John Calvin Commentary Romans 11:7

"What then? that which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened:" — Romans 11:7 (ASV)

What then? What Israel seeks, etc. As he is here engaged on a difficult subject, he asks a question, as if he was in doubt. He intended, however, by expressing this doubt, to make the answer, which immediately follows, more evident, for he intimates that no other can be given. And the answer is—that Israel labored in vain to seek salvation, because his attempt was absurd.

Though he mentions no cause here, yet since he had expressed it before, he certainly meant it to be understood in this place. For his words are the same, as if he had said—that it should not seem strange that Israel gained nothing in striving after righteousness.

And from this is proved what he subsequently adds concerning election—for if Israel has obtained nothing by merit, what have others obtained whose case or condition was not better? From where has so much difference come between equals? Who does not see here that it is election alone which makes the difference?

Now, the meaning of the word election here is doubtful, for to some it seems that it should be taken in a collective sense for the elect themselves, so that there may be a correspondence between the two clauses. I do not disapprove of this opinion, provided it is allowed that there is something more in the word than if he had said, "the elect"—namely this: that he intimates there was no other reason for their obtaining election, as if he said, “They are not those who strive by relying on merits, but those whose salvation depends on the gratuitous election of God.”

For he distinctly compares the whole of Israel, or the body of the people, with the remnant which was to be saved by God’s grace. It therefore follows that the cause of salvation does not exist in men but depends on the good pleasure of God alone.

And the rest have been blinded. As the elect alone are delivered by God’s grace from destruction, so all who are not elected must necessarily remain blinded. For what Paul means with regard to the reprobate is—that the beginning of their ruin and condemnation comes from this: that they are forsaken by God.

The quotations he cites, collected from various parts of Scripture and not taken from one passage, all seem foreign to his purpose when you closely examine them according to their contexts. For you will find that in every passage, blindness and hardening are mentioned as scourges by which God punished crimes already committed by the ungodly. But Paul labors to prove here that not those were blinded who deserved it because of their wickedness, but rather those who were rejected by God before the foundation of the world.

You may briefly untie this knot as follows: the origin of the impiety that provokes God’s displeasure is the perversity of nature when forsaken by God. Paul, therefore, while speaking of eternal reprobation, has with good reason referred to those things which proceed from it, like fruit from the tree or a river from the fountain.

The ungodly are indeed visited with blindness by God’s judgment for their sins. But if we seek the source of their ruin, we must come to this conclusion: that being cursed by God, they cannot by all their deeds, sayings, and purposes obtain anything but a curse.

Yet the cause of eternal reprobation is so hidden from us that nothing remains for us but to wonder at the incomprehensible purpose of God, as we shall eventually see in the conclusion.

But those reason absurdly who, whenever proximate causes are mentioned, strive by bringing these forward to obscure the first cause, which is hidden from our view. It is as if God had not, before the fall of Adam, freely determined to do what seemed good to Him concerning the whole human race for this reason: because He condemns his corrupt and depraved seed, and also because He repays to individuals the reward which their sins have deserved.