worshippers. Both sides build their individual altars. The Baal’s worshippers shouted and called on their god, but nothing happened. Elijah called on God for him to prove himself. Right after this request, God sends lightning from heaven and totally obliterates the alter thus proving himself. Paul uses this incident to give vivid evidence of God’s presence among his people.

Romans 11:1-2
11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: