The apostle, having reconciled that great truth of the rejection of the
Jews with the promise made unto the fathers, is, in this chapter,
further labouring to mollify the harshness of it, and to reconcile it
to the divine goodness in general. It might be said, "Hath God then
cast away his people?" The apostles therefore sets himself, in this
chapter, to make a reply to this objection, and that two ways:--
I. He shows at large what the mercy is that is mixed with this wrath,
Romans 11:1-32.
II. He infers thence the infinite wisdom and sovereignty of God, with
the adoration of which he concludes this chapter and subject,
Romans 11:33-36.
The State of the Jews; The State of the Gentiles; The Gentiles Warned; The Future Conversion of the Jews.
A. D. 58.
1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I
also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye
not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession
to God against Israel, saying,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine
altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to
myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the
image of Baal.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace.
6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no
more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh
for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit
of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they
should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow
down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God
forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto
the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and
the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more
their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of
the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are
my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the
world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the
dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy:
and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a
wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them
partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou
bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I
might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou
standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest
he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them
which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue
in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be
graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by
nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive
tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches,
be graffed into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of
this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the
Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There
shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away
their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes:
but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers'
sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now
obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your
mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might
have mercy upon all.
The apostle proposes here a plausible objection, which might be urged
against the divine conduct in casting off the Jewish nation
(Romans 11:1):
"Hath God cast away his people? Is the rejection total and
final? Are they all abandoned to wrath and ruin, and that eternal? Is
the extent of the sentence so large as to be without reserve, or the
continuance of it so long as to be without repeal? Will he have no more
a peculiar people to himself?" In opposition to this, he shows that
there was a great deal of goodness and mercy expressed along with this
seeming severity, particularly he insists upon three things:--
1. That, though some of the Jews were cast off, yet they were not all
so.
2. That, though the body of the Jews were cast off, yet the Gentiles
were taken in. And,
3. That, though the Jews were cast off at present, yet in God's due
time they should be taken into his church again.
I. The Jews, it is true, were many of them cast off, but not all. The
supposition of this he introduces with a God forbid. He will by
no means endure such a suggestions. God had made a distinction between
some of them and others.
1. There was a chosen remnant of believing Jews, that obtained
righteousness and life by faith in Jesus Christ,
Romans 11:1-7.
These are said to be such as he foreknew
(Romans 11:2),
that is, had thoughts of love to, before the world was; for whom he
thus foreknew he did predestinate. her lies the ground of the
difference. They are called the election
(Romans 11:7),
that is, the elect, God's chosen ones, whom he calls the election,
because that which first distinguished them from the dignified them
above others was God's electing love. Believers are the
election, all those and those only whom God hath chosen.
Now,
(1.) He shows that he himself was one of them: For I also am an
Israelite; as if he had said, "Should I say that all the Jews are
rejected, I should cut off my own claims, and see myself abandoned."
Paul was a chosen vessel
(Acts 9:15),
and yet he was of the seed of Abraham, and particularly of the
tribe of Benjamin, the least and youngest of all the tribes of
Israel.
(2.) He suggests that as in Elias's time, so now, this chosen remnant
was really more and greater than one would think it was, which
intimates likewise that it is no new nor unusual thing for God's grace
and favour to Israel to be limited and confined to a remnant of that
people; for so it was in Elijah's time. The scripture saith it of
Elias, en Elia--in the story of Elias, the great
reformer of the Old Testament. Observe,
[1.] His mistake concerning Israel; as if their apostasy in the days of
Ahab was so general that he himself was the only faithful servant God
had in the world. He refers to
1 Kings 19:14,
where (it is here said) he maketh intercession to God against
Israel. A strange kind of intercession: entynchanei to Theo
kata tou Israel--He deals with God against Israel; so it
may be read; so entynchano is translated,
Acts 25:24.
The Jews enetychon moi--have dealt with me. In
prayer we deal with God, commune with him, discourse with him: it is
said of Elijah
(James 5:17)
that he prayed in praying. We are then likely to pray in
praying, to make a business of that duty, when we pray as those that
are dealing with God in the duty. Now Elijah in this prayer spoke as if
there were one left faithful in Israel but himself. See to what a low
ebb the profession of religion may sometimes be brought, and how much
the face of it may be eclipsed, that the most wise and observing men
may give it up for gone. So it was in Elijah's time. That which makes
the show of a nation is the powers and the multitude. The powers of
Israel were then persecuting powers: They have killed thy prophets,
and digged down thine altars, and they seek my life. The
multitude of Israel were then idolatrous: I am left alone. Thus
those few that were faithful to God were not only lost in the crowd of
idolaters, but crushed and driven into corners by the rage of
persecutors. When the wicked rise, a man is hidden,
Proverbs 28:12.--
Digged down thine altars; not only neglected them, and let them
go out of repair, but digged them down. When altars were set up for
Baal, it is no wonder if God's altars were pulled down; they could not
endure that standing testimony against their idolatry. This was his
intercession against Israel; as if he had said, "Lord, is not
this a people ripe for ruin, worthy to be cast off? What else canst
thou do for thy great name?" It is a very sad thing for any person or
people to have the prayers of God's people against them, especially of
God's prophets, for God espouses, and sooner or later will visibly own,
the cause of his praying people.
[2.] The rectifying of this mistake by the answer of God
(Romans 11:4):
I have reserved. Note, First, Things are often much
better with the church of God than wise and good men think they are.
