Gifts and callings are without repentance

William Branham often quoted Romans 11:29 in connection with the gifts of the Spirit and the placing of gifts in the Body of Christ:

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

But is this what that passage refers to?

What the Bible teaches

The key to interpreting scripture and it is always worthwhile to look at other versions of the same passage as well:

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.

 In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. 11:29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 11:30 Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, 11:31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 11:32 For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

The “call” of God clearly refers to the election according to which the Jews are beloved. The “gifts” may then be combined with “call” as one idea—“the benefits of God’s call”91—or be taken as a distinct category—“the gifts and the call of God.” The relationship between this paragraph and 9:1–5 suggests that Paul would intend “gifts” to summarize those privileges of Israel that he enumerated in 9:4–5. God’s “call,” then, is probably to be seen as one of the most important of those gifts: “the gifts and especially, among those gifts, the call of God.” The rare word “irrevocable”94 emphasizes the point that Paul made at the beginning of his argument: “The word of God has not failed” (9:6a). However, while this initial statement of God’s faithfulness to his promises was defensive—just because Israel has not believed, “it is not as though” God is not faithful—this second assertion is positive—Israel still has a place in God’s plan because God is faithful. In this way Paul marks the movement of his argument. He began with a defense of God’s word and constancy against a Jewish assumption of assured access to God’s grace (9:6b–29); he ends with a defense of Israel’s continuing privileges on the basis of God’s word against a Gentile assumption of superiority.

 Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, 11:31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 11:32 For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ro 11:30–32.

This verse expresses the abiding commitment of God to all of God’s beloved Jewish people, whether they believe in the gospel or not. It is Paul’s endorsement of the continuing nature of God’s election of Israel, even of those Israelites who have refused to accept the gospel.” In the context of Paul’s statement about Israel’s election in verse 28* both the gifts and the call of God are directed to Israel. The "gifts” refers back to the formal list of Israel’s divinely bestowed attributes in Romans 9:4–5. “Calling” appears here for the only time in Romans and is related to the verb "to call” that was used in connection with Paul’s earlier argument that what God called the “the seed of Abraham” came through Isaac and thus constitutes the children of promise (9:7*, 11*, 24*, 25*, 26*). Although in other contexts Paul employs this noun in reference to the calling of Gentile and Jewish believers (Phil 3:14*; 2 Thess 1:11*), it is likely that God’s specific election of Israel is intended here.

"Without repentance" is translated in newer versions as “irrevocable” but the basic meaning is “without regret,” as in 2 Cor 7:10, the only other use place where this term is used in either the Old or New Testament: “repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret.” The classical parallels are mostly personal rather than judicial, as, for example, Aesop, “but his coming was without regret” (τοῦ δὲ ἀμεταμελήτως ἐλθόντος, Fabulae 83.2.6) or Plato, “of a deed done without regret”. In Romans 11:1* whether God has “rejected his people,” and reaffirms the continued status of “beloved [by God] on account of the fathers” in 11:28*. That the God of biblical faith was in fact frequently depicted as changing his mind provides the background for this denial that she had done so with regard to Israel’s distinctive gifts and calling. Although God was free to withdraw such privileges, while humans often come to regret and then to renege on their gifts and commitments, God’s faithfulness remains firm. In the end, despite the current rejection of the divinely designated Messiah by a large portion of Israel, the divine gifts and calling will achieve their intended purpose of salvation.

Robert Jewett and Roy David Kotansky, Romans: A Commentary, ed. Eldon Jay Epp, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2006), 708–709.

Quotes of William Branham

After that, why, I thought, "If I could only get where these two main men was that spoke in tongues and interpreted!" That was burning me up in my heart, I wanted it so bad. Well, as I've told you at the beginning, a little gift that you pull over. You know, gifts and callings are without repentance, you have them all your life, see, you're born with them, if they're gifts of God. So I always, since a little bitty baby, it always happened to me, people who knows me all my life, they know that's true. Well, if I thought… I didn't know what it was then, and call it a vision, I just didn't know what it was. But I thought, "If I could ever talk to them!" Well, and the spirit that was in the building felt like it's really the Spirit of God.

A gift of God is some way you have of getting yourself out of the way. And gifts and callings are the predestination of God. "Gifts and callings are even without repentance." You are born with it. A little gear that you pull yourself over in, but you cannot step on the pedal. See? God has to operate it. You have to get yourself out of the way. 206 Your faith can operate it, not mine; yours. Mine just takes it out of the way. You believe with all your heart that Jesus Christ lives today.

Now, I am not He, but I am His servant. I do not believe that you lay hands on people and give them gifts. "Gifts and callings are without repentance." They are predestinated, of God, to meet the age and the time of that age. Any Bible student knows that's the truth. Moses was born just in time. Jeremiah, in time, all the rest of them. John the Baptist, in time. Jesus was in time. And we're in time. This is what is supposed to happen.

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