Romans 11:1-6

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Romans 11:1-32

The apostle proposes here a plausible objection, which might be urged against the divine conduct in casting off the Jewish nation (Rom. 11:1): ?Hath God cast away his people? Isa. the rejection total and final? Are they all abandoned to wrath and ruin, and that eternal? Isa. the extent of the sentence so large as to be without reserve, or the continuance of it so long as to be without repeal? Will he have no more a peculiar people to himself?? In opposition to this, he shows that there was a... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Romans 11:1-12

11:1-12 So then, I ask, "Has God repudiated his people?" God forbid! I, too, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not repudiated his people whom long ago he marked out for his purposes. Do you not know what scripture says in the passage about Elijah? You remember how he talked to God in complaint against Israel: "Lord, they have killed your prophets; they have torn down your altars; and I alone am left and they are seeking my life." But what was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:1

I say then, hath God cast away his people ?.... The Alexandrian, copy adds here, "whom he foreknew", as in Romans 11:2 , upon the citation of the above passages out of Moses and Isaiah, relating to the calling of the Gentiles, and the rejection of the Jews, the apostle saw an objection would arise, which he here takes up from the mouth of an adversary, and proposes it; in which is suggested, that God has cast away all his people the Jews, according to this count; and if so, where is his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:2

God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew ,.... The apostle goes on with his answer to the objection, by distinguishing and explaining who he meant by the people God had not cast away, namely, which were "foreknown" by him; for all mankind are in a sense his people, being made, maintained, and supported in their beings by him, yet they are not all foreknown; for were they, they would be all predestinated, called, conformed to the image of Christ, justified and glorified; but some... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:3

Lord, they have killed thy prophets ,.... By the order of Jezebel, wife of Ahab king of Israel, 1 Kings 18:4 . This sin of slaying the prophets of the Lord is charged upon the Jews by Christ, Matthew 23:31 , and by the apostle, 1 Thessalonians 2:15 . In the text in 1 Kings 19:14 , it is added, "with the sword": which expresses the manner of death they were put to; and this clause is there put after the following, according to a rule of transposition among the Jews; See Gill on ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Romans 11:4

But what saith the answer of God unto him ?.... The divine response, or oracle, the בת קול , "Bath Kol", or voice from heaven; the still small voice of the Lord, which Elijah heard, 1 Kings 19:12 , I have reserved to myself ; for his worship and service, to be partakers of his grace, inheritors of his kingdom, to show forth his praise, and for his name's sake, for his honour and glory: these he reserved in eternal election, in the council and covenant of peace; separated them in... read more

John Gill

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 11:1

I say then, hath God cast away his people? - Has he utterly and finally rejected them? for this is necessarily the apostle's meaning, and is the import of the Greek word απωσατο , which signifies to thrust or drive away, from απο , from, and ωθεω , to thrust or drive; has he thrust them off, and driven them eternally from him? God forbid - by no means. This rejection is neither universal nor final. For I also am an Israelite - I am a regular descendant from Abraham, through Israel or... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 11:2

God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew - God has not finally and irrecoverably rejected a people whom he has loved (or approved) so long, ὁν προεγνω , for this is evidently the meaning of the word in this place, as we have already seen, Romans 8:29 , and is a very general meaning of the original verb ידע yada in Hebrew and γινωσκω in Greek; as I have had often occasion to notice in different parts of this work, and what none will deny who consults the original. See... read more

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