Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 11:22
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
22. goodness ] See on ch. Rom 2:4.
severity ] In the special sense of summary sternness. The word is akin to that rendered “ sharply,” Tit 1:13.
on them which fell, &c.] Better, in view of the best-supported reading of the Gr., on them that fell came severity, but on thee came goodness.
if thou continue ] On the verb and construction here, see on Rom 6:1. The idea of the word is adherence, either rightly resolute or wrongly obstinate as the case may be. Observe that expressions like the present, implying contingency in man’s continuance in the mercy of God, and the reality of the exertion of man’s will in such continuance, are in real practical harmony with the truth, so fully stated in previous chapters, of sovereign and prevailing Divine grace (Rom 8:28-30). The whole reason of the harmony is indeed past our finding out, perhaps for ever; but thus much we can see, that sovereign grace acts on men, not on automatons; that it acts on them through the human conscience and will; and that these, in this matter as always, are affected by warnings as truly as by promises. Grace imparts perseverance by imparting and maintaining faith, (1Pe 1:5😉 and it freely uses all means by which such faith is properly animated and energized. Amongst such means are these warnings of the results that must follow if faith loses hold of its object. Cp. Judges 20, 21.
otherwise ] The lit. Gr. is simply since; but the E. V. expresses the implied sense.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, therefore … – Regard, or contemplate, for purposes of your own improvement and benefit, the dealings of God. We should look on all his dispensations of judgment or of mercy, and derive lessons from all to promote our own steadfast adherence to the faith of the gospel.
The goodness – The benevolence or mercy of God toward you in admitting you to his favor. This calls for gratitude, love, confidence. It demands expressions of thanksgiving. It should be highly prized, in order that it may excite to diligence to secure its continuance.
The severity of God – That is, toward the Jews. The word severity now suggests sometimes the idea of harshness, or even of cruelty. (Webster.) But nothing of this kind is conveyed in the original word here. It properly denotes cutting off, apotomian from apotemno, to cut off; and is commonly applied to the act of the gardener or vine-dresser in trimming trees or vines, and cutting off the decayed or useless branches. Here it refers to the act of God in cutting off or rejecting the Jews as useless branches; and conveys no idea of injustice, cruelty, or harshness. It was a just act, and consistent with all the perfections of God. It indicated a purpose to do what was right, though the inflictions might seem to be severe, and though they must involve them in many heavy calamities.
On them which fell, severity – On the Jews, who had been rejected because of their unbelief.
But towards thee, goodness – Toward the Gentile world, benevolence. The word goodness properly denotes benignity or benevolence. Here it signifies the kindness of God in bestowing these favors on the Gentiles.
If thou continue in his goodness – The word his is not in the original. And the word goodness may denote integrity, probity, uprightness, as well as favor; Rom 3:12, There is none that doeth good. The Septuagint often thus uses the word; Psa 13:1, Psa 13:3, etc. This is probably the meaning here; though it may mean if thou dost continue in a state of favor; that is, if your faith and good conduct shall be such as to make it proper for God to continue his kindness toward you. Christians do not merit the favor of God by their faith and good works; but their obedience is an indispensable condition on which that favor is to be continued. It is thus that the grace of God is magnified, at the same time that the highest good is done to man himself.
Otherwise thou also shalt be cut off – Compare Joh 15:2. The word thou refers here to the Gentile churches. In relation to them the favor of God was dependent on their fidelity. If they became disobedient and unbelieving, then the same principle which led him to withdraw his mercy from the Jewish people would lead also to their rejection and exclusion. And on this principle, God has acted in numberless cases. Thus, his favor was withdrawn from the seven churches of Asia Rev. 13, from Corinth, from Antioch, from Philippi, and even from Rome itself.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Behold therefore the goodness] The exclamation, Behold the goodness of God! is frequent among the Jewish writers, when they wish to call the attention of men to particular displays of God’s mercy, especially towards those who are singularly unworthy. See several instances in Schoettgen.
And severity of God] As , goodness, signifies the essential quality of the Divine nature, the fountain of all good to men and angels, so , severity, as it is here translated, signifies that particular exercise of his goodness and holiness which leads him to sever from his mystical body whatsoever would injure, corrupt, or destroy it. The apostle in these verses uses a metaphor taken from engrafting, , from the verb , from , in, and , to puncture, because engrafting was frequently done by making a puncture in the bark of a tree, and then inserting a bud taken from another. This was the practice in the Roman agriculture, as we learn from Virgil, Georg. ii, ver. 73:-
Nam qua se medio trudunt de cortice gemmae,
Et tenues rumpunt tunicas, angustus in ipso
Fit nodo sinus: huc aliena ex arbore germen
Includunt, udoque docent inolescere libro.
For where the tender rinds of trees disclose
Their shooting gems, a swelling knot there grows;
Just in that space a narrow slit we make,
Then other buds from bearing trees we take;
Inserted thus, the wounded rind we close,
ln whose moist womb the admitted infant grows.
DRYDEN.
In all countries the principle is the same, though the mode is various.
The apostle, having adopted this metaphor as the best he could find to express that act of God’s justice and mercy by which the Jews were rejected, and the Gentiles elected in their stead, and, in order to show that though the Jewish tree was cut down, or its branches lopped off, yet it was not rooted up, he informs the Gentile believers that, as it is customary to insert a good scion in a bad or useless stock, they who were bad, contrary to the custom in such cases, were grafted in a good stock, and their growth and fruitfulness proclaimed the excellence and vegetative life of the stock in which they were inserted. This was the goodness of the heavenly gardener to them; but it was severity, , an act of excision to the Jews.
