Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 11:12
Now if the fall of them [be] the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?
12. the fall ] Same word as in Rom 11:11. See note there.
the riches ] “The unsearchable riches of Messiah,” (Eph 3:8,) which “on occasion of” the rejection of Messiah by the Jews were preached to the “world” of the Gentiles.
the diminishing ] The Gr. word, by analogy with cognate words in the classics, invites the rendering “ defeat.” But it stands here in plain contrast to that rendered “ fulness; ” and so should be interpreted a lessening, falling short, in respect of numbers. Unbelief in Messiah reduced to woeful fewness the “Israel” which was really in covenant. More and more it proved to be a mere “remnant.” And the causes which brought this about were also, under God, the causes of the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles.
how much more their fulness? ] The better cause shall produce a better effect. “ Their fulness: ” i.e. the filling up of their numbers. The true Israel shall at length include a vastly larger proportion of Israel the nation, whether or no the nation shall be literally all brought in. See further below, on Rom 11:15; Rom 11:26.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If the fall of them – If their lapse, or falling. If their temporal rejection and being cast off for a time has already accomplished so much.
Be the riches of the world – The word riches means wealth, abundance of property; more than is necessary to the supply of our needs. Hence, it means also anything that may promote our comfort or happiness, as wealth is the means of securing our welfare. The gospel is called riches, as it is the means of our highest enjoyment, and eternal welfare. It is the means of conferring numberless spiritual blessings on the Gentile world; and as this was done by the fall of the Jews, so it could be said that their fall was the riches of the world. It was the occasion or means without which the blessings of the gospel could not be conferred on the world.
The diminishing of them – Margin, Decay. Loss hettema. This word means diminution, defect, what is lacked or missing. Hence, also judgment, condemnation. Here it means their degradation; the withdrawing of their special privileges; their rejection. It stands opposed to their fulness.
The riches of the Gentiles – The means of conferring important blessings on the Gentiles.
How much more their fulness – The word fulness pleroma means what fills up, or completes anything. Thus, it is applied to what fills a vessel or cup; also to the piece of cloth which is put in to fill up the rent in a garment; Mat 9:16. To the fragments which were left when Christ had fed the five thousand; Mar 8:20; Rom 13:10. Love is the fulfilling of the law, that is, it is the filling up of the law, or what renders the obedience complete; see Gal 5:14. Here it stands opposed to their fall, and their diminution, and evidently means their complete restoration to the favor of God; their recovery from unbelief and apostasy. That there will be such a recovery, the apostle proceeds to show. The sentiment of the passage then is, If their rejection and punishment; their being cut off from the favor of God, an event apparently so unlikely to promote the spread of true religion, if their being withrawn from all active influence in spreading the true knowledge of God, be yet the occasion of so many blessings to mankind as have attended the spread of the gospel in consequence of it; how much more shall we expect when they shall be restored; when the energy and zeal of the Jewish nation shall unite with the efforts of others in spreading the knowledge of the true Messiah. In what way, or when, this shall be, we know not. But it is easy to see, that if the Jewish people should be converted to the Christian faith, they would have facilities for spreading the truth, which the church has never had without them.
(1) They are scattered in all nations, and have access to all people.
(2) Their conversion, after so long unbelief, would have all the power and influence of a miracle performed in view of all nations. It would be seen why they had been preserved, and their conversion would be a most striking fulfillment of the prophecies.
(3) They are familiar with the languages of the world, and their conversion would at once establish many Christian missionaries in the heart of all the kingdoms of the world. It would be kindling at once a thousand lights in all the dark parts of the earth.
(4) The Jews have shown that they are eminently suited to spread the true religion. It was by Jews converted to Christianity, that the gospel was first spread. Each of the apostles was a Jew; and they have lost none of the ardor, enterprise, and zeal that always characterized their nation. Their conversion would be, therefore, to give to the church a host of missionaries prepared for their work, familiar with all customs, languages, and climes, and already in the heart of all kingdoms, and with facilities for their work in advance, which others must gain only by the slow toil of many years.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. Now if the fall of them] The English reader may imagine that, because fall is used in both these verses, the original word is the same. But their fall, and the fall of them, is , the same word which we render offence, Ro 5:15; Ro 5:17-18, and might be rendered lapse. Whereas that they should fall (Ro 11:11) is, . Now, , to fall, is used in a sense so very emphatical as to signify being slain. So Homer, Il. viii., ver. 475.
