Romans 11:3

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 11:3

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Romans 11:3

Lord, they have killed thy prophets - They will not permit any person to speak unto them in thy name; and they murder those who are faithful to the commission which they have received from thee. Digged down thine altars - They are profligate and profane beyond example, and retain not the slightest form of religion. I am left alone - There is no prophet besides myself left, and they seek to destroy me. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 11:1-6

I say then, Hath God east away his people! God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not east away his people which he foreknew (or, predetermined. See the same word, Romans 8:29 ). Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of (rather, in; i.e. in the passage concerning ) Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 11:1-10

Israel not utterly rejected. Here the apostle, reflecting on the disobedience of the great majority of the Jewish people, and their consequent rejection, returns to the thought already expressed ( Romans 9:27 ), that "a remnant shall be saved." He himself is a living proof, he says, that God hath not utterly cast away his people. "For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin" ( Romans 11:1 ). But those who have been rejected have suffered the just and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 11:1-10

Grace and unbelief. The apostle has shown ( Romans 9:1-29 ) that God has the right, in his governance of human affairs, to take an instrument or lay it aside as he will; and ( Romans 9:30 - Romans 10:21 ) that, in using this right, he acts, not arbitrarily, but according to reasons which approve themselves to his infinite wisdom. He will now show that even the unbelief of the elect people, and their consequent rejection by God, shall be made to contribute to the consummation of his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 11:1-10

The election of grace. We saw in last chapter how the Jews, absorbed in the task of working out their own self-righteousness, had not as a nation submitted themselves to the righteousness which is of God. The Gentiles were accordingly appealed to, and their reception of the gospel is being used to provoke the Jews to jealousy, and lead them ultimately to a better mind. In the chapter now before us the apostle pursues the argument, and exhibits more in detail the Divine plan in Israel's... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 11:1-36

(4) The Jews are not finally rejected, but, through the calling of the Gentiles, will be brought into the Church at last. St. Paul, painfully recognizing the fact of the present exclusion of Israel as a nation from the inheritance of the promises made to their fathers, and having in Romans 9:1-33 . and 10. accounted for and justified such exclusion, proceeds now to the question—But is Israel as a nation finally rejected after all? He answers—No; impossible! God's ancient covenant... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Romans 11:3

Lord, they have killed ... - This is taken from 1 Kings 19:10. The quotation is not literally made, but the sense is preserved. This was a charge which Elijah brought against the whole nation; and the act of killing the prophets he regarded as expressive of the character of the people, or that they were universally given to wickedness. The fact was true that they had killed the prophets, etc.; 1 Kings 18:4, 1 Kings 18:13; but the inference which Elijah seems to have drawn from it, that there... read more

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