Chapter Eleven

Only a part of Israel has been rejected (1–10). The rejection of Israel has a special purpose and is not final (11–24). The rejection of Israel is only temporary, and in the end Israel, like all others, will be shown mercy (26–36).

Romans 11:1. I ask then: has God rejected His people? By no means. For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Although Israel has been rejected by God, this rejection touched only a part of the people. And now, as in the days of the prophet Elijah, there is a significant number of believers from Israel, whom God with His gracious help has strengthened in faith in Christ, while the Jewish people as a whole fell into that hardening which was foretold to them by the Old Testament prophets… “For I myself am an Israelite.” The Apostle points to himself as proof that God has not rejected the Jews as a people, as a tribe utterly incapable of becoming Christian. If he, Paul, has become a Christian, a member of the Kingdom of the Messiah, then other Jews also can become members of this kingdom: their descent does not hinder them in this now any more than before. — “Of the tribe of Benjamin.” This tribe, together with that of Judah, formed the theocratic core of the Jewish nation after the captivity (Ezra 4:1).

Romans 11:2. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel, saying: “Whom He foreknew.” Here is indicated another reason why the possibility of Israel’s rejection as a nation cannot be admitted. God knew in advance what that people would be like, which was to become His people — and yet He called it. This means that God foresaw for Israel the possibility of turning to the right path — otherwise He would not have called it at all. The discussion, as verse 1 shows, concerns the fate and conversion to God and to Christ of the whole people, not just a part of it.

Romans 11:3. “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life. The Apostle cites the passage from 1 Sam 19:10 freely, according to the LXX text. “Alone” — that is, according to the Apostle’s understanding, the only one left of all who were faithful to Jehovah.

Romans 11:4. But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand people who have not bowed the knee to Baal. “Seven thousand” — that is, a very great number (the number seven denotes a large quantity, cf. 1 Sam 2:5). — “Before Baal.” Remarkably, here as in certain other places (Zeph 1:4; Hos 2:8), the LXX places the feminine article before the name Baal. In all probability, the LXX translators, being Jews, did not wish to pronounce the name Baal and replaced it with the word shame, disgrace (boschet — aischynē). The result was thus the strange designation of a male deity — hē Baal.

Romans 11:5. So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. “Chosen by grace.” The Apostle has in mind the new, recently accomplished gracious election or calling to Christ of a part of the Jewish people. 34.

Romans 11:6. But if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. But if it is by works, it is no longer grace; otherwise a work would no longer be a work. The expression “but if it is by works” and so on does not appear in the better manuscripts.

Romans 11:7. What then? Israel did not obtain what it was seeking; the elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, The Apostle draws a conclusion from what was said about the fate of the people of Israel. “What it was seeking” — more precisely from the Greek: what it is seeking. Israel has not abandoned its intention and continues to strive for righteousness — that righteousness which, it seems, can be merited by a person’s own efforts (Rom 10:3). — “Were hardened” (epōrōthēsan) — more precisely: were hardened (by God). They entered into a certain hostile relationship toward Christ and the righteousness He offered, and for this the Lord allowed them to reach the extreme degree of hardening in their unbelief (see Gal 1:23). In this hardening the Apostle sees God’s judgment on the stubborn Jewish people.

Romans 11:8. as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day. “A spirit of stupor” — more precisely, from the Hebrew text, a spirit of drunkenness, a state of complete insensibility and unreceptiveness.

Romans 11:9. And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; Romans 11:10. let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and let their backs be bent over forever. By “their table” one may understand the Law of Moses, which was the pride of the Jewish people. This Law, which the Jews did not rightly understand, in which they did not wish to see the guide leading people to Christ, will take terrible revenge on them for this misunderstanding. Like a tyrant it will torment them, frighten them, and judge them (a snare, a trap, a stumbling block). Service to the Law will now bring a Jew only a curse, and the Law will become for them an unbearable yoke and burden under which the back of a slave driven into captivity will bend. Such is the punishment of the Jews for rejecting Christ! Indeed, this judgment upon the Jewish people began already during the earthly life of Christ the Savior (John 12:37 and following).

