Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 11:12

"Now if their fall, is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?" — Romans 11:12 (ASV)

If the fall of them. If their lapse, or falling. If their temporal rejection, and being cast off for a time, has already accomplished so much.

Be the riches of the world. The word riches means wealth, abundance of property—more than is necessary to supply our wants. Hence it also means anything that may promote our comfort or happiness, as wealth is the means of securing our welfare.

The gospel is called riches because it is the means of our highest enjoyment and eternal welfare. It is the means of conferring numberless spiritual blessings on the Gentile world. Since this was done by the fall of the Jews, it could be said that their fall was the riches of the world. It was the occasion or means without which the blessings of the gospel could not have been conferred on the world.

The diminishing of them. Margin, Decay. Loss (htthma). This word means diminution, defect, that which is lacked or wanting. Hence also judgment, condemnation. Here it means their degradation; the withdrawing of their special privileges; their rejection. It stands opposed to "their fulness."

The riches of the Gentiles. The means of conferring important blessings on the Gentiles.

How much more their fulness. The word fulness (plhrwma) means that which fills up, or completes anything. Thus it is applied to that which fills a vessel or cup, and also to the piece of cloth that is put in to fill up the tear in a garment (Matthew 9:16). It is also applied to the fragments that were left when Christ had fed the five thousand (Mark 8:20). In Romans 13:10, Love is the fulfilling of the law; that is, it is the filling up of the law, or that which makes obedience complete. .

Here, "fulness" stands opposed to their fall and their diminution, and evidently means their complete restoration to the favor of God, their recovery from unbelief and apostasy. That there will be such a recovery, the apostle proceeds to show.

The sentiment is this: If their rejection and punishment—their being cut off from the favor of God, an event apparently so unlikely to promote the spread of true religion—and if their being withdrawn from all active influence in spreading the true knowledge of God, have yet been the occasion of so many blessings to mankind as have attended the spread of the gospel in consequence of it, how much more should we expect when they are restored, when the energy and zeal of the Jewish nation unite with the efforts of others in spreading the knowledge of the true Messiah?

In what way, or when this will be, we do not know. But it is easy to see that if the Jewish people should be converted to the Christian faith, they would have facilities for spreading the truth that the church has never had without them.

1. They are scattered in all nations and have access to all people.
2. Their conversion, after such long unbelief, would have all the power and influence of a miracle performed in view of all nations. It would be seen why they had been preserved, and their conversion would be a most striking fulfillment of the prophecies.
3. They are familiar with the languages of the world, and their conversion would at once establish many Christian missionaries in the heart of all the kingdoms of the world. It would be like kindling a thousand lights at once, illuminating all the dark parts of the earth.
4. The Jews have shown that they are eminently fitted to spread the true religion. It was by Jews, converted to Christianity, that the gospel was first spread. Each of the apostles was a Jew, and they have lost none of the ardor, enterprise, and zeal that have always characterized their nation. Their conversion would, therefore, give to the Christian church a host of missionaries prepared for their work, familiar with all customs, languages, and regions, and already in the heart of all kingdoms, with facilities for their work in advance that others must gain only by the slow toil of many years.