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Israel is neither wholly

CHAPTER XI.

nor finally rejected

19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First, Moses saith, I will | that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked

provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them x Deu.32.21. Ch.11.11.-y Tit. 3.3.

Jews, in consequence of those offers of mercy made to the

Gentiles.

20. But Esaias, (the Greek orthography for Isaiah,) is very bold] Speaks out in the fullest manner and plainest lan guage, chap. Ixv. 1. notwithstanding the danger to which such a declaration exposed him, among a crooked, and perverse, and dangerous people: I was found of them that sought me not; I put my salvation in the way of those (the Gentiles) who were not seeking for it, and knew nothing of it: thus, the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness, have attained to the law of righteousness, chap. ix. 30. and they have found that redemption which the Jews have rejected.

21. But to Israel he saith] In the very next verse, (Isa. chap. lxv. 2.) All day long, I have stretched forth my hands, manifesting the utmost readiness and willingness to gather them altogether under my protecting care; but I stretched forth my hands in vain, for they are a disobedient and gainsaying people. They not only disobey my command, but they gainsay and contradict my prophets. Thus the apostle proves, in answer to the objections made ver. 16. that the infidelity of the Jews was the effect of their own obstinacy. And the opposition which they are now making to the Gospel, was foretold and deplored 700 years before: and that their opposition, far from being a proof of the insufficiency of the Gospel, proved that this was the grand means which God had provided for their salvation; and having rejected this, they could expect no other. And this gives the apostle opportunity to speak largely concerning their rejection in the following chapter.

L' In the preceding chapter are several quotations from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms; and as the apostle seems to take them with considerable latitude of meaning, it has been thought that he only uses their words, as being well calculated to express his sense: without paying any attention to their original import. This principle is too lax, to be introduced in such solemn circumstances. Dr. Taylor has made some judicious and useful distinctions here. After observing that, if we allow this principle, no argument can be built on any of the apostle's quotations; and that it must have been an indifferent thing with him, whether he did or did not understand the Scripture; as, on this supposition, they would serve him as well without, as with the true meaning: he adds, the apostle was a strict and close quoter of the Scriptures: but he did not always quote them in the same manner, or for the same purpose.

Sometimes his intention goes no farther than using the same strong expression, as being equally applicable to the point in hand. So, verses 6, 7, and 8, of this chapter, he uses the words of Moses, not to prove any thing; nor, as if he thought Moses spoke of the same subject; but only as intimating, that the strong and lively expressions which Moses used concerning the doctrine he taught, were equally applicable to the faith of the Gospel. So in the same manner, verse 18. he quotes Psal.

not after me.

21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

z 18a. 65.1. Ch.9.30.-a Isa, 65.2

xix. 4. though it is likely, (see the note in that place,) that those expressions were used by the ancient Jews in application to the Messiah, as the apostle applies them. 2. Sometimes the design of the quotation is only to show that the cases are parallel: or, that what happened in his times corresponded with what happened in former days. So chap. ii. 24. viii. 36. -ix. 27, 28, 29.-xi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10. xv. 21. 3. Sometimes the quotation is only intended to explain a doctrinal point, as chap. i. 17. iv. 6, 7, 8-18-21.-ix. 20, 21.-х. 15. xv. 3. 4. Sometimes the quotation is designed to prove a doctrinal point. Chap. iii. 4, 10-19. iv. 3-17. v. 12, 13, 14.-іх. 7, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17.-х. 5, 11, 13.-хіі. 19, 20.-xiii. 9-xiv. 11.

5. Sometimes it is the intention of the quotation to prove that something was predicted, or properly foretold in the prophetic writings, as chap. ix. 25, 26, 33.-х. 16, 19, 20, 21.-xi. 26, 27. xv. 9-13. These things duly considered, it will appear, that the apostle has every where shown a just regard to the true sense of the scriptures he quotes, in the view in which he quotes them.

These rules may help to vindicate the quotations in all the apostolic writings, And it is evident that we cannot form a true judginent upon any quotation, unless we take in the intention of the writer, or the view in which he quotes.

II. The apostle here makes a just and proper distinction between the righteousness or justification that is of the law, and that which is by faith in Christ. And, in his view of the former, shows it to be absolutely impossible; for if no man is to live thereby, to have spiritual and eternal life, but he who does these things; then, salvation on that ground must be inpossible-for, 1. The law maks no provision for the pardon of sin.-2. It affords no helps for the performance of duty.-3. It maks no allowances for imperfections in duty, or for imperfections in our nature.-4. Its commandments, necessarily, suppose a righteous soul, and a vigorous body; and it does not lower its claims to the fallen state of man. 5. It requires perfect obedience, not only in all things, but in all places and circumstances. The man who comes up to this standard, has ever been in it, and has never swerved from it, shall, by the law, live for ever. But no man since the fall, ever did so, or ever can do so. Therefore, salvation by the works of the law, is absolutely impossible. But, 1. The righteousness, or justification, which is by faith, receives Christ as an atoning sacrifice, by which all past sin is pardoned. 2. Receives continua. supplies of grace from Christ by the eternal Spirit, through which the man is enabled to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbour as himself. 3. This grace is afforded in sufficient degrees, suited to all places, times, and circumstances, so that no trial can happen too great to be borne, as the grace of Christ is ever at hand to sup port and to save to the uttermost. The law is the letter that killeth; the Gospel is the spirit that giveth life. Reader, let thy whole soul say, with the apostle, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

CHAPTER XI.