Romans 11:11. So I ask: did they stumble in order to fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. But the hardening of the people of Israel was not God’s ultimate goal, only a means for the salvation of the Gentiles. This last event in turn will awaken in the Jews also a spirit of rivalry in the attainment of salvation in Christ; and so, when the Jewish people turns to Christ, the Christian life will be enlivened all the more. And the fact that the Jewish people can turn to Christ is supported by its descent from the patriarchs who believed deeply in God. On this basis the Apostle advises Christians from among the Gentiles not to despise the branches that have been broken off from the tree — the people of Israel rejected for a time — because these branches can again be grafted back onto the tree from which they were cut. Was this hardening of the majority of the Jewish people the actual goal God had in view when He offered the Jews a new means for attaining righteousness, to which they felt no sympathy? Did they stumble (cf. Rom 9:32) in order never to rise again (to fall for good)? No, God by no means intended to destroy the Jewish people. The fall of the Jews had another, higher purpose. 35. Namely, the fall of Israel or its rejection opened the doors to the Kingdom of Christ for the Gentiles. (How the one led to the other the Apostle does not yet explain, but he may have had in view here the parable of those invited to the banquet (Matt 22:1-14), in which Christ the Savior predicted that, following the refusal of the Jews to take part in the Lord’s feast, Gentiles would be invited in their place). There was in this also another purpose for God — to awaken in the Jews also a desire for salvation, since they, seeing how well the Gentiles who had turned to Christ were living in the Kingdom of the Messiah, were to repent of their unbelief and rush toward this bright kingdom.

Romans 11:12. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean. “If… their trespass” (that is, the fall of the whole people of Israel) or the deprivation of messianic salvation gave riches to the world (that is, gave the Gentile world the opportunity to enter the Kingdom of Christ) “and their failure” (hēttēma) — or, more correctly, their sorry state (in a moral sense) — gave riches to the Gentiles, then what great significance for the life of humanity will their opposite state have! (“Full inclusion” in the Russian translation is a literal rendering of the Greek word plērōma used here, but this word in context corresponds to the expression “failure” — hēttēma and should denote a state of vital fullness; plērōma here is plērōsis and indicates the final realization by Israel of its destiny and simultaneously the reception by it of salvation in all its fullness.)

Romans 11:13. Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, Romans 11:14. in order somehow to make my fellow countrymen according to the flesh jealous, and thus save some of them. By spreading the Gospel among the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul thereby indirectly promoted also the conversion of his compatriots to Christ. — “I magnify,” that is, I praise and take pride in my ministry, since it is of such great benefit both for the Gentiles and — indirectly — for the Jews.

Romans 11:15. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? “Life from the dead” (zōē ek nekrōn). Some (Origen, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and others) understand by this the new life in the “age to come” which will begin with the resurrection of the dead; but this explanation cannot be accepted. In the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 24:14) and in 1 Cor 15:23, where the beginning of the new age is discussed, nothing is said about Israel’s conversion as a signal for this “beginning.” And besides, why would the Apostle use the word zōē here, when for the concept of new life he uses another word — anastasis (resurrection)? Others (Theophylact) understand by “life from the dead” the flourishing of Christian life that will take place with the entry of the fullness of the Jewish people into the bosom of the Church. But in the Apostle Paul there are no traces of the idea that the state of the Christian Church preceding this great event should be some kind of spiritual deadness. On the contrary, throughout his writings runs the thought that among Christians from the Gentiles spiritual life is bubbling over… It is simpler and more correct to see here a reference to the completely full unfolding of the salvation brought by Christ. The acceptance of the Jewish people into the bosom of the Church of Christ forms the conclusion to the history of the economy of human salvation, just as the glorification of the body that will take place in people at the resurrection from the dead forms the conclusion of God’s gracious providence over them.