, ‘ ,
,
.
And for Patroclus slain, the crowded hosts,
In narrow space, shall at the ships contend.
Such the divine decree.
And again, Il. xi., ver. 84.
,
‘ ‘ , .
While morning lasted, and the light of day
Increased, so long the weapons on both sides
Flew in thick vollies; and the people fell.
COWPER.
It is well known, that to fall in battle means to be killed. It is in such a sense as this that St. Paul used the word fall, when he says, Have they stumbled that they should FALL? He means a fall quite destructive and ruinous; whereas by their fall, and the fall of them, he means no more than such a lapse as was recoverable; as in the case of Adam’s offence. See Dr. Taylor.
The riches of the world] If, in consequence of their unbelief, the riches of God’s grace and goodness be poured out on the whole Gentile world, how much more shall that dispensation of grace and mercy enrich and aggrandize the Gentiles, which shall bring the whole body of the Jews to the faith of the Gospel! Here the apostle supposes, or rather predicts, that such a dispensation shall take place; and that, therefore, the Jews have not so stumbled as to be finally irrecoverable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Another anticipation. The apostle having showed, that the falling away of the Jews was an occasion of the coming in of the Gentiles, it might be objected, that the conversion of the Jews might likewise be an occasion of the falling away of the Gentiles. To this he answers negatively, and confirms his answer by an argument from the less to the greater; that if their fall and diminution were the riches of the Gentiles, their calling again would be so much more: q.d. If God hath made use of the fall and rejection of the Jews, for an occasion of pouring out the riches or abundance of his grace upon the nations; and if the number of believing Jews, being so very small, (which is meant by their diminishing), hath occasioned the conversion of such a multitude of Gentiles; then how much more will their fulness have the effect!
How much more their fulness! i.e. their general conversion, the coming in of the Jews, shall so fill the world with wonder, and the gospel with lustre, that a much further accession will be made even to the number of the believing Gentiles.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Now if the fall of them“Butif their trespass,” or “false step”
be the riches of theGentile
worldas being theoccasion of their accession to Christ.
and the diminishing ofthemthat is, the reduction of the true Israel to sosmall a remnant.
the riches of the Gentiles;how much more their fulness!that is, their full recovery (seeon Ro 11:26); that is, “Ifan event so untoward as Israel’s fall was the occasion of suchunspeakable good to the Gentile world, of how much greater good maywe expect an event so blessed as their full recovery to beproductive?”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world,…. By “the world”, as is clear from the next clause, is meant the Gentiles; who were frequently called so by the Jews, who reckoned themselves to be “the church”, and all the nations round about them, “the world”; which observation may serve to illustrate other passages of Scripture; see Joh 3:16; now the fall of the Jews, which was a lessening of them, was the riches of the Gentiles;
and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; the number of the true believers in Christ among them were very few, the generality of them received him not, but stumbled at him, and fell through unbelief; but the few that did believe were the means of carrying and spreading the Gospel, which is, “the unsearchable riches of Christ”, Eph 3:8, in the Gentile world: thus at first a persecution being raised against the church at Jerusalem, the ministers of the Gospel were scattered abroad, and went everywhere preaching the word; and afterwards the Jews behaving in a very indecent manner towards the apostles of Christ, they turned in a manner wholly to the Gentiles; and thus by the means of a few, a diminutive company, of which the Apostle Paul was one, the Gospel, the pearl of great price, treasure hid in a field, and put into earthen vessels, was carried into the Heathen world, and by it they were enriched. This handful of men that went out of Judea, were the means of converting vast numbers, large multitudes of souls among the Gentiles, which may be also designed by “riches”: this word sometimes signifying plenty, see Ro 2:4; and also of enriching them with the gifts and graces of the Spirit, and of directing them to Christ, who has durable riches, treasures of wisdom and knowledge, riches of grace, and riches of glory. Now the apostle argues, that if such a small number of the Jews who embraced Christ, were of so much advantage to the Gentiles,