God has not universally nor finally rejected Israel; nor are they all at present rejecters of the Gospel, for there is a rem nant of true believers now, as there was in the days of the prophet Elijah, 1-5. These have embraced the Gospel, and are saved by grace, and not by the works of the law, 6. The body of the Israelites having rejected this, are blinded, according to the prophetic declaration of David, 7-10. But they have not stumbled, so as to be finally rejected; but through their fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles, 11-14. There is hope of their restoration, and that the nation shall yet be come a holy people, 15, 16. The converted Gentiles must not exult over the fallen Jews; the latter having fallen by unbelief, the former stand by faith, 17-20. The Jews, the natural branches, were broken off from the true olive; and the Gentiles having been grafted in their place, must walk uprightly, else they also shall be cut off, 21, 22. The Jews, if they ahide not in unbelief, shall be again grafted in; and when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, the great Deliverer shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, according to the covenant of God, 23-27. For the sake of their forefathers, God loves them, and will again call them, and communicate His gifts to them, 28, 29. The Gospel shall be again sent to them, as it has now been sent to the Gentiles, 30-32. This procedure is according to the immensity of the wisdom, knowledge, and unsearchable judgments of God, who is the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and to whom all adoration is due, 33-36. [А. М. cir. 4062. A. D. cir. 58. An. Olymp. cir. CCIX. 2. A. U. Č. cir. 811.]

I For, balso an an Israelite, of the seed Abraham of the SAY then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.

tribe of Benjamin.

a1 Sam. 12.22 Ger.31.37.-b 2 Cor. 11 22. Phil. 3.5.

NOTES-This chapter is of the prophetic kind. It was by the spirit of prophecy, that the apostle foresaw the rejection of the Jews, which he supposes in the two preceding chapters; for when he wrote the epistle, they were not in fact rejected; seeing their polity and church were then standing. But the event has proved that he was a true prophet; for we know that in about ten or eleven years after the writing of this letter, the temple was destroyed, the Jewish polity overthrown, and the Jews expelled out of the Promised Land, which they have never been able to recover to the present day.

This-1. Confirms the arguments which the apostle had ad vanced to establish the calling of the Gentiles. For the Jews are, in fact, rejected; consequently, our calling is, in fact, not invalidated by any thing they suggested, relative to the perpetuity of the Mosaic dispensation. But that dispensation being wholly subverted our title to the privileges of God's

2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. intercession to God against Israel, saying,

c Ch.8.29.-d Gr. in Elias ?

church and people stands clear and strong: the Jewish constitution only, could furnish objections against our claim, and the event has silenced every objection from that quarter.2. The actual rejection of the Jews proves Paul to be a true apostle of Jesus Christ, and that he spoke by the Spirit of God; otherwise, he could not have argued so fully upon a case which was yet to come, and of which there was no ap. pearance in the state of things when he wrote this epistle. And this very circumstance should induce us to pay great attention to this chapter, in which he discourses concerning the extent and duration of the rejection of his countrymen, to prevent their being insulted and despised by the Gentile Christians. (1.) As to the extent of this rejection, it is not ab. solutely universal; some of the Jews have embraced the Gospel, and are incorporated into the Christian church, with the believing Gentiles. Upon the case of these be

Miserable state of the Jews

ROMANS.

in the days of St. Paul. 3o Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine 7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seek altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have re-blinded. served to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

5 Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

6 And h if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

el Kings 19.10, 14.-f1 Kings 19.18.-g Ch.9.27-h Ch.4.4,5. Gal.5.4. See Deu. 4,5.-1 Ch.9 31. & 10.3.-k Or, hardened. 2 Cor. 3. 14.

ieving Jews, he comments, ver. 1-7. (2.) As to the duration of it, it is not final and perpetual, for all Israel, or the nation of the Jews, which is now blinded, shall one day be saved, or brought again into the kingdom or covenant of God. Upon the state of these blinded Jews, he comments, ver. 7. to the end of the chapter. His design in discoursing upon this subject, was not only to make the thing itself known; but partly to engage the attention of the unbelieving Jew; to conciliate his favour, and if possible to induce him to come into the Gospel scheme, and partly to dispose the Gentile Christians not to treat the Jews with contempt; (considering that they derived all their present blessings from the patriarchs, the ancestors of the Jewish nation, and were ingrafted into the good olive-tree, whence the Jews had been broken,) and to admonish them to take warning by the fall of the Jews, to make a good improvement of their religious privileges, lest, through unbelief, any of them should relapse into heathenism, or perish finally at the last day.

The thread of his discourse leads him into a general survey and comparison of the several dispensations of God towards the Gentiles and Jews; and he concludes this survey with adoration of the depths of the divine knowledge and wisdom exercised in the various constitutions erected in the world, ver. 30-36. See Taylor's notes, p. 340.

Verse 1. I say then, Hath God cast away his people?] Has he utterly and finally rejected them? for this is necessarily the apostle's meaning, and is the import of the Greek word απώσατο, which signifies to thrust or drive away; from από, from, and wθεω, to thrust or drive; -has he thrust them off, and driven them eternally from him? God forbid, by no means. This rejection is neither universal, nor final. For, I also am an Israelite, I am a regular descendant from Abraham, through Israel or Jacob, and by his son Benjamin. And I stand in the church of God; and in the peculiar covenant; for the rejection is only of the obstinate and disobedient; for those who believe on Christ, as I have done, are continued in the church.

