Romans 11:23

κἀκεῖνοι δέ : and they too, they on the other hand, viz., the un-believing Jews. ἐὰν μὴ κ. τ. λ., unless they remain on in their unbelief. It is assumed that they need not do this. The hardening spoken of in Romans 11:7-10, though it is a judgment upon sin, and may seem from the nature of the case to be irremediable, is not to be so absolutely taken. Even in the most hardened rejector of the Gospel we are not to limit either the resources of God's power, or the possibilities of change in a self-conscious, self-determining creature. All things are possible to him that believeth, and we are not to say that in this man or that, Jew or Gentile, unbelief is final, and belief an impossibility. If the Jews give up their unbelief ἐγκεντρισθήσονται they will be incorporated again in the true people of God. δυνατὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θεός κ. τ. λ. The phrase implies not only the possibility but the difficulty of the operation. Cf. Romans 14:4. With man it is impossible, but not with God. Nothing less than the thought of God could keep Paul from despairing of the future of Israel.