Commentary on Romans 11.1–11.36

“I say, then: Has God rejected his inheritance? By no means.” Since he has shown the people of Israel to be unbelieving, lest he be thought to have called all Israel distrustful, he shows that God has not rejected his inheritance which he foreknew, that is, the sons of Abraham whom he knew would be faithful to him. For he would not have promised them the kingdom if he knew that none of them would believe. The Lord’s inheritance according to the law, then, are the sons of Abraham, but believers. “For I too am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” By his own example he teaches that the part of Israel which God foreknew would be saved has been saved, or can still be saved; and that part of Israel, because of continual distrust, has been assigned to perdition.

“God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” This is what the Saviour says: “Father, those whom you gave me I have kept, and none of them has perished except the son of perdition” (John 17:12). So too of those whom God foreknew would believe, none has been driven away from the promise; because it happened as God foreknew it would.

“Or do you not know what Scripture says in Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have dug up your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life” (1 Kgs 19:10). “But what does the divine answer say to him? I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee before Baal” (1 Kgs 19:18). These things are plain; for he shows that not only Elijah remained, devoted to God, not worshipping idols, but also many who remained in faith in God, as also not a few of the Jews have believed. History too agrees with this; for many were hidden in caves (1 Kgs 18:4) because of Ahab king of Samaria and Jezebel his wife, who, believing false prophets, persecuted the prophets of God and urged the people to idolatry.

“So, then, at this time too a remnant according to the election of grace has been saved.” That is, he says, so now too these, whom God foreknew, have remained in the promise of the law while many withdraw. For those who received Christ as promised in the law stood in the law; but those who did not receive him withdrew from the law. Therefore believers are called the remnant, that is, those who remain in the law.

“But if by grace, it is no longer from works.” It is plain that grace is the gift of God, not a wage owed to works, but granted freely, with mercy intervening. “Otherwise grace is no longer grace.” It is true, because if it is a wage it is not grace; but because it is not a wage, it is without doubt grace; for to give pardon to sinners is nothing other than grace, and it is offered to those who do not seek it, that they may believe. Grace, then, is double, because this befits God, who abounds in mercy, that he should even seek those whom he heals freely.

“What then? What Israel sought, it has not obtained; but the election has obtained it.” Those Israelites are carnal who, thinking themselves justified by the works of the law, did not attain to being righteous before God through faith. For all are guilty through the law; because “cursed is everyone who does not remain in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do it” (Deut 27:26). But those who believed that they are justified through faith have obtained the election, so that, being justified, they might become sons of God, mindful of Scripture which says, “The righteous lives from faith” (Hab 2:4), that is, not from the law.