2. God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew God has not finally and irrecoverably rejected a people, whom he has loved (or approved,) so long, ὧν προεγνώ, for this is evidently the meaning of the word in this place, as we have already seen, chap. viii. 29. and is a very general meaning of the original verb yaddâ, in Hebrew, and γινώσκω, in Greek: as I have had often occasion to notice in different parts of this work, and what none will deny, who consults the original. See Schleusner, Parkhurst, &c.

Wot ye not what the scripture saith] Ουκ οίδατε, do ye not know what the Scripture saith. The reference is to 1 Kings xix. 10, 14. And the apostle's answer to the objecting Jew, is to the following effect: God hath not universally thrust away his people, for whom, in the promise to Abraham, he intended, and to whom decreed to grant his special favour and blessing; but the case is now, much as it was in the days of Elijah; that prophet, in his addresses to God, made his complaint against Israel thus:

3. Lord, they have killed thy prophets] They will not permit any person to speak unto them in thy name; and they murder those who are faithful to the commission which they have received from thee.

Digged down thine altars] They are profligate and profane beyond example, and retain not the slightest form of religion. I am left alone) There is no prophet besides myself left, and they seek to destroy me.

4. But what saith the answer of God] The answer which God made, assured him that there were seven thousand, that is, several or many thousands, for so we must understand the word seven, a certain, for an uncertain number. These had continued faithful to God; but because of Jezebel's persecution, they were obliged to conceal their attachment to the true religion; and God, in his providence, preserved them from her sanguinary rage.

Who have not bowed the knee] Baal was the god of Jezebel; or, in other words, his worship was then the worship of the state: but there were several thousands of pious Israelites who had not acknowledged this idol; and did not partake in the idolatrous worship.

5. Even so then, at this present time] As in the present day the irreligion of the Jews is very great; yet there is a rem nant, a considerable number, who have accepted of the grace of the Gospel.

According to the election of grace.) And these are saved just as God has saved all believers from the beginning; they are chosen by his grace; not on account of any worth or excellence in themselves, but through his goodness are they chosen to nave a place in his church, and continue to be his people, en

eth for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were

8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them: 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

I Isa 29.10.-m Or, remorse. Deu. 23.4. Isa.6.9. Jer.5.21. Ezek.12.2. Matt. 13. 14. John 12.40. Acts 28.26,27.-0 Psa. 60.22.-p Psa. 69.23.

titled to all the privileges of the new covenant. The election of grace simply signifies God's gracious design in sending the Christian system into the world, and saving under it all those who believe in Christ Jesus, and none else. Thus, the believers in Christ are chosen to inherit the blessings of the Gospel; while those who seek justification by the works of the law are rejected.

6. And if by grace] And let this very remnant of pious Jews, who have believed in Christ Jesus, know that they are brought in precisely in the same way as God has brought in the Gentiles; the one having no more worthiness to plead than the other; both being brought in, and continued in by God's free grace, and not by any observance of the Mosaic law.

And this is done according to the election of grace, or the rule of choosing any persons to be the people of God upon the footing of grace; which takes in all that believe in his Son Jesus Christ: some of the Jewish people did so believe; therefore those believing Jews are a remnant according t0 the election of grace. They are saved in that way, in which alone God will save mankind.

And if by grace-Then let these very persons remember that their election and interest in the covenant of God has no connexion with their old Jewish works; for were it of works, grace would lose its proper nature, and cease to be what it is, a free, undeserved gift.

But if it be of works] On the other hand, could it be made appear that they are invested in these privileges of the kingdom of Christ, only by the observance of the law of Moses, then GRACE would be quite set aside; and if it were not, work, or the merit of obedience, would lose its proper nature, which excludes favour and free gift But it is not, and cannot be of WORKS; for those very Jews who now believe, and are happy in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, are so according to the election of grace, which does not mean a particular act of God's sovereignty that has singled out some of the Jews who deserved to have been cast off, as well as the rest; but it is that general scheme of grace, according to which God purposed to take into his church and kingdom, any, among either Jews or Gentiles, who should believe on Christ. And the remnant here mentioned were not selected from their countrymen, by such a sovereign act of God's grace as might have taken in the whole if it had so pleased: but they were admitted into, and received the privileges of the Messiah's kingdom; because they believed on the Lord Jesus, and received him as their only Saviour, and thus came into that scheme of election which God had appointed. And we may observe fur. ther, that out of this election, they, as well as the others, would have been excluded, had they, like the rest, remained in unbelief; and into this election of grace all the Jews to a man, notwithstanding they were all sinners, would have been ta ken, had they believed in Christ Jesus. This is the true notion of the election of grace. See Taylor.

7. What then] What is the real state of the case before us? Israel, the body of the Jewish people, have not obtained that which they so earnestly desire, i. e. to be continued, as they have been hitherto, the peculiar people of God; but the election hath obtained it; as many of them as have believed in Jesus Christ, and accepted salvation through him; this is the grand scheme of the election by grace; God chooses to make those his peculiar people who believe in his Son, and none other shall enjoy the blessings of his kingdom. Those who would not receive him are blinded; they have shut their eyes against the light, and are in the very circumstances of those mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, chap. xxix. 10.