They are ready to conclude hardly, and to give up all for gone, when it
is not so. Secondly, In times of general apostasy, there is
usually a remnant that keep their integrity--some, though but a few;
all do not go one way. Thirdly, That when there is a remnant who
keep their integrity in times of general apostasy it is God that
reserves to himself that remnant. If he had left them to themselves,
they had gone down the stream with the rest. It is his free and
almighty grace that makes the difference between them and
others.--Seven thousand: a competent number to bear their
testimony against the idolatry of Israel, and yet, compared with the
many thousands of Israel, a very small number, one of a city, and two
of a tribe, like the grape-gleanings of the vintage. Christ's flock is
but a little flock; and yet, when they come all together at last, they
will be a great and innumerable multitude,
Revelation 7:9.
Now the description of this remnant is that they had not bowed the
knee to the image of Baal, which was then the reigning sin of
Israel. In court, city, and country, Baal had the ascendant; and the
generality of people, more or less, paid their respect to Baal. The
best evidence of integrity is a freedom from the present prevailing
corruptions of the times and places that we live in, to swim against
the stream when it is strong. Those God will own for his faithful
witnesses that are bold in bearing their testimony to the
present truth,
2 Peter 1:12.
This is thank-worthy, not to bow to Baal when every body bows. Sober
singularity is commonly the badge of true sincerity.
[3.] The application of this instance to the case in hand: Even so
at this present time,
Romans 11:5-7.
God's methods of dispensation towards his church are as they used to
be. As it has been, so it is. In Elijah's time there was a remnant,
and so there is now. If then there was a remnant left under the Old
Testament, when the displays of grace were less clear and the pourings
out of the Spirit less plentiful, much more now under the gospel, when
the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, appears more
illustrious.--A remnant, a few of many, a remnant of believing
Jews when the rest were obstinate in their unbelief. This is called
a remnant according to the election of grace; they are such as
were chosen from eternity in the counsels of divine love to be vessels
of grace and glory. Whom he did predestinate those he called. If the
difference between them and others be made purely by the grace of God,
as certainly it is (I have reserved them, saith he, to
myself), then it must needs be according to the election; for we
are sure that whatever God does he does it according to the counsel of
his own will. Now concerning this remnant we may observe, First,
Whence it takes its rise, from the free grace of God
(Romans 11:6),
that grace which excludes works. The eternal election, in which the
difference between some and others is first founded, is purely of
grace, free grace; not for the sake of works done or foreseen; if so,
it would not be grace. Gratia non est ullo modo gratia, si non sit
omni modo gratuita--It is not grace, properly so called, if it be not
perfectly free. Election is purely according to the good pleasure
of his will,
Ephesians 1:5.
Paul's heart was so full of the freeness of God's grace that in the
midst of his discourse he turns aside, as it were, to make this remark,
If of grace, then not of works. And some observe that faith
itself, which in the matter of justification if opposed to works, is
here included in them; for faith has a peculiar fitness to receive the
free grace of God for our justification, but not to receive that grace
for our election. Secondly, What it obtains: that which Israel,
that is, the body of that people, in van sought for
(Romans 11:7):
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, that is,
justification, and acceptance with God (see
Romans 9:31),
but the election have obtained it. In them the promise of God
has its accomplishment, and God's ancient kindness for that people is
remembered. He calls the remnant of believers, not the elect, but the
election, to show that the sole foundation of all their hopes
and happiness is laid in election. They were the persons whom God had
in his eye in the counsels of his love; they are the election; they are
God's choice. Such was the favour of God to the chosen remnant.
But,
2. The rest were blinded,
Romans 11:7.
Some are chosen and called, and the call is made effectual. But others
are left to perish in their unbelief; nay, they are made worse by that
which should have made them better. The gospel, which to those that
believed was the savour of life unto life, to the unbelieving was the
savour of death unto death. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay.
Good old Simeon foresaw that the child Jesus was set for the fall, as
well as for the rising again, of many in Israel,
Luke 2:34.--
Were blinded; eporothesan--they were
hardened; so some. They were seared, and made brawny and
insensible. They could neither see the light, nor feel the touch, of
gospel grace. Blindness and hardness are expressive of the same
senselessness and stupidity of spirit. They shut their eyes, and would
not see; this was their sin: and then God, in a way of righteous
judgment, blinded their eyes, that they could not see; this was their
punishment. This seemed harsh doctrine: to qualify it, therefore, he
vouches two witnesses out of the Old Testament, who speak of such a
thing.
(1.) Isaiah, who spoke of such a judgment in his day,
Isaiah 29:10;Isa+6:9.
The spirit of slumber, that is, an indisposedness to mind either
their duty or interest. They are under the power of a prevailing
unconcernedness, like people that are slumbering and sleeping; not
affected with any thing that is said or done. They were resolved to
continue as they were, and would not stir. The following words explain
what is meant by the spirit of slumber: Eyes, that they should not
see, and ears, that they should not hear. They had the faculties,
but in the things that belonged to their peace they had not the use of
those faculties; they were quite infatuated, they saw Christ, but they
did not believe in him; they heard his word, but they did not receive
it; and so both their hearing and their seeing were in vain. It was all
one as if they had neither seen nor heard. Of all judgments spiritual
judgments are the sorest, and most to be dreaded, though they make the
least noise.--Unto this day. Ever since Esaias prophesied, this
hardening work has been in the doing; some among them have been blind
and senseless. Or, rather, ever since the first preaching of the
gospel: though they have had the most convincing evidences that could
be of the truth of it, the most powerful preaching, the fairest offers,
the clearest calls from Christ himself, and from his apostles, yet to
this day they are blinded. It is still true concerning multitudes of
them, even to this day in which we live; they are hardened and blinded,
the obstinacy and unbelief go by succession from generation to
generation, according to their own fearful imprecation, which entailed
the curse: His blood be upon us and upon our children.