Romans 11:16. If the firstfruits are holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. Israel itself also has a claim to receiving salvation. After all, it represents a certain whole mixture or mass of dough (phyrama), from which several loaves have already been baked which, as firstfruits (Num 15:19-21), have been offered to God as a gift. These firstfruits are the patriarchs of the people of Israel, who have already been received into fellowship with God. The Apostle has them in mind also under the holy root from which branches have grown, that is, the people of Israel.

Romans 11:17. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, Romans 11:18. do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Since among Christians from the Gentiles there probably existed a certain pride in their new position, which they had taken over in the Kingdom of Christ from the God-chosen people, the Apostle exhorts his readers — Christians from the Gentiles — to remember that they are in fact receiving salvation which had long been prepared to be opened in the midst of the Jewish people, who had long been the bearer of this idea of salvation (Origen acknowledges that the Apostle speaks about the grafting of trees contrary to the actual practices of horticultural art).

Romans 11:19. You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Romans 11:20. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be proud, but stand in awe. Romans 11:21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. The woeful fate of the Jews ought to teach Christians from the Gentiles to be especially attentive to their own position. After all, they are not as closely connected to the holy root as the Jews, and it is even easier for them to fall away from the true faith and thereby be subjected to God’s wrath.

Romans 11:22. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. Romans 11:23. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. Romans 11:24. For if you were cut from a wild olive tree and, contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree. The Apostle repeats in conclusion of his discourse on the relationship of Christians from the Gentiles to the Jewish people that God is, on the one hand, kind, and on the other — severe toward sinners. Let the readers of the epistle endeavor to secure for themselves through good conduct the kindness of God. On the other hand, the Apostle promises the Jews that God will turn His wrath to mercy toward them as soon as they overcome their unbelief in Christ. This change in the position of the Jewish people is all the more probable because there exists an inner kinship between this people and the Kingdom of God (the olive tree).

Romans 11:25. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of this mystery — so that you do not become conceited — that a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, If up to this point the Apostle speaks of the future conversion of the people of Israel to Christ on the basis of certain theoretical premises, he now speaks directly and definitively that this conversion will certainly take place, since he, Paul, was informed of this in a special revelation. As the date for the fulfillment of this prophecy the Apostle sets the moment when the fullness of the Gentiles will enter the Church of Christ. The Jewish people was not chosen by God for nothing! At the same time the Apostle casts a general glance at the plan of God’s economy for the salvation of all humanity. God leads all peoples to salvation by the way of His judgments, the greatness and wisdom of which the Apostle admires from the depths of his grateful heart. “Of this mystery.” The Apostle does not at all mean to say that the hardening of Israel is something incomprehensible. In the New Testament the word mystery denotes a truth or event that has been revealed to a person from above (cf. Eph 3:3-6). The Apostle is speaking, therefore, of what is known to him from a special revelation (cf. 1 Cor 15:51 and 1 Thess 4:15). — This mystery contains, first, an indication that the hardening has come upon Israel only “in part.” An explanation of this word is given in verse 7 (“the rest were hardened”) and in verse 17 (“some”). It is clear from this that the word has a numerical meaning: the hardening affected only a certain number of Israelites (cf. v. 26). — Second, this mystery contains an indication that this hardening will continue until “the full number of the Gentiles” has turned to Christ. This concept (to plērōma tōn ethnōn) cannot be understood with mathematical precision. The Apostle simply wishes to say that the Gentile world as a whole (with no attention to individuals) will enter the Church of Christ.