8. God hath given them the spirit of slumber] As they had wilfully closed their eyes against the light; so God has, in judgment, given them up to the spirit of slumber. The very word and revelation of God, which should have awakened their consciences, and opened their eyes and ears, have had a very different effect; and because they did not receive the truth in the love thereof, that which would otherwise have been the savour of life unto life, has become the savour of death unto death; and this continues to the present day.

9. And David saith, Let their table, &c.] And from their present disposition, it is reasonable to conclude, that the same evils will fall upon them as fell upon the disobedient in former times, as predicted by David, Psa. Ixix. 22, 23. that their very blessings should become curses to them; and their temporal mercies he their only recompense; and yet, even these earthly blessings, by not being enjoyed in the Lord, should be a stumbling-block over which they should fall; and instead of being a blessing, should be the means of their punishment. 'They would have a worldly Messiah, and therefore they rejected him whose kingdom was not of this world.

10. Let their eyes be darkened.) All these words are decla

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13 For, I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

• Ac. 13.4.& 13.6 & 29.19,21. & 28.24,28. Ch. 10. 19.-r Or, decay, or, Inss.- Ac.9. 新を152&221. Ch. 15.16 Gal. 1.16. & 2.2,7,8,9. Eph.3.8. 1 Tim.2.7. 2 Tim. 1.11. rative, and not imprecatory. God declares what will be the case of such obstinate unbelievers: their table, their common providential blessings, will become a snare, a trap, a stum bling-block, and the means of their punishment. Their eyes will be more and more darkened, as they persist in their unbelief, and their back shall be bowed down always; far from becoming a great and powerful nation, they shall continue ever in a state of abject slavery and oppression, till they acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah; and submit to receive redemption in his blood.

restored to the divine favou

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16 For, if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And, if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree;

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

11 Cor.7.16. & 9.22. 1 Tim 4.16. James 5.90,-u Lev. 23.10. Num. 15. 18,19,20,21.v Jer.11.16-w Acts 2.39. Eph.2.12,13,-x Or, for them. y 1 Cor. 10.12.

show them the high pitch of glory and blessedness to which they had been called, that they might have a due sense of God's mercy in calling them to such a state of salvation; and, that they might be jealous over themselves, lest they should fall as the Jews had done before them: and he dwells particularly on the greatness of those privileges which the Gentiles had now received, that he might stir up the minds of his countrymen to emulation: and might be the means of saving some of them, as he states in the following verse.

I magnify mine office) This is a very improper translation of την διακονίαν μου δοξάζω, which is, literally, I honour this my ministry. Dr. Taylor has justly observed, that magnify, except when applied to the Most High, carries with it, in our language, the idea of stretching beyond the bounds of truth. Whereas the apostle simply means that he does justice to his ministry, by stating the glorious things which he was commissioned to preach among the Gentiles: blessings which the Jews by their obstinacy, had forfeited.

14. Might save some of them.) And yet all these were among the reprobate, or rejected; however, the apostle supposed that none of them was irrecoverably shut out from the divine favour; and that some of them, by his preaching, might be disposed to receive salvation by Christ Jesus.

11. Have they stumbled that they should fall) Have the Jews, now for their disobedience and unbelief rejected, so sinned against God as to be for ever put out of the reach of his mercy? By no means. Are they, as a nation, utterly irrecoverable? This is the sense of the place, and here the prophecy of the restoration of the Jewish nation commences. But rather, through their fall salvation is come] The church of God cannot fail: if the Jews have broken the everlasting covenant, Isa. xxiv. 5. the Gentiles shall be taken into it, and this very circumstance shall be ultimately the means of exciting them to seek and claim a share in the blessings of the new covenant; and this is what the apostle terms provoking them to jealousy, i. e. exciting them to emulation, for so the word should be understood. We should observe here, that the fall of the Jews was not, in itself, the cause or reason of the calling of the Gentiles for whether the Jews had stood or fallen, whether they had embraced or rejected the Gospel; it was the original purpose of God to take the Gentiles into the church; for this was absolutely implied in the covenant made with Abraham: and it was in virtue of that covenant that the Gentiles were now called; and not BECAUSE of the unbelief of the Jews. And hence we see that their fall was not the necessary means of the salvation of the Gentiles, for certainly the unbelief of the Jews, could never produce faith in the Gentiles. The simple state of the case is: the Jews, in the most obstinate and unprincipled manner, rejected Jesus Christ and is certainly a strong collateral proof, that they shall once

the salvation offered them in his name: then the apostles turned to the Gentiles, and they heard and believed. The Jews themselves perceived that the Gentiles were to be put in possession of similar privileges to those which they, as the peculiar people of God, had enjoyed this they could not bear, and put forth all their strength in opposition and persecution. The calling of the Gentiles, which existed in the original purpose of God, became in a certain way accelerated by the unbelief of the Jews, through which they forfeited all their privileges, and fell from that state of glory and dignity in which they had been long placed as the peculiar people of God. See Taylor.

12. Now, if the fall of them) The English reader may imagine that because fall is used in both these verses, the original word is the same. But their fall, and the fall of them, ἐς παραπτωμα, the same word which we render offence, chap. v. 15, 17, 18. and might be rendered lapse. Whereas that they should fall (ver. 11.) is ινα πέσωσι. Now, πίπτω, to fall, is used in a sense so very emphatical as to signify being slain. So Homer, II. viii. ver. 475.

Ηματι τω οτ' αν οι μεν επι πρυμνήσι μαχωνται,
Στείνει εν αινοτάτω, περι Πατροκλοιό πεσοντος
Ως γαρ θεσφατον έξι.