how much more their fulness? when converts to Christ among them will be as the sand of the sea, a nation of them shall be born again at once, and all Israel be saved. This will be a great accession to the Gentile church, bring much glory to it, contribute greatly to its welfare, and be a means of establishing their faith, and of putting fresh life and vigour into them, and of inspiring them with more zeal for Christ, and for his honour and glory.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Diminishing [] . The literal translation. Rev. renders loss. Referring apparently to the diminution in numbers of the Jewish people. Other explanations are defeat, impoverishment, injury, minority. Fullness [] . See on Joh 1:16. The word may mean that with which anything is filled (1Co 10:26, 28; Mt 9:16; Mr 6:43); that which is filled (Eph 1:23); possibly the act of filling (Rom 13:10), though this is doubtful. 57 Here in the first sense : the fullness of their number contrasted with the diminution. They will belong as an integral whole to the people of God.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now if the fall of them,” (ei deto paraptoma auton) “Yet if their trespass,” their imposition on the will of God for them, their apostasy that led them to be cast off, for a time.
2) “Be the riches of the world,” the world-order, is for all the world’s benefit, and it has been, Eph 2:12; Eph 4:18. The unsearchable riches of Christ are preached to the world, occasioned by Israel’s fall.
3) “And the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles,” (kai to hettema auton ploutos ethnon) “and the defect or (defection) of them (their turning their back, as a nation of God) is the (source of) the riches of the Gentiles,” the Gentile season or times of the Gentiles; Eph 2:4-5; Eph 2:7; as surely as the Gentiles have benefited thru the fall of Israel, they shall also partake of a store of riches in store for both them and Israel, at her restoration. Even the church shall honor Christ and serve him in that golden restoration era, Luk 22:29-30; Eph 3:21.
4) “How much more their fulness,” (poso mallon to pleroma auton) “by how much more their fulness?” When Jesus returns to sit on David’s Throne and rule over the House of Israel, and all nations, Luk 1:32-33; Psa 72:8-11; Isa 46:6-8; Isa 60:3; to restore the nation of Israel, the remnant to former glory and praise to God, Zec 2:10-11; Zec 8:7-8; Zec 8:13; Zec 8:22-23.,
The riches in each instance used in this verse refers, to both temporal and eternal benefits that come to those who receive the gospel, as in 2Co 8:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. And if their fall, etc. As he had taught us that after the Jews were repudiated, the Gentiles were introduced in their place, that he might not make the salvation of the Jews to be disliked by the Gentiles, as though their salvation depended on the ruin of the Jews, he anticipates this false notion, and lays down a sentiment of an opposite kind, that nothing would conduce more to advance the salvation of the Gentiles, than that the grace of God should flourish and abound among the Jews. To prove this, he derives an argument from the less, — “If their fall had raised the Gentiles, and their diminution had enriched them, how much more their fullness?” for the first was done contrary to nature, and the last will be done according to a natural order of things. And it is no objection to this reasoning, that the word of God had flowed to the Gentiles, after the Jews had rejected, and, as it were, cast it from them; for if they had received it, their faith would have brought forth much more fruit than their unbelief had occasioned; for the truth of God would have been thereby confirmed by being accomplished in them, and they also themselves would have led many by their teaching, whom they, on the contrary, by their perverseness, had turned aside.
Now he would have spoken more strictly correct, if, to the fall, he had opposed rising: (351) of this I remind you, that no one may expect here an adorned language, and may not be offended with this simple mode of speaking; for these things were written to mold the heart and not the tongue.
