Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 11

ROMANS Chapter 11

I say then. This expression is to be regarded as conveying the sense of an objection. Paul, in the previous chapters, had declared the doctrine that all the Jews were to be rejected.

To this, a Jew might naturally reply: Is it to be believed that God would cast off his people whom he had once chosen—to whom belonged the adoption, the promises, the covenant, and the numerous blessings conferred on a favourite people? It was natural for a Jew to make such objections.

And it was important for the apostle to show that his doctrine was consistent with all the promises which God had made to his people. The objection, as will be seen by the answer Paul makes, is formed on the supposition that God had rejected all his people, or cast them off entirely. This objection he answers by showing:

1. That God had saved him, a Jew, and therefore that he could not mean that God had cast off all Jews (Romans 11:1).

2. That now, as in former times of great declension, God had reserved a remnant (Romans 11:2–5).

3. That it accorded with the Scriptures, that a part should be hardened (Romans 11:6–10).

4. That the design of the rejection was not final, but was to admit the Gentiles to the privileges of Christianity (Romans 11:11–24).

5. That the Jews should yet return to God and be reinstated in his favour, so that it could not be objected that God had finally and totally cast off his people, or that he had violated his promises. At the same time, however, the doctrine which Paul had maintained was true: that God had taken away their exclusive and peculiar privileges and had rejected a large part of the nation.

Cast away. Rejected, or put off. Has God so renounced them that they can no longer be his people?

His people. Those who have been long in the covenant relation to him; that is, the Jews.

God forbid. Literally, it may not, or cannot be. This is an expression strongly denying that this could take place and means that Paul did not intend to advance such a doctrine (Luke 20:16; Romans 3:4, 6, 31; Romans 6:2, 15; Romans 7:7, 13).

For I also am an Israelite. To show them that he did not mean to affirm that all Jews must of necessity be cast off, he adduces his own case. He was a Jew, and yet he looked for the favour of God and for eternal life. That favour he hoped now to obtain by being a Christian; and if he might obtain it, others might also. "If I should say that all Jews must be excluded from the favour of God, then I also must be without hope of salvation, for I am a Jew."

Of the seed of Abraham. Descended from Abraham. The apostle mentions this to show that he was a Jew in every respect, that he had a title to all the privileges of a Jew, and must be exposed to all their liabilities and dangers. If the seed of Abraham must of necessity be cut off, he himself must be rejected. The Jews valued themselves greatly on having descended from so illustrious an ancestor as Abraham (Matthew 3:9), and Paul shows them that he was entitled to all the privileges of such a descent .

Of the tribe of Benjamin. This tribe was one that was originally located near Jerusalem. The temple was built on the line that divided the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It is not improbable that it was regarded as a peculiar honour to have belonged to one of those tribes. Paul mentions it here in accordance with their custom, for they regarded it as of great importance to preserve their genealogy and to be able to state not only that they were Jews, but also to designate the tribe and family to which they belonged.

God has not cast away. This is an explicit denial of the objection.

Which he foreknew. The word foreknew is expressive not merely of foreseeing a thing, but implies in this place a previous purpose or plan.

The meaning of the passage is simply, God has not cast off those whom he had previously purposed or designed to be his people. It is the declaration of a great principle of divine government that God is not changeable, and that he would not reject those whom he had purposed should be his people.

Though the mass of the nation, therefore, should be cast off, it would not follow that God had violated any promise or compact, or that he had rejected any whom he had foreknown as his true people.

God makes no covenant of salvation with those who are in their sins. If the unbelieving and the wicked—however many external privileges they may have enjoyed—are rejected, it does not follow that he has been unfaithful to one whom he had foreknown or designated as an heir of salvation.

It follows from this, also, that it is one principle of the divine government that God will not reject those who are foreknown or designated as his friends. It is a part of the plan, therefore, that those who are truly renewed shall persevere and obtain eternal life.

Wot ye not? That is, do you not know?

What the Scripture says. The passage quoted here is found in 1 Kings 19:10–18.

Of Elias. That is, of Elijah. The Greek is, "In Elijah" (en hlia). This does not mean that it was said about Elijah, or concerning him. Instead, the reference is to the usual manner of quoting the Scriptures among the Jews.

The division into chapters and verses was unknown to them (see the Introduction to the Notes on Matthew). Hence, the Old Testament was divided into portions designated by subjects. Thus, in Luke 20:37 and Mark 12:26, At the bush means the passage that contains the account of the burning bush.

Here it means in that passage or portion of Scripture which gives an account of Elijah.

He makes intercession to God against Israel. The word translated makes intercession (entugchanei) properly means to come to the aid of anyone, to transact the business of anyone, or especially to discharge the office of an advocate or plead one's cause in a court of justice. In a similar sense, it is applied to Christ in His office of making intercession for us in heaven (Hebrews 7:25; Isaiah 53:12).

In the English language, the word is constantly used in a good sense, to plead for someone, never to plead against someone. However, the Greek word can imply either.

It expresses the office of one who manages the business of another—hence, one who manages the business of the state against a criminal. When followed by the preposition "for," it means to intercede or plead for a person; when followed by "against" (kata), it means to accuse or arraign.

This is its meaning here. He accuses or arraigns the nation of the Jews before God; he charges them with a crime, and the crime is specified immediately.

Lord, they have killed, etc. This is taken from 1 Kings 19:10. The quotation is not literally made, but the sense is preserved. This was a charge which Elijah brought against the whole nation; and he regarded the act of killing the prophets as expressive of the character of the people, or that they were universally given to wickedness. The fact was true that they had killed the prophets, etc. (1 Kings 18:4, 13), but the inference which Elijah seems to have drawn from it, that there were no pious men in the nation, was not well founded.