And for Patroclus slain, the crowded hosts
In narrow space, shall at the ships contend.
Such the Divine decree.

And again, Il. xi. ver. 84.

Όφρα μεν πως ην και αέξετο ἱερον ημαρ,

Τόφρα μαλ' αμφοτερων βέλε ̓ ἡπτετο, πιπτεδελαος.
While morning lasted, and the light of day
Increased, so long the weapons on both sides

Flew in thick vollies; and the people fell.

COWPER.

It is well known that to fall in battle means to be killed. It is in such a sense as this, that St. Paul used the word fall, when he says, Have they stumbled that they should FALL? he means a fall quite destructive and ruinous; whereas by their fall, and the fall of them, he means no more than such a lapse as was recoverable; as in the case of Adam's offence. See Dr. Taylor.

The riches of the world] If in consequence of their unbelief, the riches of God's grace and goodness be poured out on the whole Gentile world; how much more shall that dispensa tion of grace and mercy enrich and aggrandize the Gentiles, which shall bring the whole body of the Jews to the faith of the Gospel. Here the apostle supposes, or rather predicts, that such a dispensation shall take place; and that therefore the Jews have not so stumbled as to be finally irrecoverable. 13. This, and the following verse should be read in a parenzesis. St. Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles, wished to

15. But life from the dead) If the rejection of the Jews became the occasion of our receiving the Gospel, so that we can even glory in our tribulations, though they themselves became chief instruments of our sufferings; yet so far must we feel from exulting over them, that we should esteem their full conversion to God as great and choice a favour as we would the restoration of a most intimate friend to life, who had been at the gates of death.

The restoration of the Jews to a state of favour with God, to which the apostle refers, and which is too plainly intimated by the spirit of prophecy, to admit of a doubt, will be a most striking event. Their being preserved, as a distinct people,

more be brought into the church of God: and their conversion to Christianity will be an incontestable proof of the truth of Divine Revelation; and doubtless will become the means of converting multitudes of deists, who will see the prophecies of God which had been delivered so long before, so strikingly fulfilled in this great event. We need not wonder if a whole nation should then be born as in a day.

16. For, if the first-fruit be holy] As the consecrating the first-fruits to God, was the means of drawing down his blessing upon the rest: so the conversion of Abraham to the true faith, and the several Jews who have now embraced Christianity, are pledges that God will, in process of time, admit the whole Jewish nation into his favour again, so that they shall constitute a part of the visible church of Christ.

If the root be holy, so are the branches.] The word holy, in this verse, is to be taken in that sense which it has so frequently in the Old and New Testaments, viz. consecrated, set apart to sacred uses. It must not be forgotten that the first converts to Christ were from among the Jews; these formed the root of the Christian church: these were holy, αγιοι, consecrated to God, and those who among the Gentiles were converted by their means, were also αγιοι, consecrated: but the chief reference is to the ancestors of the Jewish people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and as these were devoted to God, and received into his covenant; all their posterity, the branches which proceeded from this root, became entitled to the same privileges: and as the root still remains, and the branches also, the descendants from that root still remain; they still have a certain title to the blessings of the covenant; though, because of their obstinate unbelief, these blessings are suspended, as they cannot, even on the ground of the old covenant, enjoy these blessings but through faith for i was when Abraham believed God, that it was accounted to him for righteousness; and thus he became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

17. And, if some of the branches, &c.] If the present nation of the Jews, because of their unbelief, are cut off from the blessings of the church of God, and the high honour and dignity of being his peculiar people; and thou being a wild olive-ye Gentiles, being without the knowledge of the true God, and consequently bringing forth no fruits of righteous. ness; wert graffed in among them, are now inserted in the original stock, having been made partakers of the faith of Abraham, and consequently of his blessings; and enjoy, as the people did who sprang from him, the fatness of the olive. tree, the promises made to the patriarchs, and the spiritual privileges of the Jewish church.

18. Boast not against the branches.] While you are ready to acknowledge that you were included in the covenant made

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19 Thou wilt say then, Tie branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. * Be not high-minded, but fear:

21 For, if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

22 Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness if thou x Ch. 12. 16.-a Prov. 28. 14. Isa. 662. Phil. 2.12.

with Abraham, and are now partakers of the same blessings with him; do not exult over, much less insult the branches, his present descendants, whose place you now fill up, according to the election of grace: for, remember ye are not the root, nor do ye bear the root, but the root bears you. You have not been the means of deriving any blessing on the Jewish people; but through that very people which you may be teinpted to despise, all the blessings and excellencies which you enjoy, have been communicated to you.

19. Thou will say then, &c.] You may think that you have reason to exult over them; because it is a fact that God has been displeased with them, and therefore has broken them off; has cast them out of the church, and taken you into it in their place:

favour of God by faith.

continue in his goodness: otherwise, thou also shalt becut off. 23 And they also, dif they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

24 For, if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature; and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olivetree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree?

