1Ich sageG3004 die WahrheitG225 inG1722 ChristoG5547, ich lügeG5574 nichtG3756, indem meinG3450 GewissenG4893 mit mirG3427 ZeugnisG4828 gibtG4828 inG1722 dem HeiligenG40 GeisteG4151, 2daßG3754 ichG3427 großeG3173 TraurigkeitG3077 habeG2076 undG2532 unaufhörlichenG88 SchmerzG3601 in meinemG3450 HerzenG2588; 3dennG1063 ichG1473 selbstG846, ich habe gewünschtG2172, durch einen FluchG331 vonG575 ChristoG5547 entferntG1511 zu seinG1511 fürG5228 meineG3450 BrüderG80, meineG3450 VerwandtenG4773 nachG2596 dem FleischeG4561; 4welcheG3748 IsraelitenG2475 sindG1526, derenG3739 die SohnschaftG5206 ist undG2532 die HerrlichkeitG1391 undG2532 die BündnisseG1242 undG2532 die GesetzgebungG3548 undG2532 der DienstG2999 undG2532 die VerheißungenG1860; 5derenG3739 die VäterG3962 sind, undG2532 ausG1537 welchenG3739, dem FleischeG4561 nachG2596, der ChristusG5547 ist, welcherG5607 überG1909 allemG3956 ist, GottG2316, gepriesenG2128 inG1519 EwigkeitG165. AmenG281. 6NichtG3756 aberG1161 alsG3634 obG3754 das WortG3056 GottesG2316 hinfällig gewordenG1601 wäre; dennG1063 nichtG3756 alleG3956, dieG3588 ausG1537 IsraelG2474 sind, dieseG3778 sind IsraelG2474, 7auch nichtG3761, weilG3754 sie AbrahamsG11 SameG4690 sindG1526, sind alleG3956 KinderG5043, sondernG235 "inG1722 IsaakG2464 wirdG2564 dirG4671 ein SameG4690 genanntG2564 werden". 8DasG5123 ist: NichtG3756 die KinderG5043 des FleischesG4561, dieseG5023 sind KinderG5043 GottesG2316, sondernG235 die KinderG5043 der VerheißungG1860 werden alsG1519 SameG4690 gerechnetG3049. 9DennG1063 diesesG3778 WortG3056 ist ein VerheißungswortG1860: "UmG2596 dieseG5126 ZeitG2540 will ich kommenG2064, undG2532 SarahG4564 wird einen SohnG5207 habenG2071 ". 10NichtG3756 alleinG3440 aberG1161 das, sondernG235 auchG2532 RebekkaG4479, als sie schwangerG2845 warG2192 vonG1537 EinemG1520, von IsaakG2464, unseremG2257 VaterG3962, 11selbstG1063 als die Kinder noch nichtG3380 geborenG1080 waren und wederG3366 G5100 GutesG18 nochG2228 BösesG2556 getanG4238 hatten (auf daßG2443 der VorsatzG4286 GottesG2316 nachG2596 AuswahlG1589 beständeG3306, nichtG3756 ausG1537 WerkenG2041, sondernG235 ausG1537 dem Berufenden)G2564, 12wurde zu ihrG846 gesagtG4483 G3754: "Der GrößereG3187 wird dem KleinerenG1640 dienenG1398 "; 13wieG2531 geschrieben stehtG1125: "Den JakobG2384 habe ich geliebtG25, aberG1161 den EsauG2269 habe ich gehaßtG3404 ". 14WasG5101 sollen wir nunG3767 sagenG2046 ? Ist etwaG3361 UngerechtigkeitG93 beiG3844 GottG2316 ? Das seiG1096 ferneG3361! 15DennG1063 er sagtG3004 zu MosesG3475: "Ich werde begnadigenG1653, wenG3739 G302 ich begnadigeG1653, undG2532 werde mich erbarmenG3627, wessenG3739 G302 ich mich erbarmeG3627 ". 16AlsoG686 liegt es nunG3767 nichtG3756 an dem WollendenG2309, nochG3761 an dem LaufendenG5143, sondernG235 an dem begnadigendenG1653 GottG2316. 17DennG1063 die SchriftG1124 sagtG3004 zum PharaoG5328 G3754: "EbenG1519 hierzuG846 G5124 habeG1825 ich dichG4571 erwecktG1825, damitG3704 ich meineG3450 MachtG1411 anG1722 dirG4671 erzeigeG1731, undG2532 damitG3704 meinG3450 NameG3686 verkündigtG1229 werde aufG1722 der ganzenG3956 ErdeG1093 ". 