The Depth of the Riches and Wisdom of God: For of Him and Through Him Are All Things (Romans 11:29–36)

Rom. 11:29. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

The Apostle brings this forward as the foundation for conviction in what has been said. “Irrevocable” means God does not repent and does not annul what He has given and whom He has called. He reminds of the original election of the Jewish people. How many patriarchs were there among the descendants of Noah, and how many peoples arose from them after the confusion of tongues! But from all of them God chose only the race of Hebrews, and not the entire race, but from it He took only one Abraham, from whom He produced for Himself a special people. This people is the chosen one, having a special calling and purpose and enjoying so many blessings and gifts: to them was given the Law, to them were sent the Prophets, for them signs and wonders were shown. And after all this, is it possible that God would entirely reject them?! No; whom God has chosen He will chastise correctively, will deprive of His mercy for a time, but will never entirely reject him. For otherwise He would not have chosen him if He had foreseen that he would someday become entirely unworthy of His mercy. The Jews have their defects and continue to have them; but among all peoples none could better fulfill God’s intentions regarding the salvation of mankind. God foresaw this and chose them. If He chose them, then He has not entirely rejected them, despite the fact that at the present time they appear worthy of rejection and are rejected. This is only temporary. Later that which was originally destined for them will return to them. See Gen. 10:21, 24–30.

Rom. 11:30-31. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have been disobedient that through the mercy shown to you they also may obtain mercy.

And you, Gentiles, once disobeyed God—ἤπειθήσατε—were not convinced by His word of truth and did not listen, did not follow it. When was this? Perhaps this refers to the time when God equally guided all nations, even before the calling of Abraham. God, seeing that they were not brought to reason by the flood nor by the confusion of tongues, and increasingly and increasingly turned away from God’s truth and righteousness, living according to their own will, reasoning and walking—seeing all this, decided to choose and as it were create a special people who would fulfill His intentions.

We cite the words of our interpreters. Saint Chrysostom says: “Here the Apostle shows that all nations were formerly called (and guided); but then, when they were unwilling (to follow God’s guidance), the Jews were chosen, and now the same thing has happened: since the Jews were unwilling to believe, nations are called again. But he does not stop at this and always directs it not to the fact that the Jews are rejected, but to the fact that they too will be shown mercy again. See, to the Gentiles he gives as much as he previously gave to the Jews. Since you, Gentiles, were once disobedient, says the Apostle, the Jews entered. And again, since they became disobedient, you entered, yet they will not entirely perish (but will be shown mercy).”

Blessed Theodoret writes: “Remember how you were all impious for a very long time, and the compassionate Master did not regard this long and stubborn impiety, but deemed those who wished worthy of unspeakable compassion and, when the Jews did not believe, called you in their stead. Therefore it is not at all strange if those who are now resisting (the Jews), wishing to believe, will be received by God and obtain the same compassion. Again the Apostle used the expression ‘that’ in his characteristic manner of expression. For it is not that they resisted in order to be shown mercy; but although they resisted through the stubbornness of their mind, they will be shown mercy, turning to repentance.”

In Ambrosiaster we read: “Since, he says, you, Gentiles, when the words of God were entrusted to the Jews, disobeyed God, and now have obtained mercy not according to your worthiness but because of the reprehensible conduct of the Jews, why should they not the more obtain mercy, who formerly lived under God’s Law and were deemed worthy of special promises of God?”

Photius in Oecumenius reasons thus: “With such words the Apostle disposes the Jews toward faith and gives them good hopes, removing all shame. Do not be ashamed, he says, that you were stubborn in coming to faith, and do not despair as one coming late: you will receive mercy even coming late (toward evening). For even the Gentiles, being called, did not obey at first, but now believed, neither being ashamed of their former disobedience nor encountering impediment to salvation in their lateness. So you too, Jew, do not be ashamed or despair, but with a ready heart come to faith, and you will certainly be shown mercy. So either in the manner of such exhortation and persuasion is it said, or in the manner of prophecy, disposing toward faith in the application of what will happen to what has already happened. And when he says: ‘you were shown mercy because of their disobedience’ and ‘they disobeyed for the sake of your mercy,’ he does not say this because the disobedience of the Jews is the cause of the mercy shown to the Gentiles, nor because the mercy shown to the Gentiles is the cause of the disobedience of the Jews, but in order to show and teach that God never ceases to do His work and pour out His mercy. Let the Gentiles formerly not have listened, and let the Jews not listen now, He nevertheless does not cease His beneficence and mercies. This is evident from the fact that just as then, because of the disobedience of the Gentiles, the Jews were deemed worthy of mercy, so now the Gentiles are shown mercy because of the disobedience of the Jews. And even more clearly this is evident from the fact that He will show mercy to these very Jews now disobeying. Along with this the Apostle makes an instruction to the Jews, speaking as if: although you have withdrawn from faith, do not think that thereby faith is in any way diminished in its significance. For just as of old, when the Gentiles fell away, the work of serving the true God did not suffer diminishment, so now, when you have cut yourselves off from faith, the work of faith is not in any way diminished in its significance. He transformed what was said on the Gentiles, wishing to make the rebuke and persuasion to the Jews more keenly felt. One can also take it that the Apostle said this, having in mind the believing Gentiles, so that they would not be wise in their own conceit, that they believed. You, he says, believed by mercy; the Jews too, now not submitting to faith, will believe and be shown mercy.”

Rom. 11:32. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He might show mercy to all.