25 For, I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of

b1 Cer. 15.2. Heb.3.6, 14.-c John 15.2.-d 2 Cor. 3. 16.

that part which remains in connexion with the tree, a little slit is made, and then a small twig or branch taken from another tree, is, at its lower end, shaved thin, wedge-like, and then inserted in the cleft, after which the whole is tied toge. ther, clayed round, &c. and the bark unites to bark; and the stock and the cion become thus one tree, the juices of the old stock circulating through the tubes of the newly inserted twig; and thus both live, though the branch inserted bears a very different fruit from that which the parent stock bore. I have often performed this operation, and in this very way, with success. And I cannot conceive that the apostle could have chosen a more apt, or more elegant metaphor. The Jewish tree does not bring forth proper fruit; but it will answer well to ingraft a proper fruit-bearing tree on. The Gentiles are a wild olive, which is a tree that bears no fruit; but it may be made to bear if grafted on the Jewish stock. Some of the branches were cut off, that the branches of this wild olive might be inserted: the act by which this insertion is made, is

20. Well, because of unbelief, &c.] This statement is all true; but then, consider why is it that they were cast out? Was it not because of their unbelief? And you stand by faith: you were made partakers of these blessings by faith; be not high minded; let this humble, not exalt you in your own esti-termed χρηςότης, goodness, benignity; the act by which the

mation; for if the blessings were received by faith, conse. quently not by works and if not by works, you have no merit; and, what you have received, is through the mere mercy of God. They once stood by faith; they gave place to unbe lief, and fell: you stand now by faith, but it is as possible for you to be unfaithful, as it was for them; and, consequently, you may fall under the Divine displeasure, as they have done; be not high-minded, but fear; watch over yourselves with godly jealousy.

21. For if God spared not the natural branches] If He, in his infinite justice and holiness, could not tolerate sin in the people whom he foreknew, whom he had so long loved, che rished, miraculously preserved, and blessed; take heed lest he also spare not thee. Be convinced that the same righteous principle in him will cause him to act towards you as he act ed towards them, if you sin after the similitude of their transgression: and to this, self-sufficiency and self-confidence, will soon lead you. Remember, therefore, the rock whence you were hewn; and the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Depend incessantly on God's free grace, that ye may abide in his favour.

22. Behold, therefore, the goodness] The exclamation, be hold the goodness of God! is frequent among the Jewish writers, when they wish to cal the attention of men to particular displays of God's mercy; especially towards those who are singularly unworthy. See several instances in Schoettgen.

And severity of God) As χρηςοτης, goodness, signifies the essential quality of the Divine nature, the fountain of all good to men and angels; so αποτομία, severity, as it is here translated, signifies that particular exercise of his goodness, and holiness, which leads him to sever from his mystical body whatsoever would injure, corrupt, or destroy it. The apos tle in these verses uses a metaphor taken from ingrafting, εγκεντρίσις, whence the verb εγκεντρίζω, from ev, in, and κεντρίζω, το puncture, because ingrafting was frequently done by making a puncture in the bark of a tree, and then inserting a bud taken from another. This was the practice in the Roman agriculture, as we learn from Virgil, Georg. ii. ver. 73.

Nam qua se medio tradunt de cortice gemmæ,
Et tenues rumpunt tunicas; angustus in ipso
Fit nodo sinus huc aliena ex arbore germen
Includunt; udoque docent inolescere libro.
For where the tender rinds of trees disclose
Their shooting gems, a swelling knot there grows;
Just in that space, a narrow slit we make,
Then other buds from bearing trees we take;
Inserted thus, the wounded rind we close;
In whose moist womb the admitted infant grows.

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The apostle having adopted this metaphor as the best he could find, to express that act of God's justice and mercy by which the Jews were rejected, and the Gentiles elected in their stead; and, in order to show that though the Jewish tree was cut down, or its branches lopped off, yet it was not rooted up, he informs the Gentile believers, that as it is customary to insert a good scion in a bad or useless stock, they who were bad, contrary to the custom in such cases, were grafted in a good stock, and their growth and fruitfulness proclaimed the excellence and vegetative life of the stock in which they were inserted. This was the goodness of the heavenly Gardener to them; but it was severity, αποτομια, an act of exci sion to the Jews.

The reader will observe that this term belongs to ingraft

branches of the original stock are broken off, is termed aroτομια, excision, from απο, from, and τεμνω, I cut, still keeping the metaphor, taken from ingrafting, in view. Now, let the apostle's mode of reasoning be observed: the tree is cut down, or its branches are lopped off; but the tree is not rooted up. The Jews have stumbled, but not so as to fall irrecoverably; for, if they abide not still in unbelief, they shall be grafted in, ver. 23. The Gentiles, who are grafted in on these cut-off branches, like the scion inserted in another stock, par. take of the root, which absorbs from the earth the nutritious juices, and the fatness of the Jewish tree, the blessings and privileges which that people have long enjoyed, in consequence of the Abrahamic covenant, ver. 17. the root, the Jewish covenant, bears them; not they the root, ver. 18. As, therefore, the continuance of the Gentiles, as the church and people of God, depends upon their interest in the Abrahamic covenant, the blessings of which they derive through the medium of the Jews; they should be grateful to God, and tolerant to those through whom they have received such bless. ings. And as in the case of grafting, the prosperity of the ingrafted scion depends on the existence of the parent stock; so the continuance of the Gentiles in this state of faveur, (following the metaphor,) in a certain way, depends on the continuance of the Jewish people and they are preserved, as so many scions, which are in process of time to be ingrafted on the Gentiles; and thus the Gentiles shall become the means of salvation to the Jews; as the Jews have been the means of salvation to the Gentiles. Following, therefore, the metaphor a little farther, which seems to have been so well chosen in all its parts; the continued existence of the Jews, as a distinct people, together with the acknowledgment of the Gentiles, that they have derived their salvation and state of blessedness through them of which Jesus Christ, born of the stock of David, is the Author; and the Jewish Scriptures, which the Gentiles received as inspired by God, are the evidence; then, the restoration of the Jews, to the favour of God, is a necessary consequence: and, indeed, seems to be the principal end in reference to which the apostle reasons. Gentiles, however, are to take care that the restoration of the Jews be not at their expense; as their calling and election were at the expense of the Jews; the latter being cut off, that the former might be grafted in, ver. 19. Of this there is no kind of necessity, for the original stock, the Abrahamic cove nant, is sufficient to receive them all; and so Jews and Gentiles become one eternal flock, under one Bishop and Shepherd of all their souls.

