Chapter Eleven
Rom. 11:1. I say then, has God rejected His people? By no means! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Rom. 11:2. God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew.
Having called the Jews a disobedient people, he presents himself as doubting, saying: have the promises of God not been fulfilled because the people of Israel became disobedient? No, he answers. God has not rejected His people, "whom He foreknew," that is, whom He knew to be capable of receiving the faith. "For I also am an Israelite." Then, lest anyone object: are you alone the people? he adds: God has not rejected His people, that is, others besides me—there are three thousand, there are five thousand, there is a great multitude from the people who believed, as the Acts of the Apostles show (Acts 2:41, 4:4, 5:14).
Rom. 11:2. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the narrative about Elijah? How he complains to God against Israel, saying:
Rom. 11:3. Lord! They have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars; I alone am left, and they seek my life.
Rom. 11:4. But what does the divine answer say to him? I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee before Baal.
The Apostle could have been objected to: what are you saying, Paul? Do you really consider the people who are likened to sand and stars to consist of three thousand, five thousand, a great multitude of people? Therefore he says: even in the time of Elijah no more than seven thousand were saved; and even Elijah did not know them. And now, probably, there are many who have believed. If you do not know them, this is nothing new: Elijah too did not know those. At the same time, imperceptibly touching upon another subject with his words, he shows that the murder they committed was long ago foretold from above. Namely: lest they should say, we killed Christ as a deceiver, he asks: then how did your forefathers kill the Old Testament prophets? Were they too deceivers? They boldly caused grief? But how then did your forefathers dig up the altars? Did the altars too give offense? And how did they seek to kill Elijah himself, who was zealous for the Jews and renowned for his miracles? But if in those times, when there were so many wicked people, the Lord chose for Himself only seven thousand, as Scripture shows, that is, the revelation and word of God, then there is nothing at all new if He now too chooses only the worthy. He explains this further as well.
Rom. 11:5. So too at the present time there has survived a remnant according to the election of grace.
A remnant exists even now, he says, that is, the best. When winnowed grain is fanned, what remains is the kernel. Just so God too, rejecting the wicked, keeps the worthy for Himself. When he said "by election," he showed the diligence of those being saved, because they became worthy of election through their diligence; and when he said "of grace," he indicated the gift of God.
Rom. 11:6. If by grace, then it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Here he shows that the Jews who did not believe have no excuse whatsoever. You cannot, he says, say that God demanded deeds and labors from you. Everything is a matter of grace. Why then do you not wish to be saved, when such a good is offered to you without demanding labors from you? Therefore, those who wished were saved. These are the ones who constitute the people of God. So God did not reject His people who were worthy of salvation.
Rom. 11:6. If by works, then it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
If we were pleasing God by works, then grace would already be out of place; but if there is room for grace, then there is no longer any work, and work is not work. For where there is grace, no work is required; and where there is work, there is no grace.
Rom. 11:7. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it,
Having explained what grace is, that is, that it is a gift of God apart from works, he says that the Israelites, seeking righteousness, did not obtain it, because they sought it poorly and from works, by which it is impossible to obtain it. "But the elect obtained it." By the word "obtained" he shows the greatness of the blessings and that everything is the work of God's grace. And in ordinary conversation we too say: he obtained a profit, that is, he acquired a gain without labor.
Rom. 11:7. But the rest were hardened,
Rom. 11:8. As it is written: God gave them a spirit of stupor (κατανύξεως), eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, even to this day.
He brings forth Isaiah as a witness of their blindness, so that he would not appear to be speaking on his own. The words "God gave" are said in place of "granted," that is, He allowed, He permitted them to have "a spirit of slumber." By insensibility he means such a habit of the soul toward evil that is incorrigible and unchangeable; for to be pricked (κατανύσσεσθαι) means to be attached or to cling to something. Having eyes to see the miracles and ears to hear the Lord's teaching, they made use of neither as they ought. They did this not only in relation to Christ alone, but also in relation to the apostles. "Even to this day," it says.
Rom. 11:9. And David says: Let their table be made a net, a snare and a trap for a recompense unto them;
Rom. 11:10. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and let their back be bent forever.
Since they, he says, are unchangeable in their wickedness, they will be subjected to the utmost punishment. "Their table," that is, all their goods and pleasures will be turned into the opposite; they will be caught in a net and captured, having become easily taken captive and overcome by all, and always having stumbling blocks and obstacles in their life. And so that it would be evident that they will suffer this for their sins, he said: "for a recompense." Moreover, from their calamities their eyes were darkened, both spiritual and bodily. And their back is bent, for they are in such slavery to the Romans, which will never end. This is the meaning of the word "forever," that is, they will never be freed from that slavery.
Rom. 11:11. So I ask: did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? By no means.
Having sufficiently rebuked the Jews, he now devises consolation for them and asks: "Have they stumbled so as to fall completely?" — that is, have they sinned in such a way that it is no longer possible to heal them in any way? They stumbled, yet their fall was not such that there was no means of setting things right. At the time of the end of the world, as will be said further on, they too will be saved.
Rom. 11:11. But through their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to provoke them to jealousy.