The reader will observe that this term belongs to engrafting: often, in this operation, a part of a branch is cut off; in that part which remains in connection with the tree a little slit is made, and then a small twig or branch taken from another tree is, at its lower end, shaved thin, wedge-like, and then inserted in the cleft, after which the whole is tied together, clayed round, c., and the bark unites to bark and the stock and the scion become thus one tree, the juices of the whole stock circulating through the tubes of the newly-inserted twig; and thus both live, though the branch inserted bears a very different fruit from that which the parent stock bore. I have often performed this operation, and in this very way, with success: and I cannot conceive that the apostle could have chosen a more apt or more elegant metaphor. The Jewish tree does not bring forth proper fruit; but it will answer well to ingraft a proper fruit-bearing tree on. The Gentiles are a wild olive, which is a tree that bears no fruit; but it may be made to bear if grafted on the Jewish stock. Some of the branches were cut off, that the branches of this wild olive might be inserted: the act by which this insertion is made is termed , goodness, benignity: the act by which the branches of the original stock are broken off is termed , excision; from , from, and , I cut, still keeping the metaphor taken from engrafting in view. Now, let the apostle’s mode of reasoning be observed: the tree is cut down, or its branches lopped off; but the tree is not rooted up. The Jews have stumbled, but not so as to fall irrecoverably; for if they abide not still in unbelief, they shall be grafted in, Ro 11:23. The Gentiles which are grafted in on these cut-off branches, like the scion inserted into another stock, partake of the root, which absorbs from the earth the nutritious juices, and the fatness of the Jewish tree, the blessings and privileges which that people have long enjoyed, in consequence of the Abrahamic covenant, Ro 11:17; the root, the Jewish covenant, bears them: not they the root, Ro 11:18. As, therefore, the continuance of the Gentiles as the Church and people of God depends upon their interest in the Abrahamic covenant, the blessings of which they derive through the medium of the Jews, they should be grateful to God, and tolerant to those through whom they have received such blessings. And as, in the case of grafting, the prosperity of the engrafted scion depends on the existence of the parent stock, so the continuance of the Gentiles in this state of favour, (following the metaphor,) in a certain way depends on the continuance of the Jewish people: and they are preserved, as so many scions which are in process of time to be engrafted on the Gentiles; and thus the Gentiles shall become the means of salvation to the Jews, as the Jews have been the means of salvation to the Gentiles. Following, therefore, the metaphor a little farther, which seems to have been so well chosen in all its parts, the continued existence of the Jews as a distinct people, together with the acknowledgment of the Gentiles, that they have derived their salvation and state of blessedness through them-of which Jesus Christ, born of the stock of David, is the author; and the Jewish Scriptures, which the Gentiles receive as inspired by God, are the evidence-then, the restoration of the Jews to the favour of God is a necessary consequence, and indeed seems to be the principal end in reference to which the apostle reasons. The Gentiles, however, are to take care that the restoration of the Jews be not at their expense; as their calling and election were at the expense of the Jews: the latter being cut off, that the former might be grafted in, Ro 11:19. Of this there is no kind of necessity, for the original stock, the Abrahamic covenant, is sufficient to receive them all; and so Jews and Gentiles become one eternal flock, under one Bishop and Shepherd of all their souls.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In this verse, he further persuades the Gentiles to humility and godly fear, and suggesteth several reasons for it. The first is taken from the example of Gods
severity to the Jews; they falling into apostacy and unbelief, are generally cut off and cast away. A second reason is taken from the free grace and undeserved goodness of God to the poor Gentiles, who were mercifully planted or grafted in the room of the Jews. A third reason is taken from the condition of their present standing, which is, if they
continue in his goodness; i.e. if they continue in that state wherein his goodness hath set them. Some think the cause is here put for the effect, the goodness of God for faith, which was wrought in them by the goodness or grace of God. The antithesis, in the next verse, shows this to be the sense; for there he speaks of the Jews not continuing or abiding still in unbelief. A fourth reason is from the danger that would follow; if, through pride and security, they should fall and miscarry, they would be cut off, as the Jews, the natural branches, are. Some observe the change of the word; the Jews are said to be broken off, but the Gentiles would be cut off; they would, as it were, be stocked up by the roots: but that seems too critical and curious.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22, 23. Behold therefore thegoodness and severity of God: on them that fell, severityinrejecting the chosen seed.
but toward thee,goodness“God’s goodness” is the true reading, thatis, His sovereign goodness in admitting thee to a covenant standingwho before wert a “stranger to the covenants of promise”(Eph 2:12-20).
if thou continue in hisgoodnessin believing dependence on that pure goodness whichmade thee what thou art.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold therefore the goodness, and severity of God,…. The consideration of both the grace and kindness of God to some, and his severity or strict justice towards others, is recommended by the apostle as very proper to abate pride, vain glory, and haughtiness of spirit; and to engage to humility, fear, care, and caution;
on them which fell, severity: the Jews who stumbled at Christ and his Gospel, and fell by unbelief, God in strict justice and righteous judgment not only destroyed, as afterwards their nation, city, and temple, and scattered them abroad in the world to be a reproach, a proverb, a taunt, and a curse in all places; but cast them off as his people, broke his covenant with them, took away his Gospel from them, left them out of a Gospel church state, except a few, and gave up the generality of them to blindness and hardness of heart; so that wrath is come upon them to the uttermost, both with respect to things civil and religious, and they continue as living standing monuments of God’s severity and justice, to be beheld by us Gentiles with pity and concern, and to excite in us the fear of God, and caution as to our conduct and behaviour in the world, and in the church:
but towards thee, goodness; the Gentiles, who not only share in the goodness and grace of God, displayed in the election of many of them to eternal life, in their redemption by Christ, and the effectual calling of them by the grace of God; but in their church state, they being made fellow citizens with the saints, fellow heirs, and of the same body, and having a place and a name in God’s house, better than that of sons and daughters; and therefore under great obligation to fear the Lord, and his goodness, and to walk worthy of the calling wherein they are called, in all humility and lowliness of mind:
if thou continue in his goodness; meaning not the love, grace, and free favour of God, or the grace of the Spirit, a continuance in which no “if” is to be put upon; for such who are interested in the love of God always continue in it, and nothing can separate them from it; and such as have the graces of the Spirit implanted in them, as faith, hope, and love, can never lose them; these always remain in them, and they in the possession of them, though not always in the exercise of them; but the goodness of God in a church state is here meant, as the means of grace and comfort, the ministration of the word and ordinances; and the sense is, if thou dost not despise the riches of divine goodness in a church relation, if thou dost not abuse it, or walk unworthy of it, if thou abidest by it, and retainest a value for it, thou wilt still share the advantages of it:
otherwise thou also shall be cut off; from the good olive tree, the Gospel church state, into which the Gentiles were taken; and which, with respect to particular persons, may intend the act of excommunication by the church, expressed in Scripture by purging the old leaven, putting away the wicked person, withdrawing from such that are disorderly, and rejecting heretics, that is, from the communion of the church; and with respect to whole bodies and societies, an entire unchurching of them by removing the Gospel, and the ordinances of it; which threatening has been awfully fulfilled in many Gentile churches, in Asia, Africa, and Europe; and therefore may serve to awaken our fear, care, and caution, lest we should be treated in like manner.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The goodness and the severity of God ( ). See on Ro 2:2 for , kindness of God. (here alone in the N.T.) is from , cut off, abrupt, and this adjective from , to cut off. This late word occurs several times in the papyri.
If thou continue ( ). Third class condition, and present active subjunctive.
Otherwise (). Ellipse after , “since if thou dost not continue.”
Thou also ( ). Precisely as the Jewish branches of verse 17 were.
Shalt be cut off (). Second future passive of , to cut out.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Goodness and severity [ ] . For goodness, see on ch. Rom 3:12. Apotomia severity, only here in the New Testament. The kindred adverb, ajpotomwv sharply, occurs 2Co 13:10; Tit 1:13. From ajpotemnw to cut off. Hence that which is abrupt, sharp.
Thou shalt be cut off [] . Lit., cut out. See on Luk 13:7.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God,” (ide oun chrestoteta kai apotomian theou) “Behold or perceive thou therefore (the) kindness and severity of God;” the kindness or goodness of God by grafting you, the Gentiles, in and the severity of God in cutting off Israel, as a nation because they rejected his covenant, Exo 24:6-8; Psa 1:1-6.
2) “On them which fell, severity,” (epi men tous pesontas apotomia) “upon the ones on one hand severity has fallen,” the Christ-rejecting nation of Israel, in abandoning them among all nations, Luk 21:24; Dan 12:7.
3) “But toward thee goodness,” (epi de se chrestotes theou) “Upon thee, on the other hand, kindness of God has fallen, or come down”; on the Gentiles in general and the church in particular, called from among the Gentiles as people for his names’ sake, Mat 4:13-20; Act 15:13; Act 10:37; Mat 28:18-20.
4) “If thou continue in his goodness”; (ean epimenes te chrestoteti) “if thou continuest, keepest on in the way of his kindness,” in doing what he has commissioned you to do, Joh 20:21; Joh 3:17; Luk 19:10; Mat 28:18-20; Acts 1-8. As he “went about doing good,” the will of his Father so should his people today, Act 10:38; Joh 15:14.
5) “Otherwise thou also shalt be cut off,” (epei kai su ekkopese) “Since thou also wilt be cut off, one day,” when the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, Rom 11:26; Joh 15:2; 1Co 15:2; Heb 3:6; Heb 3:14. The things written of Israel were for our profit, good, and warning, 1Co 10:5-6; 1Co 10:11-12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
22. See then, etc. By laying the case before their eyes he more clearly and fully confirms the fact, — that the Gentiles had no reason to be proud. They saw in the Jews an example of God’s severity, which ought to have terrified them; while in themselves they had an evidence of his grace and goodness, by which they ought to have been stimulated to thankfulness only, and to exalt the Lord and not themselves. The words import the same, as though he had said, — “If thou exultest over their calamity, think first what thou hast been; for the same severity of God would have impended over thee, hadst thou not been delivered by his gratuitous favor: then consider what thou art even now; for salvation shall not continue to thee, except thou humbly recognisest the mercy of God; for if thou forgettest thyself and arrogantly exultest, the ruin, into which they have fallen, awaits thee: it is not indeed enough for thee to have once embraced the favor of God, except thou followest his call through the whole course of thy life.” They indeed who have been illuminated by the Lord ought always to think of perseverance; for they continue not in the goodness of God, who having for a time responded to the call of God, do at length begin to loathe the kingdom of heaven, and thus by their ingratitude justly deserve to be blinded again.
But he addresses not each of the godly apart, as we have already said, but he makes a comparison between the Gentiles and the Jews. It is indeed true that each individual among the Jews received the reward due to his own unbelief, when they were banished from the kingdom of God, and that all who front among the Gentiles were called, were vessels of God’s mercy; but yet the particular design of Paul must be borne in mind. For he would have the Gentiles to depend on the eternal covenant of God, so as to connect their own with the salvation of the elect people, and then, lest the rejection of the Jews should produce offense, as though their ancient adoption were void, he would have them to be terrified by this example of punishment, so as reverently to regard the judgment of God. For whence comes so great licentiousness on curious questions, except that we almost neglect to consider those things which ought to have duly taught us humility?
But as he speaks not of the elect individually, but of the whole body, a condition is added, If they continued in his kindness I indeed allow, that as soon as any one abuses God’s goodness, he deserves to be deprived of the offered favor; but it would be improper to say of any one of the godly particularly, that God had mercy on him, when he chose him, provided he would continue in his mercy; for the perseverance of faith, which completes in us the effect of God’s grace, flows from election itself. Paul then teaches us, that the Gentiles were admitted into the hope of eternal life on the condition, that they by their gratitude retained possession of it. And dreadful indeed was the defection of the whole world, which afterwards happened; and this dearly proves, that this exhortation was not superfluous; for when God had almost in a moment watered it with his grace, so that religion flourished everywhere, soon after the truth of the gospel vanished, and the treasure of salvation was taken away. And whence came so sudden a change, except that the Gentiles had fallen away from their calling?
Otherwise thou also shalt be cut off, etc. We now understand in what sense Paul threatens them with excision, whom he has already allowed to have been grafted into the hope of life through God’s election. For, first, though this cannot happen to the elect, they have yet need of such warning, in order to subdue the pride of the flesh; which being really opposed to their salvation, ought justly to be terrified with the dread of perdition. As far then as Christians are illuminated by faith, they hear, for their assurance, that the calling of God is without repentance; but as far as they carry about them the flesh, which wantonly resists the grace of God, they are taught humility by this warning, “Take heed lest thou be cut off.” Secondly, we must bear in mind the solution which I have before mentioned, — that Paul speaks not here of the special election of individuals, but sets the Gentiles and Jews in opposition the one to the other; and that therefore the elect are not so much addressed in these words, as those who falsely gloried that they had obtained the place of the Jews: nay, he speaks to the Gentiles generally, and addresses the whole body in common, among whom there were many who were faithful, and those who were members of Christ in name only.
But if it be asked respecting individuals, “How any one could be cut off from the grafting, and how, after excision, he could be grafted again,” — bear in mind, that there are three modes of insition, and two modes of excision. For instance, the children of the faithful are ingrafted, to whom the promise belongs according to the covenant made with the fathers; ingrafted are also they who indeed receive the seed of the gospel, but it strikes no root, or it is choked before it brings any fruit; and thirdly, the elect are ingrafted, who are illuminated unto eternal life according to the immutable purpose of God. The first are cut off, when they refuse the promise given to their fathers, or do not receive it on account of their ingratitude; the second are cut off, when the seed is withered and destroyed; and as the danger of this impends over all, with regard to their own nature, it must be allowed that this warning which Paul gives belongs in a certain way to the faithful, lest they indulge themselves in the sloth of the flesh. But with regard to the present passage, it is enough for us to know, that the vengeance which God had executed on the Jews, is pronounced on the Gentiles, in case they become like them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) As Providence had been appealed to, the Apostle states the true Providential aspect of Gods rejection of Israel. It had a double sideone of goodness towards the Gentile, one of deserved severity towards the Jew. But, at the same time, the fact that the covenant was made originally with the Jew, and that he was the natural heir to the promises which it contained, is a guarantee for his restoration if he would only dismiss his unbelief.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Goodness severity These are the two alternatives from God, conditioned on the continue and the fall in man. To add to this that God has infallibly secured either one or the other, is to mar the apostle’s doctrine, destroy the freedom of man, and the moral government of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Behold then the goodness and severity of God. Towards those who fell, severity; but towards you, God’s goodness, if you continue in his goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off.’
So their current position should make them recognise both the goodness and severity of God. Goodness towards those who continue in His goodness by continuing faith and obedience, and severity towards those who had fallen through not believing in the Messiah. But those who do not continue to benefit from His goodness through faith will inevitably find themselves also cut off.
We too should recognise the goodness and severity of God. The problem with the church at the present day is that so many rejoice in His goodness, without recognising His severity. We need to hold the two in balance. This is not to suggest that somehow we must seek to maintain our faith by ourselves, for it is God Who maintains our faith if we are His ( Joh 10:27-29 ; 1Co 1:8-9; Php 1:6; Jud 1:24; 1Pe 1:7). It is rather to warn that if we do not continue to truly believe it will be a sign that our faith was not genuinely in Him, otherwise He would have maintained it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Gentile Christians Are To Recognise Both The Goodness And Severity Of God (11:22-32).
So the Gentile Christians are to recognise both the goodness and the severity of God. Towards the unbelieving Jews who had rejected His Son, the Messiah, He showed severity. Towards the Gentiles He had shown goodness. But if they did not continue in that goodness by faith and obedience, they too would be cut off from the true Israel, and therefore from salvation. They too would experience His severity. Meanwhile if the unbelieving Jews changed their minds and began to believe in the Messiah they would be grafted in again. And the hardness which has happened to part of Israel will continue until the consummation, when the full number of the Gentiles will have come in to join the number of the elect, and will have responded to Christ (Messiah), at which point it will mean that all the elect have been gathered so that all who were to be part of the true Israel, including the full number of the Gentiles, will have been saved, and that in accordance with Scripture.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 11:22. Behold therefore the goodness, &c. What is here meant by goodness to the believing Gentile, as it stands opposed to severity against the rejected Jew, is very evident. It is the same with salvation being come to them, Rom 11:11 with their being enriched, Rom 11:12 with their being grafted into the good olive-tree, Rom 11:17 with their having obtained mercy, Rom 11:30 with their being called and chosen, ch. Rom 9:24. It is, in short, the same with their being justified by the grace of God, upon their faith.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 11:22-23 . An exhortation inferred from Rom 11:21 , and corresponding to , in Rom 11:20
Behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity of God , how both divine attributes present themselves before thee side by side. That . and . should be without the article is, on account of the following being anarthrous, quite regular, and does not entitle us artificially to educe (as Hofmann does) the sense of “ a goodness ” (which is here exhibited), etc. According to the correct reading (see the critical notes), a point is, with Lachmann, to be placed after ; and with the following nominatives, and , is to be supplied: “ Towards the fallen there is severity, but towards thee (directed to thee) goodness .” The fallen are the Jews who have refused to believe, so designated, because they are conceived as branches broken off and thereby fallen from the tree . Comp. , Rom 11:20 . In allusion to this, the severity of God is also designated as (only here in the N. T., but see on 2Co 13:10 ; Kypke, II. p. 179; Grimm on Wis 5:21 ). This reference to the figure, which certainly pervades the whole representation, it is arbitrary to deny (de Wette, Fritzsche).
. .] if thou shalt abide (see on Rom 6:1 ) by the goodness, i.e. if thou shalt not have separated thyself from the divine goodness (through apostasy from faith), but shalt have remained true to it; comp. Act 13:43 . Rightly, therefore, as respects the mode of the . ., Clemens Alex. Paedag . I. p. 140 Pott .: . But it is erroneous, because contrary to the context (for the emphasis lies on ., and . is but the repetition of the divine attribute just mentioned) and un-Pauline, to take , with Fritzsche, following Ch. Schmidt, in the sense of human rightness of conduct (Rom 3:12 ). Comp. rather on ., Rom 2:4 , and on Eph 2:7 ; also Tit 3:4 .
] for otherwise thou also (like those broken-off branches) shalt be cut off . The threatening tenor of the discourse suggests unsought the stronger word ., which is also in Rom 11:24 retained of the wild olive tree.
Since . . . does not depend on the condition previously to be supplied with , but has its own conditional sentence, a point is to be placed (in opposition to Hofmann) after .; and with a new sentence, still further repressing Gentile self-exaltation, must be begun, which usual punctuation Lachmann, ed. maj ., has again adopted: And those, too, if they shall not have persisted in unbelief, will be grafted in , whereby the reception into the true divine community (Rom 11:25 ; Rom 11:31 ) is figuratively depicted. The puts the on a parallel to the ingrafted wild olive branches (Rom 11:17 ).
] if, namely, the cause has ceased to exist, on account of which God had to break off these branches, the power of God (comp. Rom 4:21 , Rom 14:4 ) leaves no doubt, etc. In the conception is, that by the ingrafting their restoration to their previous condition is accomplished. Comp. Winer, p. 576.
We may notice that this is a probative passage for the possibility of forfeiture of the state of grace, for the conversio resistibilis and for reiterabilitas gratiae , and also against absolute predestination .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1898
THE DISPENSATIONS OF GOD TOWARDS JEWS AND GENTILES
Rom 11:22-24. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shall be cut off. And they also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
AMONGST those who believe the Holy Scriptures, no doubt is entertained, but that the Jews, who have engaged more of Gods regard than any other nation upon earth, are yet destined to act a most important part upon the theatre of the world. They are at present, it is true, so scattered and degraded, that, according to all human appearance, they are, so far at least as respects them in their national capacity, irrecoverably sunk. But though for their multiplied iniquities they are cast off by God, their rejection is neither total nor final:not total; for there is yet among them a remnant according to the election of grace: nor final; because God has determined, that in due season he will restore them to his favour, and unite them with the Gentile Church, as one fold under one Shepherd. This is fully declared in the whole preceding and following context: and justly is it represented as a most mysterious dispensation; so mysterious, that the Apostle, after contemplating it, exclaims, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God? how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out [Note: ver. 33.]!
The points particularly noticed are, the rejection of the Jews; the calling of the Gentiles to fill their place; and the restoration of the Jews to their lost and forfeited inheritance. Of this complicated dispensation I propose, at this time, to speak; and, in accordance with my text, to Mark , 1 st, Its true character; and 2dly, Its final issue.
I.
Let us notice the character of this dispensation
It is spoken of by the Apostle as a mixture of goodness and severity: on them that fell, severity; but towards us Gentiles, goodness.
That we may have a clear insight into the subject, we will mark it, first of all, as exhibited in a plain statement of facts; and then, as viewed through the medium of a most striking illustration.
The facts which we have to mention are all plain and acknowledged.
The Jews were once Gods highly-favoured people. They had been chosen in Abraham, according to Gods sovereign will: and when they were multiplied in Egypt, they were brought out from thence with mighty signs and wonders, and taken by God under his own peculiar care and protection. There was given to them a revelation of Gods will, written upon stones by the very finger of God himself. Statutes also, and ordinances, were delivered to them, that they might know how to serve God acceptably, and to secure a continuance of his favour. During the space of forty years, God, in a cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night, guided them through a trackless wilderness, and provided them with every thing necessary for their support. At last he brought them into the promised land; and drove out before them seven nations, greater and mightier than they, and gave them such prosperity and power as rendered them the admiration and envy of surrounding nations. In the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple, God manifested himself to them by a visible symbol of his presence; accepting their services, and communicating to them his richest blessings. In a word, he shewed that he regarded them as his peculiar people, and that he was, in a pre-eminent and appropriate manner, their God. From time to time he visited them with mercies and with judgments, if by any means he might prevail upon them to live obedient to his will. But they rebelled against him; and provoked him at last, especially by the murder of their Messiah, to cast them off. Accordingly, he gave them up into the hands of the Romans, and scattered them as dust over the face of the whole earth; depriving them, not only of his own immediate presence, but of all power to serve him according to their appointed ordinances; so that they are the only people upon earth who are incapable of serving their God in the way which their own consciences would dictate, and their own religion requires. In this state they have been kept almost eighteen hundred years, living monuments of Gods righteous indignation, and a proverb of reproach to the whole world. That, however, which most of all marks the severity of God towards them, is, that they are given over to judicial blindness and obduracy; so that, with the Scriptures in their hands, and with the plain accomplishment of them before their eyes, they cannot see the fulfilment of them in their Messiah, or repent of the evil which they have committed in putting him to death. They are blinded, we are told, according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompence unto them; let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway [Note: ver. 710.]! This is, beyond all comparison, the heaviest judgment that can be inflicted upon man in this life; because, when subjected to it, he lives only to fill up a greater measure of iniquity, and to treasure up for himself wrath against the day of wrath. This is the unhappy state of the whole Jewish nation at this time; so that it may well be said, in relation to them, Behold the severity of God; on them that fell, I say, severity.
If we turn our attention to the Gentile world we behold in them a no less striking display of Gods goodness. They were sitting universally in darkness and the shadow of death; and being given up to their own hearts lusts, they were living in all manner of abominations. Their very religion was nothing but a compound of wickedness and superstition. But, whilst they were in this state, altogether without God, and without hope, God was pleased to send his Gospel to them, and to render it effectual for their conversion; so that what God has said in reference to them, is literally true, I am found of them that sought me not; I am made manifest unto them that asked not after me [Note: Rom 10:20.]. Thus, from amongst us idolatrous Gentiles, has he chosen to himself a people, whom he regards as a crown of glory, and a royal diadem in his hand [Note: Isa 62:3.]. To us has he given a fuller revelation of his will than ever he gave to his ancient people: the light which to them was only like the early dawn, shines before us with the splendour of the noon-day sun. We, too, have a far nearer access to God than they, and a more filial spirit in our walk before him. The Holy Spirit, who was neither generally nor freely given to them, is on us poured out abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. He takes of the things that are Christs, and shews them plainly to us; yea, the great work he has undertaken, is to glorify Christ in our hearts. The interpositions of God in our behalf are not indeed so visible as formerly; but they are not a whit less real, or less important; or rather, I should say, they exceed the former expressions of his love, as much as the concerns of the soul and of eternity exceed those of time and sense. If, then, we observe with awe his severity to his ancient people, must we not behold with admiration and gratitude his goodness to us? In fact, his mercies to them were mere shadows of those vouchsafed to us: so that we may well exclaim with the prophet, How great is his goodness! how great is his beauty!
But the character of this dispensation will yet more fully appear, if we view it through the medium of the image by which it is illustrated.
The Apostle represents the Jewish Church as an olive-tree planted by the hand of God himself, and watered with the dews of heaven. For a time, it brought forth fruit: but, after a season, it became barren, and disappointed wholly the expectations of the divine Husbandman. At last, Almighty God determined to express against it his merited displeasure, and to display in it his righteous indignation. Accordingly, he broke off, in quick succession, all its branches, and scattered them over the earth, as warnings to an ungodly world. In every place under heaven has he caused them to be despised and trampled under foot: and, from being the joy and admiration of the whole earth, they are become a hissing and a curse, to all who behold them.
Not willing, however, that the stem should stand in all its naked deformity, God has taken, from a wild olive, branches to supply the place of those which have been broken off. The wild olive was in itself as worthless as any tree of the field, and utterly incapable of bringing forth any fruit at all: but, by engrafting its branches into the good olive, and making them partakers of its root and fatness, God has rendered them fruitful in the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. Thus are the Gentiles now growing in the very place of the Jews who have been broken off, and enjoying all the privileges which in former ages belonged exclusively to them. But, to see this in its true light, we must contemplate the end that awaits them both; the scattered branches withering, and shortly to be gathered as fuel for the fire; and the engrafted scions forming a noble tree, luxuriant and fertile beyond all former precedent, and shortly to be transplanted to the paradise of God, a glorious and eternal monument of Gods power and grace. Say whether, if this image be realized in our minds, we must not adore both the severity and the goodness of God, acknowledging equally the justice of the one, and the unbounded riches of the other?
Such is the character of this dispensation, which we now proceed to consider,
II.
In its final issue
It will be observed, that in the dispensation, as far as we have hitherto considered it, the sovereignty of God is most conspicuous. It was altogether of Gods sovereign will and pleasure that he chose Abraham out of an idolatrous world, to make him the head and father of an elect seed. It was no less an act of sovereignty in God to confine his blessings to the line of Isaac, whilst Ishmael, an elder son, was overlooked. The same sovereignty was displayed, also, in the descendants of Isaac; Jacob the younger being chosen to the exclusion of Esau, whilst they were yet in the womb, and consequently could have done neither good nor evil, to be the ground of Gods future dispensations towards them. It was also purely of his own sovereign will and pleasure that God chose the Gentiles to inherit the blessings which the Jewish people had forfeited and lost. It is impossible to view this matter in any other light; and we must be as blind as the Jews themselves, if we do not see that we ourselves are monuments of Gods sovereign grace, in that we behold the full radiance of the Sun of Righteousness, whilst on millions of our fellow-creatures not so much as one ray of his light has ever shone. But, whilst in these things we acknowledge the sovereignty of God, we hesitate not to declare, that, in their final issue, God will proceed altogether in a way of righteous retribution. This I conceive to be the true way of reconciling those systems, which are supposed to be so opposite, and which have produced so much contention in the Church of God. I repeat it; In its commencement, every blessing is the fruit of free and sovereign grace; but in its termination, it is administered to us, not in a way of merit indeed, but on principles of perfect equity, according to our respective characters and attainments. And the subject before us will now furnish us with a fit occasion for maintaining the latter position, as we have already asserted and maintained the former.
God will ultimately deal with us, us Gentiles, according as we improve, or abuse, the privileges vouchsafed unto us. His goodness will operate to our ultimate advantage, only on the supposition that we continue in his goodness; for otherwise, we also, like the Jews themselves, shall be cut off.
To enter into the full meaning of these words, let us consider what we ourselves should expect of a scion which we had engrafted on a fertile stock. We should expect it to produce fruit answerable to the advantage conferred upon it. In husbandry, indeed, we engraft a good scion on an inferior tree; whereas God engrafts a worthless scion on a good tree. But the ultimate effect is to be the same: we expect it to bring forth good fruit. Now what are the fruits which Gods people of old produced? They may be comprehended in these threerepentance, faith, and obedience: and these may therefore most justly be expected of us. It may well be expected that we humble ourselves before God for all our former unfruitfulness, and mourn over all the corruptions of our nature, and all the evils of our lives. This we should do like the Prodigal: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Even if we had been as holy as Job himself, we must, like him, abhor ourselves in dust and ashes. Under a sense of our guilt and desert of condemnation, we must cry to God for mercy, and flee for refuge to the hope that is set before us, even to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Saviour of fallen man. We must renounce utterly every other hope; and desire, like St. Paul, to be found in Christ, not having our own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in him. We must also surrender up ourselves to God, living not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us and rose again. As the scion ceases to be connected with the stock from which it has been taken, and lives wholly by that into which it is engrafted, and for the use of him who has separated it for himself, so must the true Christian be, in spirit, dead to the world; and must live for that Saviour, to whose grace and favour he owes every blessing he enjoys.
But this is only a part of what is comprehended in the words of our text. By continuing in his goodness, there is intimated a danger of apostasy, to which we are continually exposed. A scion, however favourable its situation may be, is exposed to storms and tempests, which may break it off; or to unfavourable seasons, which may prevent the ripening of its fruit. But the person that is engrafted into the good olive must suffer nothing to prevail against him, nor any thing to destroy his fruits. On the contrary, every thing that has a tendency to endanger his steadfastness, or impair his fertility, must cause him to cleave the more steadfastly to Christ, and to receive the more abundantly, out of his fulness, the grace which he stands in need of. In this way he must endure even to the end, if ever he would be saved: for it is only by a patient continuance in well doing, that he can ever attain eternal life. This is fully declared in the passage before us: Yes, the Apostle Paul, who is so often and so justly referred to as maintaining the doctrines of grace, is certainly not a whit less strenuous in asserting our liability to fall and perish, if we be not constantly watching against temptation, and crying daily to our God to hold us up. Be not high-minded, says he, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them that fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off. What can be plainer? And how do all human systems vanish before such declarations as these [Note: It is worthy of remark, that whilst Calvinists complain of Arminians as unfair and unscriptural, in denying personal, though they admit national, election, they themselves are equally unfair and unscriptural in denying the danger of personal apostasy, whilst they admit it in reference to churches and nations. It is lamentable to see the plain statements of Scripture so unwarrantably set aside for the maintaining of human systems. Happy would it be for the Church, if these distinctions were buried by the consent of all parties, and the declarations of Holy Writ were adhered to by all, without prejudice or partiality!
The Authors views of this subject are simply these. All good is from God, dispensed by him in a way of sovereignty according to the counsels of his own will, and to the praise of the glory of his own grace. All evil, whether moral or penal, is from man; the moral, as resulting from his own free choice; the penal, as the just and necessary consequence of his sins. The Author has no doubt but that there is in Gods blessed word a system: but it is a far broader system than either Calvinists or Arminians admit. His views of that system may be seen in the Preface to this Work.
]! And says not our Lord also the same? Yes, precisely the same: If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned [Note: Joh 15:6.]. Here is precisely the same idea as in my text. Our Lord speaks of all his people as engrafted into him. The fruitful branches he purges and prunes, in order to render them more fruitful: but the unfruitful branches are broken off, and cast into the fire. Thus it is, and thus it shall be: and it becomes every person, who professes to have been engrafted into the true olive-tree, to look well to his ways: for if he improve not duly the Lords goodness to him, or, having begun to do so, continue it not to the end, he shall surely perish; and the very profession that he has made, and the advantages he has enjoyed, will only aggravate his final condemnation. If an unbelieving Jew must perish for rejecting Christ, much more shall the disobedient Christian, who crucifies him afresh, and puts him to an open shame.
Towards the Jews, also, will God proceed upon the same principle of equitable retribution. In the days of old, he always returned in mercy to them, when they sought him with penitence and contrition: and at this very hour would he restore them to his favour, if they would look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn. The Apostle affirms this in our text, saying, And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in again. We are apt to imagine that the blindness and obduracy of the Jews are utterly incurable. But there is nothing impossible with God: He is as able to graff them in again, as ever he was to graff in scions from amongst the Gentiles. Indeed, whatever we may imagine to the contrary, the restoration of the Jews is a far easier matter than the conversion of the Gentiles: for the Gentiles are altogether ignorant of the very first principles of religion: they have every thing to learn: they do not so much as know that there is one supreme God; much less have they any idea how they are to find acceptance with him. But the Jews have a perfect knowledge of the unity of God: they are instructed also in relation to his will, having in their very hands a transcript of his law. They possess also the prophecies relating to the Messiah, whom they confidently expect. Nothing is wanting to them, but to have the veil taken from their hearts, so that they may see their prophecies accomplished in the Lord Jesus. The very moment their eyes are opened to behold him as the true Messiah, they will possess all that the most favoured of the Christian world possess; and in a moment, as on the day of Pentecost, will the work of grafting them into their primitive stock be effected. This we are apt to overlook; but we are told it plainly in our text: If they abide not still in unbelief, they shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou, thou Gentile, wert cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed, contrary to nature, into a good olive-tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own, olive-tree? No one need be told this in relation to the engrafting of a natural scion: it carries its own evidence along with it. If a scion will grow on a foreign stock, much more will it, if graffed into its own parent stock. Such, then, is the advantage which the Jews possess over every other people upon earth. It is to their own stem that they are to be restored. The recollection, therefore, of what God has done in the conversion of the Gentiles should dispel all our fears in reference to the Jews, and encourage our efforts to restore them to God.
But, before we proceed to enforce this duty, it will be proper to bring the subject home to ourselves; and to urge on all a due improvement of the privileges which we ourselves enjoy.
We all profess to be branches of the good olive-tree: and we are entitled to regard ourselves in this light precisely as the Jews of old did, and as our blessed Lord has taught us to do, when he spake of himself as the true vine. But he distinguished between fruitful branches which were approved by him, and barren branches which were to be broken off and burned. Consequently, our external privileges will be of little service to us, if they be not improved in a way of fruitfulness. Let us, therefore, examine our fruit from day to day, and see whether it be such as the goodness of our God entitles him to expect? Let us inquire, whether in heart, as well as in profession, we are separated from the wild and worthless olive, on which we originally grew. We all acknowledge, in our Catechism, that we were, by nature, children of wrath; and that, at the time of entering into our baptismal engagements, we were made the children of grace. Let us inquire, therefore, whether this engrafting have really taken place, not in profession only, but by an actual union of our souls with Christ? Are we living on him, and receiving daily, out of his fulness, such communications of grace as are really productive of the fruit which he himself, during his sojourning on earth, brought forth? In him we find a perfect deadness to the world and all its vanities. Is there the same in us? It was his meat to do the will of his heavenly Father. Is there the same mind in us? Have we a resemblance to him in our whole spirit and conduct? and are we walking in all things as he walked? I ask not, whether we are perfect; for there is imperfection in the best of men: but, are we aiming at perfection, and panting after it, and labouring to be pure, even as Christ was pure? If we be living branches of the true olive, we must of necessity, in these matters, resemble Christ; and to imagine ourselves vitally united to him, whilst in the general course of our lives we bear fruit altogether different from his, is fatally to deceive our own souls. We know assuredly, that, as Christ inspected the barren fig-tree, and denounced a curse against it on account of its barrenness, so will the heavenly Husbandman inspect our fruit, and deal with us according to it. It is in vain, therefore, to deceive ourselves: for his judgment will stand; and it will be according to truth. We may call darkness light, and evil good: but he will not do so: and if, notwithstanding all his warnings, we will continue to expect his approbation in any other way than that of continued fruitfulness in the fruits of righteousness, we have nothing to expect but a speedy and everlasting excision. Let any one go to Shiloh, and see what the Lord did for the wickedness of his people there: or let him go to Palestine and the Seven Churches of Asia, and see what an unfruitful olive has reason to expect. Shall we say, But this was done to Churches only, and not to individuals? What, I ask, are Churches, but congregated individuals? And who is authorized so to limit what God has not limited; or rather, I should say, Who will presume to deny what God has so frequently and so plainly affirmed? Woe be to that man who shall rest his soul on any such distinction as this! I declare, before Almighty God, and in his sacred name, that every soul amongst you who either continues barren, or, under any circumstances whatever, ceases to be fruitful after the example of his Lord and Saviour, shall be cut off, and cast into everlasting fire. This warning is, in the first place, given by the Apostle to the Christian Church: and let every one of us receive it as addressed to his own soul in particular. And may God of his infinite mercy so impress it on our minds, that we may never cease to tremble at it; and seek that fruitfulness which will be our best evidence of union with Christ, and the surest pledge of our ultimate acceptance with him!
Having thus endeavoured to enforce a due improvement of our own privileges, permit me now, in a respectful manner, yet with Christian fidelity, to ask, whether we be not called, by a sense of gratitude to God and of compassion for man, to make somewhat of an united effort for the restoration of the Jewish people to the privileges they have forfeited?
We have heard from God himself, that the obstacles to this are far less than those which have been already overcome in reference to the Gentiles; so that there is no just ground of discouragement on that head. He who has been able to graff in the branches of the wild-olive, can easily re-instate the natural branches: and in the same way that he effected the one, he will effect the other. It was by the instrumentality of holy men of old that God wrought effectually on the Gentile world: and it is by exertions of a similar kind that he will restore the Jewish people [Note: Isa 62:10-12.]. We know what self-denying efforts were made by the Apostles and the primitive Christians for our salvation: and such are the exertions which we should make in behalf of our Jewish brethren. Indeed, if it were possible, we are bound by tenfold greater obligations to labour for them, than ever their ancestors were for us: for we actually stand in their place, which has been vacated by them, in order that we might fill it. Hear what is spoken in the chapter before us: Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well: it is true, says the Apostle: and however mysterious the fact may appear, I cannot deny it. What a view, then, is here opened to us! The Jews were broken off, in order that we Gentiles might be grafted in. What, I would ask, should be our feelings at the sight of a Jew? Should we not be filled with compassion towards him? and should not the contemplation of our own privileges cause our bowels to yearn over him? Should not that truth be instantly brought to our minds, Thou wast broken off, that I might be graffed in; and I am occupying, as it were, the place which thou hast vacated for me? Who can entertain for a moment such a reflection as this, and not pant for an opportunity to bring him to a renewed enjoyment of his lost inheritance? Methinks, every one of us, surveying the branches scattered over the face of the earth, and contemplating Gods assured purpose to restore them to himself, should say, God helping me, I will never cease to labour till I have been the happy means of reinstating one withered branch in its own olive-tree. For this I will labour: for this I will pray: for this I will combine my exertions with others, that, by united efforts, we may accomplish what cannot be attained by individual exertion. Is not this reasonable? Is not this what God may well expect at our hands? Is it not a duty which we should have performed long ago? Is not the deplorable state of the Jewish people at this time in a great measure owing to the grievous neglect of Christians, who, for seventeen hundred years, have acquiesced in their rejection from God, without any serious efforts for their restoration to him? As for the excuses which we make for this neglect, we know, and our own consciences tell us, that they are only a cloak for our own supineness. If we even believed the impracticability of human efforts, should we not, at least, implore for them the interposition of their God? But our prayers in secret have been as true an index of our minds towards them, as our efforts in public. Let us take shame to ourselves on account of our past neglect; and let us now address ourselves to our duty; determined, at least, to obtain this testimony both from God and from our own consciences, that, whether successful or not in our labours for them, We have done what we could. Our every effort will be pleasing to God: and, though he should refuse to confer on us the honour we affect, of raising up the tabernacle of David that is broken down, he will at least accept our pious inclinations, and, in the presence of the whole assembled universe, will say to each of us, Thou hast done well, in that it was in thy heart.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Ver. 22. Severity ] Gr. , Resection or cutting off, as a surgeon cutteth off proud and dead flesh. The dispersion of the Jews for this sixteen hundred years and upward is such, as that one of their own Rabbis concludeth from thence that their Messiah must needs be come; and they must needs suffer so much for killing him. Epiphanius testifieth, that after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews of Tiberius had this custom, when any of their friends or kindred were at the point of death, they would secretly whisper them in the ear to this purpose: Believe in Jesus of Nazareth, whom our rulers crucified; for he shall come again to judge thee at the last day. Fincelius also (Lib. iii. de miraculis ) tells of a certain converted Jew of Ratisbon, who being demanded (among other questions put to him by the Christians) why the Jews did so exceedingly desire the blood of Christians, answered that that was a great secret among them, known to none but their chiefest Rabbis; but this was their custom, to anoint their dying friends with the blood of Christians, and to use words to this effect: If he that was promised in the law and prophets hath already appeared, and that Jesus who was crucified were the true Messiah, let this blood of an innocent man, who died in the faith of Jesus, cleanse thee from thy sins, and be a means to further thine eternal happiness. Oh, the severity of God! and, oh, the obstinace and misery of this hard hearted people!
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
22 .] The caution of the preceding verse is unfolded into a setting before the Gentile of the true state of the matter. Behold therefore ( posito , that thou enterest into the feeling prompted by the last verse) the goodness and the severity (no allusion to in its literal sense) of God: towards those who fell (see on Rom 11:11 ).
Here the are opposed to , the figure being for the moment dropped: for can hardly be used of the branches , but of men ) severity; but towards thee, the goodness of God (the nominatives here, as involving a departure from the construction, are preferable: and the repetition of is quite in the manner of the Apostle: see 1Co 1:24-25 . Rckert thinks that because Clem [108] Alex. Pdag. i. 8 [70], p. 140 P., understands , in , of the of men ( ), may have been a marginal gloss to guard against this mistake, and may have found its way into the text, misplaced. But this is hardly probable: is much more likely to have been erased as unnecessary), if thou abide by (reff.) that goodness; for ([supply otherwise :] assuming that thou dost not abide by that goodness) thou also shalt be cut off (ind. fut. The placing only a comma at , as Meyer, not Lachm. (Exo 2 ) and Tischend.(Exo 7 [and 8]), prevents the break evidently intended between the treatment of the case of the Gentile and that of the Jews).
[108] Clement of Alexandria, fl. 194
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 11:22 . Behold then God’s goodness and severity, sc. , in the case of the Gentiles and Jews as now before us. : here only in N.T. The moral idea is that of peremptoriness, inexorableness; in Greek writers it is contrasted with , , . Cf. 2Co 13:10 . : if you remain on in the goodness, i.e. , continue to be indebted to it, and to it alone, for your religious position. This excludes presumption, and in general all such temper as is be trayed in taking an attitude of superiority to the Jews. The Jews lost their standing because they had come to believe that it was indefectible, and independent of moral conditions; and if the Gentiles commit the same mistake they will incur the same doom. It is not to Israel only God may say, The kingdom is taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. , otherwise: see Rom 11:6 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Behold. App-133.
goodness. See Rom 2:4.
severity = cutting off. Greek. apotomia. Only here.
toward = on, as above.
if. App-118.
continue. See Rom 6:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
22.] The caution of the preceding verse is unfolded into a setting before the Gentile of the true state of the matter. Behold therefore (posito, that thou enterest into the feeling prompted by the last verse) the goodness and the severity (no allusion to in its literal sense) of God:-towards those who fell (see on Rom 11:11).
Here the are opposed to , the figure being for the moment dropped: for can hardly be used of the branches, but of men) severity; but towards thee, the goodness of God (the nominatives here, as involving a departure from the construction, are preferable: and the repetition of is quite in the manner of the Apostle: see 1Co 1:24-25. Rckert thinks that because Clem[108] Alex. Pdag. i. 8 [70], p. 140 P., understands , in , of the of men ( ), may have been a marginal gloss to guard against this mistake, and may have found its way into the text, misplaced. But this is hardly probable: is much more likely to have been erased as unnecessary), if thou abide by (reff.) that goodness; for ([supply otherwise:] assuming that thou dost not abide by that goodness) thou also shalt be cut off (ind. fut. The placing only a comma at , as Meyer,-not Lachm. (ed. 2) and Tischend.(ed. 7 [and 8]),-prevents the break evidently intended between the treatment of the case of the Gentile and that of the Jews).
[108] Clement of Alexandria, fl. 194
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 11:22. , goodness and severity) An important disjunction.-, thou shalt have continued) To continue is in respect to what is good, in this verse; in respect to what is evil in the next [, abide in unbelief]. The one is described on the part of God, the other on the part of man comp. Rom 11:28; Rom 11:30, etc. The Roman [Church] has not remained in goodness, since the righteousness of works has been introduced.-, otherwise) Believers may utterly fall away.-, thou shalt be cut off) by the sword; not merely, shalt be broken off [], as they were, by the hand. , LXX., , I cut off, Jer 44:8, not however generally in that sense, in which, I utterly destroy, (), is used.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 11:22
Rom 11:22
Behold then the goodness and severity of God:-God is noted for two qualities apparently contradictory. One is goodness, mercy, pity; the other is severity, wrath, vengeance.
toward them that fell, severity;-On the Jews, who, despite all his goodness and mercy to them, the wonders and deliverances he had shown them through a long series of years, turns from him and refused to trust and obey him, he visited severity and wrath. He brought them to destruction as a people.
but toward thee, Gods goodness,-On the Gentiles, who through their fathers were without God and without hope in the world, had believed in Christ, and God had bestowed on them his goodness and mercy.
if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.-If they would continue in the channel of faithfulness in which his mercy flowed; otherwise they should be cut off, and then his wrath would fall upon them. [These verses are marked by repeated and emphatic warnings to Gentile believers against falling away from a state of favor with God, as the Jews had fallen, after the same example of unbelief. And the warning is equally appropriate and as needful to believers at the present time.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
therefore: Rom 2:4, Rom 2:5, Rom 9:22, Rom 9:23, Num 14:18-22, Deu 32:39-43, Jos 23:15, Jos 23:16, Psa 58:10, Psa 58:11, Psa 78:49-52, Psa 136:15-22, Isa 66:14
severity: The term severity [Strong’s G663], from [Strong’s G575], from, and , to cut off, properly denotes excision, cutting off, as the gardener cuts off, with a pruning knife, dead boughs, or luxuriant stems.
if thou: Rom 2:7, Luk 8:15, Joh 8:31, Joh 15:4-10, Act 11:23, Act 14:22, 1Co 15:2, Gal 6:9, 1Th 3:5, 1Th 3:8, Heb 3:6, Heb 3:14, Heb 10:23, Heb 10:35-39, 1Jo 2:19, Jud 1:20, Jud 1:21
otherwise: Eze 3:20, Eze 18:24, Eze 33:17-19, Mat 3:9, Mat 3:10, Joh 15:2, Rev 2:5
Reciprocal: Num 26:65 – They shall 2Ch 33:24 – General Psa 19:9 – judgments Psa 28:4 – the work Psa 101:1 – I will sing Eze 14:8 – I will cut Hos 2:4 – I will not Nah 1:7 – Lord Act 9:4 – he fell Rom 15:8 – truth Jam 1:25 – and
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Rom 11:22-23. The goodness and severity of God are applied to those only who deserve it, depending on whether men are believers or unbelievers. And this is true regardless of whether they are Jews or Gentiles. (See Act 10:34-35.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 11:22. Behold therefore. The exhortation of Rom 11:20 (Be not high-minded, but fear) is virtually repeated in Rom 11:22-24, but now as an inference (therefore) from Rom 11:21.
