Romans 11:34,35

“ For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him again? ”

Here is the Scripture proof that God's designs are impenetrable until He reveal them Himself to His apostles and prophets, and by them to His people. The first passage quoted is Isaiah 40:13, which Paul uses as if it were his own saying. This question in the mouth of the prophet applies to the wonders of creation. Paul extends it to those of the divine government in general, for the works of God in history are only the continuation of those of nature.

The question: Who hath known? is a challenge thrown down to the natural understanding. As to those whom God has enlightened on the subject of His designs, Paul himself says, 1 Corinthians 2:16: “But we have the mind of Christ.”

This first question contrasts the always limited knowledge of man with the infinite knowledge of God (γνῶσις τοῦ Θεοῦ, Romans 11:33). The second goes further, it bears on the relation between human and divine wisdom. It is no longer merely the discovery of the secrets of God by the study of His works which is in question, but some good counsel which man might have been called to give to the Creator in the organizing of His plans. The word σύμβουλος denotes one who deliberates with another, and can communicate to him something of his wisdom. It is therefore a more exalted position than that supposed by the previous question.

The third question, Romans 11:35, would imply a still more exalted part. The matter in question is a service rendered to God, a present which man is supposed to have made to Him so as to merit a gift in return. Such, indeed, is the position which the Jews were taking, and by which they claimed especially to limit the freedom of God in the government of the world on account of their meritorious works. “There is no difference,” said the Jews of Malachi's day pettishly, “between the man who serveth God and him who serveth Him not. What have we gained by keeping His commandments?” This spirit of pride had been growing; it had reached its apogee in Pharisaism. The preposition πρό, in advance, which enters into the composition of the first verb, and the preposition ἀντί, in exchange, which enters into that of the second, perfectly describe the relation of dependence on man in which God would be placed, if the former could really be the first to do something for God and thereby constitute Him his debtor. With this third question Paul evidently returns to the special subject of this whole dissertation on the divine government: the rejection of the Jews. By the first question he denied to man the power of understanding God and judging Him till God had explained Himself; by the second, the power of co-operating with Him; by the third, he refuses to him the power of imposing on Him any obligation whatever. Thus is fully vindicated the liberty of God, that last principle of the mysterious fact to be explained.

This question of Romans 11:35 is also a Scripture quotation which Paul weaves into his own text. It is taken from Job 41:11, which the LXX. translate strangely (Job 41:2): “Or who is he that will resist me and abide?” It is true that in the two MSS. Sinait. and Alex. there is found at the close of Isaiah 40:14 a saying similar to the apostle's translation. But there it is certainly an interpolation taken from our epistle itself.