18SoG3767 dennG686, wenG3739 er willG2309, begnadigtG1653 er, undG1161 wenG3739 er willG2309, verhärtetG4645 er. 19Du wirst nunG3767 zu mirG3427 sagenG2046: WarumG5101 tadeltG3201 er nochG2089 ? DennG1063 werG5101 hatG436 seinemG846 WillenG1013 widerstandenG436 ? 20Ja freilichG3304, oG5599 MenschG444, werG5101 bistG1488 duG4771, der du das Wort nimmstG470 widerG470 GottG2316 ? Wird etwaG3361 das GeformteG4110 zu dem FormerG4111 sagenG2046: WarumG5101 hast du michG3165 alsoG3779 gemachtG4160 ? 21OderG2228 hatG2192 der TöpferG2763 nichtG3756 MachtG1849 über den TonG4081, ausG1537 derselbenG846 MasseG5445 einG3739 G3303 GefäßG4632 zurG1519 EhreG5092 undG1161 ein anderesG3739 zurG1519 UnehreG819 zu machenG4160 ? 22WennG1487 aberG1161 GottG2316, willensG2309, seinen ZornG3709 zu erzeigenG1731 undG2532 seineG846 MachtG1415 kundzutunG1107, mitG1722 vielerG4183 LangmutG3115 ertragenG5342 hat die GefäßeG4632 des ZornesG3709, die zubereitetG2675 sind zumG1519 VerderbenG684, - 23undG2532 auf daßG2443 er kundtäteG1107 den ReichtumG4149 seinerG846 HerrlichkeitG1391 anG1909 den GefäßenG4632 der BegnadigungG1656, dieG3739 er zurG1519 HerrlichkeitG1391 zuvorbereitetG4282 hat...? 24UnsG2248, dieG3739 er auchG2532 berufenG2564 hat,G3739 nichtG3756 alleinG3440 ausG1537 den JudenG2453, sondernG235 auchG2532 ausG1537 den NationenG1484. 25Wie er auchG2532 inG1722 HoseaG5617 sagtG3004: "Ich werde NichtG3756 -meinG3450 -VolkG2992 meinG3450 VolkG2992 nennenG2564, undG2532 die NichtG3756 -GeliebteG25 GeliebteG25 ". 26"UndG2532 es wird geschehenG2071, anG1722 dem OrteG5117, daG3757 zu ihnenG846 gesagtG4483 wurde: IhrG5210 seid nichtG3756 meinG3450 VolkG2992, daselbstG1563 werden sie SöhneG5207 des lebendigenG2198 GottesG2316 genanntG2564 werden". 27JesaiasG2268 aberG1161 ruftG2896 überG5228 IsraelG2474: "WäreG1437 G5600 die ZahlG706 der SöhneG5207 IsraelsG2474 wieG5613 der SandG285 des MeeresG2281, nur der ÜberrestG2640 wird errettetG4982 werden. 28DennG1063 er vollendetG4931 die SacheG3056 undG2532 [kürzt sie abG4932 inG1722 GerechtigkeitG1343, denn]G3754 der HerrG2962 wirdG4160 eine abgekürzteG4932 SacheG3056 tunG4160 aufG1909 ErdenG1093 ". 29UndG2532 wieG2531 JesaiasG2268 zuvorgesagtG4280 hat: "WennG1487 nichtG3361 der HerrG2962 ZebaothG4519 unsG2254 SamenG4690 übriggelassenG1459 hätte, so wärenG302 wir wieG5613 SodomG4670 gewordenG1096 undG2532 GomorraG1116 gleichG5613 G302 gewordenG3666 ". 30WasG5101 wollen wir nunG3767 sagenG2046 ? DaßG3754 die von den NationenG1484, dieG3588 nichtG3361 nach GerechtigkeitG1343 strebtenG1377, GerechtigkeitG1343 erlangtG2638 haben, eine GerechtigkeitG1343 aberG1161, dieG3588 ausG1537 GlaubenG4102 ist; 31IsraelG2474 aberG1161, einem GesetzG3551 der GerechtigkeitG1343 nachstrebendG1377, nichtG3756 zuG1519 diesem GesetzG3551 gelangtG5348 ist. 32WarumG1302 ? WeilG3754 es nichtG3756 ausG1537 GlaubenG4102, sondernG235 alsG5613 ausG1537 WerkenG2041 geschah.G1063 Sie haben sich gestoßenG4350 an dem SteinG3037 des AnstoßesG4348, 33wieG2531 geschrieben stehtG1125: "SieheG2400, ich legeG5087 inG1722 ZionG4622 einen SteinG3037 des AnstoßesG4348 undG2532 einen FelsG4073 des ÄrgernissesG4625, undG2532 werG3956 anG1909 ihnG846 glaubtG4100, wird nichtG3756 zu SchandenG2617 werdenG2617 ".
