Romans 11:1-36

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:5

Even so then at this present time also ,.... In which the apostle lived, the time of preaching the Gospel, the accepted time, the day of salvation, which then was, and also now is; at that time when the Gospel was sent unto the Gentiles, and God took out of them a people for his name; when multitudes of them were converted, and embraced the faith of Christ; and when the Jews in general had rejected the Messiah, killed the Lord Jesus, persecuted his apostles, and contradicted and blasphemed... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:6

And if by grace, then is it no more of works ,.... Upon election, being called "the election of grace", the apostle forms an argument, showing the contrariety and inconsistency of grace, and works, in that affair; proving, that it must be by the one or the other: and if by the one, then not by the other; and that these two cannot be mixed and blended together in this matter. If election is "by grace", as it certainly is; for no other reason can be given why God has chose one, and not... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:7

What then ?.... What can be said to the point the apostle is upon? it is as clear as the sun, out of all question, that God has not cast away all the people of the Jews, nor any whom he foreknew, any age or period of time; neither in the time Elijah, nor in the apostle's, he always having a reserve of some for himself; which reserve is owing to a previous choice of them, and that previous choice to ascribed not to any works of theirs, but to his free grace and sovereign pleasure. Indeed ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:8

According as it is written ,.... In Isaiah 29:10 which passages the apostle seems to refer to, though it is not exactly word for word as here, yet the sense is the same: God hath given them the spirit of slumber ; or of stupidity and insensibility, so that they were as persons in a deep sleep; their senses locked up, without any knowledge of, or concern about, the danger they were in; having no sense of sin, or of the need of a Saviour; or of their being upon the borders of eternal... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:9

And David saith ,.... That is, Christ by the mouth of David, or David in the person of Christ; for the psalm out of which the following words are taken is a prophecy of the Messiah, as appears from some passages cited out of it in the New Testament, and applied to Christ; compare Romans 11:4 with John 15:25 , and Romans 11:9 with John 2:17 , and Romans 11:21 with John 19:28 ; and what are here cited are not so much imprecations, as predictions of what should befall the Jews, by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:10

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see ,.... Which is to be understood not literally of their being struck with blindness, as the men of Sodom were by the angels, and as Elymas the sorcerer was by the Apostle Paul; but mystically, of the eyes of their understandings being darkened, as they were by themselves and by Satan, and judicially by God; so that they could not see into the true same of the prophecies and promises concerning Christ; and how all the characters of the Messiah... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:11

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall ?.... This is an objection, which the apostle takes from the mouth of an adversary; and the purport of it is, you say that the people of the Jews being blind, have stumbled at Christ and his Gospel, as was prophesied of them, and to which they were appointed; pray what were God's view and end in this? was it that they should fall and perish eternally? if it be so, is not this doing himself, what he forbids others, namely, "to put a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:12

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world ,.... By "the world", as is clear from the next clause, is meant the Gentiles; who were frequently called so by the Jews, who reckoned themselves to be "the church", and all the nations round about them, "the world"; which observation may serve to illustrate other passages of Scripture; see John 3:16 ; now the fall of the Jews, which was a lessening of them, was the riches of the Gentiles; and the diminishing of them the riches of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:13

For I speak to you Gentiles ,.... The church at Rome, as the primitive churches for the most part did, consisted of Jews and Gentiles; hence the apostle sometimes addresses the one, as in Romans 2:17 , and sometimes the other, as here; and this he does to observe unto them the grace and goodness of God, in enriching them with the Gospel of salvation; and that they might not despise the Jews, from whom it first came out, and through whose fall it came to them, and was preached among them by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:14

If by any means I may provoke to emulation ,.... What he had in view, even in discharging his office among the Gentiles with so much labour, assiduity, and indefatigableness, was, that if possible he might stir up the Jews to emulate and imitate the Gentiles, in seeking after Christ; for these he means when he says, them which are my flesh ; they being his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh, for it was common with the eastern nations to call such persons their flesh; see ... read more

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