(351) This is not quite correct: the first part is a mere announcement of a fact — the fall of the Jews; and then in what follows, according to the usual style of Scripture, the same thing is stated in other words, and a corresponding clause is added; and the antithesis is found to be suitable — the diminution and the completion. The reason for the restatement of the first clause seems to be this, — that the fall might not be deemed as total, but in part; it was ἣττημα, a less part, a diminution, a lessening of their number in God’s kingdom. A contrast to this is the πλήρωμα, the full or complete portion, that is, their complete restoration, as it is said in Rom 11:26. To preserve the antithesis, the first word must have its literal meaning, a diminution or lessening, that is, as to the number saved. [ Hammond ] renders the phrase, “their paucity.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) And if the fall of the Jews had such good results, much more might be expected from their reinstatement.
Diminishing . . . fulness.It is, perhaps, difficult to suggest a better translation. The Apostle seems to have in view not only the supersession of the Jews by the Gentiles, but also, under the figure of a defeat in battle, the reduction of their numbers to a small remnant. And, on the other hand, he looks forward to their full and complete restoration, when every Jew shall be a member of the Messianic kingdom, and there shall not be one missing. The full complement, as it were, of the nation is what is meant by fulness; its temporary reduction and degradation is expressed by diminishing.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Diminishing fulness Terms of contrast that serve to explain each other. Primarily they signify amount or number, and designate the small number of the Jews by conversion in the kingdom of God. They are the remnant of Rom 11:5. This is the best estate or aspect of modern Israel. It is the smallness instead of its largeness that first calls in the Gentiles. But their fulness of number, including their fulness of Gospel power in the latter day, will prove to be the riches of the Gentiles much more abundantly than their present scant.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And if their false step is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?’
For the false step of the unbelieving Jews in rejecting their Messiah, has resulted in riches for the world, because it has resulted in the Messiah being proclaimed more widely to the world so that the Gentiles have received the riches of His salvation. But at the same time it has caused loss to the unbelieving Jews as a result of their rejection (as being in God’s eyes no longer Israel). It has resulted in riches for the Gentiles, because it has caused more emphasis to be laid on the conversion of Gentiles to the Messiah, but if this be so how much more will their restoration to full belief in the Messiah result in even greater riches for the world, as they once more join Israel and use their religious zeal in proclaiming the Messiah.
This idea of ‘spiritual riches’ permeates this section. God has made known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He has beforehand prepared for glory (Rom 9:23). God is rich to all who call on Him whether Jew or Gentile (Rom 10:12). Now the fall of the unbelieving Jews has provided riches for the Gentiles, the riches of the glory that God purposes for His own, which are receivable by calling on Him in faith.
‘How much more their fullness.’ This could be seen as referring to the unbelieving Jews coming to ‘a full knowledge of Christ’, their Messiah, so that through their deeper understanding of the Scriptures they might increase the riches received by the Gentiles. We must ever remember that the Gentiles were relatively new to the Scriptures, and could not consult them with ease, whereas the Jews had been brought up to them from babyhood (see 2Ti 3:15). So once they have knowledge of the Messiah in their hearts through faith, what knowledge they could contribute, and what evangelists they will be!
Others see ‘fullness’ as referring to ‘achieving their full number’, with the idea being that the future would at some stage see an acceleration of the conversion of the Jews to a recognition of their Messiah. Compare ‘the fullness of the Gentiles’ in Rom 11:25. But either way the point is that the conversion of many Jews to Jesus Messiah will be a good thing for God’s people. What happened to Jerusalem later may well have caused many Jews to recognise that Jesus was the Messiah, because He had so clearly predicted it, and there have been other events through history which may well have resulted in conversions to Christ among the Jews. Their achieving their fullness does not necessarily require an end of age revival. It is just something that we can hope for. After all if there was only one more Jew elected to be converted, his conversion would bring Israel to its fullness, as in the case of the Gentiles. But Paul’s attitude may certainly be seen as giving the impression of something special.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 11:12 . ] , leading over from what has been said in Rom 11:11 to a very joyful prospect thereby opened into the future.
The conclusion is a “felici effectu causae pejoris ad feliciorem effectum causae melioris.”
