What does Romans 11:11 mean?
This verse begins a new section. Paul is answering the question, "why?" Why would God cause most Israelites to be hardened to faith in Christ and, in that way, to miss out on God's righteousness?Paul asks if God caused them to stumble over Christ, the stumbling stone (Romans 9:32–33) in order to make them fall down. In other words, Paul asks if God caused Israel to be tripped up in order that they might permanently fall—never to rise again. Was that what God wanted for Israel? Paul answers his own question once more with a rousing "By no means!"
Instead, God has two purposes for Israel's stumbling over Christ by refusing to believe in Him. First, Israel's trespass, or sin, made it possible for salvation to come to the Gentiles. That sin was a refusal, on a national level, to obey the gospel of faith in Jesus (Romans 10:16). When Israel rejected Christ, God used that rejection to make His offer of salvation by grace through faith in Christ available to all people.
God's second purpose, though, was to make Israel jealous. Paul introduced this idea in Romans 10:19. God plans to use this—jealousy of a close relationship with God enjoyed by Gentiles—to provoke many Jewish people to eventually come to Him, as well, also through faith in Christ.