Thomas Aquinas Commentary Romans 11:11-16

"I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation [is come] unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Now if their fall, is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke to jealousy [them that are] my flesh, and may save some of them. For if the casting away of them [is] the reconciling of the world, what [shall] the receiving [of them be], but life from the dead? And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches." — Romans 11:11-16 (ASV)

1. After showing that the fall of the Jews is not universal, the Apostle now begins to show that their fall was neither useless nor irreparable.

   In regard to this, he does two things:

   • First, he shows that the fall of the Jews is useful and reparable.
   • Second, he disputes the Gentiles’ boasting against the Jews, beginning at Romans 11:17 with the words, and if some of the branches were broken off.

   Concerning the first point, he does two things:

   • First, he asks a question.
   • Second, he answers it, beginning with, By no means!

2. First, therefore, he says: it has been stated and proven that, except for the chosen, the rest of the Jews have been blinded. So the question arises: have they stumbled so that they should fall?

   This can be interpreted in two ways. The first way is this: has God permitted them to stumble only so that they would fall—that is, not for any benefit that might follow, but merely because He willed their fall? This, of course, would be contrary to God’s goodness. As Augustine says, God's goodness is so great that He would not permit any evil to occur except for some good that He draws out of the evil. Hence it says in Job: he shall break in pieces many and innumerable, and shall make others to stand in their stead (Job 34:24); and in Revelation: hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown (Revelation 3:11). This is because God permits some to fall in order that their fall may be the occasion of salvation for others.

   Another interpretation is this: have they stumbled so that they should fall—that is, so that they should remain fallen forever? As the Psalm asks, Will he not rise again from where he lies? (Psalms 41:8).

3. Then, when he says, By no means!, he answers the question.

   • First, according to the first interpretation, he shows that the fall of the Jews was useful.
   • Second, he resolves the question according to the second interpretation, showing that the Jews’ situation is reparable, beginning with the words, now if their offense.

4. First, therefore, he says: By no means! They did not fall to no purpose. But rather, by their offense, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Hence the Lord Himself says, salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22).

   This can be understood in three ways.

   1. First, that by their offense, which they committed in killing Christ, the salvation of the Gentiles was obtained through the redemption of Christ’s blood: you know that you were ransomed not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:18).

   2. Second, it can be understood of the trespass by which they rejected the teaching of the apostles, with the result that the apostles preached to the Gentiles, as it says in Acts: it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46).

   3. Third, it can be understood as meaning that on account of their impenitence they have been scattered among all the nations. As a result, Christ and the Church had, from the books of the Jews, testimony to the Christian faith that was helpful in converting the Gentiles. The Gentiles might have suspected that the prophecies concerning Christ, which the preachers of the faith brought forward, were fabricated if they had not been proven by the testimony of the Jews. Hence it says in a psalm: let me look in triumph on my enemies, that is, the Jews; slay them not, lest my people forget, make them totter by your power (Psalms 59:10).

5. There follows: so that they may be emulous of them.

   Because he does not specify who is emulous of whom, and since there are two kinds of emulation—namely, that of indignation and that of imitation—this phrase can be explained in four ways.

   1. The first way is this: that the Gentiles may be emulous of the Jews, meaning that they imitate them in the worship of the one God. As Paul says, you were at one time without Christ, alien to the way of life of Israel, and later he adds, but now you, who were once far off, have been drawn near in the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:12). And elsewhere, you have become imitators of the churches of God (1 Thessalonians 2:14), which are in Judea.

   2. Or it can be interpreted this way: the Gentiles are emulous of the Jews, meaning they are indignant against them on account of their unbelief: I beheld the transgressors and I pined away, because they do not keep your words (Psalms 118:158).

   3. Third, it can be understood in this way: the Jews are emulous, meaning they imitate the Gentiles. When Gentiles everywhere are converted to the faith, some Jews, and eventually all of Israel, will be saved by imitating their faith when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered. Thus will be fulfilled what is said in Deuteronomy: he will be the head and you will be the tail (Deuteronomy 28:44).

   4. Fourth, it can be interpreted this way: the Jews are emulous of the Gentiles, meaning they are disturbed by envy toward them when they see their glory passing over to them: I will provoke you by that which is not a people (Deuteronomy 22:21).

6. Then when he says, now if their offense, he answers the question as interpreted in the second way and shows that the fall of the Jews is reparable. He does this in three ways:

   • First, from its usefulness.
   • Second, from the Apostle’s intention, at for I say to you.
   • Third, from the condition of that people, at for if the firstfruit be holy.

7. In regard to the first, he presents the following reason: a good is more powerful than an evil in producing a useful outcome. But the evil that befell the Jews produced something very useful for the Gentiles; therefore, their good will produce greater usefulness for the world. What he is saying is this: it has been said that by their trespass the salvation of the Gentiles was achieved. Now if their offense is the riches of the world—that is, for the Gentiles—it is because the trespass of the Jews resulted in spiritual riches for the Gentiles, about which it is said: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge (Isaiah 33:6). This refers to their guilt.

   And their diminution, by which they fell from the lofty glory they had, pertains to their punishment. For we are diminished more than any nation and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins (Daniel 3:37). They were, however, an occasion of the riches of the Gentiles, as was said. Or, their diminution means that some of the least and most humble of the Jews, namely the apostles, enriched the nations spiritually, about which 1 Corinthians says: God chose the weak things of the world, that he might confound the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). How much more will their fullness—that is, their spiritual abundance or their multitude converted to God—result in riches for the Gentiles? My abode is in the full assembly of saints .