] for the Gentile world ( ) became enriched with the (Rom 11:11 ), through the of the Jews.
. . ] and their overthrow riches for Gentile peoples . Parallel to the foregoing.
] is not found in the old Greek, but only in the LXX. Isa 31:8 , and 1Co 6:7 ; it is, however, equivalent to the classical , which is the opposite of (Plato, Lach . p. 196 A, Legg . i. p. 638 A; Dem. 1486. 3; Xen. Cyr . iii. 1. 19, 20), and, corresponding to the signification of , profligari, vinci , means clades , both in its proper sense, and also generally: succumbing, decline (comp. Dem. 1466. 23, ), loss suffered (1Co 6:7 ), getting the worse . See Perizon. ad Ael. V. H . ii. 25. Here the proper signification is to be retained, and that, as the contrast of requires, in a numerical respect. So now also Tholuck, likewise Mangold. Through the fact that a part of the Jews was unbelieving, the people has suffered an overthrow , has, like a vanquished army, been weakened in numbers, inasmuch, namely, as the unbelieving portion by its unbelief practically seceded from the people of God. Comp. Vulg.: “ diminutio eorum;” Luthardt: “loss in amount.” If it be explained as: loss of the Messianic salvation, which they have suffered (Fritzsche and others), or: the loss which the kingdom of God has suffered in their case (Philippi, comp. Kahnis, Dogm . I. p. 573), the former is not appropriate to the contrast of , and the latter introduces the reference to the kingdom of God, as that which has suffered the detriment, the more unwarrantably, inasmuch as the genit. is expressed. The threefold is to be taken with the like reference as the genitive of the subject, and applies in each instance to the people Israel as a whole (whose collective guilt also is the ), in contrast to the and the which likewise is not preserved in Philippi’s view. This very circumstance, and more decisively the utter absence of linguistic proof, tells also against the traditional usual rendering, according to which is supposed to signify the minority: “ paucitas Judaeorum credentium ” (Grotius). So, in substance, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Erasmus, Beza, Estius, Wetstein, Bengel, and many others, including Reiche, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, Maier, Bisping, Reithmayr; comp. Ewald: “their remaining behind .”
] sc . ; how much more their becoming full , that is, how much more will it issue in the enrichment of the Gentiles with the Messianic salvation, if the Jews, after the defeat which they have suffered, shall again be reinstated to their plena copia , so that they will then again in their full amount (Rom 11:26 ), as an integral whole, belong to the people of God, which will take place through the conversion of all Israel to Christ (not would , as Luther has it). The is then compensated, and the brought in, which, moreover, may take place even with a continuance of the . On generally, see Fritzsche, II. p. 469 ff. Comp. on Eph 1:10 . The numerical reference of the is suggested by the correlative in Rom 11:25 ; and in so far the view which takes it of the full number of the Jews (Theodoret: , so most) is correct. Comp. Ewald: “their full admission , supplying what is wanting.” With this Umbreit mixes up at the same time “the fulfilment of their predestination;” whilst van Hengel sees in the . ., not absolutely the full number, but only the collective body of those destined by God to conversion , which, however, is not expressed, but is supplied by the reader. The various views correspond to the varying explanations of . So e.g. Fritzsche: the fulness of Messianic salvation, which they will possess; Philippi: the filling up which takes place through their conversion of the blank in the kingdom of God which arose through their unbelief; Rckert, Kllner: the restoration of Israel to its befitting position; Hofmann: the status, in which they are fully and entirely that which they ought to be (qualitative). Luthardt also takes the correct view.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Ver. 12. How much more their fulness ] O dieculam illam! dexter mihi prae laetitias alit oculus. How long, Lord, holy and true?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. ] Then the Apostle argues on this, as Meyer well says, ‘a felici effectu caus pejoris ad feliciorem effectum caus melioris;’ But (‘ posito , that’ as in last verse taking for granted the historical fact, that the stumble of the Jews has been coincident with the admission of the Gentiles) if their trespass is the world’s wealth (the occasion of that wealth, the wealth itself being the participation in the unsearchable riches of Christ), and (this latter clause parallel to and explanatory of the less plainly expressed one before it) their loss, the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more (shall) their replenishment (be all this)? On and much question has been raised. I have taken both as answering strictly to the comparison here before the Apostle’s mind, viz. that of impoverishing and enriching, and the genitives [&c.] as subjective : q. d. ‘ if their impoverishment be the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more shall their enrichment be !’
