Rom 11:12-16, 26-31 | JFB | STEP | 12. Now if the fall of them-- "But if their trespass," or "false step" be the riches of the-- Gentile world-- as being the occasion of their accession to Christ. and the diminishing of them-- that is, the reduction of the true Israel to so small a remnant. the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness!-- that is, their full recovery (see on ); that is, "If an event so untoward as Israel's fall was the occasion of such unspeakable good to the Gentile world, of how much greater good may we expect an event so blessed as their full recovery to be productive?"

‏ Romans 11:12-16

12. Now if the fall of them--"But if their trespass," or "false step"

be the riches of the--Gentile

world--as being the occasion of their accession to Christ.

and the diminishing of them--that is, the reduction of the true Israel to so small a remnant.

the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness!--that is, their full recovery (see on Ro 11:26); that is, "If an event so untoward as Israel's fall was the occasion of such unspeakable good to the Gentile world, of how much greater good may we expect an event so blessed as their full recovery to be productive?"

13-14. I speak--"am speaking"

to you Gentiles--another proof that this Epistle was addressed to Gentile believers. (See on Ro 1:13).

I magnify--"glorify"

mine office--The clause beginning with "inasmuch" should be read as a parenthesis.

15. For if the casting away of them--The apostle had denied that they were east away (Ro 11:1); here he affirms it. But both are true; they were cast away, though neither totally nor finally, and it is of this partial and temporary rejection that the apostle here speaks.

be the reconciling of the--Gentile

world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?--The reception of the whole family of Israel, scattered as they are among all nations under heaven, and the most inveterate enemies of the Lord Jesus, will be such a stupendous manifestation of the power of God upon the spirits of men, and of His glorious presence with the heralds of the Cross, as will not only kindle devout astonishment far and wide, but so change the dominant mode of thinking and feeling on all spiritual things as to seem like a resurrection from the dead.

16. For--"But"

if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root ... so the branches--The Israelites were required to offer to God the first-fruits of the earth--both in their raw state, in a sheaf of newly reaped grain (Le 23:10, 11), and in their prepared state, made into cakes of dough (Nu 15:19-21)--by which the whole produce of that season was regarded as hallowed. It is probable that the latter of these offerings is here intended, as to it the word "lump" best applies; and the argument of the apostle is, that as the separation unto God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the rest of mankind, as the parent stem of their race, was as real an offering of first-fruits as that which hallowed the produce of the earth, so, in the divine estimation, it was as real a separation of the mass or "lump" of that nation in all time to God. The figure of the "root" and its "branches" is of like import--the consecration of the one of them extending to the other.

‏ Romans 11:26-31

26-27. And so all Israel shall be saved--To understand this great statement, as some still do, merely of such a gradual inbringing of individual Jews, that there shall at length remain none in unbelief, is to do manifest violence both to it and to the whole context. It can only mean the ultimate ingathering of Israel as a nation, in contrast with the present "remnant." (So Tholuck, Meyer, De Wette, Philippi, Alford, Hodge). Three confirmations of this now follow: two from the prophets, and a third from the Abrahamic covenant itself. First, as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and

shall--or, according to what seems the true reading, without the "and"--"He shall"

turn away ungodliness from Jacob--The apostle, having drawn his illustrations of man's sinfulness chiefly from Psa 14:1-7 and Is 59:1-21, now seems to combine the language of the same two places regarding Israel's salvation from it [Bengel]. In the one place the Psalmist longs to see the "salvation of Israel coming out of Zion" (Psa 14:7); in the other, the prophet announces that "the Redeemer (or, 'Deliverer') shall come to (or 'for') Zion" (Is 59:20). But as all the glorious manifestations of Israel's God were regarded as issuing out of Zion, as the seat of His manifested glory (Psa 20:2; 110:2; Is 31:9), the turn which the apostle gives to the words merely adds to them that familiar idea. And whereas the prophet announces that He "shall come to (or, 'for') them that turn from transgression in Jacob," while the apostle makes Him say that He shall come "to turn away ungodliness from Jacob," this is taken from the Septuagint version, and seems to indicate a different reading of the original text. The sense, however, is substantially the same in both. Second,

28-29. As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sakes--that is, they are regarded and treated as enemies (in a state of exclusion through unbelief, from the family of God) for the benefit of you Gentiles; in the sense of Ro 11:11, 15.

but as touching, the election--of Abraham and his seed.

they are beloved--even in their state of exclusion for the fathers' sakes.

30-31. For as ye in times past have not believed--or, "obeyed"

God--that is, yielded not to God "the obedience of faith," while strangers to Christ.

yet now have obtained mercy through--by occasion of

their unbelief--(See on Ro 11:11; Ro 11:15; Ro 11:28).