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE BEARING OF THE FOREGOING TRUTHS UPON THE CONDITION AND DESTINY OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE--ELECTION--THE CALLING OF THE GENTILES. (Rom. 9:1-33)
I say the truth in Christ--as if steeped in the spirit of Him who wept over impenitent and doomed Jerusalem (compare
Rom 1:9;
2Cor 12:19;
Phil 1:8).
my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost--"my conscience as quickened, illuminated, and even now under the direct operation of the Holy Ghost."
2 That I have, &c.--"That I have great grief (or, sorrow) and unceasing anguish in my heart"--the bitter hostility of his nation to the glorious Gospel, and the awful consequences of their unbelief, weighing heavily and incessantly upon his spirit.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for--"in behalf of"
my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh--In proportion as he felt himself severed from his nation, he seems to have realized all the more vividly their natural relationship. To explain away the wish here expressed, as too strong for any Christian to utter or conceive, some have rendered the opening words, "I did wish," referring it to his former unenlightened state; a sense of the words too tame to be endured: others unwarrantably soften the sense of the word "accursed." But our version gives the true import of the original; and if it be understood as the language rather of "strong and indistinct emotions than of definite ideas" [HODGE], expressing passionately how he felt his whole being swallowed up in the salvation of his people, the difficulty will vanish, and we shall be reminded of the similar idea so nobly expressed by Moses (
Exod 32:32).
4 Who are Israelites--See
Rom 11:1;
2Cor 11:22;
Phil 3:5.
to whom pertaineth--"whose is"
the adoption--It is true that, compared with the new economy, the old was a state of minority and pupilage, and so far that of a bond-servant (
Gal 4:1-
Gal 4:3); yet, compared with the state of the surrounding heathen, the choice of Abraham and his seed was a real separation of them to be a Family of God (
Exod 4:22;
Deut 32:6;
Isa 1:2;
Jer 31:9;
Hos 11:1;
Mal 1:6).
and the glory--that "glory of the Lord," or "visible token of the Divine Presence in the midst of them," which rested on the ark and filled the tabernacle during all their wanderings in the wilderness; which in Jerusalem continued to be seen in the tabernacle and temple, and only disappeared when, at the Captivity, the temple was demolished, and the sun of the ancient economy began to go down. This was what the Jews called the "Shekinah."
and the covenants--"the covenants of promise" to which the Gentiles before Christ were "strangers" (
Eph 2:12); meaning the one covenant with Abraham in its successive renewals (see
Gal 3:16-
Gal 3:17).
and the giving of the law--from Mount Sinai, and the possession of it thereafter, which the Jews justly deemed their peculiar honor (
Deut 26:18-
Deut 26:19;
Ps 147:19-
Ps 147:20;
Rom 2:17).
and the service of God--or, of the sanctuary, meaning the whole divinely instituted religious service, in the celebration of which they were brought so nigh unto God.
and the promises--the great Abrahamic promises, successively unfolded, and which had their fulfilment only in Christ; (see
Heb 7:6;
Gal 3:16,
Gal 3:21;
Acts 26:6-
Acts 26:7).
