Romans 11:1

Romans 11:1. I say then. ‘Then' introduces the question as a plausible, but incorrect, inference from the entire previous discussion; especially, however, from the Scriptural proof of Romans 11:19-21.

Did God cast off his people? ‘Cast off' is preferable to ‘cast away;' comp. Psalms 94:14. ‘The divine act of casting off from Himself is not viewed as the cause (against this is chap. Romans 10:21), but as the penal consequence, of the disdaining God's loving will' (Meyer). ‘His people' refers to the Jewish nation, and the phrase itself ‘contains the reason for the denial' (Bengel). Some however find here, as in Romans 11:2, an exclusive reference to the elect among the Jews. So Hodge: ‘The rejection of the Jews as a nation was consistent with all that God had promised to their fathers. Those promises did not secure the salvation of all Jews, or of the Jews as a nation,' This view is objectionable on many accounts: it removes the discussion from the historical point of view to a strictly theological one; it proposes a less natural inference; it uses ‘people' in a different sense from that of the preceding verse, and is less suited to the entire discussion than the other view. See further on Romans 11:2.

For I also, etc. The indignant denial is followed by this proof from the Apostle's descent. But what is the nature of this proof? Three views are held: (1.) He is one among many examples (‘also') that God had not entirely rejected His people. This is the common one. (2.) His patriotic feeling leads him to deny this indignantly; the proof of his denial follows in Romans 11:2, etc. This is favored by the detailed reference to his descent. (3.) The restoration of Israel as a nation is so prominent, that ‘if such a hypothesis were to be conceded, it would exclude from God's kingdom the writer himself as an Israelite' (Alford). But this, however well suited to the thought of the next section, does not suit the immediate context. As between (1.) and (2.), the latter is tenable, if the theocratic idea is included, but the former is on the whole preferable. Weizsacker well suggests that such an argument proves that the Roman congregation included no large Jewish element.

Of the seed of Abraham; to whom the covenant promise was first made.

Of the tribe of Benjamin; comp. Philippians 3:5; this tribe with Judah made up the nation of Israel after the captivity. This does not exclude the patriotic feeling, which has appeared throughout the whole discussion.