But several other interpretations are possible. (1) may mean as in ref. 1 Cor., degradation , and would then be fulness, re-exaltation to the former measure of favour, or perhaps, as where Herod. iii. 22 says , ‘their completion ,’ ‘their highest degree of favour.’ (2) If we regard the meaning of in Rom 11:25 , we shall be tempted here to render it, ‘ full number ,’ and similarly , ‘ small number .’ So the majority of Commentators: Chrys., Theodoret, Erasmus, Beza, Bucer, Grot., Bengel, Reiche, De W. (but only as regards .: he renders . with Luther, Schade ) and Olsh. (see below). Thus the argument will stand: ‘If their unbelief (i.e. of one part of them) is the world’s wealth, and their small number (i.e. of believers, the other part of them), the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more their full (restored) number!’ i.e. as Olsh. explains it, ‘If so few Jews can do so much for the Gentile world, what will not the whole number do?’ But thus we shall lose the ‘ a minori ad majus ’ argument ‘if their sin has done so much, how much more their conversion ?’ unless indeed it be said that implies a national . Besides, it can hardly be shewn that will bear this meaning of ‘a small number.’ (3) Tholuck, from whom mostly this note is taken, notices at length the view of Olsh., after Origen, that the idea of a definite number of the elect is here in the Apostle’s mind, that the falling off of the Jews produces a deficiency in the number, which is filled up by the elect from the Gentiles, as Rom 11:25 ; understanding by both there and here, if I take his meaning aright, the number required to fill up the roll of the elect , whether of Jews, as here, or Gentiles, as there. Tholuck, while he concedes the legitimacy of the idea of a , maintains, and rightly, that in this section no such idea is brought forward : and that it would not have been intended, without some more definite expression of it than we now find .
I have thought it best as above, considering the very various meanings and difficulty of the word , to keep here to that which seems to be indicated by the immediate context, which is, besides, the primitive meaning of the word.
It must be noticed, that the fact, of Israel being the chosen people of God , lies at the root of all this argument. Israel is the nation , the covenant people, the vehicle of God’s gracious purposes to mankind. Israel, nationally, is deposed from present favour. That very deposition is, however, accompanied by an outpouring of God’s riches of mercy on the Gentiles; not as rivals to Israel, but still considered as further from God, formally and nationally, than Israel . If then the disgrace of Israel has had such a blessed accompaniment, how much more blessed a one shall Israel’s honour bring with it, when His own people shall once more be set as a praise in the midst of the earth, and the glory of the nations.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 11:12 . Both and are difficult words, but it is not necessary to suppose that they answer mathematically to one another, though Wetstein explains them by – and +. may mean (as in Isa 31:8 ) defeat, or (as in 1Co 6:7 ) loss; it can hardly mean diminutio eorum , or paucitas Judorum credentium ; must mean the making up of them to their full numbers. There is an exhaustive study of the word by Prof. J. Armitage Robinson in The Expositor , April, 1898. His paraphrase of this verse is very good. “If the Gentiles have been enriched in a sense through the very miscarriage and disaster of Israel, what wealth is in store for them in the great Return, when all Israel shall be saved ‘when God hath made the pile complete!’ ” The enrichment referred to is in both cases that which comes through participating in the blessings of the Gospel.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
world. App-129.
diminishing. Greek. hettema. Only here and 1Co 6:7. Compare 2Co 12:13.
fulness. Greek. pleroma. Compare App-125.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12.] Then the Apostle argues on this, as Meyer well says, a felici effectu caus pejoris ad feliciorem effectum caus melioris;-But (posito, that-as in last verse-taking for granted the historical fact, that the stumble of the Jews has been coincident with the admission of the Gentiles) if their trespass is the worlds wealth (the occasion of that wealth,-the wealth itself being the participation in the unsearchable riches of Christ), and (this latter clause parallel to and explanatory of the less plainly expressed one before it) their loss, the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more (shall) their replenishment (be all this)? On and much question has been raised. I have taken both as answering strictly to the comparison here before the Apostles mind, viz. that of impoverishing and enriching,-and the genitives [&c.] as subjective: q. d. if their impoverishment be the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more shall their enrichment be!
