ACC ~ Romans 11 v25 - 36

OVERVIEW:

The hardening of Israel is partial and temporary. When the full number of the Gentiles has been saved, the Jews who have been chosen will repent and believe. All the elect faithful of Israel will be saved. Everything that happens has a purpose in the plan of God. He allowed the world to sink into disobedience in order to be able to show how great his mercy is. The depths of his wisdom are impenetrable, but we know that in the end everything that happens is for our good and is consistent with the holiness and justice of God.

11:25 | Understanding a Mystery

JEWS BELIEVE IN CHRIST. CHRYSOSTOM: Part of the Jewish people have been blinded, but not all, for many of them already have believed in Christ. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 19.

UNTIL THE FULL NUMBER OF GENTILES COMES IN. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Here Paul shows that, as the complement of the Gentiles comes into faith in Christ, the rest of the Jewish people will be stirred by jealousy and a desire to follow suit, and believing in Christ they will be saved. But in the meantime the apostle ranks the Gentiles ahead of the Jews in the faith for the reason that even if some of the Jews believed in Christ, they still followed the precepts of the law of Moses. But afterward they too, following the example of the Gentiles, began to maintain the Christian faith in its fullness. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

NO CONCEIT. PELAGIUS: All that follows is designed to prevent the Gentiles from being filled with pride toward the Jews. It is a secret unknown to mankind why the Gentiles were saved, because Israel’s blindness in fact furnished the occasion for their salvation. The blindness continued until the Jews saw that the Gentiles were being saved, since all were called to salvation. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

ELIJAH WILL COME AND RESTORE ISRAEL. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul insists that only a part of Israel has been hardened, for in fact many of them believe. He thus encourages them not to despair that others will be saved as well. After the Gentiles accepted the gospel, the Jews would believe, when the great Elijah would come to them and bring them the doctrine of faith. The Lord himself said as much: “Elijah will come and will restore all things.” INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

11:26 | A Deliverer from Zion

ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED. ORIGEN: What “all Israel” means or what the fullness of the Gentiles will be only God knows along with his only begotten Son and perhaps a few of his friends, as he said: “I no longer call you servants but friends, for I have made known to you everything which I have heard from my Father.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

DIODORE: What does it mean to say that “all Israel will be saved?” Just as we say that the whole world and all the nations are being saved because everywhere and among all nations there are those who are coming to faith, so also “all Israel will be saved” does not mean that every one of them will be but that either those who were understood by Elijah or those who are scattered all over the world will one day come to faith. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

SET FREE BY GRACE. AMBROSIASTER: God will give them back the free exercise of their will so that, because their unbelief did not spring from malice but from error, they may be put right and afterward be saved. . . .

Paul quotes Isaiah in order to prove that God has reserved a gift for them, in order to teach that they can be set free by the same grace by which the believing Jews have already been set free, because he is not empty but always full of grace. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

A TRUER ISRAEL. AUGUSTINE: Not all the Jews were blind; some of them recognized Christ. But the fullness of the Gentiles comes in among those who have been called according to the plan, and there arises a truer Israel of God … the elect from both the Jews and the Gentiles. LETTER 149.

PELAGIUS: Some interpreters regard all these events as future. To them one must reply: Then this prophecy … must still take place, and Christ will come again to set them free. If they have been blinded temporarily by God and not by themselves, what will become of those who are now perishing as unbelievers? PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

ISRAEL CALLED AT THE END. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Although it was rejected, Israel will also be saved eventually, a hope which Paul confirms by quoting this text of Scripture. For indeed, Israel will be saved in its own time and will be called at the end, after the calling of the Gentiles. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

DEFINING “ALL ISRAEL.” THEODORET OF CYR: “All Israel” means all those who believe, whether they are Jews, who have a natural relationship to Israel, or Gentiles, who are related to Israel by faith. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

SALVATION INDISPUTABLE. GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: When their sins are taken away and forgiven their salvation will be clear and indisputable. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

11:27 | Fulfilling the Covenant

MY COVENANT WITH THEM. AMBROSIASTER: The covenant will always be there, however long it takes for them to believe. For this is the Lord Jesus, who has promised to come from heaven in order to set the human race free. Every day he forgives the sins of those who turn to God, nor does he condemn unbelievers straightaway but waits for them, knowing that they may come to a knowledge of God. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS. CHRYSOSTOM: God’s covenant will be fulfilled not when they are circumcised, nor when they do the other deeds of the law, but when they obtain forgiveness of sins. If this has been promised but has not yet happened in their case, nor have they enjoyed the forgiveness of sins in baptism, nevertheless it will certainly come to pass. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 19.