Romans 11:26. and in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Third, this mystery discloses that Israel as a whole will afterward be saved. “And in this way” — and then. — “All Israel,” that is, the Israelites as a nation, as a people. — “Will be saved,” that is, will enter the Church of Christ. The fate of individual persons, which may be different from the fate of the people as a whole, is not something the Apostle gives attention to here. — “Will come from Zion.” In the LXX the expression enekan Siōn is placed here (Isa 51:3), that is, for the sake of Zion, in accordance with the Hebrew text (leziyon). — “The Deliverer,” that is, the Messiah. The Apostle probably has in mind here the second coming of the Messiah, when the Lord will also forgive the Jewish people the sin of hardening — a people which by that time will have turned to Christ. — “And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” that is, He will remove all ungodliness from the midst of Israel. The Apostle clearly has in mind here not the moral transformation that may take place in the souls of the Jews, but the redemptive activity of the Messiah in relation to the whole people of Israel (cf. v. 27).

Romans 11:27. “And this will be My covenant with them when I take away their sins. “And this will be My covenant with them” — that is, in the forgiveness of sins the Jews will see and find the fulfillment of the covenant concluded with Me. The forgiveness of sins is the very grace given by the Covenant.

Romans 11:28. As regards the Gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs. Romans 11:29. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:30. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, Romans 11:31. so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. The Apostle here explains the present position of Israel and speaks about its future. — “As regards the Gospel” — that is, because of the position Israel has taken toward the proclaimers of Christ, God has dealt with the Jews as with His enemies and cut them off from the olive tree — the Kingdom of God. This has served for the benefit of the Gentiles, who have received the opportunity to be grafted onto the said olive tree. — “As regards election” — that is, because the Jewish people was chosen by God already in the persons of the forefathers of that people to be the people of God. Therefore even now it has not utterly lost its significance in God’s eyes. God continues to cherish love toward it.

Romans 11:32. For God has confined all people in disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all. “For God has confined all people in disobedience.” God did with all of humanity, which was living in sins, what caused people to feel themselves as if imprisoned, in chains, to feel the extreme burden of their sinful state. Thus the Apostle is not speaking of God having led people into the sin of disobedience, but of His having aroused in sinners a feeling of powerlessness in the matter of salvation and a consciousness of their accountability before God. And He did this by allowing the Gentiles to sink into sins and passions, and the Jews to remain in blindness and the vain service of the letter of the Law. 36.

Romans 11:33. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! Romans 11:34. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Romans 11:35. “Or who has given a gift to Him, that He might be repaid? Romans 11:36. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. The Apostle concludes the section of chapters IX–XI, and together with it the entire doctrinal part of the epistle, with a thanksgiving and doxology to God, who by ways inscrutable to humans leads everything toward the purpose He has appointed from eternity. All is from God, through God, and to God — this is the fundamental thought of this doxology. In particular, for example, the people of Israel will be converted. — “Wisdom” (sophia) — this is the divine Wisdom that God possesses and manifests in the work of the economy of human salvation. — “Knowledge” (gnōsis) — this is the knowledge we acquire about the being and acts of God as we reflect on the great work of salvation. God is the source of light — this is His Wisdom that is manifested in the Gospel, and in His light we also see light — this is the knowledge of God, or cognition of God, that we receive from the Gospel. * * * Notes According to Zahn, at that time the number of Christians from among the Jews was no fewer than 70,000 (cf. Migne, 116 col. 934 multa milia Judaeorum — the expression of the Gospel of the Hebrews about the number of Christians from among the Jews). To what moment should this stumbling of Israel be assigned? This moment evidently preceded the hardening of Israel and led to it. Therefore it is better to see in this stumbling the incorrect relationship of the Jews to the Law of Moses. Even before the appearance of Christ in the world, Israel had already stumbled over the Law, incorrectly seeing in it a means of justification. Its zeal for God was unenlightened. It could have risen by accepting the Gospel of Christ, but it could also have remained lying on the ground (Luke 2:34); unfortunately, the latter happened. Various opinions on the fate of the Jewish people can be found in the pamphlet by N. Rozanov, “The Future of the Jewish People in the Light of Revelation.” Moscow, 1901.