(2.) David
(Romans 11:9,10),
quoted from
Psalms 69:22,23,
where David having in the Spirit foretold the sufferings of Christ from
his own people the Jews, particularly that of their giving him
vinegar to drink
(Romans 11:21,
which was literally fulfilled,
Matthew 27:48),
an expression of the greatest contempt and malice that could be, in the
next words, under the form of an imprecation, he foretels the dreadful
judgments of God upon them for it: Let their table become a
snare, which the apostle here applies to the present blindness of
the Jews, and the offence they took at the gospel, which increased
their hardness. This teaches us how to understand other prayers of
David against his enemies; they are to be looked upon as prophetic of
the judgments of God upon the public and obstinate enemies of Christ
and his kingdom. His prayer that it might be so was a prophecy that it
should be so, and not the private expression of his own angry
resentments. It was likewise intended to justify God, and to clear his
righteousness in such judgments. He speaks here,
[1.] Of the ruin of their comforts: Let their table be made a
snare, that is, as the psalmist explains it, Let that which should
be for their welfare be a trap to them. The curse of God will turn meat
into poison. It is a threatening like that in
Malachi 2:2,
I will curse your blessings. Their table a snare, that is, an
occasion of sin and an occasion of misery. Their very food, that should
nourish them, shall choke them.
[2.] Of the ruin of their powers and faculties
(Romans 11:10),
their eyes darkened, their backs bowed down, that they can neither find
the right way, nor, if they could, are they able to walk in it. The
Jews, after their national rejection of Christ and his gospel, became
infatuated in their politics, so that their very counsels turned
against them, and hastened their ruin by the Romans. They looked like a
people designed for slavery and contempt, their backs bowed down, to be
ridden and trampled upon by all the nations about them. Or, it may be
understood spiritually; their backs are bowed down in carnality and
worldly-mindedness. Curvæ in terris animæ--They mind
earthly things. This is an exact description of the state and
temper of the present remainder of that people, than whom, if the
accounts we have of them be true, there is not a more worldly, wilful,
blind, selfish, ill-natured, people in the world. They are manifestly
to this day under the power of this curse. Divine curses will work
long. It is a sign we have our eyes darkened if we are bowed down in
worldly-mindedness.
II. Another thing which qualified this doctrine of the rejection of the
Jews was that though they were cast off and unchurched, yet the
Gentiles were taken in
(Romans 11:11-14),
which he applies by way of caution to the Gentiles,
Romans 11:17-22.
1. The rejection of the Jews made room for the reception of the
Gentiles. The Jews' leavings were a feast for the poor Gentiles
(Romans 11:11):
"Have they stumbled that they should fall? Had God no other end
in forsaking and rejecting them than their destruction?" He startles at
this, rejecting the thought with abhorrence, as usually he does when
any thing is suggested which seems to reflect upon the wisdom, or
righteousness, or goodness of God: God forbid! no, through
their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles. Not but that
salvation might have come to the Gentiles if they had stood; but by the
divine appointment it was so ordered that the gospel should be preached
to the Gentiles upon the Jews' refusal of it. Thus in the parable
(Matthew 22:8,9),
Those that were first bidden were not worthy--Go ye therefore
into the highways,
Luke 14:21.
And so it was in the history
(Acts 13:46):
It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken
to you; but, seeing you put it from you, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles; so
Acts 18:6.
God will have a church in the world, will have the wedding furnished
with guests; and, if one will not come, another will, or why was the
offer made? The Jews had the refusal, and so the tender came to the
Gentiles. See how Infinite Wisdom brings light out of darkness, good
out of evil, meat out of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong. To
the same purport he says
(Romans 11:12),
The fall of them was the riches of the world, that is, it
hastened the gospel so much the sooner into the Gentile world. The
gospel is the greatest riches of the place where it is; it is better
than thousands of gold and silver. Or, The riches of the Gentiles was
the multitude of converts among them. True believers are God's jewels.
To the same purport
(Romans 11:15):
The casting away of them is the reconciling of the world. God's
displeasure towards them made way for his favour towards the Gentiles.
God was in Christ reconciling the world,
2 Corinthians 5:19.
And therefore he took occasion from the unbelief of the Jews openly to
disavow and disown them, though they had been his peculiar favourites,
to show that in dispensing his favours he would now no longer act in
such a way of peculiarity and restriction, but that in every nation he
that feared God and wrought righteousness should be accepted of him,
Acts 10:34,35.
2. The use that the apostle makes of this doctrine concerning the
substitution of the Gentiles in the room of the Jews.
(1.) As a kinsman to the Jews, here is a word of excitement and
exhortation to them, to stir them up to receive and embrace the
gospel-offer. This God intended in his favour to the Gentiles, to
provoke the Jews to jealousy
(Romans 11:11),
and Paul endeavours to enforce it accordingly
(Romans 11:14):
If by any means I might provoke to emulation those who are my
flesh. "Shall the despised Gentiles run away with all the comforts
and privileges of the gospel, and shall not we repent of our refusal,
and now at last put in for a share? Shall not we believe and obey, and
be pardoned and saved, as well as the Gentiles?" See an instance of
such an emulation in Esau,
Genesis 28:6-9.
There is a commendable emulation in the affairs of our souls: why
should not we be as holy and happy as any of our neighbours? In this
emulation there needs no suspicion, undermining or countermining; for
the church has room enough, and the new covenant grace and comfort
enough, for us all. The blessings are not lessened by the multitudes
of the sharers.--And might save some of them. See what was
Paul's business, to save souls; and yet the utmost he promises himself
is but to save some. Though he was such a powerful preacher, spoke and
wrote with such evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, yet of the
many he dealt with he could but save some. Ministers must think their
pains well bestowed if they can but be instrumental to save some.
