F. ELECTION (Cch. 8, 9 11) It is almost needless to say that the Election spoken of in ch. 8 &c. is variously explained. A large and important school of Theology (the Arminian) interprets it as a _personal_election, but _contingent_upon foreseen faith and perseverance. Another school [58] interpret... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 11:1-10. Meanwhile the rejection of Israel never was, nor is, total: a remnant believes, and so abides in covenant 1. _I say then_ I SAY THEREFORE. Thus far St Paul has stated the adverse side of the case of Israel. He has shewn (1) that the Divine Promise never pledged eternal light and life... [ Continue Reading ]
_God hath not cast away his people_ Lit. DID NOT CAST, &c. These words are verbatim (save only the change of tense) with LXX. of Psalms 93 (Heb., 94.):14. _which he foreknew_ See on Romans 8:29. Two interpretations are possible here. The "foreknowledge," or sovereign antecedent decision of the Etern... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, they have killed_, &c. 1 Kings 19:10. The quotation is not precisely with either LXX. or Heb.; but substantially exact. The Gr. past verbs here are aorists. This, and not the evangelical equality of Jew and Gentile, is here in view; with the special object of reminding the Gentile Christian... [ Continue Reading ]
_the answer of God_ Lit. THE ORACULAR ANSWER. The words "_of God_" are an explanatory addition. _I have reserved_, &c. 1 Kings 19:18. The Heb. is, "And I have left in Israel seven thousand; all the knees that have not bowed, &c." (LXX. has "And _thou shalt leave_, &c.") It is hardly needful to poin... [ Continue Reading ]
_at this present time_ In which the mournful phenomenon of Jewish unbelief occasioned this whole discussion. _there is_ Lit. THERE HATH BEEN: it was and still is. _a remnant_ A RESERVE, A LEAVING. The noun is cognate to the verb "I reserved" in Romans 11:4. This "remnant" at some stages of apostol... [ Continue Reading ]
_And if by grace_, &c. This verse is wholly parenthetical. Not that its statement is alien to the whole argument, but this is not its logical place. The argument is continuous between Romans 11:5; Romans 11:7; but St Paul is so desirous to make the truth of Gratuitous Salvation perfectly clear and f... [ Continue Reading ]
_What then?_ A phrase of resumption after the digression. _Israel_ Here, obviously, the nation. Cp. Romans 9:6. _hath not obtained_ Lit. DID NOT OBTAIN. The _crisis_of the offer of the Gospel to them is in view in the tense. So DID OBTAIN IT, just below. _that which he seeketh for_ i.e. a Righteo... [ Continue Reading ]
_according as it is written_ Isaiah 29:10, and Deuteronomy 29:4. (Hebrews, 3.) The two passages combined read thus, from the Heb., "The Lord hath poured out (or spread) over you the spirit of deep sleep, and the Lord hath not given to you eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day:" The unbelief o... [ Continue Reading ]
_And David saith_ Psalms 69:22, (LXX. Psalms 68:23.) The quotation is nearly (in Romans 11:10 verbatim) with the LXX.; which in the first of the two verses expands the Hebrew. The Heb. there may be rendered, "May their table before them become a trap, and let it be, when they are at peace, (in secur... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover, the rejection is not final: it has a providential purpose to serve; but a great reversal of it is in store 11. _I say then_ Same word as Romans 11:1. Here begins a new section of the discussion, lasting to the end of the chapter, and of the subject. St Paul has shewn that the rejection of... [ Continue Reading ]
_the fall_ Same word as in Romans 11:11. See note there. _the riches_ "The unsearchable riches of Messiah," (Ephesians 3:8,) which "on occasion of" the rejection of Messiah by the Jews were preached to the "world" of the Gentiles. _the diminishing_ The Gr. word, by analogy with cognate words in th... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ Better, perhaps, BUT, or NOW; by documentary evidence. The particle merely calls attention to the fresh and fuller statement. _I speak to you_ Immediately. He implies a hope to reach the Jews _through_them. _you Gentiles_ Evidently the Roman Christians were in the main a Gentile body, and as... [ Continue Reading ]
_provoke to emulation_ Same word as that rendered "provoke to jealousy," Romans 11:11. _save some of them_ The phrase implies that he looked for conversions only one by one, through his own ministry. Probably he suggests the _contrast_of results hereafter, when the crisis predicted in Romans 11:25 s... [ Continue Reading ]
_the casting away_ Not the cognate word to that in Romans 11:1-2. But there is no practical difference in the words: it is the _reference_that differs here. There he denies that _Jews as such_were thrust out of the covenant; here he asserts the plain fact that the _Jewish nation_was, by its rejectio... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ Lit., and much better, BUT, or NOW. The word marks transition to a new fact in connexion with the "receiving" of Israel; the fact of the peculiar position of Jews with regard to the Divine Promise. The main effect of the following passage, to Romans 11:24, is to prove that the restoration of J... [ Continue Reading ]