The

23. If they abide not in unbelief] So, we find that their rejection took place in consequence of their wilful obstinacy: and, that they may return into the fold, the door of which still stands open.

For God is able to graff them in again.] Fallen as they are, and degraded, God can, in the course of his providence and mercy, restore them to all their forfeited privileges; and this will take place if they abide not in unbelief; which intimates, that God has furnished them with all the power and means necessary for faith; and that they may believe on the Lord Jesus whenever they will. The vail now continues on their heart, but it is not a vail which God has spread there, but a vail occasioned by their own voluntary and obstinate unbelief: and when they shall turn to the Lord (Jesus) the vail shall be taken away. See what the apostle has said, 2 Cor. iii. 6-18.

24. The olive-tree, which is wild by nature] Which is κατα φυσιν, naturally wild and barren; for, that the wild olive bore no fruit, is sufficiently evident from the testimony of the authors who have written on the subject: hence the proverb Ακαρπότερος αγρίππου; more unfruitful than the wild olive.

ing. often, in this operation, a part of a branch is cut off; in | Λάκωνες γαρ αγριαν έλαιαν, αγριππον καλουσι· for the I ace

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this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that f blindness in part is happened to Israel, b until the ful ness of the Gentiles be come in.

26 (And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness froin Jacob.

27 For, this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.)

e Chap. 12.16.-f Ver.7. 2 Cor.3.14.-g Or, hardness.-h Luke 21.24. Rev.2.9.$ Isa. 59 20. See Psa. 14.7.

demonians term the wild olive αγριππον. See SUIDAS. And hence HESYCHIUS interprets Αγριέλαιος, the wild olive, (the word used here by St. Paul,) by ακαρπος, unfruitful; and the reason given in DIOGEN. Proverb. Cent. ii. n. 63, is φυτον γαρ εσιν ὁ αγριππος ακαρπον· for the wild olive is an unfruitful tree. On this account the apostle very properly says, thou wert cut, εκ της κατα φυσιν αγριελαίου, out of that olive which is uncultivated, because it is barren: the κατα φυσιν does not refer here to its being naturally barren; but to its being commonly, or customarily permitted to remain so. And, that this is the import of the phrase here, is evident from the next clause of the verse.

And wert graffed contrary to nature] Παρα φυσιν, contrary to all custom; for a scion taken from a barren or useless tree, is scarcely ever known to be grafted into a good stock: but here the Gentiles, a fruitless and sinful race, are grafted on the ancient patriarchal stock. Now, if it was possible to effect such a change in the state and disposition of the Gentiles who were αθεοι εν τω κόσμω, Εph. ii. 12. without God, ATHEISTS in the world: how much more possible is it, speaking after the manner of inen, to bring about a similar change in the Jews, who acknowledge the one only, and true God; and receive the law and the prophets as a revelation from him. This seems to be the drift of the apostle's argument.

25. 1 would not that ye should be ignorant of this mystery) Mystery, μυςηριον, signifies any thing that is hidden, or covered, or not fully made manifest. The Greek word seems to have been borrowed from the Hebrew מסתר mister, from the rootsatar, to hide, conceal, &c. though some derive it from μυεσθαι, to be initiated into sacred rites, from μύειν, to shut up. In the New Testament it signifies, generally, any thing, or doctrine that has not, in former times, been fully known to men: or, something that has not been heard of; or which is so deep, profound, and difficult of comprehension, that it cannot be apprehended without special direction and instruction: here, it signifies the doctrine of the future restoration of the Jews, not fully known in itself, and not at all known as to the time in which it will take place. In chap. xvi. 25. it means the Christian religion, not known till the advent of Christ. The apostle wished the Romans not to be ignorant of this mystery, viz. that such a thing was intended: and, in order to give them as much instruction as possible on this subject, he gives them some characteristic, or sign of the times when it was to take place.

Lest ye should be wise in your own conceits] It seems from this, and from other expressions in this epistle, that the converted Gentiles had not behaved towards the Jews with that decorum and propriety which the relation they bore to them required. In this chapter the apostle strongly guards them against giving way to such a disposition.

restoration of the Jews.

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29 For, the gifts and calling of God are without repent. ance.

30 For, as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that k Isa. 27.9. Jer.31.31, &c. Heb. 8. 8. & 10.16-1 Deu.7.8.&9.5.& 10.15.-n Num. 23.19-n Eph. 2.2. Col. 3. 7.-o Or, obeyed.-p Or, obeyed.

Gentile and Mohammedan soul shall be, in this especial sense, converted to God, then we shall wait for ever.