   And so, if for the benefit of the whole world God permitted the Jews to do wrong and be diminished, much more will He repair their disaster for the benefit of the whole world.

8. Then when he says, for I say to you, Gentiles, he shows the same thing by revealing the purpose of his ministry, which he first states.

   Second, he assigns the reason, at for if their loss.

9. In regard to the first point, it should be noted that whereas the previous parts of the epistle were directed to all the believers in Rome, whether from the Jews or from the Gentiles, he is now directing his words to the converted Gentiles.

10. He says, therefore: I have stated that their fullness will mean riches for the world. As testimony to this I say to you, Gentiles—that is, Gentiles converted to the faith: I said, ‘Behold me,’ to a nation that did not call upon my name (Isaiah 65:1). This, I repeat, I say to you: as long indeed as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, the special care of whom has fallen to me on account of the office entrusted to me. They gave to me and to Barnabas the right hands of fellowship: that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision (Galatians 2:9); for this was I appointed a preacher and apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth (1 Timothy 2:7). I will honor my ministry, not with things that pertain to worldly honor, but first by adorning it with good morals: as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way in much patience (2 Corinthians 6:4). Second, by performing extra works to which he was not bound: What is my reward then? That in preaching the Gospel, I may deliver the Gospel without charge, that I abuse not my power in the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:18). Third, by increasing his solicitude for the salvation of all: besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28).

11. Hence he adds: if, by any means, I may provoke to emulation them who are my flesh, that is, the Jews, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh (Romans 9:3). As Isaiah says, do not despise your own flesh (Isaiah 58:7). And may they emulate with good emulation, as is said in 1 Corinthians: emulate the better gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31). And in this way I may save some of them, namely, of the Jews: not seeking my own advantage but that of many, that they may be saved (1 Corinthians 10:33).

12. But this seems contrary to what he says in 2 Corinthians: but we will not boast beyond limit, but will keep to the limits God apportioned us, to reach even to you (2 Corinthians 10:13). But he had accepted the limit of his service, which was to the Gentiles. Therefore, he should not have concerned himself with the Jews.

    Some say that the Jews living in Judea did not pertain to his apostolate, but to that of Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:7). But the Jews living among the Gentiles pertained to his apostolate, and he worked for their salvation.

    But this seems contrary to his statement here. For if those Jews were the limit of his apostolate, he would not be magnifying his service.

    Therefore, it must be said that preaching to the Gentiles was committed to him in such a way that he was bound to it by necessity, as he says: woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel. For necessity is laid upon me (1 Corinthians 9:16). But he was not forbidden to preach to the Jews, even though he was not bound to do so. Consequently, by working for their salvation he magnified his service. But he would not have done this if he thought their fall was irreparable.

    Hence the Apostle’s very zeal for the conversion of the Jews was the sign he presented for stating that the fall of the Jews was reparable.

13. Then when he says, for if, he assigns the reason for his interest: namely, that the conversion of the Jews would contribute to the salvation of the Gentiles. Hence he says, for if their loss—that is, their unbelief and disobedience, as a slave is said to be lost when he flees from the care and obedience of his master: my people have been a lost flock (Jeremiah 50:6). If, I say, the loss of the Jews occasions the reconciliation of the world, inasmuch as we have been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, what shall their receiving be, but life from the dead? This means that the Jews will be accepted again by God, as it says in Zechariah: I took unto me two rods (Zechariah 11:17). What, I say, will such an acceptance mean but that it will make the Gentiles rise to life?

    For Gentiles are the believers who will grow lukewarm: because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold (Matthew 24:12), or will fall away entirely, being deceived by the Antichrist. These will be restored to their original fervor after the conversion of the Jews. And as the Gentiles were reconciled after their enmity, the Jews having fallen away, so after the conversion of the Jews, with the end of the world then imminent, there will be a general resurrection, through which people will return from the dead to immortal life.

14. Then when he says, for if the firstfruit, he proves the same thing by considering the status of the Jewish race.

    This he does in two ways.

    1. First, on the part of the apostles, when he says: if the firstfruit be holy, so is the lump also.

       The "firstfruit" is the representative portion taken from the whole lump of dough, as if for approval. The apostles chosen by God from the Jewish people are the representative sample taken from the whole lump. If, therefore, the apostles are holy, the consequence is that the Jewish people are holy. You are a holy nation, God’s own people (1 Peter 2:9).

    2. Second, he proves the same thing on the part of the patriarchs, who are compared to the Jews as a root to its branches; hence it says in Isaiah: there shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1). If, therefore, the patriarchs, who are the root, are holy, then the Jews, who grew from them as branches, are also holy. And his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus, and his branches shall spread (Hosea 14:6).

15. But this seems to conflict with what is said in Exodus: if a man is righteous, he shall surely live (Exodus 18:9). Therefore, it does not follow that if the root is holy, so also are the branches. He also adds there that if the son seeing the sins of his father will have been afraid and will not have done the same, he shall not die, but will live life. From this, it seems not to follow that if the representative portion is holy, so is the whole lump.

    The answer is that the Apostle is not speaking here of actual holiness, for he does not mean to say that unbelieving Jews are holy, but of potential holiness. For if their ancestors and descendants are holy, nothing prevents them from being called back to holiness themselves.

    Or one might answer that those who imitate the patriarchs are a special type of branch, as it says in John: if you were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did (John 8:39).