[In the tenth chapter Paul's argument for gospel universality only required him to show by Scripture that the Gentiles were to be received independently; i. e., without first becoming Jews. But the Scripture which best established this fact also proved a larger, greater fact; viz., that the receptio... [ Continue Reading ]
God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. [Here is the second proof that God did not cast off his people. It is in the nature of an axiom, a statement which is so palpably true that it needs no corroboration. God's foreknowledge can not fail, therefore that nation which in the eternity befo... [ Continue Reading ]
Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. [Against these two proofs adduced by the apostle it might be objected that if God was not rejecting his people he must be receiving them, but you, Paul, practically admit that this is... [ Continue Reading ]
But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. [Jezebel and Ahab, in their zeal for the Phoenician god, Baal, had apparently exterminated the worship of the true God. At least, Elijah was deceived into so thinking. But the a... [ Continue Reading ]
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. [Resuming, the argument. "As at the time of the great deflection in Elijah's day there seemed to him to be but one, yet God had reserved to himself seven thousand, so now in this time of falling away, you w... [ Continue Reading ]
But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. [With these words, Paul explains the last clause of the preceding verse--viz., "the election of grace"--and thereby shows that he means them in their full sense, and abides by that meaning. Alford paraphrases his meanin... [ Continue Reading ]
What then? [What results from the facts just stated? If God only acknowledges covenant relations with a remnant, and with them only by grace, surely you expect me to make some statement as to the status of the bulk of Israel. My statement is this:] _That which Israel_ [the bulk or main body of the n... [ Continue Reading ]
according as it is written [Isaiah 29:10; Ezekiel 12:2; Deuteronomy 29:4], _God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day_. [As the passage quoted is a combination of Isaiah and Deuteronomy, and is found in part also in Ezekie... [ Continue Reading ]
And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them [Psalms 69:22-23. the word "trap" is added from Psalms 35:8. Theodoret says that Psalm 69 "is a prediction of the sufferings of Christ, and the final destruction of the Jews on that account... [ Continue Reading ]
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow thou down their back always. [This verse is usually construed to picture the political servitude and spiritual bondage of Israel after the fall of Jerusalem. No doubt it has reference to conditions ushered in by that event, but it pictures t... [ Continue Reading ]
I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? [Fall (piptoo) is a much stronger word than stumble, and the contrast between the two words makes the former emphatic. To fall means to be killed, and is in Greek, as in English applied to those slain in battle. (Homer, II. 8:475; 11:84.) As emphasi... [ Continue Reading ]
Now if their fall [paraptoma] _is the riches of the world, and their loss_ [hettema, that loss or diminution which an army suffers by defeat, also moral loss, impoverishment, to be defeated, to be reduced, or made inferior. "A reduction in one aspect to a race of scattered exiles, in another to a me... [ Continue Reading ]
But [A note of correction. At Romans 7:1; Romans 7:4 Paul began to address the Jews, and all that he has said since then has had specific reference to that people. Since verse 11, however, the thought has gradually passed to the Gentiles and now Paul openly notes that he is speaking to them, lest an... [ Continue Reading ]
if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh [my kindred: the Jews], _and may save_ [do the human part of saving] _some of them_. [Finding myself set apart by Christ to minister to Gentiles instead of Jews, I perform my task with a double zest, for (I not only rejoice to save Gen... [ Continue Reading ]
For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? [Again we have a passage wherein "the apostle," as Meyer expresses it, "argues from the happy effect of the worse cause, to the happier effect of the better cause." If a curs... [ Continue Reading ]
And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. [Another parallelism. The apostle demonstrates the same truth, first, from the standpoint of the law of God in the Bible (firstfruit and lump); second, from the law of God in nature (root and tree). As the h... [ Continue Reading ]
But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou [O Gentile believer], _being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree_ [Some commentators, recognizing that Christianity is a distinct thing from Judaism, have been... [ Continue Reading ]
glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest [remember], _it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee_. ["Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). Religious pride had proved the undoing of the Jews. It made them despise and reject an unre... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. [The apostle here puts in the mouth of a representative Gentile the cause or justification of the pride. Was it not ground for self-esteem and self-gratulation when God cast off his covenanted people to receive strangers? -- E... [ Continue Reading ]