“But the rest were blinded, as it is written”; this that follows is read in Isaiah: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day” (Isa 6:9–10; 29:10). And David says: “Let their table become a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see, and bend their back always” (Ps 69:22–23). He curses the table of the wicked because there the innocent are usually deceived; for they are called to a banquet by guile in order to be destroyed. For so Amnon son of David was deceived by his brother Absalom (2 Sam 13:28–29), and the wicked Holofernes thought he could deceive holy Judith by a feast (Jdt 12), and at the table of the wicked Herod the malicious raged against the head of John the prophet (Mark 6:21–28). The two prophets have one sense about such people, who from the beginning of the faith were found resisting and enemies of the good. But some of them were amended and corrected, though late; while some, remaining in obstinacy, did not escape the severity of the sentence, bent for ever, that is, blinded; so that thereafter they could not see the way of truth (which they had spurned out of malice, turning aside from it) and come to the grace of salvation. For one who, having understood, would not believe ought to obtain what he wills, so that thereafter he cannot receive faith and be saved. The examples of the prophets given above, then, contain a double sense; for they were decreed and written in two ways. For two kinds of people are contained here. One is that which, because of its malice, is blinded for ever, so as not to be saved; for they are of the worst will, so far that, understanding, they say that they do not know what they hear. Indeed they said of the Saviour: “What is it that he says? We do not know what he is saying. Why do you listen to him? He has a demon and is mad” (John 16:18; 10:20). But the other part, which is truly Israel, contradicted them: “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:21). Envying the Saviour, then, they would not seem to understand what they heard; so that, since he seemed not to be understood by the lawyers and Pharisees, he might be thought to speak absurd things outside the law; a thing which could also turn others from faith. Hence they hear from the Saviour: “You have the key of knowledge, and you neither enter yourselves nor allow others to enter” (Luke 11:52). For who, not of the light-minded but of the somewhat weightier, would not follow the counsel and opinion of the lawyers and Pharisees, who seemed to be defenders of the law? Indeed they said to those who are truly Israelites: “Has any of the rulers believed in him?” (John 7:48); so that they would seem rightly not to have believed if they had made many partners of their conspiracy; for what is defended by few usually seems not proved. Therefore they were blinded, so that thereafter they could not believe and be saved. They were helped, then, in their own will; so that, since knowing the truth they said it was false, thereafter they would not understand what is true, so as to hold as true the falsehood they wanted. The other kind is that which, while it pursues the righteousnesses of the law, does not receive the righteousness of Christ; acting not from the envy of an evil will but from error, emulating the tradition of the fathers, they are blinded for a time. For they ought to have learned from the great works of Christ that he whose so magnificent power appears in his deeds could not deceive, and to have compared his preaching with the new covenant promised through the prophets, and thence to have confessed that this is the one who was promised; negligent toward God and agreeing with men, they were found wanting. They are blinded, then, so that, as the very jealousy mixes them in with the promise, while they envy the gentiles, they may return to faith in God. (Verse 11.) “I say, then: Did they so stumble as to fall? By no means.” He says what I mentioned above, that they did not so distrust as never to believe again, that is, they were not so blinded because of their wickedness that they could not be cured; as we read that the devil fell, the prophet Isaiah saying: “How Lucifer has fallen from heaven!” (Isa 14:12), signifying a fall and apostasy. He says, then, that these did not so stumble as to fall, but were dulled for a time because of their stumbling. “But by their offence salvation has come to the gentiles, so that they may emulate them.” This is what he said, that because of their sin salvation was given to the gentiles. For since the Jews refused the gift of God, it was transferred to the gentiles; so that the Jews, kindled by the rivalry of zeal, might be converted to Christ, zealous for the promise of the fathers. (Verse 12.) “But if their offence is the riches of the world, and their diminution the riches of the gentiles, how much more their fullness!” It is plain that if their offence profited the world, since by their loss it has more good people (for the gentiles are far more numerous than the Jews), and their diminution, which is the loss of the promise, is the riches of the gentiles, by which they have gained eternal life, how much more their fullness! It is clear that the world will be richer in good people if those who have been blinded are also converted; for the world will be saved in great part. By “world” he signifies people, as was said of the Saviour: “Behold, the whole world has gone after him” (John 12:19).

“For I say to you gentiles: as long as I am the apostle of the gentiles, I will honour my ministry, if somehow I may provoke my flesh to emulation and save some of them.” He shows the gentiles with what affection he loves the Jews: for he honours his ministry, by which he is apostle of the gentiles, if, because of affection for his race, by taking pains he may gain the Jews too for the faith. For he becomes more honoured if he gains for life also those to whom he was not sent: for he will be in the highest praise with the fathers if he finds the brothers who had perished. (Verse 15.) “For if their loss is the reconciliation of the world, what is their taking up but life from the dead?” He says this because if, while the Jews did not believe, the gentiles were reconciled to God, to the increase of the world concerning faith in Christ, what will there be in this respect, and how great a fullness of salvation, if the Jews are taken up to faith in Christ, but that the world is given life from the dead in people? Since, then, it is profitable, he says that pains must be taken that they believe; since the dullness of blindness is taken away when the offence has been paid for in time, so that they may recover the free choice of their will. (Verse 16.) “But if the firstfruits are holy, so is the lump.” It is plain that what is of one substance is one; and therefore the firstfruits cannot be holy and the lump unclean; for the firstfruits are from the lump. And so he shows that those cannot be called unworthy of faith whose fathers have already obtained faith; for if part of the Jews believed, why should not the other part too be said to be able to believe? (Verse 17.) “And if the root is holy, so are the branches.” With changed words he repeats the same things, to commend the sense with two examples. “But if some of the branches were broken off,” that is, if some of them did not believe, they were cut off from the promise. “And you, though you were a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became a sharer of the root and richness of the olive.” This signifies that, since many Jews did not believe, the gentiles were grafted through faith into the hope of the promise, to the Jews’ grief; but not according to the law of agriculture, since men graft a good shoot onto a tree that is not good; for these, being in a bad root, were grafted into a good tree. Therefore he says a wild olive was grafted in, so that the shoot might bear the fruit of the root, having become its sharer.

“Do not boast over the branches,” that is, do not rejoice in their unbelief; for it displeases God if anyone exults in another’s misfortunes, as Solomon says (Prov 24:17–18). For they were not cast off for the sake of the gentiles, so that the gentiles should rejoice; but because they did not believe, they gave the occasion for the gospel to be preached to the gentiles. “But if you boast, it is not you who bear the root, but the root you.” That is, if you exalt yourself over those into whose root you have been grafted, you insult the race which received you so that from bad you might be good; nor will you stand if you destroy that through which you stand.