5 Whose are the fathers--here, probably, the three great fathers of the covenant--Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--by whom God condescended to name Himself (
Exod 8:6,
Exod 8:13;
Luke 20:37).
and--most exalted privilege of all, and as such, reserved to the last.
of whom as concerning the flesh--(See on
Rom 1:3).
Christ came--or, "is Christ"
who is over all, God--rather, "God over all."
blessed for ever. Amen--To get rid of the bright testimony here borne to the supreme divinity of Christ, various expedients have been adopted: (1) To place a period, either after the words "concerning the flesh Christ came," rendering the next clause as a doxology to the Father--"God who is over all be blessed for ever"; or after the word "all"--thus, "Christ came, who is over all: God be blessed.", &c. [ERASMUS, LOCKE, FRITZSCHE, MEYER, JOWETT, &c.]. But it is fatal to this view, as even Socinus admits, that in other Scripture doxologies the word "Blessed" precedes the name of God on whom the blessing is invoked (thus: "Blessed be God,"
Ps 68:35; "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,"
Ps 72:18). Besides, any such doxology here would be "unmeaning and frigid in the extreme"; the sad subject on which he was entering suggesting anything but a doxology, even in connection with Christ's Incarnation [ALFORD]. (2) To transpose the words rendered "who is"; in which case the rendering would be, "whose (that is, the fathers') is Christ according to the flesh" [CRELLIUS, WHISTON, TAYLOR, WHITBY]. But this is a desperate expedient, in the face of all manuscript authority; as is also the conjecture of GROTIUS and others, that the word "God" should be omitted from the text. It remains then, that we have here no doxology at all, but a naked statement of fact, that while Christ is "of" the Israelitish nation "as concerning the flesh," He is, in another respect, "God over all, blessed for ever." (In
2Cor 11:31 the very Greek phrase which is here rendered "who is," is used in the same sense; and compare
Rom 1:25, Greek). In this view of the passage, as a testimony to the supreme divinity of Christ, besides all the orthodox fathers, some of the ablest modern critics concur [BENGEL, THOLUCK, STUART, OLSHAUSEN, PHILIPPI, ALFORD, &c.]
6 Not as though the word of God had taken none effect--"hath fallen to the ground," that is, failed: compare
Luke 16:17, Greek.
for they are not all Israel which are of Israel--better, "for not all they which are of Israel are Israel." Here the apostle enters upon the profound subject of ELECTION, the treatment of which extends to the end of the eleventh chapter--"Think not that I mourn over the total loss of Israel; for that would involve the failure of God's word to Abraham; but not all that belong to the natural seed, and go under the name of 'Israel,' are the Israel of God's irrevocable choice." The difficulties which encompass this subject lie not in the apostle's teaching, which is plain enough, but in the truths themselves, the evidence for which, taken by themselves, is overwhelming, but whose perfect harmony is beyond human comprehension in the present state. The great source of error here lies in hastily inferring (as THOLUCK and others), from the apostle's taking tip, at the close of this chapter, the calling of the Gentiles in connection with the rejection of Israel, and continuing this subject through the two next chapters, that the Election treated of in the body of this chapter is national, not personal Election, and consequently is Election merely to religious advantages, not to eternal salvation. In that case, the argument of
Rom 9:6, with which the subject of Election opens, would be this: "The choice of Abraham and his seed has not failed; because though Israel has been rejected, the Gentiles have taken their place; and God has a right to choose what nation He will to the privileges of His visible kingdom." But so far from this, the Gentiles are not so much as mentioned at all till towards the close of the chapter; and the argument of this verse is, that "all Israel is not rejected, but only a portion of it, the remainder being the 'Israel' whom God has chosen in the exercise of His sovereign right." And that this is a choice not to mere external privileges, but to eternal salvation, will abundantly appear from what follows.
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children--"Not in the line of mere fleshly descent from Abraham does the election run; else Ishmael, Hagar's child, and even Keturah's children, would be included, which they were not."
but--the true election are such of Abraham's seed as God unconditionally chooses, as exemplified in that promise.
in Isaac shall thy seed be called-- (
Gen 21:12).