Well [A form of partial and often ironical assent: equal to, very true, grant it, etc. It was not strictly true that God had cast off the Jew to make room for the Gentile, for there was room for both. The marriage supper shows the truth very clearly. The refusal of the Jew was the reason why he was... [ Continue Reading ]
for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. [Faith justified no boast, yet faith constituted the only divinely recognized distinction in the Gentiles' favor, in estimating between the Gentile Christian and the cast-off Jew. All the past history of the Jew stood in his fav... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them [the Jews] _that fell, severity_ [for lack of faith, not want of merit]; _but toward thee_ [O Gentile], _God's goodness_ [kindness not won by thy merit, else it were justice, not goodness; but goodness toward thee by reason of thy faith: a go... [ Continue Reading ]
And they [the unbelieving mass of Israel] _also_ [together with you], _if they continue not in their unbelief_ [for it is not a question of any comparative lack of legal merit on their part], _shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again_. [There is no insuperable reason why they can... [ Continue Reading ]
For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? [Here we are referred to nature for the point emphasized in the apostle'... [ Continue Reading ]
["The future conversion of Israel," says Gifford, "having been proved to be both possible and probable, is now shown to be the subject of direct revelation."] _For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant_ [This form of expression is used by the apostle to indicate a most important communication to... [ Continue Reading ]
and so [that is, in this way; namely, by abiding till this determinate time] _all Israel_ [the national totality, the portion hardened; a round-number expression, allowing liberty to any small remnant which may possibly still persist in unbelief] _shall be saved_ [Shall be Christianized by overcomin... [ Continue Reading ]
And this is my covenant [lit. the covenant from me] _unto them, When I shall take away their sins_. [Isaiah 27:9. (Comp. Jeremiah 31:31-34) Verse 26 is quoted from the LXX., but Paul changes "come in favor of Zion" to read, "come out of Zion," following a phrase found at Psalms 14:7. None can say wh... [ Continue Reading ]
As touching the gospel, they [the unbelieving Israelites] _are_ [regarded by God as] _enemies for your sake_ [that their fall might enrich you. See Romans 11:12]: _but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake._ [Or on account of the fathers. The call, or election, of Israel g... [ Continue Reading ]
For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of. [A corollary growing out of the axiom that the all-wise God makes no mistakes and consequently knows no repentance (Numbers 23:19; Ezekiel 24:4; 1 Samuel 15:29). Repentance and regret imply miscalculation (James 1:7). The term "gifts" is of v... [ Continue Reading ]
For as ye [Gentiles] _in time past were disobedient to God_ [Romans 1:16-32; Acts 17:30], _but now have obtained mercy by their_ [the Jews'] _disobedience_ [Romans 11:15],... [ Continue Reading ]
even so have these [the Jews] _also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy_. [How the Gentile received blessing by reason of the casting off of the Jew has already been explained at verse 15. As the Gentile went through a season of disobedience, from whic... [ Continue Reading ]
For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. [The verb "shut up" is, as Barnes observes, "properly used in reference to those who are shut up in prison, or to those in a city who are shut up by a besieging army (1 Macc. 5:5; 6:18; 11:65; 15:25; Joshua 6:1; Isaiah 45... [ Continue Reading ]
[Guided by the revelations imparted by the Holy Spirit, the apostle has made known many profound and blessed mysteries, and has satisfactorily answered many critical and perplexing questions, and has traced for his readers the course of the two branches of the human family, the Jew and the Gentile,... [ Continue Reading ]
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? [Isaiah 40:13; Jeremiah 23:18. "Judgments" and "mind" have reference to God's wisdom; "ways" and "counsellor" look toward his knowledge. Knowledge precedes wisdom. It gathers the facts and ascertains the truths and perceives t... [ Continue Reading ]
or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? [Job 41:11. This question emphasizes the riches of God, introduced at verse 33. The riches mentioned are those of mercy and grace. If we can not exchange gifts with God along the most material lines, as here indicated, how s... [ Continue Reading ]
For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. [Summary statement of the all-comprehensive riches of God. 1. God, in the beginning or past, is the author, origin and creative source of all existence. He is the efficient original cause from whence all came (hence his perfect knowledge). 2... [ Continue Reading ]