If Their Fall Is the Riches of the World, How Much More Their Fullness (Romans 11:11–16)

Rom. 11:11. I say then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

You think that all this happened by chance, without any particular purpose. No. The falling away of Israel into unbelief has as its consequence that the Gentiles are brought into the enclosure of salvation, and this bringing in is willed in order to draw Israel after them as well, awakening in them emulation or rivalry, and thus to save all mankind. Behold the providential significance of what is now happening before our very eyes among the Gentiles and the Jews!

“Have they stumbled so as to fall?”—Μη επτοασαν ιπεσωσιν? This can be translated two ways: did they stumble, namely on the Stone, Christ the Lord, through unbelief and thereby sin so as to fall utterly, dashed to death? Or: did they stumble only to fall and nothing more? Blessed Photius sees the latter thought in Oecumenius. It is closer to the immediately following words, while the first is closer to the further discourse. Both are therefore fitly received. Blessed Theophylact writes: “Did they sin so that they cannot be healed? Not at all. They ‘stumbled’—that is, they tripped, yet their fall is not such that there is no means of remedy.” So too Holy Chrysostom, Ambrosiaster, Oecumenius. The latter writes: “The sin of the Jews is very great; but did they stumble so that, having fallen, they could not rise, even if they wished? No. However greatly they have stumbled, they can still be received by God into mercy again, if they wish.” Then he brings the words of Blessed Photius. “As among those who stumble, some merely waver, like those who have slipped, while others fall completely, the Apostle, wishing on one hand to awaken sorrow in the Jews as those justly deserving rebuke, and on the other to dispose them to faith, says that their stumbling resulted not in their complete fall, but that they, as it were, merely slipped. And this was not simply (by chance), but permitted according to a certain providential dispensation, so that by occasion of their fall the salvation of the Gentiles might be accomplished, and then their own restoration, when by the salvation of the Gentiles they are provoked to emulation and begin to imitate them. So their very stumbling serves in a way for their restoration, namely in this way: in their stumbling is salvation for the Gentiles, in this salvation is the rousing of the emulation of the Jews, and through this emulation—the restoration of those who stumbled. Such is the unspeakable and incomprehensible divine providence and dispensation, drawing benefit from harm and good from destruction! The Jews stumbled and fell—and would lie there, benefiting neither themselves nor others. But God used their fall as a means both to the salvation of the Gentiles and to their own restoration from this fall. So that they, by God’s good arrangement, stumbled not in order to fall, but that through stumbling they might rise and be corrected.”

That in the stumbling of the Jews there was salvation for the Gentiles was by God’s arrangement, the Apostle understood this from the events themselves. He and the other Apostles everywhere proclaimed the word of the gospel first to the Jews, and then, seeing that when only one or two from the Jews received the gospel while the rest resisted, the Gentiles listened joyfully to the word of the gospel—in this very thing they saw the finger of God pointing and were convinced that the acceptance of the Gentiles, in place of the resisting Jews, was the direct will of God. Holy Chrysostom particularly develops this thought.

“Their fall brought riches to the Gentiles”. This is not Paul’s word alone; on the contrary, the parables in the Gospels have the same meaning. He who made the wedding feast for his son then began to call from the streets when those invited would not come (Matt. 22:9). And he who planted the vineyard then determined to give it to other vine dressers when the first killed the heir (Matt. 21:38). And Paul said to the Jews who set themselves against him: “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; but since you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). From all this it is evident that in order it should have come first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles; but since the Jews proved unbelieving, the order was changed. The unbelief and fall of the Jews made it so that the Gentiles entered first. Therefore the Apostle says: their fall brought riches to the Gentiles, “to provoke them to jealousy”. The meaning of his words is this: the Lord Jesus came to the Jews; but they, despite the great multitude of miracles He performed, did not accept Him and crucified Him. After this He began to draw the Gentiles to Himself, so that by the honor shown to them He might wound the insensible Jews and by mutual emulation convince them to come to Him. For it was fitting that the Jews should be received first, and then we. Therefore the Apostle said: “The power of God is for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). Since the Jews withdrew, we who are second became first. Therefore, see what honors are drawn for them even from this. First, the honor that we are called when they would not; second, that we are called not for our salvation alone, but that they too might become better by emulating our salvation. What then, someone will say, would we not have been called and saved if this had not become necessary for the Jews? We would have been called and saved, but in the proper order, that is, not before but after the Jews. Therefore Christ the Lord, when He sent His disciples to preach, did not simply say: “Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, but: “Go rather” (Matt. 10:6), showing thereby that after the Jews one should go also to the Gentiles. All this has been done and said so that the Jews might not resort to the shameless excuse that they were neglected and therefore did not believe. Therefore Christ, though He foresaw all this, came to them first.