And digged down. Altars, by the Law of Moses, were required to be made of earth or unhewn stones (Exodus 20:24–25). Hence the expression, to dig them down, means completely to demolish or destroy them.

Thine altars. There was one great altar in front of the tabernacle and the temple, on which the daily sacrifices of the Jews were to be made. However, they were not forbidden to make altars elsewhere as well (Exodus 20:25). Thus, they are mentioned as existing in other places (1 Samuel 7:17; 1 Samuel 16:2–3; 1 Kings 18:30, 32).

These were the altars of which Elijah complained as having been thrown down by the Jews; an act which was regarded as expressive of signal impiety.

I am left alone. I am the only prophet who is left alive. We are told that when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred of them and hid them in a cave (1 Kings 18:4). But it is not improbable that they had been discovered and put to death by Ahab. The account which Obadiah gave Elijah when he met him (1 Kings 18:13) seems to favour such a supposition.

Seek my life. That is, Ahab and Jezebel seek to kill me. This they did because he had overcome and slain the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 19:1–2).

There could scarcely be conceived a time of greater distress and declension in religion than this. It has not often happened that so many disheartening things have occurred to the church at the same period. The prophets of God were slain; only one lonely man appeared to have zeal for true religion; the nation was running to idolatry; the civil rulers were criminally wicked and were the leaders in the universal apostasy; and all the influences of wealth and power were setting in against the true religion to destroy it.

It was natural that the solitary man of God should feel disheartened and lonely in this universal guilt, and should realize that he had no power to resist this tide of crime and calamities.

The answer of God, (o crhmatismov). This word is used nowhere else in the New Testament. It means an oracle, a divine response. It does not indicate the manner in which it was done, but implies only that it was an oracle, or an answer made to his complaint by God. Such an answer, at such a time, would be full of comfort and would silence every murmur. The way in which this answer was in fact given was not in a storm or an earthquake, but in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11–12).

I have reserved. The Hebrew is, "I have caused to remain," or to be reserved. This shows that it was of God that this was done. Amidst the general corruption and idolatry, he had restrained a part, though it was a remnant. The honor of having done it he claims for himself, and does not trace it to any goodness or virtue in them. So in the case of all those who are saved from sin and pain, the honor belongs not to man, but to God.

To myself. For my own service and glory. I have kept them steadfast in my worship and have not suffered them to become idolaters. Seven thousand men. Seven is often used in the Scriptures to denote an indefinite or round number. Perhaps it may be so here, to intimate that there was a considerable number remaining. This should lead us to hope that, even in the darkest times in the church, there may be many more friends of God than we suppose. Elijah supposed he was alone; and yet at that moment there were thousands who were the true friends of God: a small number, indeed, compared with the multitude of idolaters, but large when compared with what was supposed to be remaining by the dejected and disheartened prophet.

Who have not bowed the knee. To bow or bend the knee is an expression denoting worship (Philippians 2:10; Ephesians 3:14; Isaiah 45:23).

To Baal. The word Baal in Hebrew means lord, or master. This was the name of an idol of the Phoenicians and Canaanites, and was worshipped also by the Assyrians and Babylonians under the name of Bel. (Compare the Book of Bel in the Apocrypha.) This god was represented under the image of a bull, or a calf; the one denoting the sun, the other the moon. The prevalent worship in the time of Elijah was that of this idol.

At this present time. In the time when the apostle wrote. Though the mass of the nation was to be rejected, it did not follow that all were to be excluded from the favor of God. As in the time of Elijah, when all appeared to be dark and all the nation, except one, seemed to have become apostate, yet there was a considerable number of the true friends of God; so in the time of Paul, though the nation had rejected their Messiah—though, as a consequence, they were to be rejected as a people, and though they were eminently wicked and corrupt—it did not follow that all were cast off, or that any were excluded on whom God had purposed to bestow salvation.

A remnant. That which is left or reserved (Romans 9:27). He refers here, doubtless, to that part of the nation which was truly pious, or which had embraced the Messiah.

According to the election of grace. By a gracious or merciful choosing, or election, and not by any merit of their own. As in the time of Elijah, it was because God had reserved them to himself that any were saved from idolatry, so now it was by the same gracious sovereignty that any were saved from the prevalent unbelief. The apostle here does not specify the number, but there can be no doubt that a multitude of Jews had been saved by becoming Christians, though compared with the nation—the multitude who rejected the Messiah—it was but a remnant.

The apostle thus shows that neither all the ancient people of God were cast away, nor that any whom he foreknew were rejected. And though he had proved that a large part of the Jews were to be rejected, and though infidelity was prevalent, yet still there were some who had been Jews who were truly pious and entitled to the favor of God. Nor should they deem this state of things remarkable, for a parallel case was recorded in their own Scriptures. We may learn from this narrative:

1. That it is no unparalleled thing for the love of many to wax cold and for iniquity to abound.

2. The tendency of this is to produce deep feeling and solicitude among the true friends of God. Thus David says, Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy law (Psalms 119:136). Compare to Jeremiah 9:1 and Luke 19:41.

3. That in these darkest times we should not be discouraged. There may be much more true piety in the world than, in our despondency, we may suppose. We should take courage in God and believe that he will not forsake any that are his true friends, or on whom he has purposed to bestow eternal life.

4. It is of God that all are not corrupt and lost. It is owing only to the election of grace, to his merciful choosing, that any are saved. And as in the darkest times he has reserved a people to himself, so we should believe that he will still meet abounding evil and save those whom he has chosen from eternal death.