CHAPTER XI. _God has not universally nor finally rejected Israel; nor are_ _they all at present rejecters of the Gospel, for there is a_ _remnant of true believers now, as there was in the days of the_ _Prophet Elijah_, 1-5. _These have embraced the Gospel, and are saved by grace, and not_ _by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:2. _GOD HATH NOT CAST AWAY HIS PEOPLE WHICH HE FOREKNEW._] God has not finally and irrecoverably rejected a people whom he has _loved_ (or _approved_) _so long_, ον προεγνω, for this is evidently the meaning of the word in this place, as we have already seen, Romans 8:29, and is a ve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:3. _LORD, THEY HAVE KILLED THY PROPHETS_] They will not permit any person to speak unto them in thy name; and they murder those who are faithful to the commission which they have received from thee. _DIGGED DOWN THINE ALTARS_] They are profligate and profane beyond example, and reta... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:4. _BUT WHAT SAITH THE ANSWER OF GOD_] The answer which God made assured him that there were _seven thousand_, that is, _several_ or _many thousands_; for so we must understand the word _seven_, a _certain_ for an _uncertain_ number. These had continued faithful to God; but, because... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:5. _EVEN SO THEN AT THIS PRESENT TIME_] As in the present day the irreligion of the Jews is very great; yet there is a _remnant_, a considerable number, who have accepted of the grace of the Gospel. _ACCORDING TO THE ELECTION OF GRACE._] And these are saved just as God has saved al... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:6. _AND IF BY GRACE_] And let this very remnant of pious Jews, who have believed in Christ Jesus, know that _they_ are brought in, precisely in the same way as God has brought in the _Gentiles_; the one having no more _worthiness_ to plead than the other; _both_ being brought in, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:7. _WHAT THEN?_] What is the real state of the case before us? _Israel_-the body of the Jewish people, have not obtained that which they so earnestly desire, i.e. to be continued, as they have been hitherto, the peculiar people of God; _but the election hath obtained it_-as many of t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:8. _GOD HATH GIVEN THEM THE SPIRIT OF SLUMBER_] As they had _wilfully_ closed their eyes against the light, so God has, in judgment, given them up to the _spirit of slumber_. The very word and revelation of God, which should have awakened their consciences, and opened their eyes and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:9. _AND DAVID SAITH, LET THEIR TABLE_, c.] And from their present disposition it is reasonable to conclude that the same evils will fall upon them as fell upon the disobedient in former times, as predicted by David, Psalms 69:22, Psalms 69:23,that their very _blessings_ should becom... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:10. _LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED_] All these words are _declarative_, and not _imprecatory_. God _declares_ what will be the case of such obstinate unbelievers; their _table_, their common providential blessings, will _become a snare_, a _trap_, a _stumbling_ _block_, and the means of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:11. _HAVE THEY STUMBLED THAT THEY SHOULD FALL?_] Have the Jews, now for their disobedience and unbelief rejected, so sinned against God as to be for ever put out of the reach of his mercy? _By no means_. Are they, as a nation, utterly irrecoverable? This is the sense of the place, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:12. _NOW IF THE FALL OF THEM_] The English reader may imagine that, because _fall_ is used in both these verses, the original word is the same. But _their fall_, and _the fall of them_, is παραπτωμα, the same word which we render _offence_, Romans 5:15; Romans 5:17, and might be rend... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:13. This and the following verse should be read in a parenthesis. St. Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, wished to show them the high pitch of glory and blessedness to which they had been called, that they might have a due sense of God's mercy in calling them to such a state of sa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:14. _MIGHT SAVE SOME OF THEM._] And yet _all_ these were among the _reprobate_, or _rejected_; however, the apostle supposed that _none_ of them were _irrecoverably_ shut out from the Divine favour; and that _some_ of them, by his preaching, might be disposed to receive salvation by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:15. _BUT LIFE FROM THE DEAD_] If the rejection of the Jews became the occasion of our receiving the Gospel, so that we can even glory in our tribulations, though they themselves became chief instruments of our sufferings; yet so far must we feel from exulting over them that we should... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:16. _FOR IF THE FIRST FRUIT_ BE _HOLY_] As the consecrating the first fruits to God was the means of drawing down his blessing upon the rest, so the conversion of Abraham to the true faith, and the several Jews who have now embraced Christianity, are pledges that God will, in process... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _AND IF SOME OF THE BRANCHES_, c.] If the present nation of the Jews, because of their unbelief, are cut off from the blessings of the Church of God, and the high honour and dignity of being his peculiar people _and thou, being a wild_ _olive_-ye _Gentiles_, being without the knowledge of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _BOAST NOT AGAINST THE BRANCHES._] While you are ready to acknowledge that you were included in the covenant made with Abraham, and are now partakers of the same blessings with him, do not _exult over_, much less _insult, the branches_, his present descendants, whose place you now fill up,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _THOU WILT SAY THEN_, c.] You may think that you have reason to exult over them because it is a fact that God has been displeased with them, and therefore has _broken them off_; has cast them out of the Church, and taken you into it in their place.