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca, &c.--It might be thought that there was a natural reason for preferring the child of Sarah, as being Abraham's true and first wife, both to the child of Hagar, Sarah's maid, and to the children of Keturah, his second wife. But there could be no such reason in the case of Rebecca, Isaac's only wife; for the choice of her son Jacob was the choice of one of two sons by the same mother and of the younger in preference to the elder, and before either of them was born, and consequently before either had done good or evil to be a ground of preference: and all to show that the sole ground of distinction lay in the unconditional choice of God--"not of works, but of Him that calleth."
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid--This is the first of two objections to the foregoing doctrine, that God chooses one and rejects another, not on account of their works, but purely in the exercise of His own good pleasure: "This doctrine is inconsistent with the justice of God." The answer to this objection extends to
Rom 9:19, where we have the second objection.
15 For he saith to Moses-- (
Exod 33:19).
I will have mercy on whom I will have--"on whom I have"
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have--"on whom I have"
compassion--"There can be no unrighteousness in God's choosing whom He will, for to Moses He expressly claims the right to do so." Yet it is worthy of notice that this is expressed in the positive rather than the negative form: not, "I will have mercy on none but whom I will"; but, "I will have mercy on whomsoever I will."
16 So then it is not of him that willeth--hath the inward desire
nor of him that runneth--maketh active effort (compare
1Cor 9:24,
1Cor 9:26;
Phil 2:16;
Phil 3:14). Both these are indispensable to salvation, yet salvation is owing to neither, but is purely "of God that showeth mercy." See on
Phil 2:12-
Phil 2:13, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God which, out of His own good pleasure, worketh in you both to will and to do."
17 For the scripture saith to Pharaoh--observe here the light in which the Scripture is viewed by the apostle.
Even for this same--"this very"
purpose have I raised--"raised I"
thee up, &c.--The apostle had shown that God claims the right to choose whom He will: here he shows by an example that God punishes whom He will. But "God did not make Pharaoh wicked; He only forbore to make him good, by the exercise of special and altogether unmerited grace" [HODGE].
that I might--"may"
show my power in thee--It was not that Pharaoh was worse than others that he was so dealt with, but "in order that he might become a monument of the penal justice of God, and it was with a view to this that God provided that the evil which was in him should be manifested in this definite form" [OLSHAUSEN].
and that my name might--"may"
be declared--"proclaimed"
in all the earth--"This is the principle on which all punishment is inflicted, that the true character of the Divine Lawgiver should be known. This is of all objects, where God is concerned, the highest and most important; in itself the most worthy, and in its results the most beneficent" [HODGE].
18 Therefore hath he--"So then he hath." The result then is that He hath
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth--by judicially abandoning them to the hardening influence of sin itself (
Ps 81:11-
Ps 81:12;
Rom 1:24,
Rom 1:26,
Rom 1:28;
Heb 3:8,
Heb 3:13), and of the surrounding incentives to it (
Matt 24:12;
1Cor 15:38;
2Thess 2:17).
Second objection to the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty:
19 Thou shalt say then unto me, Why--"Why then" is the true reading.
doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted--"Who resisteth"
his will?--that is, "This doctrine is incompatible with human responsibility"; If God chooses and rejects, pardons and punishes, whom He pleases, why are those blamed who, if rejected by Him, cannot help sinning and perishing? This objection shows quite as conclusively as the former the real nature of the doctrine objected to--that it is Election and Non-election to eternal salvation prior to any difference of personal character; this is the only doctrine that could suggest the objection here stated, and to this doctrine the objection is plausible. What now is the apostle's answer? It is twofold. First: "It is irreverence and presumption in the creature to arraign the Creator."
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made--"didst thou make"
me thus?-- (
Isa 45:9).
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay; of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another to dishonour?--"The objection is founded on ignorance or misapprehension of the relation between God and His sinful creatures; supposing that He is under obligation to extend His grace to all, whereas He is under obligation to none. All are sinners, and have forfeited every claim to His mercy; it is therefore perfectly competent to God to spare one and not another, to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor. But it is to be borne in mind that Paul does not here speak of God's right over His creatures as creatures, but as sinful creatures: as he himself clearly intimates in the next verses. It is the cavil of a sinful creature against his Creator that he is answering, and be does so by showing that God is under no obligation to give His grace to any, but is as sovereign as in fashioning the clay" [HODGE]. But, Second: "There is nothing unjust in such sovereignty."