(2.) As an apostle to the Gentiles, here is a word of caution for them:
"I speak to you Gentiles. You believing Romans, you hear what
riches of salvation are come to you by the fall of the Jews, but take
heed lest you do any thing to forfeit it." Paul takes this, as other
occasions, to apply his discourse to the Gentiles, because he was the
apostle of the Gentiles, appointed for the service of their faith, to
plant and water churches in the Gentile nations. This was the purport
of his extraordinary mission,
Acts 22:21,
I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles; compare
Acts 9:15.
It was likewise the intention of his ordination,
Galatians 2:9.
Compare
Acts 13:2.
It ought to be our great and special care to do good to those that are
under our charge: we must particularly mind that which is our own work.
It was an instance of God's great love to the poor Gentiles that he
appointed Paul, who in gifts and graces excelled all the apostles, to
be the apostle of the Gentiles. The Gentile world was a wider province;
and the work to be done in it required a very able, skilful, zealous,
courageous workman: such a one was Paul. God calls those to special
work whom he either sees or makes fit for it.--I magnify my
office. There were those that vilified it, and him because of it.
It was because he was the apostle of the Gentiles that the Jews were so
outrageous against him
(Acts 22:21,22),
and yet he thought never the worse of it, though it set him up as the
butt of all the Jewish rage and malice. It is a sign of true love to
Jesus Christ to reckon that service and work for him truly honourable
which the world looks upon with scorn, as mean and contemptible. The
office of the ministry is an office to be magnified. Ministers
are ambassadors for Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God, and
for their work's sake are to be esteemed highly in love.--My
office; ten diakonian mou--my ministry, my
service, not my lordship and dominion. It was not the dignity and
power, but the duty and work, of an apostle, that Paul was so much in
love with. Now two things he exhorts the Gentiles to, with reference to
the rejected Jews:--
[1.] To have a respect for the Jews, notwithstanding, and to desire
their conversion. This is intimated in the prospect he gives them of
the advantage that would accrue to the church by their conversion,
Romans 11:12,15.
It would be as life from the dead; and therefore they must not insult
and triumph over those poor Jews, but rather pity them, and desire
their welfare, and long for the receiving of them in again.
[2.] To take heed to themselves, lest they should stumble and fall, as
they Jews had done,
Romans 11:17-22.
Here observe,
First, The privilege which the Gentiles had by being taken into
the church. They were grafted in
(Romans 11:17),
as a branch of a wild olive into a good olive, which is contrary to the
way and custom of the husbandman, who grafts the good olive into the
bad; but those that God grafts into the church he finds wild and
barren, and good for nothing. Men graft to mend the tree; but God
grafts to mend the branch.
1. The church of God is an olive-tree, flourishing and fruitful as an
olive
(Psalms 52:8.Ho+14:6),
the fruit useful for the honour both of God and man,
Judges 9:9.
2. Those that are out of the church are as wild olive-trees, not only
useless, but what they do produce is sour and unsavoury: Wild by
nature,
Romans 11:24.
This was the state of the poor Gentiles, that wanted church privileges,
and in respect of real sanctification; and it is the natural state of
every one of us, to be wild by nature.
3. Conversion is the grafting in of wild branches into the good olive.
We must be cut off from the old stock, and be brought into union with a
new root.
4. Those that are grafted into the good olive-tree partake of the root
and fatness of the olive. It is applicable to a saving union with
Christ; all that are by a lively faith grafted into Christ partake of
him as the branches of the root--receive from his fulness. But it is
here spoken of a visible church-membership, from which the Jews were as
branches broken off; and so the Gentiles were grafted in,
autois--among those that continued, or in the room
of those that were broken off. The Gentiles, being grafted into the
church, partake of the same privileges that the Jews did, the root
and fatness. The olive-tree is the visible church (called so
Jeremiah 11:16);
the root of this tree was Abraham, not the root of communication, so
Christ only is the root, but the root of administration, he being the
first with whom the covenant was so solemnly made. Now the believing
Gentiles partake of this root: he also is ason of Abraham
(Luke 19:9),
the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles
(Galatians 3:14),
the same fatness of the olive-tree, the same for substance, special
protection, lively oracles, means of salvation, a standing ministry,
instituted ordinances; and, among the rest, the visible
church-membership of their infant seed, which was part of the fatness
of the olive-tree that the Jews had, and cannot be imagined to be
denied to the Gentiles.
Secondly, A caution not to abuse these privileges.
1. "Be not proud
(Romans 11:18):
Boast not against the branches. Do not therefore trample upon
the Jews as a reprobate people, nor insult over those that are broken
off, much less over those that do continue." Grace is given, not to
make us proud, but to make us thankful. The law of faith excludes all
boasting either of ourselves or against others. "Do not say
(Romans 11:19):
They were broken off that I might be grafted in; that is, do not
think that thou didst merit more at the hand of God than they, or didst
stand higher in his favour." "But remember, thou bearest not the
root, but the root thee. Though thou art grafted in, thou art still
but a branch borne by the root; nay, and an engrafted branch, brought
into the good olive contrary to nature
(Romans 11:24),
not free-born, but by an act of grace enfranchised and naturalized.
Abraham, the root of the Jewish church, is not beholden to thee; but
thou art greatly obliged to him, as the trustee of the covenant and the
father of many nations. Therefore, if thou boast, know (this
word must be supplied to clear the sense) thou bearest not the root
but the root thee."