“That is, He convicted all, declared all disobedient (shut up all in one class of the disobedient), not in order that all would remain disobedient, but in order to save some through the stubbornness of others, the Jews through the Gentiles and the Gentiles through the Jews. See therefore: you (Gentiles) were disobedient, and they (Jews) were saved. Then they became disobedient, and you were saved; nevertheless you were saved not in order to turn away again, like the Jews, but so that, remaining in faith, you might draw them in as well, stirring them to emulation” (Saint Chrysostom).

Rom. 11:33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

By “depth” he calls the incomprehensibility; by “riches” the fullness of goodness; by “wisdom” the successful execution of the great plans of His providence regarding mankind through suitable means, the suitability of which is incomprehensible to our mind, although it sees it; by “knowledge” God’s knowledge, which in the best manner determines everything that should be. Or perhaps riches relates to wisdom and knowledge thus: O the depth of riches as of both the wisdom and knowledge of God, that is, of rich wisdom and rich knowledge! And God’s wisdom and knowledge are both rich and deep. By “judgments” he calls God’s determinations and decrees, what should be; and by “ways” the means of executing what is determined. All this in God is incomprehensible and beyond thought. Saint Chrysostom says: “Rising in thought to the first times, surveying in mind God’s ancient economy from the beginning of the world to the present events (and foreseeing it to the end of the world), reflecting on how God arranged everything in such varied ways, the Apostle came to amazement and cried out, thus assuring the listeners that what he has said will certainly come to pass. And if it were not bound to come to pass certainly, he would not cry out and be amazed. And although he knows it is a depth, he does not know what depth it is. This is the speech of an amazed man who does not know everything. Filled with amazement and wonder before the goodness, he proclaimed it in the two most expressive words he could find: ‘riches and depth.’ And he was brought to amazement by the fact that God wished to do it, was able to do it, and produced opposite actions one toward another. ‘How unsearchable are His judgments.’ (‘How,’ ώς—How unsearchable!) Not only is it impossible to comprehend them, but even to search them out. ‘And unfathomable His ways!’ That is, the ways of the economy; because not only is it impossible to know these, but even to investigate them. And I, says the Apostle, did not find everything, but disclosed a small part, not the whole. God alone completely knows His works. Therefore the Apostle continued:”

Rom. 11:34-35. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?

Words of the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 40:13-14). The whole passage reads in him as follows: “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor, who taught Him? Or with whom did He take counsel and instructed and (Him)? Or who showed Him judgment? Or who showed Him the way of understanding? Or who first gave to Him, and it shall be repaid to him?” “These words mean that God, being so wise, does not borrow wisdom from another, but is Himself the source (of it, as of all) good things; that He, having accomplished so much for us and benefited us so greatly, did not give us something borrowed from another, but poured it forth from Himself; that He owes no one a reward, as having taken something from another, but is always the principal source of good things Himself. Riches consist especially in abounding in all things and being indebted to no one else” (Saint Chrysostom). Let us add to this also what Blessed Theodoret said: “The Apostle proposed these three questions to show three preeminences—riches, wisdom, and knowledge: ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?’ to show knowledge; ‘Who has been His counselor?’ to show wisdom; ‘Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?’ to show riches. For so immeasurably great is the riches of goodness that He gave being to those not existing, and to those brought into being He grants good being, and He does not recompense, but gives blessings, and in His love for mankind He calls His giving a recompense.”

Rom. 11:36. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

“He Himself devised, He Himself created, He Himself sustains, because He is rich and does not need to take from another; because He is wise and does not need counsel” (Saint Chrysostom). “He Himself is the source of all: this means: ‘of Him.’ He is also the Creator of all: this means: ‘through Him.’ He is also the support of all: this means: ‘in Him.’ All has its origin from Him, and by Him all was created, and all stands and is held, resting on Him as on a foundation” (Blessed Theodoret). Saint Basil the Great by this passage proves the Godhead of the Holy Spirit, referring to Him the word “in Him, through” Him to the Son of God, and “of Him” to God the Father, who are comprehended in a single name—Lord and God, as Consubstantial and Equally Worthy of Worship. “In the words: ‘of Him and through Him and to Him are all things’—in a single name are united the distinctive properties of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For there is One God, from whom all things; and One Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things; and One Holy Spirit, in whom all things, as it is said: ‘You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you’ (Rom. 8:9). Therefore the statement: ‘in Him we live and move and exist’ (Acts 17:28) clearly expresses the distinctive property of the Spirit in God. Creation is sustained, lives, and exists certainly not by a creature, which itself needs support by the power of the Creator; certainly not by the action of a creature is God glorified, when it is said of Him Himself that: ‘in Him we live, move, and exist’; but truly the divine Spirit sustains in being all that is from God and all that came through the Son. Therefore, to those partaking of Him He grants the continuance of being. And in Him we live again, we who previously, through separation from Him, became corrupted.”

“To Him be glory!” “It is Paul’s custom to end his discourse with thanksgiving when he speaks of something important. Thus he does now. Since he was filled with amazement at the goodness, wisdom, knowledge, and ways of God’s economy, he finally doxologizes God, thereby teaching us also to thank God for great blessings and glorify Him both in words and in life” (Blessed Theophylact). “For He Himself created all things, He Himself continues to govern creation. To Him all must direct their gaze, giving thanks for what they have in the present, and asking His care for what is to come. And we must offer to Him also the appropriate doxology” (Blessed Theodoret).