“You will say, then: Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” He speaks in the person of the believing gentile, who thinks he should exult in the fall of the distrustful Jews, saying: Their rejection made room for the gentiles. But they were not rejected by God so that the gentiles might enter; they made themselves reprobate by spurning the gift of God; and so they gave the gentiles an occasion for salvation. He wants this arrogance repressed, so that one may rather rejoice together in salvation than insult a sickness; for one who dares to rejoice in others’ misfortunes is easily deceived. (Verse 20.) “Well,” that is, rightly, you say that you were grafted in when the branches were broken off; “but they were broken off in unbelief”: that is, not because of you, but by their own fault; for when they distrusted, you were called to salvation to provoke them to emulation. Therefore you ought to give thanks to the gift of God through Christ, not insult them; and even to pray, if their misfortune brought you to salvation, that they too may return to their origin. Then you will please God, who had mercy on you; for he called you for this reason, that through rivalry with you he might bring them too back to grace. “But you stand by faith.” Since the Jews fell through distrust, he says these stand by faith; because, though before they lay prostrate on account of faithlessness, by believing they began to stand. “Do not be high-minded, but fear.” That is, do not be proud, but beware lest you too stumble.

“For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you either.” It is true; for if he blinded because of unbelief those who by the prerogative of the fathers were worthy, to whom also the promise was made of being adopted by God as sons, what will he do to these, if they doubt or exalt themselves, who were raised up by no commendation, since, being of no dignity, they were honoured?

“See, then, the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but on you, goodness, if you remain in goodness; otherwise you too will be cut off.” He testifies that God is good to the gentiles, because when they followed idols, certainly worthy of death, he waited for them in his patience, and while they were not yet seeking him, he called them of his own accord and forgave them their sins. But to the Jews he is severe; for he blinded them because they spurned the gift of God. Yet here he means those Jews who because of their malice were blinded for ever; hence he says that they fell; whereas of those he mentioned above he says that they stumbled but did not fall, because he shows that they were blinded for a time. And therefore God was severe toward these, so that, being apostates, they were blinded for ever.

“But they too, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.” He shows that the justice of God does not remain in severity toward those whom he blinded for a time; because he did not so cut them off that he cannot graft them in again if they are converted, he who said through the prophet: “Those who return to me I will plant again” (Jer 24:6); so that, knowing this, gentile Christians may not insult the Jews, certain that the mercy of God is reserved for them as for the fallen.

“For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive and grafted contrary to nature into the good olive, how much more will these, who are by nature, be grafted into their own olive!” Let us take the olive to be the faith by which Abraham was justified, and the wild olive, since its nature is rustic and fruitless, to signify faithlessness. And therefore, if those who were always enemies of God, converted to the faith of Abraham, were grafted in, though they are not of his origin, how much more must the Jews, if after distrust they believe, be restored to their ancestral nature, grafted again into their own promise!

“For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you may not be wise in your own eyes: that a certain dullness has come upon Israel in part, until the fullness of the gentiles came in; and so all Israel would be saved.” It is not obscure that the dullness of blindness was given for a time to those Jews who, while zealous for the law, did not see that the gift promised by God, which was preached by Christ, had come. For they were blinded by zeal, thinking that the law of deeds ought never to cease; hence they were zealous for the sabbath. By this stumbling they were dulled in part, so that they might be tormented for their unbelief, seeing the gentiles profess with joy that they had obtained the promise of Abraham; yet when the abundance of the gentiles had been admitted, the darkness would be wiped from the eyes of their mind, so that they could believe; so that, withholding from their hearts the spirit of compunction which brings them blindness, he might give them back the free choice of their will; because their unbelief was not from malice but from error, they would be amended, so as afterwards to be saved. “As it is written.” To prove that the gift had been reserved for them by God, he sets down the example of the prophet Isaiah in what follows; so as to teach that by this grace, by which the believing Jews were freed, we too can be freed; because it had not been exhausted, but always abounds. He says, then:

“There will come from Zion one who will deliver and turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins” (Isa 59:20–21). The reasoning of this example always remains, as long as there are those who believe. For this Lord Jesus, who was promised to come from heaven for the liberation of the human race, himself daily forgives the sins of those who turn to him; nor does he at once condemn those who do not believe, but waits, knowing that they can advance to the knowledge of God.