2. "Be not secure
(Romans 11:20):
Be not high-minded, but fear. Be not too confident of your own
strength and standing." A holy fear is an excellent preservative
against high-mindedness: happy is the man that thus feareth always. We
need not fear but God will be true to his word; all the danger is lest
we be false to ours. Let us therefore fear,
Hebrews 4:1.
The church of Rome now boasts of a patent of perpetual preservation;
but the apostle here, in his epistle to that church when she was in her
infancy and integrity, enters an express caveat against that boast, and
all claims of that kind.--Fear what? "Why fear lest thou commit
a forfeiture as they have done, lest thou lose the privileges thou now
enjoyest, as they have lost theirs." The evils that befal others should
be warnings to us. Go (saith God to Jerusalem
Jeremiah 7:12),
and see what I did to Shiloh; so now, let all the churches of
God go and see what he did to Jerusalem, and what is become of the day
of their visitation, that we may hear and fear, and take heed of
Jerusalem's sin. The patent which churches have of their privileges is
not for a certain term, nor entailed upon them and their heirs; but it
runs as long as they carry themselves well, and no longer. Consider,
(1.) "How they were broken off. It was not undeservedly, by an act of
absolute sovereignty and prerogative, but because of unbelief."
It seems, then, it is possible for churches that have long stood by
faith to fall into such a state of infidelity as may be their ruin.
Their unbelief did not only provoke God to cut them off, but they did
by this cut themselves off; it was not only the meritorious, but the
formal cause of their separation. "Now, thou art liable to the same
infirmity and corruption that they fell by." Further observe, They were
natural branches
(Romans 11:21),
not only interested in Abraham's covenant, but descending from
Abraham's loins, and so born upon the premises, and thence had a kind
of tenant-right: yet, when they sunk into unbelief, God did not spare
them. Prescription, long usage, the faithfulness of their ancestors,
would not secure them. It was in vain to plead, though they insisted
much upon it, that they were Abraham's seed,
Matthew 3:9,Joh+8:33.
It is true they were the husbandmen to whom the vineyard was first let
out; but, when they forfeited it, it was justly taken from them,
Matthew 21:41,43.
This is called here severity,
Romans 11:22.
God laid righteousness to the line and judgment to the plummet, and
dealt with them according to their sins. Severity is a word that sounds
harshly; and I do not remember that it is any where else in scripture
ascribed to God; and it is here applied to the unchurching of the Jews.
God is most severe towards those that have been in profession nearest
to him, if they rebel against him,
Amos 3:2.
Patience and privileges abused turn to the greatest wrath. Of all
judgments, spiritual judgments are the sorest; for of these he is here
speaking,
Romans 11:8.
(2.) "How thou standest, thou that art engrafted in." He speaks to the
Gentile churches in general, though perhaps tacitly reflecting on some
particular person, who might have expressed some such pride and triumph
in the Jews' rejection. "Consider then,"
[1.] "By what means thou standest: By faith, which is a
depending grace, and fetches in strength from heaven. Thou dost not
stand in any strength of thy own, of which thou mightest be confident:
thou art no more than the free grace of God makes thee, and his grace
is his own, which he gives or withholds at pleasure. That which ruined
them was unbelief, and by faith thou standest; therefore thou hast no
faster hold than they had, thou standest on no firmer foundation than
they did."
[2.] "On what terms
(Romans 11:22):
Towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, that
is, continue in a dependence upon and compliance with the free grace of
God, the want of which it was that ruined the Jews--if thou be careful
to keep up thine interest in the divine favour, by being continually
careful to please God and fearful of offending him." The sum of our
duty, the condition of our happiness, is to keep ourselves in the love
of God. Fear the Lord and his goodness.
Hosea 3:5.
III. Another thing that qualified this doctrine of the Jews' rejection
is that, though for the present they are cast off, yet the rejection is
not final; but, when the fulness of time is come, they will be taken in
again. They are not cast off for ever, but mercy is remembered in the
midst of wrath. Let us observe,
1. How this conversion of the Jews is here described.
(1.) It is said to be their fulness
(Romans 11:12),
that is, the addition of them to the church, the filling up again of
that place which became vacant by their rejection. This would be the
enriching of the world (that is, the church in the world) with a great
deal of light and strength and beauty.
(2.) It is called the receiving of them. The conversion of a soul is
the receiving of that soul, so the conversion of a nation. They shall
be received into favour, into the church, into the love of Christ,
whose arms are stretched out for the receiving of all those that will
come to him. And this will be as life from the dead--so strange
and surprising, and yet withal so welcome and acceptable. The
conversion of the Jews will bring great joy to the church. See
Luke 15:32,
He was dead, and is alive; and therefore it was meet we
should make merry and be glad.
(3.) It is called the grafting of them in again
(Romans 11:23),
into the church, from which they had been broken off. That which is
grafted in receives sap and virtue from the root; so does a soul that
is truly grafted into the church receive life, and strength, and grace
from Christ the quickening root. They shall be grafted into their
own olive-tree
(Romans 11:24);
that is, into the church of which they had formerly been the most
eminent and conspicuous members, to retrieve those privileges of
visible church-membership which they had so long enjoyed, but have now
sinned away and forfeited by their unbelief.
(4.) It is called the saving of all Israel,
Romans 11:26.
True conversion may well be called salvation; it is salvation begun.
See
Acts 2:47.
The adding of them to the church is the saving of them: tous
sozomenous, in the present tense, are saved. When
conversion-work goes on, salvation-work goes on.
2. What it is grounded upon, and what reason we have to look for
it.
(1.) Because of the holiness of the first-fruits and the root,
Romans 11:16.