PELAGIUS: This new covenant Jeremiah promised which only those who are new, whose sins have been wiped away, will receive. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

11:28 | Beloved for the Sake of Their Ancestors

RECEIVED WITH JOY. AMBROSIASTER: However seriously the Jews may have sinned by rejecting the gift of God, and however worthy they may be of death, nevertheless, because they are the children of good people, whose privileges and many benefits from God they have received, they will be received with joy when they return to the faith, because God’s love for them is stirred up by the memory of their ancestors. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

CHRYSOSTOM: When the Gentiles believed, the Jews became even more obnoxious. But even now God has not stopped calling the Gentiles. He is waiting for all of them who are to believe to come in, and then the rest of the Jews will come as well. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 19.

PELAGIUS: They are Paul’s enemies because he preaches Christ to the Gentiles. But if they believe they are beloved, i.e., doubly blessed. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

11:29 | God’s Call Is Irrevocable

WHETHER SORROW IS REQUIRED. AMBROSIASTER: It is usually thought that those who have sinned badly by not accepting the promise of God cannot receive mercy if they do not demonstrate their sorrow, because those who have sinned badly cannot be forgiven without tears and wailing. But Paul shows that these things are not required at the start, because God’s gift freely pardons sins in baptism. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

IRREVOCABLE. AUGUSTINE: For God to order his future works in his foreknowledge, which cannot be deceived or changed, is entirely (and nothing other than) to predestine. But just as he whom God has foreknown to be chaste, al-though this may be unclear to him, acts in such a way as to be chaste, so he whom God has predestined to be chaste, although this may be unclear to him, does not, simply because he hears that by God’s gift he will be what he will be, fail to act so as to be chaste. Indeed, his charity is delighted, and he is not puffed up as if he had not received it. Not only is he not hindered from the work of charity by the preaching of predestination, but on the contrary he is helped in this task, so that when he glories he may glory in the Lord. GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE 17.

THE PROMISE HOLDS. PELAGIUS: If they believe, their sins will not be counted against them, because God does not repent that he made a promise with Abraham’s descendants. Or it may mean if they believe they will be saved without the anguish of penance. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

SAUL AND SOLOMON ARGUE FOR REVOCABILITY. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul says this in order to encourage the Jews. In fact, of course, God did revoke the good gifts which he gave … King Saul, for example, who received spiritual grace which later deserted him. Likewise Solomon, who received peace through the kindness of God, but after his transgression was deprived of grace. And then there are the Jews themselves, who always had their prophets to take care of them but who at the present time have been deprived of them. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

11:30 | Mercy Through the Jews’ Disobedience

MERCY UNDESERVED. PELAGIUS: You did not believe when the Jews did, and now you have received mercy, but not because you have de-served it. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

CLEANSED BY THE SAME GRACE. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Paul shows that both Jews and Gentiles were guilty of the same thing and that they were likewise cleansed by one and the same grace. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

11:31 | Mercy Shown to the Jews

THAT THEY MAY ALSO RECEIVE MERCY. AMBROSIASTER: Paul recalls the unbelief of the Gentiles so that being ashamed of it they may not insult the Jews who have not believed but rejoice when they accept the promise of God. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

PELAGIUS: Christ is the mercy of the Gentiles. They have been such unbelievers that they too are justified not by their works but in mercy, as you are. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

11:32 | God’s Mercy on All

CONSIGNED ALL TO DISOBEDIENCE. AMBROSIASTER: From earliest times all nations lived in ungodliness and ignorance because they were without God. For this reason the law was revealed, by which the worst ones could be restrained. But by the activity of the adversary sins began to multiply, so that through the commandment man was considered more guilty still. Then God, who in the mercy of his goodness always takes care of human creation, seeing that even without the law sin still existed and that by the law it could not be wiped out, de-creed that he would require only faith, by which the sins of all men might be abolished. Thus although man had no ground for hope through the law, he was nevertheless saved by the mercy of God. To consign everything to disobedience means that this decree comes as a gift from God at a time when everyone was laboring in unbelief, so that grace might appear to be the freest of all rewards. Therefore nobody should boast, for the one who is proud of his ignorance is to be pitied. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

JEROME: This is complete righteousness in man, not to impute any virtue that he can attain to himself but rather to the Lord, the giver. AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 13.

AUGUSTINE: The apostle did not mean by these words that God would not condemn anybody. What he meant is made clear by the context. Paul was speaking about those Jews who would one day believe. THE CITY OF GOD 21.24.

