Romans 11:7 - Exposition

What then? (What is the present state of things?) That which Israel seeketh for ( i.e. δικαιοσύνην ; of. Romans 9:30 , Romans 9:31 ) he hath not obtained; but the election ( i.e. the elect of the Gentiles, with a remnant only of the Jews— ἡ ἐκλογὴ being abstr, pro concret., like ἡ περιτομὴ ἡ ἀκροβυστία , elsewhere) hath obtained it, and the rest were hardened ( ἐπωρώθησαν ). The verb denotes callousness rather than blindness, usually in the New Testament referring to the heart (cf. especially John 12:40 , τετύφλωκεν αὐτῶν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ πεπώρωκεν αὐτῶν τὴν καρδίαν ) . And such hardening is no new and strange thing, or to be taken as implying failure of God's promises to his people; for it is but what Scripture tells us of.