But several other interpretations are possible. (1) may mean as in ref. 1 Cor., degradation, and would then be fulness, re-exaltation to the former measure of favour,-or perhaps, as where Herod. iii. 22 says , their completion, their highest degree of favour. (2) If we regard the meaning of in Rom 11:25, we shall be tempted here to render it, full number, and similarly , small number. So the majority of Commentators: Chrys., Theodoret, Erasmus, Beza, Bucer, Grot., Bengel, Reiche, De W. (but only as regards .:-he renders . with Luther, Schade) and Olsh. (see below). Thus the argument will stand: If their unbelief (i.e. of one part of them) is the worlds wealth, and their small number (i.e. of believers, the other part of them), the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more their full (restored) number! i.e. as Olsh. explains it, If so few Jews can do so much for the Gentile world, what will not the whole number do? But thus we shall lose the a minori ad majus argument-if their sin has done so much, how much more their conversion? unless indeed it be said that implies a national . Besides, it can hardly be shewn that will bear this meaning of a small number. (3) Tholuck, from whom mostly this note is taken, notices at length the view of Olsh., after Origen, that the idea of a definite number of the elect is here in the Apostles mind,-that the falling off of the Jews produces a deficiency in the number, which is filled up by the elect from the Gentiles, as Rom 11:25; understanding by both there and here, if I take his meaning aright, the number required to fill up the roll of the elect, whether of Jews, as here, or Gentiles, as there. Tholuck, while he concedes the legitimacy of the idea of a , maintains, and rightly, that in this section no such idea is brought forward: and that it would not have been intended, without some more definite expression of it than we now find.
I have thought it best as above, considering the very various meanings and difficulty of the word , to keep here to that which seems to be indicated by the immediate context, which is, besides, the primitive meaning of the word.
It must be noticed, that the fact, of Israel being the chosen people of God, lies at the root of all this argument. Israel is the nation, the covenant people,-the vehicle of Gods gracious purposes to mankind. Israel, nationally, is deposed from present favour. That very deposition is, however, accompanied by an outpouring of Gods riches of mercy on the Gentiles; not as rivals to Israel, but still considered as further from God, formally and nationally, than Israel. If then the disgrace of Israel has had such a blessed accompaniment, how much more blessed a one shall Israels honour bring with it, when His own people shall once more be set as a praise in the midst of the earth, and the glory of the nations.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 11:12. , Now if) This verse has two parts, the first is treated of, Rom 11:13, etc.: the latter, how much more, etc., Rom 11:23-24.–, of the world-of the Gentiles) The world denotes quality [in reference to the] , the original fall [i.e., the fall of man in Adam]; the Gentiles, quantity, or, in other words, multitude, to which fewness [diminishing, Engl. Vers.], , is opposed; whence [the fulness] signifies, presently after, the large numbers of Israel abounding in grace.-) the fewness, in opposition to , fulness [abundance]. Isa 31:8, , [His young men shall become a mere handful; lit. a fewness].- , how much more) for where there are many seeds, their increase is the greater.- , their fulness, [abundance]; supply, will be the riches of the Gentiles. Therefore, even if the Jews had believed from the very first, the Gentiles would not have been excluded. The same word occurs in Rom 11:25.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 11:12
Rom 11:12
Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles;-The dispersion of the Jews among the Gentiles greatly helped the spread of Christianity when Christ came. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven (Act 2:5), on the day of Pentecost, who, on the return to their respective homes, spread the news among the nations. But this dispersion was the result of their falling away from God and prepared them for the coming of the Christ.