NOT CONSIGNED WITHOUT THEIR CHOICE. PELAGIUS: God has not imprisoned them by force, but for a good reason he has confined all those whom he found in unbelief, i.e., all Jews and Gentiles. He confined the Jews because previously they were only sinners, not faithless as well. But since they have not believed Christ they are equal to the Gentiles and receive mercy in the same way. God does all this so that he may have mercy on them all. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

WHETHER CONVICTED OR CONSIGNED. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul has put “consigned” here instead of “convicted.” For God convicted the Gentiles, who had received the natural law and had created things to teach them the knowledge of God yet had not benefited from either the one or the other. He also convicted the Jews, who had received more teaching still (for besides nature and the creation they had also received the law and the prophets, who taught them what they needed to know) and had become liable to even greater punishments as a result. But God was pleased to offer salvation to each of them, even though basically they deserved to perish, if only they would believe. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

CONSIGNED BY DIVINE PERMISSION, NOT BY DIVINE ACTION. JOHN OF DAMASCUS: This is not to be taken in the sense of God acting but in the sense of God permitting, because of free will and because virtue is not forced. ORTHODOX FAITH 4.19.

11:33 | God’s Unsearchable Ways

HOW UNSEARCHABLE HIS WAYS. TERTULLIAN: Whence this outburst of feeling? Surely from the recollection of the Scriptures, which he had been previously turning over, as well as from his contemplation of the mysteries which he had been setting forth above, in relation to the faith of Christ coming from the law. AGAINST MARCION 24.

ORIGEN: Paul did not say that God’s judgments were hard to search out but that they could not be searched out at all. He did not say that God’s ways were hard to find out but that they were impossible to find out. For however far one may advance in the search and make progress through an increasingly earnest study, even when aided and enlightened in the mind by God’s grace, he will never be able to reach the final goal of his inquiries. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 4.3.14.

GUIDED BY ANGELS. NOVATIAN: The world, this chariot of God and all that is therein, is guided by the angels and the stars. Although their movements are varied—bound nevertheless by fixed laws—we see them guided to their goals according to the time measured out to them. So may we deservedly cry out with the apostle as we admire the Maker and his works: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” THE TRINITY 8.11.

THE DIVINE MYSTERIES. GREGORY OF NYSSA: Paul examined … the unclear and hidden aspects of the divine mysteries and through suggestive phrases revealed the illuminations which came to him from God concerning the understanding of what is incomprehensible and unsearchable. ON PERFECTION.

THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES. AMBROSIASTER: God knew from the beginning what man’s behavior and works would be like, in that the human race could not be saved only by the severity of his justice nor could it reach perfection only by his mercy. So at a particular time he decreed what should be preached, whereas before that time he allowed each person to decide for himself, because righteousness was recognized under the guidance of nature. And because the authority of natural righteousness was weakened by the habit of sin, the law was given so that the human race would be held back by the fear engendered by the revealed law. But because they did not restrain themselves and were counted guilty under the law, mercy was proclaimed, which would save those who took refuge in it but would blind those who rejected it for a time. During that time this mercy would invite the Gentiles, who earlier on had not wanted to follow the law given to Moses, to share in the promise, so that the Jews might become jealous of their salvation and because of that jealousy turn again to the source of the root, which is the Savior. This is “the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God,” who by his many-sided providence has won both Jews and Gentiles to eternal life. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

STRUCK WITH AWE. CHRYSOSTOM: After going back to former times and looking back to God’s original dispensation of things, whereby the world has existed up to the present time, and having considered the special provision which he had made for all eventualities, Paul is struck with awe and cries aloud, making his hearers feel confident that what he is saying will come to pass. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 19.

PELAGIUS: Paul praises the wisdom of God, who according to his foreknowledge waited until all were in need of mercy in order to take from 2everyone the glory that derives from unfounded boasting in works. The judgments of God are a great deep, for they cannot be clearly grasped. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

A KNOWING BEYOND EVERY WAY OF KNOWING. PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: It is in this sense that one says of St. Paul that he knew God, for he knew that God is beyond every act of mind and every way of knowing. LETTER 5.

11:34 | Knowing the Mind of the Lord

THE NATURE OF CREATURES. ORIGEN: This refers to creatures, but the other members of the Trinity are excepted because they have nothing in common with the nature of creatures. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

GOD’S KNOWING NOT MEASURABLE BY US. AMBROSIASTER: It is clear that only God knows everything and it is only he who lacks nothing, because everything comes from him. No one can understand or measure this knowledge, because the inferior cannot comprehend what is superior to it. Jewish believers could not understand that the salvation of the Gentiles could be God’s plan and will. Likewise, it seemed unlikely and incredible to the Gentiles that the Jews, who had not believed, could be converted or accepted as believers. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

GOD’S WISDOM NOT DERIVED. CHRYSOSTOM: God does not get his wisdom from anyone else but is himself the fountain of all good things. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 19.