26. And so all Israel shall be saved) Shall be brought int the way of salvation, by acknowledging the Messiah; for the word certainly does not mean eternal glory; for, no man can conceive that a time will ever come, in which every Jew, then living, shall be taken to the kingdom of glory. The term saved, as applied to the Israelites in different parts of the Scripture, signifies no more than their being gathered out of the nations of the world; separated to God, and possessed of the high privilege of being his peculiar people. And we know that this is the meaning of the term, by finding it applied to the body of the Israelites when this alone was the suin of their state. See the Preface, page viii, &c.

As it is written] The apostle supports what he advances on this head, by a quotation from Scripture, which in the main, is taken from Isa. lix. 20. The Deliverer shall come out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Now this cannot be understood of the manifestation of Christ among the Jews; or of the multitudes which were converted before, at, and for some time after, the day of Pentecost for these times were all past when the apostle wrote this epistle, which was probably about the 57th or 58th year of our Lord : and, as no remarkable conversion of that people has since taken place, therefore, the fulfilment of this prophecy is yet to take place. In what manner Christ is to come out of Zion, and in what way, or by what means he is to turn away transgression from Jacob, we cannot tell; and to attempt to con. jecture, when the time, occasion, means, &c. are all in mystery, would be more than reprehensible.

27. For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins.] The reader, on referring to Isa. chap. lix. 20, 21. will find that the words of the original are here greatly abridged. They are the following:

And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit, that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

For the manner in which St. Paul makes his quotations from Scripture, see the observations at the end of the preceding chapter. The whole of these two verses should be read in a parenthesis, as I have marked them in the text; for it is evident that the 25th verse should be immediately connected with the 28th.

It may not be amiss to subjoin here a collection of those texts in the Old Testament that seem to point out a restora.. tion of the Jewish commonwealth, to a higher degree of ex

Blindness in part is happened to Israel] Partial blind-cellence than it has yet attained.-ISA. ii. 2-5. хіх. 24, 25. xxv.

ness, or blindness to a part of them; for they were not all unbelievers: several thousands of them had been converted to the Christian faith; though the body of the nation, and especially its rulers, civil and spiritual, continued opposed to Christ and his doctrine.

Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in] And this blindness will continue till the church of the Gentiles be fully completed; till the Gospel be preached through all the nations of the earth, and multitudes of heathens every where embrace the faith. The words πληρωμα των εθνων, may be borrowed from the מלא הגוים melo hagoyim, a multitude of nations, which the Septuagint translate by πληθος εθνων. By the πλήρωμα, or fulness, a great multitude may be intended; which should be so dilated on every hand as to fill various re. gions. In this sense the words were understood by Solomon ben Melec, ארצות הגוים שימלאו מהם The nations of the Gentiles shall be filled with them: the apostle, therefore, seems to give this sense of the mystery, that the Jews will continue in a state of blindness, till such a time as a multitude of nations, or Gentiles, shall be converted to the Christian faith: and the Jews, hearing of this, shall be excited, by a spirit of emulation, to examine and acknowledge the validity of the proofs of Christianity, and embrace the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should not restrict the meaning of these words too much, by imagining-1. That the fulness must necessarily mean all the nations of the universe; and all the individuals of those nations: probably no more than a general spread of Christianity over many nations which are now under the inAuence of Pagan or Mohammedan superstition, may be what is intended. 2. We must not suppose that the coming in here mentioned, necessarily means what most religious persons understand by conversion, a thorough change of the whole heart and the whole life; the acknowledgment of the Divine mission of our Lord, and a cordial embracing of the Christian religion, will sufficiently fulfil the apostle's words. If we wait for the conversion of the Jews till such a time as every

6, &c. xxx. 18, 19, 26. lx. throughout: lxv. 17. to the end: JRREM. XXXI. 10, 11, 12. xlvi. 27, 28. EZEK. xx. 34, 40, &c. xxviii. 25, 26. xxxiv. 20, &c. xxxvi. 8-16. xxxvii. 21-28. xxxix. 25, &c. JOEL iii. 1, 2, 17, 20, 21. Amos ix. 9. to the end: OBAD ver. 17, 21. MICAH IV. 3-7. vii. 18, 19, 20. ZEPH. iii. 19, 20.

28. As concerning the Gospel] The unbelieving Jews, with regard to the Gospel, which they have rejected, are at present enemies to God, and aliens from his kingdom, under his Son Jesus Christ, on account of that extensive grace which has overturned their peculiarity, by admitting the Gentiles inte his church and family: but with regard to the original purpose of election, whereby they were chosen and separated from all the people of the earth, to be the peculiar people of God, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes; he has still favour in store for them, on account of their forefathers, the patriarchs.

29. For the gifts and calling of God, &c.] The gifts which God has bestowed upon them; and the calling, the invitation with which he has favoured them, he will never revoke. In reference to this point, there is no change of mind in him; and, therefore, the possibility and certainty of their restora tion to their original privileges of being the people of God, of enjoying every spiritual blessing with the fulness of the Gen tiles, may be both reasonably and safely inferred.

Repentance, when applied to God, signifies simply change of purpose relative to some declaration made subject to certain conditions. See this fully explained and illustrated by himself. Jer. xviii. 7, 8, 9.

30. For as ye in times past] The apostle pursues his argument in favour of the restoration of the Jews. As ye Gentiles, in times past, for many ages back;

Have not believed] Were in a state of alienation from God; yet, not so as to be totally and for ever excluded:

Have now obtained mercy] For ye are now taken into the kingdom of the Messiah; through their unbelief, by that method which, in destroying the Jewish peculiarity and fulfil

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