Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 11:32
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
32. For God, &c.] Lit. For God did shut up the all together into disobedience, that He may compassionate the all. We give this literal version, though barbarous as English, to elucidate the exact reference of the Greek. “ The all ” are “all the persons in question”; Gentiles and Jews alike, who by turns have occupied the position of aliens from the enjoyment of salvation. The Divine Sovereign has permitted each great class in turn thus to develope its own sin of rebellious unbelief, (“shutting them up into it,” as into a cage, or trap, into which they have leapt,) in order to the complete display of mercy, and only mercy, wholly apart from privilege or merit, in the salvation both of Gentiles and of Jews. Here again mercy is the emphatic idea. “ Did shut up: ” i.e. when He “cut off” the Jews: for this completed, as it were, the process of that developement of unbelief which was to bring out into clear light the equal sovereignty of mercy in all cases.
“ All ” must manifestly be taken here, as so often elsewhere, (see on ch. Rom 5:18,) with limitation. St Paul is contemplating not the whole race, but the whole Church in its two great elements Gentile and Jewish. See Rom 2:8-9, for his distinct warning of a “judgment without mercy” on the impenitent and unbelieving, Gentiles and Jews alike.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For God hath concluded … – The word translated here concluded sunekleise, is rendered in the margin shut them all up together. It is properly used in reference to those who are shut up in prison, or to those in a city who are shut up by a besieging army; 1 Macc. 5:5; 6:18; 11:65; 15:25; Jos 6:6; Isa 45:1. It is used in the New Testament of fish taken in a net; Luk 5:6, They enclosed a great multitude of fishes; Gal 3:22, But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise, etc. In this place the Scripture is declared to have shut them up under sin, that is, declared them to be sinners; gave no hope of rescue by any works of their own; and thus kept them Rom 11:23 shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed. All are represented, therefore, as in prison, enclosed or confined by God, and to be liberated only in his own way and time. In regard to the agency of God in this, we may remark:
(1) That the word does not mean that God compelled them to disbelieve the gospel. When, in Gal 3:22, the Scripture is said to have included all under sin, it is not meant that the Scripture compelled them not to believe.
(2) The word does not imply that the sin and unbelief for which they were shut up were not voluntary. Even when a man is committed to prison, the crime which brought him there is voluntary, and for it he is responsible.
(3) The keeper of a prison does no wrong in confining a criminal; or the judge in condemning him; or the executioner in fulfilling the sentence of the Law. So of God. What he does is not to compel people to remain under unbelief, but to declare that they are so; so to encompass them with the proof of it that they shall realize that there is no escape from the evidence of it, and thus to press on them the evidence of their need of a Saviour. This he does in relation to all sinners who ever become converted.
(4) Yet God permitted this; suffered Jews and Gentiles to fall into unbelief, and to be concluded under it, because he had a special purpose to answer in leaving man to the power of sin and unbelief. One of those purposes was, doubtless, to manifest the power of his grace and mercy in the plan of redemption.
(5) In all this, and in all other sin man is voluntary. He chooses his course of evil; and God is under no obligation to compel him to do otherwise. Being under unbelief, God declares the fact, and avails himself of it, in the plan of salvation by grace.
Them all – Both Jews and Gentiles.
In unbelief – eis. Unto unbelief. He has delivered them over unto unbelief, as a man is delivered over into prison. This is the literal meaning of the expression.
That he might have mercy upon all – Mercy is favor shown to the undeserving. It could not have been shown to the Jews and the Gentiles unless it was before proved that they were guilty. For this purpose proof was furnished that they were all in unbelief. It was clear, therefore, that if favor was shown to either, it must be on the same ground, that of mere undeserved mercy. Thus, all people were on a level; and thus all might be admitted to heaven without any invidious distinctions, or any dealings that were not in accordance with mercy and love. The emphasis in this verse is on the word mercy. It signifies that God is under obligation to no one, and therefore that all are saved by grace, because all are equally ruined. (Calvin.) It does not prove that all people will be saved; but that those who are saved shall be alike saved by the mercy of God; and that He intends to confer salvation on Jews and Gentiles on the same terms. This is properly the close of the argument of this Epistle. By several independent trains of reasoning, the apostle had come to the same conclusion, that the Jews had no special privileges in regard to religion, that all people were on a level, and that there was no hope of salvation for any but in the mercy of a sovereign God. This conclusion, and the wonderful train of events which had led to this state of things, give rise to the exclamations and ascriptions of praise with which the chapter closes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief] , God hath shut or locked them all up under unbelief. This refers to the guilty state of both Jews and Gentiles. They had all broken God’s law-the Jews, the written law; the Gentiles, the law written in their hearts; see Ro 1:19; Ro 1:20; Ro 2:14; Ro 2:15. They are represented here as having been accused if their transgressions; tried at God’s bar; found guilty on being tried; condemned to the death they had merited; remanded to prison, till the sovereign will, relative to their execution, should be announced; shut or locked up, under the jailer, unbelief; and there both continued in the same state, awaiting the execution of their sentence: but God, in his own compassion, moved by no merit in either party, caused a general pardon by the Gospel to be proclaimed to