Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 11:31

"even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy." — Romans 11:31 (ASV)

Even so have these, etc. That is, the Jews.

That through your mercy, etc. The immediate effect of the unbelief of the Jews was to confer salvation on the Gentiles or to open the way for the preaching of the gospel to them. But its remote effect would be to ensure the preaching of the gospel again to the Jews. Through the mercy, that is, the compassion or deep feeling of the converted Gentiles; through the deep and tender pity which they would feel for the blinded and degraded Jews, the gospel would again be carried to them, and they would be recalled to the long-lost favor of God. Each party would thus cause salvation to come to the other—the Jews to the Gentiles by their unbelief; but the Gentiles, in their turn, to the Jews by their belief. We may here learn,

1. That the Jews are to be converted by the instrumentality of the Gentiles. It is not to be by miracle, but by the regular and common way in which God blesses men.

2. That this is to be done by the mercy or compassion of the Gentiles; by their taking pity on the lost and wretched condition of the Jewish people.

3. It is to be when the abundance of the Gentiles—that is, when great numbers of the Gentiles—will be called in.

   It may be asked here whether the time is not approaching for the Gentiles to make efforts to bring the Jews to the knowledge of the Messiah.

   Until now, those efforts have been unsuccessful; but it will not always be so. The time is coming when the promises of God regarding them will be fulfilled.

   Christians will be moved with deep compassion for the degraded and forsaken Jews, and they will be called into the kingdom of God and made efficient agents in extending the gospel through the whole world.

   May the time soon come when they will feel as they should for the rejected and forsaken children of Abraham, and when their labors for their conversion will be attended with success.