Romanos 11
Ambrosiaster · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Romanos 11:1
Since Paul has shown that the people of Israel did not believe, now, in order that it should not be thought that he has said that they were all unbelievers, he shows that God has not rejected the inheritance which he promised to the descendants of Abraham. For he would not have promised them a kingdom if he knew that none of them would believe.… By using himself as an example, he shows that the part of Israel which God foreknew would be saved had in fact been saved and that the part which had been consigned to perdition because of its constant unbelief might yet be saved. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:2
This is what the Savior says: "Father, I have kept those whom thou didst give to me, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition." — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES.
Romanos 11:4
This is clear, for Paul shows that not only Elijah remained as one devoted to God who did not worship idols, but that there were many who remained faithful to God, just as there were not a few Jews who believed in Christ. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:5
Even though many have fallen away, those whom God foreknew have remained in the promise of the law. For those who have accepted Christ as he was promised in the law have remained in the law, but those who rejected Christ have fallen away from it. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:6
It is clear that because grace is the gift of God there is no reward due for works, but it is granted freely because of the free mercy which intervenes. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:8
These are the carnal Israelites who thought they were justified by the law and did not realize that they were justified by faith before God, because through the law they were all guilty.Those who were blinded were those who were unable to see the way of truth which in their wickedness they had rejected and gone away from so that they could no longer come to the grace of salvation. The examples taken from the prophets reveal that there are two kinds of blind people. The first kind consists of those who are blinded forever, who will never be saved. These people are of such evil will that they knowingly say that they do not know what they hear.… The second type consists of those who, although they try to live according to the law, do not accept the righteousness of Christ. These people are doing this not out of the envy of an evil will but by an erroneous imitation of the tradition of their ancestors. They are blinded for a time, for although they ought to recognize the great works of Christ which cannot be ignored.… They have forgotten God and follow human opinions instead. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:9
He curses the feast of the wicked because the innocent are often deceived there. They are tricked into coming to dinner so that they may be ruined. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:11
Paul says here what I have recorded above, that these people have not fallen into unbelief in such a way as to make their ultimate conversion impossible. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:12
It is clear that the world will be even richer in good people if those who have been blinded are converted. Commentary on Paul's Epistles.
Romanos 11:13
Paul is showing the Gentiles here how much he loves the Jews. For he magnifies his ministry, by which he is the apostle of the Gentiles, if by loving his own people he wins them to the faith as well. For he is more honored still if he wins to eternal life those to whom he has not been sent. For he who finds his lost brothers will have the greatest honor with his parents. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:15
This is why Paul worked so hard for the conversion of the Jews, since the handicap of their blindness will be removed at the time when their sin is paid for, so that they might receive the free exercise of their will. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:16
It is clear that they are one and the same substance, so it is impossible for the offering to be holy and the lump unclean, given that the offering comes from the lump. Thus Paul shows that those whose ancestors believed cannot be regarded as unworthy to receive the faith, for if some of the Jews have believed, why can it not be said that the others may also believe? — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:17
If some Jews have not believed, then they have been cut out of the promise.… The Gentiles, who were from a bad root, were grafted into a good tree, which is the opposite of what happens in agriculture, where it is the good branch which is grafted onto a bad root. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:18
It displeases God if someone rejoices at the misfortune of others, as Solomon says. In any case, the Jews were not rejected for the sake of the Gentiles. Rather, it was because they were rejected that they gave an opportunity for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles. If you boast against those onto whose root you have been grafted, you insult the people who have accepted you so that you might be converted from bad to good. You will not continue like that if you destroy the thing on which you stand. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:19
A believing Gentile says that he can rejoice that the Jews did not believe, saying that their condemnation made room for the Gentiles. But the Jews were not condemned by God in order to let the Gentiles in. They condemned themselves by rejecting God's gift, and by doing that they gave the Gentiles an opportunity to be saved. Paul wants to stop this boasting, so that we might rejoice in our salvation rather than insult the weak. For the man who insults a sinner is easily deceived. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:20
You ought to thank God for his gift in Christ and not insult them but rather pray that, if their wickedness has led to your salvation, they too might return to their roots. Then you will please God who has shown you mercy, for he called you so that by making them jealous of you he might bring them to grace as well. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:22