Some by the first-fruits understand those of the Jews that were already
converted to the faith of Christ and received into the church, who were
as the first-fruits dedicated to God, as earnests of a more plentiful
and sanctified harvest. A good beginning promises a good ending. Why
may we not suppose that others may be savingly wrought upon as well as
those who are already brought in? Others by the first-fruits understand
the same with the root, namely, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, from whom the Jews descended, and with whom, as the prime
trustees, the covenant was deposited: and so they were the root of the
Jews, not only as a people, but as a church. Now, if they were holy,
which is not meant so much of inherent as of federal holiness--if they
were in the church and in the covenant--then we have reason to conclude
that God hath a kindness for the lump--the body of that people;
and for the branches--the particular members of it. The Jews are
in a sense a holy nation
(Exodus 19:6),
being descended from holy parents. Now it cannot be imagined that such
a holy nation should be totally and finally cast off. This proves that
the seed of believers, as such, are within the pale of the visible
church, and within the verge of the covenant, till they do, by their
unbelief, throw themselves out; for, if the root be holy, so are the
branches. Though real qualifications are not propagated, yet
relative privileges are. Though a wise man does not beget a wise man,
yet a free man begets a free man. Though grace does not run in the
blood, yet external privileges do (till they are forfeited), even to a
thousand generations. Look how they will answer it another day that cut
off the entail, by turning the seed of the faithful out of the church,
and so not allowing the blessing of Abraham to come upon the Gentiles.
The Jewish branches are reckoned holy, because the root was so. This is
expressed more plainly
(Romans 11:28):
They are beloved for the fathers' sakes. In this love to the
fathers the first foundation of their church-state was laid
(Deuteronomy 4:37):
Because he loved they fathers, therefore he chose their seed after
them. And the same love would revive their privileges, for still
the ancient loving-kindness is remembered; they are beloved for the
fathers' sakes. It is God's usual method of grace. Kindness to the
children for the father's sake is therefore called the kindness of
God,
2 Samuel 9:3,7.
Though, as concerning the gospel (namely, in the present dispensation
of it), they are enemies to it for your sakes, that is, for the
sake of the Gentiles, against whom they have such an antipathy; yet,
when God's time shall come, this will wear off, and God's love to their
fathers will be remembered. See a promise that points at this,
Leviticus 26:42.
The iniquity of the fathers is visited but to the third and fourth
generation; but there is mercy kept for thousands. Many fare the better
for the sake of their godly ancestors. It is upon this account that
the church is called their own olive-tree. Long it had been
their own peculiar, which is some encouragement to us to hope that
there may be room for them in it again, for old acquaintance-sake.
That which hath been may be again. Though particular persons and
generations wear off in unbelief, yet there having been a national
church-membership, though for the present suspended, we may expect that
it will be revived.
(2.) Because of the power of God
(Romans 11:23):
God is able to graft them in again. The conversion of souls is a
work of almighty power; and when they seem most hardened, and blinded,
and obstinate, our comfort is that God is able to work a change, able
to graft those in that have been long cast out and withered. When the
house is kept by the strong man armed, with all his force, yet God is
stronger than he, and is able to dispossess him. The condition of their
restoration is faith: If they abide not still in unbelief. So
that nothing is to be done but to remove that unbelief that is the
great obstacle; and God is able to take that away, though nothing less
than an almighty power will do it, the same power that raised up Christ
from the dead,
Ephesians 1:19,29.
Otherwise, can these dry bones live?
(3.) Because of the grace of God manifested to the Gentiles. Those that
have themselves experienced the grace of God, preventing,
distinguishing grace, may thence take encouragement to hope well
concerning others. This is his argument
(Romans 11:24):
"If thou wast grafted into a good olive, that was wild by nature, much
more shall these that were the natural branches, and may therefore be
presumed somewhat nearer to the divine acceptance." This is a
suggestion very proper to check the insolence of those Gentile
Christians that looked with disdain and triumph upon the condition of
the rejected Jews, and trampled upon them; as if he had said, "Their
condition, bad as it is, is not so bad as yours was before your
conversion; and therefore why may it not be made as good as yours is?"
This is his argument
(Romans 11:30,31):
As you in times past have not, &c. It is good for those that
have found mercy with God to be often thinking what they were in time
past, and how they obtained that mercy. This would help to soften our
censures of those that still continue in unbelief, and quicken our
prayers for them. He argues further from the occasion of the Gentiles'
call, that is, the unbelief of the Jews; thence it took rise: "You
have obtained mercy through their unbelief; much more shall they
obtain mercy through your mercy. If the putting out of their candle was
the lighting of yours, by that power of God which brings good out of
evil, much more shall the continued light of your candle, when God's
time shall come, be a means of lighting theirs again." "That through
your mercy they might obtain mercy, that is, that they may be
beholden to you, as you have been to them." He takes it for granted
that the believing Gentiles would do their utmost endeavour to work
upon the Jews--that, when God had persuaded Japhet, Japhet would be
labouring to persuade Shem. True grace hates monopolies. Those that
have found mercy themselves should endeavour that through their mercy
others also may obtain mercy.
(4.) Because of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament, which
point at this. He quotes a very remarkable one,
from Isa. lix. 20, 21.
Where we may observe,
[1.] The coming of Christ promised: There shall come out of Zion the
deliverer. Jesus Christ is the great deliverer, which supposes
mankind in a state of misery and danger. In Isaiah it is, the
Redeemer shall come to Zion. There he is called the Redeemer; here
the deliverer; he delivers in a way of redemption, by a price. There
he is said to come to Zion, because when the prophet prophesied he was
yet to come into the world, and Zion was his first head-quarters.