22 What if God, willing to show--"designing to manifest"
his wrath--His holy displeasure against sin.
and to make his power--to punish it
known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath--that is, "destined to wrath"; just as "vessels of mercy," in
Rom 9:23, mean "vessels destined to mercy"; compare
Eph 2:3, "children of wrath."
fitted for destruction--It is well remarked by STUART that the "difficulties which such statements involve are not to be got rid of by softening the language of one text, while so many others meet us which are of the same tenor; and even if we give up the Bible itself, so long as we acknowledge an omnipotent and omniscient God we cannot abate in the least degree from any of the difficulties which such texts make." Be it observed, however, that if God, as the apostle teaches, expressly "designed to manifest His wrath, and to make His power (in the way of wrath) known," it could only be by punishing some, while He pardons others; and if the choice between the two classes was not to be founded, as our apostle also teaches, on their own doings but on God's good pleasure, the decision behooved ultimately to rest with God. Yet, even in the necessary punishment of the wicked, as HODGE observes, so far from proceeding with undue severity, the apostle would have it remarked that God "endures with much long-suffering" those objects of His righteous displeasure.
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy--that "glorious exuberance of Divine mercy" which "was manifested in choosing and eternally arranging for the salvation of sinners."
24 even us, whom he hath called, &c.--rather, "Whom he hath also called, even us," &c., in not only "afore preparing," but in due time effectually "calling us."
not of the Jews, &c.--better, "not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles." Here for the first title in this chapter the calling of the Gentiles is introduced; all before having respect, not to the substitution of the called Gentiles for the rejected Jews, but to the choice of one portion and the rejection of another of the same Israel. Had Israel's rejection been total, God's promise to Abraham would not have been fulfilled by the substitution of the Gentiles in their room; but Israel's rejection being only partial, the preservation of a "remnant," in which the promise was made good, was but "according to the election of grace." And now, for the first time, the apostle tells us that along with this elect remnant of Israel, it is God's purpose to "take out of the Gentiles a people for His name" (
Acts 28:14); and that subject, thus introduced, is now continued to the end of the eleventh chapter.
25 As he saith also in Osee--"Hosea."
I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved--quoted, though not quite to the letter, from
Hos 2:23, a passage relating immediately, not to the heathen, but to the kingdom of the ten tribes; but since they had sunk to the level of the heathen, who were "not God's people," and in that sense "not beloved," the apostle legitimately applies it to the heathen, as "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise" (so
1Pet 2:10).
26 And--another quotation from
Hos 1:10.
it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children--"called sons"
of the living God--The expression, "in the place where . . . there," seems designed only to give greater emphasis to the gracious change here announced, from divine exclusion to divine admission to the privileges of the people of God.
27 Esaias also crieth--"But Isaiah crieth"--an expression denoting a solemn testimony openly borne (
John 1:15;
John 7:28,
John 7:37;
John 12:44;
Acts 23:6;
Acts 24:21).
concerning Israel, Though the number of the children--"sons"
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a--"the"
remnant--that is, the elect remnant only shall be saved.
28 For he will finish the work, and cut--"is finishing the reckoning, and cutting it"
it short in righteousness; because a short work--"reckoning"
will the Lord make upon the earth-- (
Isa 10:22-
Isa 10:23), as in the Septuagint. The sense given to these words by the apostle may seem to differ from that intended by the prophet. But the sameness of sentiment in both places will at once appear, if we understand those words of the prophet, "the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness," to mean that while a remnant of Israel should be graciously spared to return from captivity, "the decreed consumption" of the impenitent majority should be "replete with righteousness," or illustriously display God's righteous vengeance against sin. The "short reckoning" seems to mean the speedy completing of His word, both in cutting off the one portion and saving the other.
29 And as Esaias said--"hath said"
before--that is, probably in an earlier part of his book, namely,
Isa 1:9.