“According to the gospel they are enemies for your sake.” Because of unbelief they are enemies of the gospel, so that their error and offence opened to the gentiles the way to enter into faith before the time, as I mentioned above; for first the word of God had to be preached everywhere to all the Jews, and only then ought it to be believed by the gentiles. But because they did not believe, the kingdom taken from them was given to the gentiles. So he warns that they are not to be insulted whose offence profited the gentiles; for one should insult him whose sin harmed others. For one should not rejoice in their faithlessness but grieve if they are slow to be converted; so that, as the gentiles rejoiced at their sin because they were saved, so they may rejoice at their conversion; for by occasion of them they received the grace of God sooner. “But according to election they are beloved because of the fathers.” Though the Jews sinned gravely by rejecting the gift of God and are worthy of death, yet because they are sons of good men, by whose prerogative and merit they received very many benefits from God, when they return to faith they will be received with joy; for the love of God is stirred up in them by the memory of the fathers. (Verse 29.) “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” It is true, because the grace of God in baptism does not seek groaning or lamentation or any work, but only profession from the heart. For lest they think that, because they had offended gravely by not receiving the promise of God, and because grave sins come to pardon only with weeping and groaning, they could not now receive mercy, since they did not see them grieving, he shows that this is not required at the beginnings of faith; for the gift of God forgives sins freely in baptism.

“For as you too once did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy because of their distrust, so these too now have not believed in your mercy, so that they too may obtain mercy.” He mentions the unbelief of the gentiles so that, out of very shame, they might not vaunt themselves insulting the Jews who had not believed, but might delight that they acknowledge the promise of God. For you, he says, gentiles, when the oracles of God were entrusted to these, were resisting; but now you have received mercy, not by your own merit but to their reproach; why should not these, converted, the more receive mercy, who previously lived in the law of God and to whom the promise was made?

“For God has shut up all things in unbelief, so that he may have mercy on all.” The gentiles from ancient times lived in ungodliness and ignorance, being without God; for which reason the law was made manifest in writing, by which the headlong might be reined in. And since by the cunning of the adversary sins began to be heaped up, so that through the prohibition man was made more guilty, God, by the clemency of his goodness always providing for man, so that both what was sin without the law and what was sin in the law could be blotted out, decreed this: to set down faith alone, through which the sins of all would be abolished; so that, since there was no hope for any people through the law, they might be saved by the mercy of God. This is to have shut up all things in unbelief, so that the gift decreed by God should come then when all laboured under distrust, so that the grace of the gift might be most welcome. So let no one vaunt himself; for it is wretched for one to be proud who has been pardoned.

“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” He testifies, with all praise of thanksgiving, that God is lofty and immeasurable in the riches of his wisdom and knowledge; for his counsel and judgment are incomprehensible. For, knowing from the beginning the conduct and works of people, that the human race could neither be saved by the severity of justice alone, nor come to the advance of merits by mercy alone, he decreed for each time what was to be preached; yet first leaving each to his own judgment, because with nature itself as guide righteousness is known. And because the authority of natural righteousness had grown numb through the habit of offending, the law was given, so that the human race might be reined in by the terror of the law made manifest. But because, not restraining themselves, they were held guilty by the law, mercy was preached, which would save those who flee to it, but blind for a time those who refuse it, inviting to their promise the gentiles, who previously would not follow the righteousness of God given through Moses; so that, while they envy their salvation, by that very jealousy they might restore themselves to the origin of the root of the Saviour promised in the law. This is the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, who by manifold providence has won for life both Jews and gentiles.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him?” (Isa 40:13). This is found written in Isaiah. It is plain that God alone knows all counsels, and that he alone needs nothing, because all things are from him; and therefore his counsel is neither grasped nor measured by anyone, because inferior things cannot know the mind of the superior. Indeed to the believing Jews it seemed impossible that the counsel and will of God was for the redemption of the gentiles; in the same way it seemed hard and incredible to the gentiles that the Jews who had not believed could be converted, or, when they believed, be received so as to be saved. Among other things, this is the counsel of God which was hidden and could not be grasped.

“Since from him and through him and in him are all things: to him be glory.” He has declared for what reason the mind and counsel of God cannot be searched out: “For from him,” he says, “and through him and in him are all things: to him be glory.” By saying this he disclosed the sense which was hidden from the world; for since God is the Creator of all (for he made the things that were not, so that they might be), therefore from him are all things. And since they are from him, they began to exist through his Son, who is certainly of the same substance, whose work is the Father’s work. Since, then, he works through the Son, through him are all things. And since the things that are from God are through God, and afterwards, reborn, are in the Holy Spirit, in him are all things; because the Holy Spirit too is from God the Father; hence he also knows the things that are in God. So the Father too is in the Holy Spirit; because what is from God the Father cannot be other than what God the Father is. And therefore to him be glory, because from him and through him and in him are all things. So the things that began to exist from him and through him and in him cannot know his mind and counsel. But he knows all things, because in him are all things. He has disclosed the mystery of God, which he said above they ought not to be ignorant of.