Thither he came, there he took up his residence: but, when the apostle
wrote this, he had come, he had been in Zion; and he is speaking of the
fruits of his appearing, which shall come out of Zion; thence,
as from the spring, issued forth those streams of living water which in
the everlasting gospel watered the nations. Out of Zion went forth
the law,
Isaiah 2:3.
Compare
Luke 24:47.
[2.] The end and purpose of this coming: He shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob. Christ's errand into the world was to turn
away ungodliness, to turn away the guilt by the purchase of pardoning
mercy, and to turn away the power by the pouring out of renewing grace,
to save his people from their sins
(Matthew 1:21),
to separate between us and our sins, that iniquity might not be our
ruin, and that it might not be our ruler. Especially to turn it away
from Jacob, which is that for the sake of which he quotes the text, as
a proof of the great kindness God intended for the seed of Jacob. What
greater kindness could he do them than to turn away ungodliness from
them, to take away that which comes between them and all happiness,
take away sin, and then make way for all good? This is the blessing
that Christ was sent to bestow upon the world, and to tender it to the
Jews in the first place
(Acts 3:26),
to turn people from their iniquities. In Isaiah it is, The Redeemer
shall come to Zion, and unto those that turn from transgression in
Jacob, which shown who in Zion were to have a share in and to reap
benefit by the deliverance promised, those and those only that leave
their sins and turn to God; to them Christ comes as a Redeemer, but as
an avenger to those that persist in impenitence. See
Deuteronomy 30:2,3.
Those that turn from sin will be owned as the true citizens of Zion
(Ephesians 2:19),
the right Jacob,
Psalms 24:4,6.
Putting both these readings together, we learn that none have an
interest in Christ but those that turn from their sins, nor can any
turn from their sins but by the strength of the grace of
Christ.--For this is my covenant with them--this, that the
deliverer shall come to them--this, that my Spirit shall not depart
from them, as it follows,
Isaiah 59:21.
God's gracious intentions concerning Israel were made the matter of a
covenant, which the God that cannot lie could not but be true and
faithful to. They were the children of the covenant,
Acts 3:25.
The apostle adds, When I shall take away their sins, which some
think refers to
Isaiah 27:9,
or only to the foregoing words, to turn away ungodliness. Pardon
of sin is laid as the foundation of all the blessings of the new
covenant
(Hebrews 8:12):
For I will be merciful. Now from all this he infers that
certainly God had great mercy in store for that people, something
answerable to the extent of these rich promises: and he proves his
inference
(Romans 11:29)
by this truth: For the gifts and callings of God are without
repentance. Repentance is sometimes taken for a change of mind, and
so God never repents, for he is in one mind and who can turn him?
Sometimes for a change of way, and that is here understood, intimating
the constancy and unchangeableness of that love of God which is founded
in election. Those gifts and callings are immutable; whom he so loves,
he loves to the end. We find God repenting that he had given man a
being
(Genesis 6:6,
It repented the Lord that he had made man), and repenting that
he had given a man honour and power
(1 Samuel 15:11,
It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king); but we
never find God repenting that he had given a man grace, or effectually
called him; those gifts and callings are without repentance.
The Divine Sovereignty.
A. D. 58.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past
finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been
his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed
unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things:
to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
The apostle having insisted so largely, through the greatest part of
this chapter, upon reconciling the rejection of the Jews with the
divine goodness, he concludes here with the acknowledgment and
admiration of the divine wisdom and sovereignty in all this. Here the
apostle does with great affection and awe adore,
I. The secrecy of the divine counsels: O the depth! in these
proceedings towards the Jews and Gentiles; or, in general, the whole
mystery of the gospel, which we cannot fully comprehend.--The riches
of the wisdom and knowledge of God, the abundant instances of his
wisdom and knowledge in contriving and carrying on the work of our
redemption by Christ, a depth which the angels pry into,
1 Peter 1:12.
Much more may it puzzle any human understanding to give an account of
the methods, and reasons, and designs, and compass of it. Paul was as
well acquainted with the mysteries of the kingdom of God as ever any
mere man was; and yet he confesses himself at a loss in the
contemplation, and, despairing to find the bottom, he humbly sits down
at the brink, and adores the depth. Those that know most in this state
of imperfection cannot but be most sensible of their own weakness and
short-sightedness, and that after all their researches, and all their
attainments in those researches, while they are here they cannot order
their speech by reason of darkness. Praise is silent to thee,
Psalms 65:1.--
The depth of the riches. Men's riches of all kinds are shallow,
you may soon see the bottom; but God's riches are deep
(Psalms 36:6):
Thy judgments are a great deep. There is not only depth in the
divine counsels, but riches too, which denotes an abundance of that
which is precious and valuable, so complete are the dimensions of the
divine counsels; they have not only depth and height, but breadth
and length
(Ephesians 3:18),
and that passing knowledge,
Romans 11:19.--
Riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. His seeing all things
by one clear, and certain, and infallible view--all things that are, or
ever were, or ever shall be,--that all is naked and open before him:
there is his knowledge. His ruling and ordering all things, directing
and disposing them to his own glory, and bringing about his own
purposes and counsels in all; this is his wisdom. And the vast
extent of both these is such a depth as is past our fathoming, and we
may soon lose ourselves in the contemplation of them. Such knowledge
is too wonderful for me,
Psalms 139:6.
Compare
Romans 11:17,18.--
How unsearchable are his judgments! that is, his counsels and
purposes: and his ways, that is, the execution of these counsels
and purposes. We know not what he designs. When the wheels are set in
motion, and Providence has begun to work, yet we know not what he has
in view; it is past finding out. This does not only overturn all
our positive conclusions about the divine counsels, but it also checks
all our curious enquiries. Secret things belong not to us,
Deuteronomy 29:29.