all. The Jews have refused to receive this pardon on the terms which God has proposed it, and therefore continue locked up under unbelief. The Gentiles have welcomed the offers of grace, and are delivered out of their prison. But, as the offers of mercy continue to be made to all indiscriminately, the time will come when the Jews, seeing the vast accession of the Gentile world to the kingdom of the Messiah, and the glorious privileges which they in consequence enjoy, shall also lay hold on the hope set before them, and thus become with the Gentiles one flock under one shepherd and bishop of all their souls. The same figure is used Ga 3:22, Ga 3:23. But the Scripture hath concluded , locked up all under sin, that the promise, by faith of Christ Jesus, might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept, , we were guarded as in a strong hold, under the law; shut up, , locked up together unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. It is a fine and well chosen metaphor in both places, and forcibly expresses the guilty, helpless, wretched state of both Jews and Gentiles.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
q.d. God hath, in just judgment, shut up both Jews and Gentiles, equally and successively, in unbelief, as in a prison, that so, in his own time, he might fulfil the counsel of his will, in showing undeserved mercy unto all: i.e. unto both Jews and Gentiles; first the Jews, and then the Gentiles; and then at last, both to Jews and Gentiles. By all here he means, those that shall believe, whether of one sort or of the other, as appears from that parallel place, Gal 3:22. Luther, in a very great conflict, had much support from this text.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
32. For God hath concluded them allin unbelief“hath shut them all up to unbelief”
that he might have mercy uponallthat is, those “all” of whom he had beendiscoursing; the Gentiles first, and after them the Jews [FRITZSCHE,THOLUCK, OLSHAUSEN,DE WETTE,PHILIPPI, STUART,HODGE]. Certainly it isnot “all mankind individually” [MEYER,ALFORD]; for the apostleis not here dealing with individuals, but with those great divisionsof mankind, Jew and Gentile. And what he here says is that God’spurpose was to shut each of these divisions of men to the experiencefirst of an humbled, condemned state, without Christ, and then to theexperience of His mercy in Christ.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,…. Both Jews and Gentiles, particularly God’s elect among them: some think the metaphor is taken from the binding up of sheaves in bands; and that Jews and Gentiles are the sheaves, and unbelief the band, in which they are bound together; but the apostle is not speaking of their being together in unbelief, but as separate, first the Gentiles, and now the Jews: rather it seems to be taken from a prison, and Jews and Gentiles are represented as prisoners, and unbelief the prison, in which they are shut up by God: not that God is the author of unbelief, or of any other sin in men; he does not put it into them, or them into that, but finding them in unbelief, concludes them in it, or leaves them in such a state, and does not as yet however deliver out of it, or say to the prisoners, go forth: moreover, to be “concluded in unbelief”, is the same as to be “concluded under sin”, Ga 3:22; that is, to be thoroughly convinced of it; and to be held and bound down by such a sense of it in the conscience, as to see no way to escape deserved punishment, or to obtain salvation, but by fleeing to the mercy of God in Christ:
that he might have mercy upon all: not upon all the individuals of Jews and Gentiles; for all are not concluded in, or convinced of the sin of unbelief, but only such who are eventually believers, as appears from the parallel text, Ga 3:22; and designs all God’s elect among the Jews, called “their fulness”, Ro 11:12; and all God’s elect among the Gentiles, called “the fulness of the Gentiles”, Ro 11:25; for whom he has mercy in store, and will bestow it on them; and in order to bring them to a sense of their need of it, and that he may the more illustriously display the riches of it, he leaves them for a while in a state of unbelief, and then by his Spirit thoroughly convinces them of it, and gives them faith to look to, and believe in, the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Hath shut up (). First aorist active indicative of , to shut together like a net (Lu 5:6). See Ga 3:22 for this word with (under sin). This is a resultant (effective) aorist because of the disbelief and disobedience of both Gentile (1:17-32) and Jew (2:1-3:20).
All ( ). “The all” (both Gentiles and Jews).
That he might have mercy (—). Purpose with and aorist active subjunctive. No merit in anyone, but all of grace. “The all” again, who receive God’s mercy, not that “all” men are saved.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Concluded [] . Only here, Luk 5:6; Gal 3:22, 23. A very literal rendering, etymologically considered; con together, claudere to shut. The A. V. followed the Vulgate conclusit. So Hooker : “The person of Christ was only touching bodily substance concluded within the grave.” The word has lost this sense. Rev., hath shut up. Some explain in the later Greek sense, to hand over to a power which holds in ward.
All [ ] . Lit., the all. The totality, Jews and Gentiles, jointly and severally.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,” (sunekleisen gar ho theos tous pantas eis apeitheian) “For God shut them all up or out in (their) disobedience,” cut them off or shut them all out nationally in their state of disobedience or unbelief, therefore in their untrustworthiness; Each as all Gentiles are, was concluded under sin, by nature, Rom 3:9; Rom 3:19; Gal 3:22. God judged them as a nation, in sending them into captivity to all nations, till the Gentile age and church age is finished, Luk 21:24.
2) “That he might have mercy upon all,” (hina tous pantas eleese) “in order that he may show mercy to or toward all,” In commissioning and sending his Holy Spirit empowered church into all nations to preach the gospel to all nations, and every creature; which he did, Mat 28:18-20; Mar 16:15; Joh 20:21; Luk 24:46-49; Act 1:8. The “ye and you all” of these citations refer to the “church body ye” or “you all”; not to the sum total of all believers.
No person is in the church, the body of Christ, the house, the temple of God, in commissioned (authorized) labors for the Lord, except or unless he has been baptized and entered into sacred covenant with other like believers to carry on a program of worship and service for the Lord; Eph 1:22-23; Eph 4:11-13; 1Co 3:16-17; 1Ti 3:15; That there is an intangible, mystical body of Christ, made up of all believers, without either baptism or a covenant to worship and serve God together in some particular earthly locality, is a myth, unscriptural and anti -scriptural. Just as the house of Israel always referred to that earthly organized identified people, with a fellowship covenant to do God’s Holy work and service, so does the House of God today refer to the church of the Living God, which Jesus, called out, set up, established, and commissioned before he went back to heaven and told to tarry at Jerusalem until she was empowered to go into all nations, till he returns; Mat 4:13-20; Mat 16:18-19; Mat 20:28; Luk 24:46-48; Act 1:8-11; Act 20:28; Eph 3:8-10; Eph 3:21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
32. For God has shut up, etc. A remarkable conclusion, by which he shows that there is no reason why they who have a hope of salvation should despair of others; for whatever they may now be, they have been like all the rest. If they have emerged from unbelief through God’s mercy alone, they ought to leave place for it as to others also. For he makes the Jews equal in guilt with the Gentiles, that both might understand that the avenue to salvation is no less open to others than to them. For it is the mercy of God alone which saves; and this offers itself to both. This sentence then corresponds with the testimony of Hosea, which he had before quoted, “I will call those my people who were not my people.” But he does not mean, that God so blinds all men that their unbelief is to be imputed to him; but that he hath so arranged by his providence, that all should be guilty of unbelief, in order that he might have them subject to his judgment, and for this end, — that all merits being buried, salvation might proceed from his goodness alone. (371)
Paul then intends here to teach two things — that there is nothing in any man why he should be preferred to others, apart from the mere favor of God; and that God in the dispensation of his grace, is under no restraint that he should not grant it to whom he pleases. There is an emphasis in the word mercy; for it intimates that God is bound to none, and that he therefore saves all freely, for they are all equally lost. But extremely gross is their folly who hence conclude that all shall be saved; for Paul simply means that both Jews and Gentiles do not otherwise obtain salvation than through the mercy of God, and thus he leaves to none any reason for complaint. It is indeed true that this mercy is without any difference offered to all, but every one must seek it by faith.
(371) The verb which [ Calvin ] renders conclusi , συνέκλεισε means to shut up together. The paraphrase of [ Chrysostom ] is, that “God has proved ( ἤλεγξεν) all to be unbelieving.” [ Wolfius ] considers the meaning the same with Rom 3:9, and with Gal 3:22. God has in his providence, as well as in his word, proved and demonstrated, that all mankind are by nature in a state of unbelief and of sin and of condemnation.
God has shut up together, etc., “how?” asks [ Pareus ]; then he answers, “by manifesting, accusing, and condemning unbelief, but not by effecting or approving it.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(32) Unhappy as the fate of the world might seem, first the Gentiles and then the Jews being consigned to a state of disobedience, this has really had a merciful object in the end. It will lead to a happy and complete reunion, one flock under one shepherd.
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief.A weighty sentence embracing the whole course of human history, and summing up the divine philosophy of the whole matter. We might almost take these profound words of St. Paul as a motto for the theological side of the theory of evolution. Severe and rigorous as that doctrine may seem, its goal is perfection, the absolute harmony of all things working in accordance with the divine will. And if an objection is taken on the ground of the waste of individual life, this may be subject to we know not what beneficent rectifications in a sphere removed from that of the senses. We are able to see only a part of Gods ways, and the drift and tendency of visible things makes it not difficult for us to believe that all things work together for good, even where the process by which they do so is not to be traced by the human eye.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. Concluded them all in unbelief Unbelief, a state of entire disobedience.
Concluded Inasmuch as they first so conclude themselves. The parallel passage in Gal 3:22, reads: “But the Scripture hath concluded all ( things, neuter gender) under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” And the parallel thought is in Rom 5:18. The words suggest the following points, 1. The sentence of death resting personally upon Adam, but for the interposed Redeemer, would have closed his life, and foreclosed posterity. (Note on Joh 14:19.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.’
The section now ends with an emphasis on the primary theme, the salvation of all, both Jew and Gentile. For God’s purpose in shutting up to disobedience both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 1:18 to Rom 3:20; note especially ‘God gave them up to’), is so that He might eventually be in a position to have mercy on all (i.e. ‘all’ meaning either ‘all who will accept it by believing in the Messiah’ or ‘all’ in the sense of it being inclusive of both Jews and Gentiles). That is His hope. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Pe 3:9). But, of course, it requires repentance and belief in the Messiah, and that is what is lacking by many.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 11:32. For God hath concluded them all, &c. Them is not in the original, and should not be in the translation. Concluded is no English word in this place; the sense of the Greek verb is, he hath locked, or shut up together, which may be properly rendered by the Latin word concludo; but we never in English use the word conclude to signify to lock or shut up. The word in the original is found but in three places besides this, viz. Luk 5:6 where it is well rendered inclosed; and Gal 3:22-23 where in one verse it is rendered very improperly concluded, and in the other shut up. All were locked up under sin, and the Jews in particular were locked up under the law; so here God has locked up all together in unbelief. Now, as all Jews and Gentiles, before Christ came, were locked up under sin, and the Jews were locked up under the law, condemning them to death;(not as if none of them could be saved, or be in a state of acceptance with God, but only so far, and in this sense, as the ground of their pardon and redemption was not laid, or the price of their redemption was not paid, till Christ, by the sacrifice of himself, took away the sin of the world;) so here first the Gentiles, afterwards the Jews are locked up in unbelief; not as if they were therefore locked out of the favour of God, and excluded from eternal life; for unbelief is here to be understood, not in the absolute, but in the relative sense;not in the absolute sense, as it is a principle, which renders a man wicked, but with reference to the kingdom of God in this world, or as it disqualifies a person from being a sharer in the honours and privileges of that kingdom.It is unbelief in profession, which stands opposed, not to a life of holiness and virtue, or of eternal happiness in the world to come, but only to faith in profession. That the Apostle here means unbelief in this general relative sense, and only so far as it excludes a person out of the present kingdom of God, is evident; for this verse stands in immediate connection with the two foregoing; and ALL here includes the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles in those verses. But the unbelieving Gentiles are those (Rom 11:30.) who in times past had not believed God; but now, upon their conversion to Christianity, had obtained mercy; consequently, they were the whole body of Gentiles, who, from the time when the covenant was made with Abraham, to the time when they embraced the faith of the Gospel, had not believed God; that is, had not been numbered among the subjects of his visible kingdom, as the Jews were during that period. And the unbelieving Jews are those (Rom 11:31.) who now do not believe God; but at last shall upon their conversion to Christianity, obtain mercy; consequently, they are the whole body of Jews, who, from the time of their rejecting the kingdom ofGod under the Messiah, have not believed God; that is, have not been numbered amongthe subjects of his visible kingdom, as the believing Gentiles now are. All this is clear; and therefore we may conclude, first, that the unbelief which the Apostle here speaksof is not the faulty character of particular persons, but the general profession of whole nations through a long tract of time: neither, secondly, is it that unbelief which subjects persons to final condemnation; for that unbelief will not terminate in their obtaining mercy: but the unbelief under which the Gentiles were locked up, terminated in their obtaining mercy, and so will the unbelief of the Jews also. Thirdly, the whole body of Gentiles, who embraced the Christian religion, obtained mercy; and so will the whole body of the Jews, at the future period whereof the Apostle speaks; but evidently this relates to their being admitted to the privileges of God’s kingdom in this world; consequently their unbelief, which stands opposed to their obtaining mercy, relates only to their being excluded from those privileges. In short, the Apostle considers the unbelieving Gentiles, during the Jewish peculiarity, as one body of men; which body of men afterwards obtained mercy, when they were taken into the visible church of God: and he likewise considers the unbelieving Jews, from the time of their rejecting Christ, to the future time of their conversion, as one bodyof men, who shall then also obtain mercy, or be brought again into the peculiar kingdom of God. Therefore, as this obtaining of mercy is no other than the election about which he argues in this Epistle, it is certain he does not therefore mean that election only of particular persons; but he means such an election as may be applied to bodies of men, with respect to their being taken into the kingdom of God in this world. Mr. Locke’s note on this place is very excellent, and sets the whole of this important subject in a very clear light. “The unbelief,” says he, “here charged nationally on Jews and Gentiles in their turns, in this and the two preceding verses, whereby they ceased to be the people of God, was evidently the disowning of his dominion; whereby they put themselves out of the kingdom which he had and ought to have in the world, and so were no longer in the state of subjects, but aliens and rebels. A general view of mankind will lead us into an easier conception of St. Paul’s doctrine, who through this whole Epistle considers the Gentiles, Jews, and Christians, as three distinct bodies of men. God, by creation, had no doubt an unquestionable sovereigntyover mankind, and this was at first acknowledged in their sacrifices and worship of him. Afterwards they withdrew themselves from their submission to him, and found out other Gods, whom they worshipped and served. This revolt from God, and the consequence of it, God’s abandoning them, St. Paul describes, ch. Rom 1:18-32. In this state of revolt from God were the nations of the earth in the time of Abraham. And then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their posterity the Israelites, upon God’s gracious call, returned to their allegiance to their ancient and rightful King and Sovereign; owned the one invisible God, creator of heaven and earth, for their God, and so became his people again, to whom he, as to his peculiar people, gave law. And thus remained the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, that is to say, the nations, as the word signifies, till the time of the Messiah; and then the Jews ceased to be the people of God, not by a direct renouncing the God of Israel, and taking to themselves other false gods whom they worshipped; but by opposing and rejecting the kingdom of God, which he proposed at that time to set up with new laws and institutions, and to a more glorious and spiritual purpose, under his Son Jesus Christ; him God sent to them, and him the nation of the Jews refused to receive as their Lord and Ruler, though he was their promised King and Deliverer, answering all the prophesies and types of him, and evidencing his mission by his miracles. By this rebellion against him, into whose hand God had committed the rule of his kingdom, and whom he had appointed Lord over all things, (and who himself is God over all, blessed for ever,) the Jews turned themselves out of the kingdom of God, and ceased to be his people, who had now no other people but those who received and obeyed his Son as their Lord and Ruler. This was the , unbelief, here spoken of. And I would be glad to know any other sense of believing or unbelief, wherein it can be nationally attributed to a people (as visibly here it is), whereby they shall cease, or come to be the people of God, or visible subjects of his kingdom here on earth. Indeed, to enjoy life and estate in this, as well as other kingdoms, not only the owning of the prince, and the authority of his laws, but also obedience to them is required: for a Jew might own the authority of God, and his law given by Moses, and so be a true subject, and as much a member of the commonwealth of Israel as any one in it, and yet forfeit his life by disobedience to the law. And a Christian may own the authority of Jesus Christ, and of the Gospel, and yet forfeit eternal life by his disobedience to the precepts of it; as may be seen, ch. Romans 7, 8, , 9”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 11:32 . Establishment of Rom 11:30 f., and that by an exhibition of the universal divine procedure, with the order of which that which is said in Rom 11:31 of the now disobedient Jews and their deliverance is incorporated . Thus Rom 11:32 is at once the grand summary and the glorious key-stone impelling once more to the praise of God (Rom 11:33 ff.) of the whole preceding section of the epistle.
: to include in ( 2Ma 5:5 , comp. Luk 5:6 ), has, in the later Greek (Diod. Sic. xix. 19, comp. xx. 74, frequently in Polybius), and in the LXX. (after the Heb. with ), also the metaphorical sense: to hand over unto or under a power which holds as it were in ward. Comp. on Gal 3:22-23 . Correspondent, as regards the notion, is , Rom 1:24 . The compound expression strengthens the meaning; it does not denote simul (Bengel and others).
The effective sense is not to be changed, which has been attempted by taking it sometimes as declarative (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Grotius, Zeger, Glass, Wolf, Carpzov, Wetstein, Ch. Schmidt), sometimes as permissive (Origen, Cornelius a Lapide, Estius, and many others, including Flatt and Tholuck).
.] towards God; see Rom 11:30-31 .
] Of Gentiles ( ) and Jews ( ) Paul has previously spoken; hence now comprises the totality , namely all Jews and Gentiles jointly and severally , “ cunctos s. universos , i. e. singulos in unum corpus colligatos,” Ellendt, Lex. Soph . II. p. 521. Comp. on the subject-matter, Rom 3:9 ; Rom 3:19 ; Gal 3:22 . So necessarily also the following . The view which understands only the two masses of Jews and Gentiles, these two halves of mankind in the gross (usually so taken recently, as by Tholuck, Fritzsche, Philippi, Ewald, Weiss), cannot suit the comprehensive . (as if it were equal to ), since it is by no means appropriate to the mere number of two , but only to their collective subjects . Not even the Jewish , Rom 11:7 ; Rom 11:28 , is to be excepted (Maier, van Hengel), because its subjects were also before their conversion sinners (Rom 3:23 ), and therefore subjected to the power of disobedience towards God; for the points back, in the case of each single member of the collective whole, to the time before conversion and until conversion. If we should desire to refer merely to the Jews (van Hengel by way of a suggestion, and Hofmann), who are meant as a people in their collective shape (consequently not in all individuals; see Hofmann), the close relationship between Rom 11:30 and Rom 11:31 would be opposed to it, since the reference of merely to the apodosis in Rom 11:31 is quite arbitrary; and, indeed, the bold concluding thought in Rom 11:32 possesses its great significance and its suitableness to the following outburst of praise, simply and solely through its all-comprehensive contents. And even apart from this, in fact never denotes: them as a collective whole, as a people , but, as universally (in 1Co 9:22 ; 1Co 10:17 ; 2Co 5:14 ; Phi 2:21 ; comp. Eph 4:13 ; 2Ma 11:11 ; 2Ma 12:40 , et al ., and in all the classical writers) all of them , as also only in this sense does the suitable emphasis fall on the repetition in the apodosis.
. . ] in order that He may have mercy upon all . This divine purpose Paul saw to be already in part attained, namely, in the case of all already converted; but its general fulfilment lay, to his view, in the development of the future on to the great terminus expressed in Rom 11:25 f. We may observe that our passage is at variance not merely with the decretum reprobationis (“hanc particulam universalem opponamus tentationi de particularitate ; non fingamus in Deo contradictorias voluntates,” Melanchthon), but also with the view (Olshausen, Krummacher, and older expositors) that Paul means the collective body of the elect . See rather Rom 11:25 f. The is not, however, to be based on our passage for this reason, that the universality of the divine purpose of redemption (comp. 1Ti 2:4 ), as well as the work of redemption having taken place for the justification of all (Rom 11:18 ), does not exclude its final non-realization in part through the fault of the individuals concerned, and cannot do away with either the applicability of the purpose-clause exhibited in principle and summarily in prophetic fashion (comp. remark on Rom 11:25 ), nor with the divine judgment on final concrete self-frustrations of the counsel of salvation. And this the less, because such misinterpretations of the universalistic axiom are opposed by the apostle’s doctrine of election as a sure corrective. There has been incorrectly discovered in such general expressions a want of consistency on the part of Paul, namely, “undeveloped outlines of a liberal conception” (Georgii in the Theol. Jahrb . 1845, I. p. 25).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Ver. 32. For God hath concluded ] Or locked them all up in the law’s dark dungeon, , Gal 3:22 . Unbelief breaks all the law at an instant by rejecting Christ, as the first act of faith obeys all the law at an instant in Christ.
That he might have mercy upon all ] Luther in a very great conflict was relieved and comforted by the often repeating of this sweet sentence.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
32. ] For (foundation of the last stated arrangement in the divine purposes) God shut up (not shut up together ; , as in so many cases, implying, not c -participation on the part of the subjects of the action, but the character of the action itself: so in ‘concludere.’ The sense is here as in the examples, which might be multiplied by consulting Schweig. huser’s Index to Polyb., ‘ to involve in,’ ‘to subject to .’ The aor., which should be kept in the rendering, refers to the time of the act in the divine procedure) all (the reading has probably been introduced from Gal 3:22 ) men in (into) disobedience (general here, every form, unbelief included), that He may have mercy on all . No mere permissive act of God must here be understood. The Apostle is speaking of the divine arrangement by which the guilt of sin and the mercy of God were to be made manifest. He treats it, as elsewhere (see ch. Rom 9:18 and note), entirely with reference to the act of God , taking no account, for the time, of human agency; which however, when treating of us and our responsibilities, he brings out into as prominent a position: see as the most eminent example of this, the closely following ch. Rom 12:1-2 .
But there remains some question, who are the of both clauses ? Are they the same ? And if so, is any support given to the notion of an of all men ? Certainly they are identical: and signify all men , without limitation. But the ultimate difference between the all men who are shut up under disobedience, and the all men upon whom mercy is shewn is, that by all men this mercy is not accepted , and so men become self-excluded from the salvation of God. GOD’S ACT remains the same, equally gracious, equally universal, whether men accept His mercy or not. This contingency is here not in view : but simply God’s act itself .
We can hardly understand the nationally . The marked universality of the expression recalls the beginning of the Epistle, and makes it a solemn conclusion to the argumentative portion, after which the Apostle, overpowered with the view of the divine Mercy and Wisdom, breaks forth into the sublimest apostrophe existing even in the pages of Inspiration itself.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
hath concluded = shut up. Greek. sunkleio, Elsewhere, Luk 5:6. Gal 1:3, Gal 1:22, Gal 1:23.
in. Greek. eis.
have mercy upon = pity.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
32.] For (foundation of the last stated arrangement in the divine purposes) God shut up (not shut up together; , as in so many cases, implying, not c-participation on the part of the subjects of the action, but the character of the action itself: so in concludere. The sense is here as in the examples, which might be multiplied by consulting Schweig. husers Index to Polyb., to involve in, to subject to. The aor., which should be kept in the rendering, refers to the time of the act in the divine procedure) all (the reading has probably been introduced from Gal 3:22) men in (into) disobedience (general here,-every form, unbelief included), that He may have mercy on all. No mere permissive act of God must here be understood. The Apostle is speaking of the divine arrangement by which the guilt of sin and the mercy of God were to be made manifest. He treats it, as elsewhere (see ch. Rom 9:18 and note), entirely with reference to the act of God, taking no account, for the time, of human agency; which however, when treating of us and our responsibilities, he brings out into as prominent a position: see as the most eminent example of this, the closely following ch. Rom 12:1-2.
But there remains some question, who are the of both clauses? Are they the same? And if so, is any support given to the notion of an of all men? Certainly they are identical: and signify all men, without limitation. But the ultimate difference between the all men who are shut up under disobedience, and the all men upon whom mercy is shewn is, that by all men this mercy is not accepted, and so men become self-excluded from the salvation of God. GODS ACT remains the same, equally gracious, equally universal, whether men accept His mercy or not. This contingency is here not in view: but simply Gods act itself.
We can hardly understand the nationally. The marked universality of the expression recalls the beginning of the Epistle, and makes it a solemn conclusion to the argumentative portion, after which the Apostle, overpowered with the view of the divine Mercy and Wisdom, breaks forth into the sublimest apostrophe existing even in the pages of Inspiration itself.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 11:32. , hath concluded together), Jews and Gentiles, comp. Gal 3:22, note. The phraseology of the LXX. Int., Psa 78:50, is , He shut up to death, he gave over.- , in [unto] disbelief) Eph 2:2. Those who have experienced the power of disbelief, at length betake themselves with the greater sincerity and simplicity to faith.-) that. The thing itself will be accomplished.- ) them all without exception, [less accurately, all, in Engl. Vers.] all together; comp. Rom 11:30-31.-, might have mercy) His mercy being acknowledged by them, Rom 11:6, when faith is given to them by Himself.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 11:32
Rom 11:32
For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.-God has shut up all unto disobedience in unbelief, that he might extend the terms of mercy unto all. [All alike are dependent on Gods mercy. Paul says (Gal 3:22) that those who are thus shut up unto disobedience and under sin will never experience the benefit of Gods mercy, and, consequently, ever remain in bondage to sin unless they become believers in Christ. Consequently, whether the mercy will ever be actually realized or not depends on faith in Christ. With this, all can realize it; without it, none can.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
God: Rom 3:9, Rom 3:22, Gal 3:22
concluded them all: or, shut them all up together, Joh 1:7, Joh 12:32, 1Ti 2:4-6
Reciprocal: 1Sa 26:8 – delivered Job 12:14 – he shutteth Job 16:11 – delivered me Psa 77:9 – shut up Jer 33:26 – and have Rom 3:23 – all have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:32
Rom 11:32. Concluded them all in unbelief does not say God caused them to become unbelievers. The truths and facts disclosed to God that all nations were unbelievers, and for that reason He put them all in that class, which would make them all the subjects of divine mercy.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 11:32. For. This introduces another general principle of Gods dealings. It serves to establish Rom 11:30-31, especially the latter, which is but a restatement of the entire discussion since Rom 11:11. Thus Rom 11:32 is at once the grand summary and the glorious key-stoneimpelling once more to the praise of God (Rom 11:33 ff.)of the whole preceding section of the Epistle (Meyer), i.e., of chaps. 9-11
God shut up all; not, hath concluded them all. The verb means to shut up as in a prison (not necessarily shut up together); hath is unnecessary, and them is improperly supplied, as if the Jews only were meant. All refers, however, to persons; comp. Gal 3:22, where all things occurs.
Unto disobedience; comp. Rom 11:30-31. This shutting up of all unto disobedience is an effective, not simply a declarative or permissive, activity of God. In the development and punishment of sinnot in its origin
He orders all things so that this result occurs with the further purpose, that he might have mercy upon all. This gracious design has already been indicated in Rom 11:30-31. All here refers to persons, and is to be interpreted in the light of other passages, particularly Gal 3:22. To ex plain it as meaning all nations is to weaken it; to limit it to the elect is contrary to the parallel, and to the fact that the showing of mercy here on the earth seems to be indicated (so Godet). To refer it to the ultimate salvation of all individuals without exception, is contrary to Gal 3:22 (where all is qualified by them that believe), to many other passages, and introduces a mechanical and fatalistic theory of Divine operations. The verse, however, sheds light on the profound mystery of sin. It will be overruled through the more profound and exalted plan for general blessing. The universality of sin is overborne by the universality of Divine grace; comp. chap. Rom 5:12 ff.; 1Co 15:21-22. Here this universality is presented mainly with reference to the proffering of mercy, not its efficiency. God makes to every one (how we may not always perceive) this proffer, but it is nowhere stated that all men are actually redeemed. Belief and unbelief are antithetical, and only through the former is grace accepted. Redemption is not a matter of force, but of freedom; of freedom on Gods part as well as mans. And the Apostle by the doxology which follows teaches us to leave what we cannot understand in this matter to the wisdom of this Free Being. We have learned Pauls meaning only when we can join in this ascription of praise.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
That is, “Almighty God hath in wisdom and righteousness suffered both Jews and Gentiles successively, for some time, to remain under the power of unbelief and disobedience, that so he might in his own time fulfil the great counsel of his goodness, in showing undeserved mercy unto all, both Jew and Gentile.”
Now from all the foregoing arguments, for the calling of the Jews, summed up together in this chapter, we may collect and gather, that the conversion of the Jewish nation to the Christian faith, has good foundation in the holy scriptures, and has been the received doctrine of the church of Christ in all ages of the church.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 32. For God hath included all in disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all.
Here we have, as it were, the full period put to all that precedes the last word in explanation of the whole plan of God, the principal phases of which have just been sketched (for). The term , to shut up together, applies to a plurality of individuals, enclosed in such a way that they have only one exit, through which they are all forced to pass. The prep. , with, which enters into the composition of the verb, describes the enclosure as subsisting on all sides at once. Some commentators have thought that there must be given to this verb a simply declarative sense, as in Gal 3:22, where it is said: The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, in this sense, that it declares all men to be subject to sin and condemnation. But in our passage the action is not ascribed to an impersonal subject like Scripture; the subject is God Himself; it is His dispensations in the course of history which are explained. The verb can therefore only refer to a real act, in virtue of which the two portions of mankind just spoken of have each had their period of disobedience. And the act whereby God has brought about this result, as we know from all that precedes, is the judgment denoted in the case of the Gentiles by the term , He gave them up, thrice repeated, Rom 1:24; Rom 1:26; Rom 1:28, and in the case of the Jews by the word , they were hardened, Rom 11:7. Only it must be remarked that this divine action had been provoked in both cases by man’s sin; on the part of the Gentiles through their ingratitude toward the revelation of God in nature, and on the part of the Jews by their ignorant obstinacy in maintaining beyond the fixed time their legal particularism. The Danish theologian Nielsen says with good reason, in his short and spiritual exposition of the Epistle to the Romans: The sinful nature already existed in all; but that the conviction of it might be savingly awakened in individuals, this latent sin required to be manifested historically on a great scale in the lot of nations. To be complete, however, it must be added that this latent sin was already manifested actively and freely on the part both of Gentiles and Jews before taking the form of a passive dispensation and of a judgment from God. Thus the act of , shutting up together, is already justified from the viewpoint of cause; but how much more magnificently still from the viewpoint of end! This end is to make those Jews and Gentiles the objects of universal mercy. The word , all, is applied by Olshausen solely to the totality of the elect in these two parts of mankind; and by Meyer, to all the individuals comprehended in these two masses, but solely, according to this author, in respect of their destination, in the divine mind. For that this destination may be realized, there is needed the free act of faith. But it should not be forgotten that this saying does not refer to the time of the last judgment and the eternal future, which would necessarily suppose the resurrection of the dead, of which there is no question here. According to the whole context, the apostle has in view an epoch in the history of the kingdom of God on this earth, an epoch, consequently, which comprehends only the individuals who shall then be in life. Hence it is that he puts the article , the, before , all; for the subject in question is a determined and already known totality, that which comprehends the two portions of mankind which Paul has been contrasting with one another throughout the whole chapter.
The domain of disobedience, within which God has successively shut them all up, leaves both in the end only one issue, that of humbly accepting salvation from the hand of mercy. As Nielsen again says: Divine impartiality, after having been temporarily veiled by two opposite particularisms, sbines forth in the final universalism which embraces in a common salvation all those whom these great judgments have successively humbled and abased. There is therefore no inference to be drawn from this passage in favor of a final universal salvation (De Wette, Farrar, and so many others), or even of a determinist system, in virtue of which human liberty would be nothing more in the eyes of the apostle than a form of divine action. St. Paul teaches only one thing here: that at the close of the history of mankind on this earth there will be an economy of grace in which salvation will be extended to the totality of the nations living here below, and that this magnificent result will be the effect of the humiliating dispensations through which the two halves of mankind shall have successively passed. The apostle had begun this vast exposition of salvation with the fact of universal condemnation; he closes it with that of universal mercy. What could remain to him thereafter but to strike the hymn of adoration and praise? This is what he does in Rom 11:33-36.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. [The verb “shut up” is, as Barnes observes, “properly used in reference to those who are shut up in prison, or to those in a city who are shut up by a besieging army (1 Macc. 5:5; 6:18; 11:65; 15:25; Jos 6:1; Isa 45:1). It is used in the New Testament of fish taken in a net (Luk 5:6).” It here means that God has rendered it impossible for any man, either Jew or Gentile, to save himself by his own merit. For some two thousand years the Gentiles sinned against God as revealed in nature, and broke his unwritten law found in their own consciences (Rom 1:19-20; Rom 2:14-16), their sin being known generally as idolatry. And now, for about an equal length of time, the Jews have sinned against God as revealed in Christ, and have broken his written law as found in the Old Testament, their sin being practically the same as that of the Gentiles, though called infidelity. Thus God shut each class up under a hopeless condemnation of disobedience as in a jail, that he might extend a general pardon to each, and save each by his grace and not by human merit. “All” is used in the general sense, and does not signify universal salvation irrespective of belief in Christ (Gal 3:22). It is used here to show that, in shifting from Gentile to Jew, God will act in no arbitrary or partial spirit. He will not reject any of either class who live worthily. It means that hereafter each class shall be equally favored in preaching and all other gospel privileges. “The emphasis,” says Calvin, “in this verse is on the word MERCY. It signifies that God is under obligation to no one, and therefore that all are saved by grace, because all are equally ruined.”]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 32
That he might have mercy; with the design of finally having mercy, &c.
Romans 11:33-36. Thus, in the conclusion of the doctrinal part of the Epistle, the writer expresses what may be regarded as the leading sentiment which he has been inculcating through the whole, viz., that no man can come to God with any merits of his own, or any claim whatever for recompense or reward; but that, as the goodness and mercy of God’s alone originate all blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, so his power and will are supreme in directing the disposal of them.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
11:32 For God hath concluded them {f} all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
(f) Both Jews and Gentiles.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The conclusion of the matter is this. As everyone has been disobedient, Gentiles and Jews alike, so God will show mercy to all as well (cf. Rom 3:9; Gal 3:22). That is, He will show mercy to all without distinction, not all without exception (cf. Rom 9:17). This is a great ground of assurance.
"A critical frame of reference in Paul’s treatment of Israel’s salvation is a distinction between corporate and individual election." [Note: Moo, p. 737.]
This concludes the argument of chapters 9-11.
"Ethnic Israel has a future, because God will accomplish salvation for Israel according to his new-covenant promise. This awaits the fullness of the Gentiles, when Israel’s hardening will be removed and when Gentile provocation will have taken its course. All Israel will be saved in such a way that God’s mercy will be evident to all." [Note: J. Lanier Burns, "The Future of Ethnic Israel in Romans 11," in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, p. 216.]
"Perhaps the view most commonly held among evangelical non-dispensationalists is that Israel’s future is simply an incorporation of that people into the church. Hoekema speaks for many when he writes, ’. . . the future of believing Israelites is not to be separated from the future of believing Gentiles.’ He states that Israel has no particular place in God’s future salvation economy: ’Israel’s hope for the future is exactly the same as that of believing Gentiles: salvation and ultimate glorification through faith in Christ.’" [Note: Saucy, The Case . . ., p. 23. The quotation is from Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, p. 201.]
Nothing remains but to praise God for His righteousness in dealing with Israel as He has and as He will.