Rom. 11:12. Now if their failure is riches for the world, and their loss riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

Holy Chrysostom says to this: “Here the Apostle speaks words pleasant to the Jews. He encourages those of them who have fallen, proving with abundance that they can hope for salvation if they change. If, he says, so many received salvation when they stumbled, and so many were called while they were rejected, then think what will be when they turn about? For he did not say: ‘how much more’—their turning, or their change, or their amendment, but: ‘how much more their fullness’—that is, when all come to Christ. And by this he gives us to understand that then there will be a great or full measure of God’s grace.”

In the words: “their loss riches for the Gentiles”—loss in Greek: ήττημα—which signifies among other things smallness, a small number; and in the words: “how much more their fullness”—fullness in Greek: πλήρωμα—which means fullness, full number. Thus: if when a small number of Jews believed, so much good came to the Gentiles—that they believed, received grace, and became heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven—then what will it be when all of them believe? Thus Blessed Theodoret interprets this passage: “If when the greater part of them did not believe, those of them who believed brought riches of knowledge of God to the Gentiles, then clearly when all believed, they would have become for all people suppliers of greater blessings. For all would have more easily believed if they had not resisted, but together with us preached the truth.”

By stating: “how much more their fullness”—will bring riches, the Apostle prophesies that this will come to pass in time, that is, that the Jews will turn, enter the enclosure of faith, and provide fullness to the company of believers. When this will come to pass is explained below; here he merely hints at it.

Rom. 11:13. Now I am speaking to you Gentiles.

“I am speaking to you Gentiles”—you who believe from among the Gentiles, I have in view, saying this to you; I wish to teach you, to give you a warning. What exactly he intends to impress upon them is explained beginning below from verse 17. But to better adapt to this warning and make it more easily received and more striking, he first repeats once more what he said before about the significance of present events in the conversion of some and the obstinacy of others (verses 13–16). His train of thought is thus: as the Apostle to the Gentiles, I set so high value on your conversion; but in this I do not fix my attention on you alone, but have in view also my relatives, so that through your conversion I might turn them as well, which I desire very much not only because I love them as my own flesh, but especially because, as soon as they turn, then universal resurrection will occur and the bright Kingdom of God will be established. And that it will be so, that the Jews will indeed all turn, cannot be doubted; for if the root is holy—that is, their forefathers—then so will the branches, that is, their descendants, these very unbelieving Jews, also become holy. But how this can come to pass otherwise than by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord, it cannot; therefore neither can it be doubted that they will finally turn to the Lord with faith. Having reached this point: if the root is holy, then the branches will also be holy—the Apostle then builds upon this the intended exhortation to the believers from the Gentiles (verse 17 and following). Holy Chrysostom says about this section (verses 13–16): “The Apostle turns to the Gentiles and places an introductory address about them, wishing to show that he says all this to teach them humility.”

Rom. 11:13. For I am speaking to you Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.

“I magnify my ministry”—means that he in every way is concerned for the conversion of the Gentiles, or that he sets so high a value on this conversion and gives it such great significance that upon it depends the conversion of the Jews and the transformation of the whole world thereafter. The first meaning is expressed by Blessed Theodoret: “Since God appointed me to be a preacher to the Gentiles, I of necessity seek the salvation of the Gentiles and for them labor and prove that the divine Prophets foretold this long ago.” The second by Holy Chrysostom: “I praise (your conversion and) you,” says the Apostle, “for two reasons: first, because I need this, being sent to serve you; second, so that through you I might save others.”

Rom. 11:14. If by any means I might provoke my countrymen to jealousy and save some of them.

And by the multiplication of the number of believers from the Gentiles, and by exalting the significance of their conversion, the Apostle indirectly intends also “to at least by this arouse the Jews to emulation and make some of them partakers of salvation” (Blessed Theodoret).

“My countrymen”—literally “my flesh”—the Apostle called the Jews because, although they lagged in unbelief and were hostile to him, he did not cease to love them as one loves one’s own flesh. Blessed Theophylact writes: “By the word ‘flesh’ he showed his tender love for the Jews.” Or perhaps he called them thus because, although they differed from him in convictions, in rules of life, and in feelings, he retained closeness with them only according to the flesh. Holy Chrysostom says: “The Apostle did not say: my brothers, my kinsmen—but: ‘my flesh.’” Clarifying this, Blessed Theodoret adds: he calls the Jews “his flesh” as those who are estranged from him in their manner of thinking, yet having communion with him only in fleshly kinship.

“Then, revealing their stubbornness, he does not say: shall I not persuade them thereby—but: ‘I might provoke them to jealousy and save some’; and even then he does not say: all—but: ‘some of them.’ So hard-hearted were the Jews!” (Holy Chrysostom). “What stubbornness of the Jews! It was impossible to hope to draw them to faith except by some excessive pressure, and not all of them, but only some” (Oecumenius).