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _WELL; BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF_, c.] This statement is all true but then, consider, _why_ is it that they were _cast out_? Was it not _because_ of their unbelief? And you stand by _faith_: you were made partakers of these blessings by faith; be not _high-minded_; let this humble, not exalt you... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _FOR IF GOD SPARED NOT THE NATURAL BRANCHES_] If He, in his infinite justice and holiness, could not tolerate sin in the _people whom he foreknew_, whom he had so _long loved_, cherished, miraculously preserved and blessed; take heed _lest he also spare_ _not thee_. Be convinced that the s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _BEHOLD THEREFORE THE GOODNESS_] The exclamation, _Behold the goodness of God_! is frequent among the Jewish writers, when they wish to call the attention of men to particular displays of God's mercy, especially towards those who are singularly unworthy. See several instances in _Schoettge... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _IF THEY ABIDE NOT IN UNBELIEF_] So, we find that their rejection took place in consequence of their _wilful_ obstinacy: and, that they _may_ return into the fold, the door of which still stands open. _FOR GOD IS ABLE TO GRAFT THEM IN AGAIN._] Fallen as they are and degraded, God can, in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _THE OLIVE TREE, WHICH IS WILD BY NATURE_] Which is κατα φυσιν, _naturally_, wild and barren; for that the _wild olive_ bore no fruit is sufficiently evident from the testimony of the authors who have written on the subject; hence the proverb, Ακαρποτερος αγριππου· more unfruitful than th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _I WOULD NOT-THAT YE SHOULD BE IGNORANT OF THIS_ _MYSTERY_] Mystery, μυστηριον, signifies any thing that is _hidden_ or _covered_, or not _fully made manifest_. The Greek word seems to have been borrowed from the Hebrew מסתר _mistar_, from the root סתר _sathar_, to _hide, conceal_, c. tho... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _AND SO ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED_] Shall be brought _into the way of salvation_, by acknowledging the Messiah; for the word certainly does not mean eternal glory; for no man can conceive that a time will ever come in which every Jew then living, shall be taken to the _kingdom of glory_. T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _FOR THIS_ IS _MY COVENANT UNTO THEM, WHEN I SHALL TAKE_ _AWAY THEIR SINS._] The reader on referring to Isaiah 59:20, Isaiah 59:21, will find that the words of the original are here greatly abridged. They are the following: - _And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _AS CONCERNING THE GOSPEL_] The unbelieving Jews, with regard to the _Gospel_ which they have rejected, are at present _enemies_ to God, and aliens from his kingdom, under his Son Jesus Christ, on account of that extensive grace which has overturned their _peculiarity_, by admitting the Ge... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _FOR THE GIFTS AND CALLING OF GOD_, c.] The _gifts_ which God has bestowed upon them, and _the calling_-the invitation, with which he has favoured them he will never revoke. In reference to this point there is no _change of mind_ in him and therefore the _possibility_ and _certainty_ of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _FOR AS YE IN TIMES PAST_] The apostle pursues his argument in favour of the restoration of the Jews. _As ye_, Gentiles, _in times past_-for many ages back. _HAVE NOT BELIEVED_] Were in a state of alienation from God, _yet_ not so as to be totally and for ever excluded, _HAVE NOW OBTAINE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _EVEN SO HAVE THESE ALSO_] In like manner the Jews are, through their infidelity, shut out of the kingdom of God:- _THAT THROUGH YOUR MERCY_] But this exclusion will not be _everlasting_; but this will serve to open a new scene when, through farther displays of mercy to you Gentiles, _the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _FOR GOD HATH CONCLUDED THEM ALL IN UNBELIEF_] Συνεκλεισε γαρ ὁ Θεος, God hath _shut_ or _locked_ them all up under unbelief. This refers to the guilty state of both Jews and Gentiles. They had all broken God's law-the Jews, the written law; the Gentiles, the law written in their hearts;... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _O THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND_ _KNOWLEDGE OF GOD!_] This is a very proper conclusion of the whole preceding discourse. _Wisdom_ may here refer to the _designs_ of God; _knowledge_, to the _means_ which he employs to accomplish these designs. The _designs_ are the offspr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _FOR WHO HATH KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD?_] Who can pretend to penetrate the counsels of God, or fathom the reasons of his conduct? His designs and his counsels are like himself, _infinite_; and, consequently, inscrutable. It is strange that, with such a scripture as this before their eye... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:35. _OR, WHO HATH FIRST GIVEN TO HIM_] Who can pretend to have any _demands_ upon God? To whom is he _indebted_? Have either Jews or Gentiles any _right_ to his blessings? May not he bestow his favours _as_ he pleases, and to _whom_ he pleases? Does he do any injustice to the _Jews_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Romans 11:36. _FOR OF HIM_, c.] This is so far from being the case, _for_ εξ αυτου, OF _him_, as the original designer and author _and_ δι αυτου, BY _him_, as the prime and efficient cause; _and_ εις αυτον, TO _him_, as the ultimate end for the manifestation of his eternal glory and goodness,... [ Continue Reading ]