Romans chapter 11 verses 7-10, the blinding of Israel. Verse 7, what then? Israel has not obtained that for which it seeks, but the ones chosen have obtained it, and the rest were blinded, still discussing unbelieving Israel, Paul says that they have obtained neither the promises nor the righteousness they were seeking. However, the remnant, those selected by God, have obtained both righteousness and the promises made to Abraham.
Theodoret comments," By the ones chosen," Paul means" those who have believed." And what he is saying is this:" By its adherence to the law, Israel has fallen short of the mark. For contrary to the ultimate purpose of the law, Israel still observes the law. Therefore, it reaps no righteousness. But those among the Jews who have believed, these have obtained righteousness. The rest were blinded. We should not imagine that God deliberately blinds someone who would otherwise believe.
Rather, He knows in advance those who will believe. He blinds the others by abandoning them to their darkness. Irenaeus writes," Since God foreknows all things, He knows the number of those who will not believe." Accordingly, He has given them over to unbelief. He has turned His face away from men of this character, leaving them in the darkness they have chosen for themselves.
Chrysostom adds," If their blindness had been involuntary, it would have been fitting for God to open their eyes." However, it was a voluntary and self-chosen blindness. Verse 8," Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this day, just as it is written." Paul refers to two passages in Isaiah, portions of which he has paraphrased and joined together.
He takes the first portion," God has given them the Spirit of Stupor," from Isaiah chapter 29:10. Paul obtains the rest of the quotation from Isaiah chapter 6:9. God has given them a spirit of stupor. This expression means that God has given them up or abandoned the unbelieving Jews to such a spirit. In a similar manner, God gave up the Gentiles to the kinds of sin Paul describes in the first chapter of Romans.
Theodoret writes," God has given them this Spirit in the sense that He has given them up to it." That is, He permitted them to fall into disbelief. For God certainly did not cause them to disbelieve. After all, how could he possibly have inflicted unbelief on them, and then afterwards demanded punishment for their unbelief? Eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear. Jesus Himself had quoted this passage from Isaiah chapter 6:9, applying it to the unbelieving Jews of his day.
He said," For this reason, I speak to them in parables. For seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear. Neither do they understand. And in them, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, who said," Hearing, you will hear and will not understand. And seeing you will see, but will not perceive." Matthew chapter 13 verses 13 and 14. God did not cause this blindness. Rather, it was brought about by Israel's own hard-heartedness.
Clement of Alexandria writes," The Lord says, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see and hearing, they do not hear, and they do not understand." It is not as if the Lord caused their ignorance. In fact, it would be blasphemous to think so. Rather, He prophetically exposed the ignorance that already existed in them.
Origen adds," But this passage raises a question, for it does not seem appropriate that the good God would give to unbelieving Israel eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear." However, is this not perhaps retribution and recompense for their unbelief? Romans chapter 11 verses 9 and 10. And David said," Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and forever bow down their backs." This is another prophetic denunciation of unbelieving Israel. Paul has paraphrased these words from Psalm 69, verses 23 and 24, and Psalm 35: 8. Let their table be made a snare. Theodoret explains this statement:" By the word table," he refers to their luxurious living, which he prophesied would be exchanged for the opposite. Chrysostom elaborates further.
These prophecies are saying," Let their comforts and all their good things change and perish. Let them be open to attack from everyone. And to show that they suffer this as punishment," he adds," and a retribution to them." The phrase" bowing down their backs" means bowing down in bondage and subjugation to their enemies. Romans chapter 11 verses 11 through 15. Through Israel stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Verse 11," I ask then, have they stumbled so as to fall?
God forbid, but rather through their offense, salvation has come to the Gentiles in order to provoke them to jealousy." Have they stumbled so as to fall? In other words, is their stumbling incurable without hope? Paul answers," God forbid." Rather, the example of the believing Gentiles will hopefully provoke the Jews to come to Christ out of jealousy. Origen writes," It is as if the apostle knew that if they had fallen, they could never rise again at all." So he denies that they have fallen.
For the time will come when they will be converted, at the end of the age, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Through their offense, salvation has come to the Gentiles. In two different parables, Jesus proclaimed that because the Jews rejected Him and spurned His offer, salvation would come to the Gentiles. In the parable of the tenants, Matthew 21:33-44, Jesus describes the wicked tenants of a vineyard who refused to yield to the landlord his rightful fruits, and who ended up killing his son.
Eventually, the landowner punished those tenants and leased the vineyard to others. The wicked tenants represent the Jews, the landlord represents God, and the new tenants represent the believing Gentiles, coupled with the believing Jews. Jesus explains the parable, saying," Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you, and will be given to a nation producing its fruit." Matthew 21:43. Jesus repeated the same point in the parable of the marriage feast, Matthew chapter 22 verses 1 through 14.
