Romans 11:25

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant Same word as Romans 1:13; 1Co 10:1; 1 Corinthians 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13. Here St Paul leaves the image of the Olive Tree, which he had used to facilitate to his reader's conception the idea of a restoration of Jews to the Church of the Messiah, now become the Universal Church. He now, in plain terms, reveals and predicts a great future Restoration.

" For:" the connexion indicated is somewhat thus: "My parable of the Olive Tree is no conjecture or peradventure, when it suggests a brighter future for Israel. Forsuch a future is to come, in the purposes of God."

ignorant Whether for want of information, or want of reminders. Possibly the precise revelation of the future here made had never been made, in terms, before, though suggestions and intimations of it had often been heard. (Cp. perhaps Luke 21:24.) So in another place, (1 Thessalonians 4:13,) where the Apostle uses the same formula: the hope of Resurrectionhad been abundantly revealed in a general way, but the precise factthat the buried saints should rise beforethe living saints should be transfigured was probably then first made known.

mystery Here, as consistently in N. T., the Gr. word means a truth undiscoverable by reason, but now revealed. Our use of the words "mystery" and "mysterious," is often misleading in these connexions, as it easily suggests the thought of what cannot be understood. The Gr. means, in fact, a secret, which, when told, may be found either partially to transcend the grasp of man's conception, or to be quite within it. Thus in 1 Corinthians 15:51 we have a "mystery" revealed as a fact which yet (in detail at least) we cannot clearly conceive: in the present passage we have a "mystery" revealed which is far more within our reach of thought, viz. judicial blindness inflicted on the Jews as a body, and hereafter, at a definite point in the Plan of God, to be removed.

wise in your own conceits Same word as Romans 12:16. "Conceits:" i.e. opinion. The Gr. is, more literally, wise, or sensible, at your own bar; i.e. judged in the court of self-complacency. The "wisdom" or "thoughtfulness" here in view is such as that rebuked in Romans 11:19; that of a Gentile convert who thought much of his large insight into the Divine Plan because he saw in the rejection of the Jews not an accident but a deliberate opening of the door of grace to the world and there dismissed the subject, careless whether there were, or not, any future mercy for Israel in the same Divine Plan.

blindness See on Romans 11:7, "were blinded." The noun here is cognate to the verb there. It occurs elsewhere in N. T., Mark 3:5; Ephesians 4:18.

in part This gracious qualification is not necessary to the statement, in which the "blindness" or "hardening" is the emphatic thing. But St Paul will not omit to remind the Gentile Christian that even in the dark ages of Israel there ever has been, is, and will be, a "holy seed," (Isaiah 6:13,) an "election," who behold and welcome the promised Salvation. Thus the hardening is never total; it is partial, though, alas, the hardened "part" is the large majority, till the great call of grace. See further, long note above on Romans 11:1.

until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in The Gr. equally allows the rendering until the fulness &c. come in. This would not necessitate (as E. V. does) the inference that the call of grace to Israel was not to come till the in-coming of the "fulness of the Gentiles" was over. In Romans 11:15 (q. v.) we have had it intimated that the conversion of Israel should be a means of immense grace to the world; as indeed it must be, in the nature of the case. In view of this, it seems best to explain the present verse as predicting that the in-coming of the nations to the Church of Christ shall have largely, but not perfectly, taken place when Israel is restored to grace; so that the closing stages of the in-coming may be directly connected with the promised revival of Israel, and may followit in respect of time. "Come in" :to the Fold, the Refuge, the City, of Messiah's salvation.

the fulness of the Gentiles Cp. note on "fulness" in Romans 11:12. The word here plainly means the full destined numberof the Gentile Church, with the underlying idea of the greatness of that number. Cp. Revelation 7:9.