John Calvin Commentary Romans 9:28

"for the Lord will execute [his] word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short." — Romans 9:28 (ASV)

For I will finish and shorten the matter, etc. Omitting various interpretations, I will state what appears to me to be the real meaning: The Lord will so cut short and cut off his people that the residue may seem, as it were, a consumption; that is, it may have the appearance and the vestige of a very great ruin.

However, the few who will remain from the consumption will be a proof of the work of God’s righteousness or, what I prefer, will serve to testify to the righteousness of God throughout the world. Since word often means a thing in Scripture, the consummated word stands for consumption. Many interpreters have been grossly mistaken here, who have attempted to philosophize with too much refinement; for they have imagined that the doctrine of the gospel is called this because it is, when the ceremonies are cut off, a brief compendium of the law—though the word means, on the contrary, consumption.

And the translator has committed an error not only here but also in Isaiah 10:22, Isaiah 10:23; Isaiah 28:22; and Ezekiel 11:13, where it is said, “Ah! ah! Lord God! Will You make a completion of the remnant of Israel?” But the Prophets meant to say, “Will You destroy the very remnant with utter destruction?” This has happened because of the ambiguity of the Hebrew word. For as the word כלה, cale, means to finish and to perfect, as well as to consume, this distinction has not been sufficiently observed according to the passages in which it occurs.

But in this instance, Isaiah did not use only one word but rather two: consumption, and termination, (or cutting off); consequently, the Greek translator’s affectation of Hebraism was remarkably out of place. For why obscure a sentence, clear in itself, with obscure and figurative language? It may be further added that Isaiah speaks hyperbolically here; for by consumption he means diminution, such as usually occurs after a significant slaughter.