John Calvin Commentary Romans 11:8

"according as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day." — Romans 11:8 (ASV)

Given them has God, etc. There is no doubt, I think, that the passage quoted here from Isaiah is the one Luke refers to in Acts, as quoted from Isaiah, though the words are somewhat altered. He does not record here what we find in the Prophet, but only gathers this sentiment from him—that they were imbued from above with a spirit of maliciousness, so that they remained dull in seeing and hearing.

The Prophet was indeed commanded to harden the heart of the people. But Paul penetrates to the very source—that a brutal stupor seizes all the senses of people after they are given over to this madness, so that they stir themselves up with virulent stimulants against the truth.

For he does not call it the spirit of giddiness, but of compunction, when the bitterness of gall shows itself; indeed, when there is also a fury in rejecting the truth. And he declares that by the secret judgment of God the reprobate are so demented that, being stupefied, they are incapable of forming a judgment. For when it is said, that by seeing they see nothing, the dullness of their senses is thereby indicated.

Then Paul himself adds, to this very day, lest anyone should object and say that this prophecy had been previously fulfilled, and that it was therefore absurd to apply it to the time of the gospel. He anticipates this objection by adding that it was not only a blindness of one day which is described, but that it had continued, together with the unhealable obstinacy of the people, until the coming of Christ.