God's way is in the sea,
Psalms 77:19.
Compare
Job 23:8,9,Ps+97:2.
What he does we know not now,
John 13:7.
We cannot give a reason of God's proceedings, nor by searching find out
God. See
Job 5:9,9:10.
The judgments of his mouth, and the way of our duty, blessed be God,
are plain and easy, it is a high-way; but the judgments of his hands,
and the ways of his providence, are dark and mysterious, which
therefore we must not pry into, but silently adore and acquiesce in.
The apostle speaks this especially with reference to that strange turn,
the casting off of the Jews and the entertainment of the Gentiles, with
a purpose to take in the Jews again in due time; these were strange
proceedings, the choosing of some, the refusing of others, and neither
according to the probabilities of human conjecture. Even so, Father,
because it seemed good in thing eyes. These are methods unaccountable,
concerning which we must say, O the depth!--Past finding
out, anexichniastoi--cannot be traced. God
leaves no prints nor footsteps behind him, does not make a path to
shine after him; but his paths of providence are new every morning. He
does not go the same way so often as to make a track of it. How
little a portion is heard of him!
Job 26:14.
It follows
(Romans 11:34),
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Is there any creature
made of his cabinet-council, or laid, as Christ was, in the bosom of
the Father? Is there any to whom he has imparted his counsels, or that
is able, upon the view of his providences, to know the way that he
takes? There is so vast a distance and disproportion between God and
man, between the Creator and the creature, as for ever excludes the
thought of such an intimacy and familiarity. The apostle makes the same
challenge
(1 Corinthians 2:16):
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? And yet there he adds,
But we have the mind of Christ, which intimates that through
Christ true believers, who have his Spirit, know so much of the mind of
God as is necessary to their happiness. He that knew the mind of the
Lord has declared him,
John 1:18.
And so, though we know not the mind of the Lord, yet, if we have the
mind of Christ, we have enough. The secret of the Lord is with
those that fear him,
Psalms 25:14.
Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do? See
John 15:15.--
Or who has been his counsellor? He needs no counsellor, for he
is infinitely wise; nor is any creature capable of being his
counsellor; this would be like lighting a candle to the sun. This
seems to refer to that scripture
(Isaiah 40:13,14),
Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor,
hath taught him? With whom took he counsel? &c. It is the substance
of God's challenge to Job concerning the work of creation
(Job 38:1-41),
and is applicable to all the methods of his providence. It is nonsense
for any man to prescribe to God, or to teach him how to govern the
world.
II. The sovereignty of the divine counsels. In all these things God
acts as a free agent, does what he will, because he will, and gives not
account of any of his matters
(Job 23:13,33:13),
and yet there is no unrighteousness with him. To clear which,
1. He challenges any to prove God a debtor to him
(Romans 11:35):
Who hath first given to him? Who is there of all the creatures
that can prove God is beholden to him? Whatever we do for him, or
devote to him, it must be with that acknowledgment, which is for ever a
bar to such demands
(1 Chronicles 29:14):
Of thine own we have given thee. All the duties we can perform
are not requitals, but rather restitutions. If any can prove that God
is his debtor, the apostle here stands bound for the payment, and
proclaims, in God's name, that payment is ready: It shall be
recompensed to him again. It is certain God will let nobody lose by
him; but never any one yet durst make a demand of this kind, or attempt
to prove it. This is here suggested,
(1.) To silence the clamours of the Jews. When God took away their
visible church-privileges from them, he did but take his own: and may
he not do what he will with his own--give or withhold his grace where
and when he pleases?
(2.) To silence the insultings of the Gentiles. When God sent the
gospel among them, and gave so many of them grace and wisdom to accept
of it, it was not because he owed them so much favour, or that they
could challenge it as a debt, but of his own good pleasure.
2. He resolves all into the sovereignty of God
(Romans 11:36):
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things, that
is, God is all in all. All things in heaven and earth (especially those
things which relate to our salvation, the things which belong to our
peace) are of him by way of creation, through him by way of
providential influence, that they may be to him in their final tendency
and result. Of God as the spring and fountain of all, through Christ,
God-man, as the conveyance, to God as the ultimate end. These three
include, in general, all God's causal relations to his creatures: of
him as the first efficient cause, through him as the supreme directing
cause, to him as the ultimate final cause; for the Lord hath made all
for himself,
Revelation 4:11.
If all be of him and through him, there is all the reason in the world
that all should be to him and for him. It is a necessary circulation;
if the rivers received their waters from the sea, they return them to
the sea again,
Ecclesiastes 1:7.
To do all to the glory of God is to make a virtue of necessity; for all
shall in the end be to him, whether we will or no. And so he concludes
with a short doxology: To whom be glory for ever, Amen. God's
universal agency as the first cause, the sovereign ruler, and the last
end, ought to be the matter of our adoration. Thus all his works do
praise him objectively; but his saints do bless him actively; they hand
that praise to him which all the creatures do minister matter for,
Psalms 145:10.
Paul had been discoursing at large of the counsels of God concerning
man, sifting the point with a great deal of accuracy; but, after all,
he concludes with the acknowledgment of the divine sovereignty, as that
into which all these things must be ultimately resolved, and in which
alone the mind can safely and sweetly rest. This is, if not the
scholastic way, yet the Christian way, of disputation. Whatever are
the premises, let god's glory be the conclusion; especially when we
come to talk of the divine counsels and actings, it is best for us to
turn our arguments into awful and serious adorations. The glorified
saints, that see furthest into these mysteries, never dispute, but
praise to eternity.
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for 'Romans' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
.