Paul testifies that God is good to the Gentiles because, although they followed idols and deserved to die, he waited for them in his patience, and even though they did not seek him, he called them and forgave their sins. But God is severe toward the Jews and has even blinded them because they rejected God's gift. Here Paul is referring to those Jews who because of their wickedness have been permanently blinded. For this reason he says that they have fallen, whereas the others whom I mentioned above have not fallen, even though they have sinned, because Paul shows that they have been blinded for a time. But God has been severe to these, because they have become eternally blind and apostate. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:24
The olive tree represents faith, whereas the wild olive refers to wickedness. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:26
God will give them back the free exercise of their will so that, because their unbelief did not spring from malice but from error, they may be put right and afterward be saved.…Paul quotes Isaiah in order to prove that God has reserved a gift for them, in order to teach that they can be set free by the same grace by which the believing Jews have already been set free, because he is not empty but always full of grace. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:27
The covenant will always be there, however long it takes for them to believe. For this is the Lord Jesus, who has promised to come from heaven in order to set the human race free. Every day he forgives the sins of those who turn to God, nor does he condemn unbelievers straightaway but waits for them, knowing that they may come to a knowledge of God. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:28
However seriously the Jews may have sinned by rejecting the gift of God, and however worthy they may be of death, nevertheless, because they are the children of good people, whose privileges and many benefits from God they have received, they will be received with joy when they return to the faith, because God's love for them is stirred up by the memory of their ancestors. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:29
It is usually thought that those who have sinned badly by not accepting the promise of God cannot receive mercy if they do not demonstrate their sorrow, because those who have sinned badly cannot be forgiven without tears and wailing. But Paul shows that these things are not required at the start, because God's gift freely pardons sins in baptism. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:31
Paul recalls the unbelief of the Gentiles so that being ashamed of it they may not insult the Jews who have not believed but rejoice when they accept the promise of God. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:32
From earliest times all nations lived in ungodliness and ignorance because they were without God. For this reason the law was revealed, by which the worst ones could be restrained. But by the activity of the adversary sins began to multiply, so that through the commandment man was considered more guilty still. Then God, who in the mercy of his goodness always takes care of human creation, seeing that even without the law sin still existed and that by the law it could not be wiped out, decreed that he would require only faith, by which the sins of all men might be abolished. Thus although man had no ground for hope through the law, he was nevertheless saved by the mercy of God. To consign everything to disobedience means that this decree comes as a gift from God at a time when everyone was laboring in unbelief, so that grace might appear to be the freest of all rewards. Therefore nobody should boast, for the one who is proud of his ignorance is to be pitied. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:33
God knew from the beginning what man's behavior and works would be like, in that the human race could not be saved only by the severity of his justice nor could it reach perfection only by his mercy. So at a particular time he decreed what should be preached, whereas before that time he allowed each person to decide for himself, because righteousness was recognized under the guidance of nature. And because the authority of natural righteousness was weakened by the habit of sin, the law was given so that the human race would be held back by the fear engendered by the revealed law. But because they did not restrain themselves and were counted guilty under the law, mercy was proclaimed, which would save those who took refuge in it but would blind those who rejected it for a time. During that time this mercy would invite the Gentiles, who earlier on had not wanted to follow the law given to Moses, to share in the promise, so that the Jews might become jealous of their salvation and because of that jealousy turn again to the source of the root, which is the Savior. This is "the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God," who by his many-sided providence has won both Jews and Gentiles to eternal life. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:34
It is clear that only God knows everything and it is only he who lacks nothing, because everything comes from him. No one can understand or measure this knowledge, because the inferior cannot comprehend what is superior to it. Jewish believers could not understand that the salvation of the Gentiles could be God's plan and will. Likewise, it seemed unlikely and incredible to the Gentiles that the Jews, who had not believed, could be converted or accepted as believers. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 11:36
By saying this Paul revealed a meaning which had been hidden from the world. For because God is the Creator of all things, everything comes from him. And because everything comes from him, it comes through his Son, who is of the same substance and whose work is the Father's work as well.… And because what is from God and through God is then born again in the Holy Spirit, everything is in him as well, because the Holy Spirit is from God the Father, which is why he knows what is in God.… Here Paul laid bare the mystery of God, which he said above should not be unknown to them. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES