Most Jews are lost because of the hardening of the non-elect among them. In Romans 11:7 Paul again returns to the perspective of the Gentile Christians: What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.
The Gentile Christians not only miss the people from which the Messiah sprang but are in fact themselves opposed to that people. Paul has already discussed this topic in great detail in Romans 9:1–33 and Romans 10:1–21 and now proceeds to summarize it with a conclusion, on the basis of which he will then later discuss the position and calling of the Gentile Christians themselves (in Romans 11:13–36). Paul therefore here merely summarizes what he had already thoroughly explained concerning the nature of the hardening of the Jewish people towards the Messiah (Romans 9:2–3, Romans 9:6–8, Romans 9:21–33, Romans 10:2–4, Romans 10:16–21). In his summary here he also takes into account what he had just written in Romans 11:1–6, however, namely that there is only a remnant by virtue of God’s election. This is a reality which the Gentile Christians can now witness with their own eyes, even in the city of Rome itself.1
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,