Except the Lord of Sabaoth--that is, "The Lord of Hosts": the word is Hebrew, but occurs so in the Epistle of James (
Jas 5:4), and has thence become naturalized in our Christian phraseology.
had left us a seed--meaning a "remnant"; small at first, but in due time to be a seed of plenty (compare
Ps 22:30-
Ps 22:31;
Isa 6:12-
Isa 6:13).
we had been--"become"
as Sodom, &c.--But for this precious seed, the chosen people would have resembled the cities of the plain, both in degeneracy of character and in merited doom.
30 What shall we say then?--"What now is the result of the whole?" The result is this--very different from what one would have expected.
That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained--"attained"
to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith--As we have seen that "the righteousness of faith" is the righteousness which justifies (see on
Rom 3:22, &c.), this verse must mean that "the Gentiles, who while strangers to Christ were quite indifferent about acceptance with God, having embraced the Gospel as soon as it was preached to them, experienced the blessedness of a justified state."
31 But Israel, which followed--"following"
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained--"attained not"
unto the law of righteousness--The word "law" is used here, we think, in the same sense as in
Rom 7:23, to denote "a principle of action"; that is, "Israel, though sincerely and steadily aiming at acceptance with God, nevertheless missed it."
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were--rather simply, "as"
by the works of the law--as if it were thus attainable, which justification is not: Since, therefore, it is attainable only by faith, they missed it.
for--it is doubtful if this particle was originally in the text.
they stumbled at that stumbling-stone--better, "against the stone of stumbling," meaning Christ. But in this they only did.
33 As it is written-- (
Isa 8:14;
Isa 28:16).
Behold, &c.--Two Messianic predictions are here combined, as is not unusual in quotations from the Old Testament. Thus combined, the prediction brings together both the classes of whom the apostle is treating: those to whom Messiah should be only a stone of stumbling, and those who were to regard Him as the Cornerstone of all their hopes. Thus expounded, this chapter presents no serious difficulties, none which do not arise out of the subject itself, whose depths are unfathomable; whereas on every other view of it the difficulty of giving it any consistent and worthy interpretation is in our judgment insuperable.
Note, (1) To speak and act "in Christ," with a conscience not only illuminated, but under the present operation of the Holy Ghost, is not peculiar to the supernaturally inspired, but is the privilege, and ought to be the aim, of every believer (
Rom 9:1). (2) Grace does not destroy, but only intensify and elevate, the feelings of nature; and Christians should study to show this (
Rom 9:2-
Rom 9:3). (3) To belong to the visible Church of God, and enjoy its high and holy distinctions, is of the sovereign mercy of God, and should be regarded with devout thankfulness (
Rom 9:4-
Rom 9:5). (4) Yet the most sacred external distinctions and privileges will avail nothing to salvation without the heart's submission to the righteousness of God (
Rom 9:31-
Rom 9:33). (5) What manner of persons ought "God's elect" to be--in humility, when they remember that He hath saved them and called them, not according to their works, but according to His own purpose and grace, given them in Christ Jesus before the world began (
2Tim 1:9); in thankfulness, for "Who maketh thee to differ, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" (
1Cor 4:7); in godly jealousy over themselves; remembering that "God is not mocked," but "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap" (
Gal 6:7); in diligence "to make our calling and election sure" (
2Pet 1:10); and yet in calm confidence that "whom God predestinates, and calls, and justifies, them (in due time) He also glorifies" (
Rom 8:30). (6) On all subjects which from their very nature lie beyond human comprehension, it will be our wisdom to set down what God says in His word, and has actually done in His procedure towards men, as indisputable, even though it contradict the results at which in the best exercise of our limited judgment we may have arrived (
Rom 9:14-
Rom 9:23). (7) Sincerity in religion, or a general desire to be saved, with assiduous efforts to do right, will prove fatal as a ground of confidence before God, if unaccompanied by implicit submission to His revealed method of salvation (
Rom 9:31-
Rom 9:33). (8) In the rejection of the great mass of the chosen people, and the inbringing of multitudes of estranged Gentiles, God would have men to see a law of His procedure, which the judgment of the great day will more vividly reveal that "the last shall be first and the first last" (
Matt 20:16).