THE MIND OF THE LORD. PELAGIUS: Previously nobody knew it, but at the time of writing Paul certainly knew it, as he indicated to others when he said: “We have the mind of the Lord.” PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

11:35 | God Cannot Be Repaid

GOD DEVISED ALL THINGS. CHRYSOSTOM: God himself devised all things, created all things and worked all things together. He is rich and had no need to receive anything from anyone else. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 19.

UNWARRANTED BOASTING. PELAGIUS: Who has done something beforehand, so that instead of magnifying God’s mercy, he boasts that he has received what he deserved? PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THE WHOLE OF SALVATION IS A GIFT. PROSPER OF AQUITAINE: No good work comes from the dead; nothing righteous from the ungodly. Their whole salvation is gratuitous and is therefore the glory of God, so that he who glories may glory in him of whose glory he has stood in need. GRACE AND FREE WILL 10.

11:36 | All Things Are from God

THE FATHER FROM WHOM AND THE SON THROUGH WHOM AND THE SPIRIT TO WHOM. ORIGEN: You see how here, [as in the previous verses,] Paul indicates the mystery of the Trinity. For when he says from him and through him and to him, this corresponds to the one God and Father, from whom are all things, and our one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things. Likewise he says that all things are revealed by the Spirit of God, thus indicating that the providence of the Trinity is present in everything. When he talks about the height of riches he means the Father, from whom all things come; when he talks about the height of wisdom he means Christ, who is the wisdom of God; and when he talks about the depth of knowledge he is referring to the Holy Spirit, who knows the deep things of God.

Paul adds “forever” to indicate that the perfection of all things is not bound by time but will extend to eternity and even be increased. He further adds “Amen” so that we might understand that we are coming to that blessedness through him, of whom it is written in the Apocalypse: “These are the words of the Amen.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

ORIGEN: Paul declares that God is the beginning of the substance of all things by the words “of him” and the bond of their subsistence by the expression “through him” and their final end by the term “to him.” AGAINST CELSUS 6.65.

NOVATIAN: All things exist by God’s command, so that they are “from him”; they are set in order by his Word and therefore “through him.” Finally, all things have recourse to his judgment so that, while they long for freedom “in him,” after corruption has been done away with they appear to be recalled “to him.” THE TRINITY 3.7.

GREGORY OF NYSSA: What person who believes that he lives “from him and through him and to him” will dare to make the One who encompasses in himself the life of each of us a witness of a life which does not reflect him? ON PERFECTION.

BEGINNING, CONTINUING AND CONSUMMATING PROVIDENCE. AMBROSE: “From him” means the beginning and origin of the substance of the universe, i.e., by his will and power. … “Through him” means the continuation of the universe; “unto him” means its end. SIX DAYS OF CREATION 5.19.

THE SAVING WORK OF THE TRIUNE GOD. AMBROSIASTER: By saying this Paul revealed a meaning which had been hidden from the world. For because God is the Creator of all things, everything comes from him. And because everything comes from him, it comes through his Son, who is of the same substance and whose work is the Father’s work as well. … And because what is from God and through God is then born again in the Holy Spirit, everything is in him as well, because the Holy Spirit is from God the Father, which is why he knows what is in God. … Here Paul laid bare the mystery of God, which he said above should not be unknown to them. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

AUGUSTINE: Paul is referring to the Trinity when he says this. FAITH AND THE CREED 16.

COUNTERING ARIANISM. PELAGIUS: From him all creation received its beginning, through him it is governed, and in him are all things contained, whereas he is not contained by any created thing. He alone should receive glory, for it is from him that we live and move.

At the same time, this passage also contradicts the Arians when it is said that it is one and the same God from whom and through whom all things are revealed to have been made, since the Evangelist indicated that in the beginning everything was made through the Word. The apostle here teaches that what the Evangelist testifies concerning the Son should be understood and believed of the Father, through the mystery of the unity. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

IN HIM ARE ALL THINGS. THEODORET OF CYR: God himself made all things and he rules in perpetuity over everything which he has made. Everyone ought to turn to him, to thank him for what they asked for and to put their trust in him for the future. They ought to honor him as well. In this way the holy apostle shows that there is no difference between the prepositions from and through, as if the former, which might mean something greater, should apply to the Father and the latter, which might mean something less, to the Son. In fact, both apply equally to both persons. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

JOHN OF DAMASCUS: “In him are all things” not only because he has brought them from nothing into being but because it is by his operation that all things he made are kept in existence and held together. Living things, however, participate more abundantly, because they participate in the good both by their being and by their living. But rational beings, while they participate in the good in the aforementioned ways, do so still more by their very rationality. For in a way they are more akin to him, although of course he is immeasurably superior to them. ORTHODOX FAITH 4.13.