In this parable, the people who were originally invited to the royal wedding feast refused to come, and they slew the king's messengers, so the king punished them and destroyed their city. The people who were originally invited in this parable represent the Jews, and the parable foretells the destruction of Jerusalem. Then the king said to his servants," The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the wedding feast." Matthew chapter 22 verses 8 and 9. The ones who were invited afterward represent the Gentiles. Both parables show that because of the unfaithfulness of the Jews, the opportunity for salvation would be extended to the Gentiles. In Paul's day, these prophetic parables had already become realities. Does this mean that the Gentiles would have never been saved if not for the unbelief of the Jews? Of course not.
Rather, the Gentiles would not have been saved ahead of the Jews. Chrysostom explains," What is Paul saying that if it were not for the Jews' unbelief, we Gentiles would never have been called at all, that we would never have been saved?" No. Rather, He is saying we would not have come in ahead of the Jews, but in our proper order, for the Jews should have been the first ones admitted as a people, and then we should have followed.
With the exception of the remnant of Jews who came into the Church in the early years of Christianity, the Gentiles have largely been saved ahead of the Jews, in order to provoke them to jealousy. Origen explains that Paul is saying the Jews have noticed the conversion of the Gentiles. They have also noticed that the covenant of God, which they themselves had previously received, has been delivered to the Gentiles.
They have further noticed that the law and the prophets have been obeyed with a greater and more exalted respect among the Gentiles. Perhaps then, they will return to zeal for God in the last days. Furthermore, just as their fall brought salvation to the Gentiles, so the faith and conduct of the Gentiles may perhaps bring conversion and salvation to Israel through envy.
Now if their offense is the riches of the world, and if the diminishing of them is the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness if their offense is the riches of the world? Because of their offense, God took the kingdom away from the Jews. This brought spiritual riches to the entire Gentile world of mankind. Origen comments that although each person sins through his own free will, God's superintendence of mankind makes use of one person's downfall to benefit others.
In this instance, the Jews had been God's special people. They were His inheritance among the nations. Because of their rejecting Christ, the entire Gentile world has been invited to become God's inheritance. Christians of all nationalities have become His special people. Cyprian writes," According to what had been foretold in advance, the Jews had departed from God.
They had lost God's favor, which had been given them in times past, and had been promised them for the future." Instead, the Christians have succeeded to their place, deserving well of the Lord by faith. They come out of all nations and from the whole world. How much more their fullness? Ambrosiaster explains that the world will be even richer with more godly people. If the Jews, who are now self-blinded, also become converted. Chrysostom writes," When the Jews stumbled, a vast number of others enjoyed salvation.
And when the Jews were cast out, a vast number were called. Therefore, consider what the case will be when they return. Theodoret sums it up in these words," When the greater number of Jews disbelieved, those Jews among them, who were converted, brought the riches of divine knowledge to the Gentiles." Accordingly, it is exceedingly clear that if all the Jews were to believe, they would become the means of even greater blessings to the world of mankind.
For all mankind would more readily believe if the Jews no longer opposed us, but instead joined us in preaching the truth. Verses 13 and 14. Now I speak to you Gentiles. Since I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I enhance my ministry if by any means I may provoke those of my flesh and might save some of them. Now I speak to you Gentiles. Throughout Romans, Paul sometimes addresses the Jews, and he sometimes addresses the Gentiles.
In the immediately preceding chapters, and in the first part of this chapter, Paul has been speaking to the Jews. Now he begins speaking directly to the Gentiles, as he so indicates. Paul begins his address by affirming that he has been called as an apostle specifically to the Gentiles. I enhance my ministry.
The Greek word rendered here as enhance is doxazo, which some English Bibles translate as" magnify." Paul explains to the Gentiles that by reaching out to the Jews, he is not reducing his ministry, but enlarging it. So he is not neglecting the Gentiles, his primary charge. Instead, if he can win Jews to the faith as well, he further enhances that very ministry.
Ambrosiaster writes," If he won over to eternal life, even those to whom he was not sent, he would deserve greater honor." Moreover, he would win greater praise from their forefathers if he rescued his relatives who were perishing. If by any means, I may provoke those of my flesh. Here Paul literally says," If by any means I may provoke my flesh." Theodoret explains," By my flesh," Paul means the Jews.
To be sure, they were distant from Him in spirit, so they were related to Him only by the kinship of their flesh, that I might save some of them. As Chrysostom points out, Paul only hopes to save some of them.
He has no delusions about saving all or even most of them (verse 15)" For if their rejection is the reconciling of the world, what will their reception be, but life from the dead?" Paul is saying that God's favor to the Israelite nation had been so great that once his favor was taken from them, this same favor was sufficient to bring the offer of reconciliation to the entire world.
Since that was the case, Paul asks in effect," What wonderful blessings will the world experience if the Jews too become reconciled to God?" Origen comments," Since Israel's offense had given reconciliation to the world, it would be absurd for their reception not to bestow something even greater and more excellent on the world." Ambrosiaster adds," Will it not be as if the world has been brought back to life by people who have risen from the dead