The goodness and severity of God. The former word is rendered kindness in Eph 2:7 and elsewhere; the latter is the inflexible rigor of justice; both refer to the manifestations of Gods attributes, rather than to the attributes themselves.
On them that fell; the unbelieving Jews, the figure of the branches being dropped for the moment.
Severity. This word is in the nominative, according to the weightier authorities, and we may supply there is.
But on thee; the preposition is the same as before; toward might be used in both cases, but on is somewhat closer to the original.
Gods goodness; the nominative is the correct form here also, and the word Gods is abundantly supported.
If thou continue, etc. This is the common language of warning to Christians; the passage should not be used for or against the doctrines of perseverance, irresistible grace, etc. Moreover the warning is addressed to the Gentiles as individualized, not to an individual Gentile.
Otherwise, or, seeing that otherwise? the last word being implied, not expressed.
Thou also shalt be out off. The word is a strong one, as if the branch were taken off with a sudden stroke of the axe. The warning is for every one of us Gentile Christians, and the wider application seems more appropriate than ever. Should judgment come on what is termed Christendom for its failure to abide in Gods goodness, the cutting off will be final; no promise remains as in the case of the Jewish nation; see next verse.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle, in these and the following verses, proceeds in his exhortation to the Gentiles, not to insult over the rejected Jews, but to carry it towards them with great modesty and Christian humility; and he useth several arguments by way of motive to excite and quicken them thereunto.
The two first are drawn from the severity of God in cutting off the Jews, and the goodness and bounty of God in calling of the Gentiles; Behold the goodness and severity of God, &c. Justice and mercy, goodness and severity, are attributes or qualities eminently found in God; and contrary only in their effects upon men. The same God is merciful and severe, with respect to different persons and different qualifications. All mercy is not a virtue, but that which is consistent with other perfections of wisdom and righteousness.
The next argument is taken from the condition upon which the Gentiles hold their present standing in the favour and grace of God; namely, If they continue in his goodness; that is, if they walk worthy of this favour from God, and suitably to such a kind and gracious dispensation; otherwise they, the Gentiles, shall be cut off and cast away, as well as the stubborn and unbelieving Jews. The Lord is with a people only whilst they are with him; if they serve and seek him, he will be found of them; but if they forsake him, he will cast them off for ever.
The next argument to suppress arrogancy and pride in the Gentiles, and to prevent their insulting over the fallen Jews, is taken from the hopes of the Jews’ restoration; which the apostle proves to be both possible and probable.
They shall be graffed in, if they abide not in unbelief; for God is able to graff them in again. As if the apostle had said, “The same God that rejected them, is able to restore them, and re-ingraff them; the only obstacle is their unbelief, and this God is also able to remove.”
Lastly, He shows the probability as well as the possibility of the Jews’ conversion; namely, because God had done that which was more unlikely already, to wit, in graffing the Gentiles, who were wild olives, into the true olive, which was more difficult and unlikely than to graff in the Jews again, which were natural branches.
The argument runs thus: “If the Gentiles, which were a kind of wild scion into a good stock; how much more shall the Jews, which are the natural branches of the good olive, be graffed again into their own olive-tree, to which they formerly did belong! The one is according to the order of nature, but the other is against and contrary to nature.”
Learn hence, How improbable and unlikely, how difficult and impossible soever, the conversion and calling of the Jews to the Christian religion may seem to us, it is neither contrary to right reason nor true faith.
The greatest obstacle in the way of the Jews’ conversion to Christianity, it is to be feared, lies in the wicked and scandalous lives of those that call themselves Christians.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 11:22-23. Behold, therefore In this dispensation; the goodness and severity of God Consider them maturely, and lay them deeply to heart: on them which fell The unbelieving Jews, who took offence at the mean appearance of Jesus, and so fell into unbelief, and were cut off for it; severity Or the exercise of strict justice; for God laid righteousness to the line, and judgment to the plummet, and dealt with them according to their sins, after many ages of astonishing patience and long-suffering exercised toward them. Observe, reader, God is most severe toward those who have been most distinguished by advantages on the one hand, and the abuse of them on the other. Divine patience, and privileges abused, turn to the greatest wrath. The word , here rendered severity, literally means, a cutting off; the effect being put for severity, the cause. But toward thee Who art called to faith in Christ, without any merit in thyself; goodness Benignity and gentleness, as signifies; if thou continue in his goodness That is, walk worthy of this privilege, into which thou art brought by Gods goodness: or, if thou be careful to maintain thine interest in Gods favour by continuing to depend upon, and comply with the design of his free grace, and endeavouring to please him continually: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off From communion with God and his people. And they also The Jewish nation; if they abide not in unbelief And thereby continue to reject Christ; shall be grafted in Restored to union with Christ and his church; for God is able to graft them in again And willing also, as the word is frequently taken: (see Rom 4:21; Rom 14:4; Heb 2:18 🙂 for it was to no purpose to mention Gods ability to graft in the Jews, unless it had been accompanied with willingness. Locke says, This grafting in again seems to import, that the Jews shall be a flourishing nation again, professing Christianity in the land of promise; for that is to be reinstated again in the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This Paul might, for good reasons, be withheld from speaking out here. But in the prophets there are very plain intimations of it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 22-24 derive for believers of Gentile origin the practical application of all they have been reminded of in Rom 11:17-21.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them [the Jews] that fell, severity [for lack of faith, not want of merit]; but toward thee [O Gentile], God’s goodness [kindness not won by thy merit, else it were justice, not goodness; but goodness toward thee by reason of thy faith: a goodness which will be continued to thee], if thou continue [by faith, and the works thereof, to keep thyself] in his goodness: otherwise thou also [even as was the Jew for like reasons before thee] shalt be cut off. [From the theocratic tree. Severity and goodness, as used here, are merely relative. They do not express the true condition, but merely the state of affairs as viewed by those who still clung to the idea of legal justification and salvation by merit. To those holding such views it seemed severe indeed that the better man should be cut off for lack of faith, and a strange act of goodness that the worse should be received by reason of it and given opportunity to become fruitful; but the seeming severity vanishes and only the goodness remains when we reflect that according to the righteous judgment of God it was impossible that either of them should be received any other way. The apostle’s next purpose is to present a further argument against Gentile pride; viz., the final restoration of the Jewish people and the restitution of all their original privileges and rights. This prophetic fact is revealed as a possibility in the next two verses, and established fully as a decreed event in the next section.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
11:22 {11} Behold therefore the {x} goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [his] {y} goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
(11) Seeing that the matter itself declares that election comes not by inheritance (although the fault is in men, and not in God, why the blessing of God is not perpetual) we must take good heed that those things are not found in ourselves, which we think blameworthy in others, for the election is sure, but those that are truly elect and ingrafted, are not proud in themselves with contempt of others, but with due reverence to God, and love towards their neighbour, run to the mark which is set before them.
(x) The tender and loving heart.
(y) In that state which God’s bountifulness has advanced you to: and we must mark here that he is not speaking of the election of every individual man, which remains steadfast forever, but of the election of the whole nation.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
"Those who fell" are the unbelieving Jews, and "you" are the believing Gentiles. The positions are reversible. Gentiles can become objects of God’s sternness, and Jews can become the object of His kindness. This depends on their responses to God. Their response determines whether God will spare them (Rom 11:21) or cut them off (Rom 11:22).