_some of the branches_ A _tender_statement of what, alas, was so great an amount of unbelief. See below again, Romans 11:25; "blindness IN PART." _be broken off_ The reference of time is specially to the crisis of the rejection of Messiah by Israel. It was true, of course, that at no period of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_boast not against_, &c. i.e. against the branches that were broken off; as if in a better position than theirs might have been, and as if better in yourself, and so (as regards any virtue of your own) better able to hold your place. Every insulting thought, word, or act, of professing Christians to... [ Continue Reading ]
_then_ THEREFORE; i.e. in order to meet my reasoning.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Well_ i.e. WELL SAID. There is, of course, a solemn and earnest irony in the word. In _terms_, the Gentile Pharisee (if we may use the expression) spoke truth; for in the mysterious adjustments of the Divine Plan the rejection of Messiah by Israel was to precede, and even in a certain sense to occa... [ Continue Reading ]
_the natural branches_ Persons who were, without any new interposition of mercy, born within the scope of the covenant and the light of revelation. Not that the _state of human nature_was less fallen in Jew than in Gentile, but that the _course of nature_led the Jew, as such, to light and privilege.... [ Continue Reading ]
_goodness_ See on ch. Romans 2:4. _severity_ In the special sense of summary sternness. The word is akin to that rendered "_sharply_," Titus 1:13. _on them which fell_, &c. Better, in view of the best-supported reading of the Gr., ON THEM THAT FELL CAME SEVERITY, BUT ON THEE CAME GOODNESS. _if tho... [ Continue Reading ]
_graff them in again_ Every Jewish convert from the first age till now has been an example of this statement. St Paul is not yet dealing with the question of a conversion of Israel _en masse;_he has in view individual Gentile faith and individual Jewish faith; and he regards each Jew as (ideally) on... [ Continue Reading ]
_For if thou_, &c. Cp. on this verse notes on Romans 11:17. _how much more_ i.e. "how much more _easily to our conception_." _As a fact_, the Gentile had been grafted in, and no _more_than this could happen to the Jew. But the latter fact was antecedently much more _likely_than the former.... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
_And so all Israel shall be saved_ Several interpretations of these words are in themselves legitimate. They may refer (A) to the natural Israel, the Jews; or (B) to the "Israel of God," the true Church of Christ. Again, if the reference (A) is adopted, the prophecy may mean (_a_) that then _all_the... [ Continue Reading ]
_for this is my covenant unto them_ Lit., AND THIS FOR THEM IS THE COVENANT GRANTED BY ME. Cp., for the terms of a great "_Covenant_of Grace," Jeremiah 31:31-34, with the quotation and inspired comment in Hebrews 8:8-12; Hebrews 10:16-17. " _This_" refers backward; q. d., "I have covenanted that th... [ Continue Reading ]
_As concerning_, &c. This ver. and the next form a small detached paragraph: so do Romans 11:30-32. In both these paragraphs St Paul adds to his main argument and statement a few closing confirmations. The phraseology of this verse is very brief in the Gr.; AS TO THE GOSPEL INDEED, ENEMIES BECAUSE O... [ Continue Reading ]
_gifts_ Gr. _charismata_; GIFTS OF GRACE. The word is frequently used of "_miraculous_" gifts (see on Romans 1:11); but here, obviously, it refers to all the "innumerable benefits" of Divine Salvation. _calling_ See on Romans 1:6-7; Romans 8:30. _without repentance_ WITHOUT CHANGE OF MIND, i.e. on... [ Continue Reading ]
_For as ye_, &c. A new short paragraph. See on Romans 11:28. The main purpose of this paragraph is to shew, in a new respect, the Divine "reason why" of the rejection of the Jews; viz., that the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles might be conspicuously put on the footing of _mere mercy_. The Gentil... [ Continue Reading ]
_have these also now not believed_ Better, DID THESE DISOBEY. _through your mercy_ Connect these words with "have these not obeyed." The verse will then read; THUS THESE ALSO NOW DISOBEYED THROUGH YOUR MERCY, THAT THEY ALSO, &c. The "mercy of the Gentiles" is the mercy of God in Christ to them, not... [ Continue Reading ]
_For God_, &c. Lit. FOR GOD DID SHUT UP THE ALL TOGETHER INTO DISOBEDIENCE, THAT HE MAY COMPASSIONATE THE ALL. We give this literal version, though barbarous as English, to elucidate the exact reference of the Greek. "_The all_" are "all the persons in question"; Gentiles and Jews alike, who by turn... [ Continue Reading ]
Doxology to the Eternal Sovereign 33. _O the depth_ Here, at the close of this discussion of the case of Israel, in which he has held up for our submission the unfathomable mystery of electing sovereignty, and also the strange ways by which Divine judgment is often made the instrument of Divine mer... [ Continue Reading ]
_For who hath known counseller_ Nearly verbatim from Isaiah 40:13. See too Jeremiah 23:18. The Gr. verbs are aorists; and the time-reference is perhaps to creation, or to the eternal decrees "before the world was.... [ Continue Reading ]
_hath first given to him_, &c. "Who hath laid Him _under obligation?_" (Cp. Job 35:7.) Such is no doubt the special reference here. It affects not only the discussions of cch. 9 11, but also (as does indeed the whole of this doxology) the whole great doctrinal Argument of the Epistle. _No merit in m... [ Continue Reading ]
_of him_ Lit. OUT OF HIM; not in the Pantheistic sense, as if all things were evolved from God phases of God; but in the Christian sense, that His will is the ultimate source of all being, all life and force, all conscience, will, and thought. _through him_ BY MEANS OF HIM. He is not the Source onl... [ Continue Reading ]