How’s Your Joy?: A Reflection on Romans 1–11

by Dave Miller

When we walk through the message of Romans, Paul shows us that thankfulness is not merely a pleasant virtue, it is a safeguard. Thankfulness keeps us rooted in grace, grounded in humility, and guarded against the pride that leads both individuals and entire communities into deception. From Romans 1 through 11, Paul exposes a tragic pattern: when God’s people forget His grace, they begin to believe they deserve His blessings, and pride becomes the open door to destruction. But when God’s people remember His mercy with thankfulness, they stand firm in faith and flourish.

Cut Off by Pride, Established by Faith

Paul makes clear that Israel’s failure was not due to a lack of privilege, history, covenant, or revelation. Their failure was rooted in pride. They stumbled when they began trusting in their own worthiness instead of God’s grace. Paul warns Gentile believers not to repeat the same cycle.

“Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen.”

(Romans 11:20, NLT)

Paul doesn’t allow Gentile believers to boast over Israel, because boasting betrays a heart that has forgotten grace.

“For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either.”

(Romans 11:21, NLT)

The message is unmistakable: the moment we believe God’s blessing is a validation of our worthiness, we stand on the edge of the same cliff.

The Root Is Grace — Not Us

Paul reminds the Gentiles that they are not the root but have been grafted into something they didn’t plant.

“But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.”

(Romans 11:18, NLT)

Their salvation, and ours, is not anchored in our goodness. Paul grounds this truth in the universal reality of human sin:

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

(Romans 3:23, NLT)

If salvation depended on our worth, no one would stand.

Grace Exposes Jealousy and Entitlement

Jesus exposed this same heart posture in His parable of the laborers.

“Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat!”

(Matthew 20:12, NLT)

But the Master answers:

“Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?”

(Matthew 20:15, NLT)

Grace exposes jealousy. Grace confronts entitlement. Grace reveals whether we secretly believe we earned what God freely gives.

Paul then gives the antidote:

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

(Romans 5:8, NLT)

Grace interrupts pride by reminding us that we were loved when we had no claim on that love.

The Community Warning — Not a Threat to Individual Assurance

When Paul speaks about Israel in Romans 9–11, he is describing Israel as a general community, not making absolute statements about every individual. There has always been a faithful remnant within Israel who believed God by faith (Romans 11:4–5), just as there can be unbelief within a community that externally belongs to God.

So when Paul warns that branches were broken off and others were grafted in, he is speaking about the larger community identity, not the eternal destiny of every individual Jew. In the same way, when he cautions Gentile believers not to become arrogant (Romans 11:17–22), he is not threatening the loss of individual salvation for a believer who has put their faith in Christ. Instead, he is warning the Gentile community not to repeat Israel’s cultural sin of pride, the sin of believing they possessed righteousness in themselves rather than by grace.

If we misread Paul’s corporate warning as an individual salvation warning, we will live in anxious self-doubt, constantly questioning whether we are “in” or “out,” which is tragically the very opposite of Paul’s message about grace. His point is this: salvation has always been by faith in Jesus—by grace, gifted alien righteousness, secured through substitutionary atonement, and grounded in the worthiness of Another instead of me—and any community that forgets this, Jew or Gentile, will eventually stumble over the same “scandal” (Romans 9:33). Individuals matter because they shape the culture of the community, but Paul’s warning is corporate: a community built on pride will fall, but a community rooted in grace will stand.

Remembering With Thankfulness

Paul ties it all together by bringing us back to Christ. We were once enemies, not neutral or almost good.

“For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”

(Romans 5:10, NLT)

This is why Jesus commands us to remember.

“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”

(1 Corinthians 11:24, NLT)

Communion is an act of remembrance that fights pride and roots us again in grace producing thankfulness.

The Only Right Response: Thankfulness

Paul ends his long argument with a single eruption of praise:

“For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.”

(Romans 11:36, NLT)

Thankfulness is how we stay small, stay humble, stay joyful, and stay rooted in grace.

“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”

(Romans 5:2, NLT)

A thankful heart cannot boast. A thankful community cannot drift into pride. And a thankful church will never forget that everything is grace.

So when you want to take a quick spiritual inventory in your walk with Jesus, ask yourself this simple question:

How is my joy?

If you find it lacking, you’ll find pride and entitlement sitting very very close.

The antidote is simple,

remember grace and say thank you.