How can the Jews be enemies for the sake of the Gentile Christians yet at the same time be counted as beloved as regards election?

There is no salvation apart from the Messiah and without faith in him. Through God’s mercy and in his time even a hardened Israel can be softened, for, as regards election, [the Israelites] are beloved for the sake of their forefathers (Romans 11:28). God chose Abraham and because of the election of the patriarchs he continues to love their descendants. This remains true, even if the Israelites have become enemies of God because of the gospel. They crucified the Son of God and they persecute his apostles. The fact that the gospel searches out the Gentiles fills the Jews with irritation and aversion, and they consequently harden themselves because of the Gentile Christians. God’s love for the nations, apparent from the gospel, turns them into his opponents and enemies.

The ESV renders Romans 11:28a as As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. This can be misinterpreted, as it creates the impression that their enmity was necessary as a means of achieving the goal of the mission among the Gentiles. The Greek, however, is not structured with a specific goal in mind. Romans 11:28a has the same structure as Romans 11:28b and for this reason it would perhaps be better to render Romans 11:28a as providing a reason for what is stated in Romans 11:28b: They have become God’s enemies because the gospel is being preached among you.

Cranfield¹ and others propose a passive interpretation of the word enemies, which would imply that Paul is saying that God himself now regards the Jews as his enemies. But this is difficult to reconcile with the fact that he also calls them “beloved" in Romans 11:28b. It is therefore more plausible that, for the sake of clarifying his intention, he employs a sentence with a chiastic structure: Those who, because of the Gentile Christians, become enemies of Christ’s church on account of the gospel, are still nonetheless, for the sake of the patriarchs, considered beloved by God. The hostile hardening of a part of Israel does not put an end to God’s faithful love for the descendants of the patriarchs.²