Comparing what is said in these verses (13–14) about the Gentiles and the Jews, Holy Chrysostom says: “And in this again he reveals the superiority of the Gentiles. Though both Jews and Gentiles serve each other mutually in the matter of salvation, yet not in the same way. The Jews bring benefits to the Gentiles through their unbelief, and the Gentiles to the Jews through their faith. From which it is evident that the Gentiles equal the Jews, even surpass them. For what will you say, O Jew? If you had not been rejected, would you have been called so soon? The same will the Gentile say: if I had not been saved, jealousy would not have been aroused in you. And if you wish to know in what we excel, I save you by believing, while you, by stumbling, gave me the opportunity to come before you.”

Rom. 11:15. For if their being cast away is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Here is set forth the reason for the care of holy Paul for the salvation of the Jews. Suppose someone asks: O holy Paul, why are you so concerned for the Jews, saying: ‘If by any means I might provoke my countrymen to jealousy and save some of them?’ What is the purpose of such labor? He says: it cannot be otherwise; I cannot but care and labor for them; what compels me to this is that if “their being cast away is the reconciliation of the world” and so forth. That is—if the fact that they rejected faith and for that were themselves rejected served to bring it about that God reconciled to Himself the (pagan) world and broke down the middle wall of the old enmity, how much good and marvelous good will result when they embrace faith and are saved? If their stumbling served for the salvation of the world—what will it be, tell me, who can, when they rise, turn to faith, and are received by God into His former mercy? What else, he says, but the resurrection of the dead? (Photius in Oecumenius). One can apply to this what Blessed Theodoret said: “If, says the Apostle, even when they did not believe, the Gentiles were received and freed from their former ignorance; then clearly if they all wished to believe, nothing else would remain to be accomplished except the resurrection of the dead. The Lord said this too: ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’” (Matt. 24:14).

Holy Chrysostom directs attention to the fact that the unbelief of the Jews is not the cause of the faith of the Gentiles, but only the occasion; just as the belief of all the Gentiles will not be the cause of the acceptance of the Jews, but only the occasion: the cause of all is faith. If there were no faith in the Gentiles, no matter how rejected the Jews were, it would bring them no benefit, and vice versa. He says: “Do not wonder that the Apostle attributes to the Jews what happened by necessity (that is, the acceptance of the Gentiles, apart from the will of the Jews). For he speaks thus in order to humble some and give advice to others. Meanwhile, if the Jews were rejected a thousand times, and the Gentiles did not show faith, the latter would never be saved. What the Apostle says means: if God, being angry at the Jews, showed so much mercy to others, what will He not grant when reconciled to them? But as the resurrection of the dead does not come from their acceptance, so our present salvation does not come from them. On the contrary, they are rejected for their unbelief, and we are saved by our faith and grace from above. And all this cannot bring them even a small benefit if they do not show proper faith.”

Rom. 11:16. For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

“The lump”, φύραμα, is kneaded dough. When dough is kneaded for bread, first the foundation is laid, upon which depends both good kneading and good rising or leavening of the dough. Then flour is added and kneading continues until the dough comes to the right measure. If the foundation is properly laid, the bread will turn out good, but if something is wrong in the foundation, the bread will also be defective. The Apostle calls it the “first fruit” and says that if it is holy, then the whole “lump” or the whole kneading is also holy. The first fruit for bread dough is the same as the root for branches. Whom does the Apostle have in view here, and why did he say this? He has in view the patriarchs of Israel—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—as the first fruit and root, and the whole people of Israel as the lump and branches, and affirms that if the patriarchs are holy, as they indeed are holy and in glory with God in heaven, then the whole mass of the people is also holy. The Apostle said this in order to impress: the whole mass of the people should be holy—such it was established in the patriarchs and such it is destined and capable of being. Therefore, seeing now the unbelieving among the Jews, do not think that they will remain so; the time will come when they too will believe and become holy. And such an assurance he presents to confirm his earlier expressed expectation that they will be received, after which the glorious Kingdom of God will be revealed upon the resurrection of the dead; his labors are not vain in seeking quickly to convert the Gentiles and thereby contribute to the quicker conversion of the Jews and the quicker revelation of the Kingdom of God. And extending his thought into the far future, the Apostle, of course, did not lose sight of the then-present Jews and by the proverb offered wished perhaps also to provoke them to faith, speaking as if: this is what you are destined for! What are you waiting for? Turn and quickly enter the rank of the holy, so as not to remain long estranged from your holy root. Blessed Photius in Oecumenius says: “If necessarily the dough and branches must be holy with the first fruit and root—which are holy—but the Jews are not holy (because of unbelief); then it is evident that they are in a falling away from their family root—Abraham.” To which Oecumenius himself adds: “By calling them holy, he disposes them to faith, speaking as if: you are fit and suitable for faith; you lack only one thing—the will to believe.”