Sometimes nations and men, in descent from a higher to a lower position, meet others ascending from the lower to a higher and impart to them truths they have learned in the higher condition that help the other in the upward movement.
The question may arise; If the Jews had been true to God, would the Gentiles have been in worse condition than they were by the sins of the Jews? By no means. Had the Jews all been true to God, they would have been so blessed that they would have attracted the Gentiles to God by their prosperity and happiness; but God, who sees the end from the beginning, overrules so as to bless those willing to receive the blessing in the conditions that arise.
Then, again, the uplifting of people must be gradual. Because the children of Israel sinned, the law was added as a tutor to train them to receive the Messiah-that is, they were not capable of receiving his teaching in the low, fleshly state into which they had fallen; so God trained them until they were prepared to receive him. Was not this true of families and nations then, and is it not true of them now? Is it not true that there are nations of peoples now not qualified to receive the truth as it is in its purity, but first need to be trained and uplifted and gradually prepared by less pure forms of truth that they may be schooled thereby to receive the higher and purer truths of God?
how much more their fulness?-Now, if the fall of the Jews was the means of opening the riches of Gods blessings to the world by bringing them into the favor of God and diminished their own importance, helped the Gentiles to enjoy more of the favor of God, how much rather will their return to God bless the world? If they return, it will not be as the exclusive people of God. When they return, they will recognize all as enjoying the favor of God in Christ Jesus. They will come as sinners trusting in God for salvation.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the world: Rom 11:15, Rom 11:33, Rom 9:23, Eph 3:8, Col 1:27
diminishing: decay, or, loss
their: Rom 11:25, Isa 11:11-16, Isa 12:1-6, Isa 60:1-22, Isa 66:8-20, Mic 4:1, Mic 4:2, Mic 5:7, Zec 2:11, Zec 8:20-23, Rev 11:15-19
Reciprocal: Gen 9:27 – dwell Lev 26:45 – for their Jdg 6:39 – dry Isa 54:3 – thou shalt Eze 5:11 – will I Zep 3:10 – General Rom 3:29 – General Rom 11:11 – but rather Rom 11:19 – that 1Co 1:5 – in every 2Co 6:10 – making 2Co 8:8 – by occasion 2Co 8:9 – that ye Heb 9:14 – How
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE SALVATION OF THE JEWS
Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Rom 11:12
Either these words of St. Paul in this eleventh chapter of Romans mean nothing or they mean what they say, that at some future timehow it will happen we know notillumination will come to the hearts of the Jews, conviction to their minds, and the whole body of the Jews, so wonderfully preserved, will turn to Christ and enter the Catholic Church.
I. Consider the marvellous manner in which the Jewish nation, driven from their own land, their temple destroyed, the Holy City trampled under the feet of the Moslem, persecuted, scattered, despised, has yet been kept undestroyed, unmelted into other nations. Surely this is for a purpose. Surely this must be due to Gods providence. And when we look at the promises of old made to patriarchs and by prophets, we must come to the conclusion that at some time or other the Jewish people will turn to Christ. And when they do turn, what an infusion of strength it will be to Christs Church; how it will draw all those who have been wandering after their own lights as by a magnet into the Church, and how the variances in the Church will necessarily disappear (Is. Rom 11:13).
II. Surely this points to the cessation of all party feeling in Christs Church.Nothing, I take it, but the conversion of the Jews en masse will dissolve this antagonism, and so all men become of one mind in Gods house. But see how that St. Paul, not in one passage only, speaks of the restoration of the Jews. In the Epistle to the Hebrews (Rom 8:8), we have this assurance: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
III. A new Covenant.What can that be but the Covenantthe New Testamentthe reception into the Church with all its promises, all its graces, all its sanctity, all its glorious hopes? Do these words mean anything? We dare not say that they are empty words, that they contain no promise. A certain nation and certain known events in its history are spoken of, events that apply to no other people whatever. The words of the apostle agree with those of the prophet (Jeremiah 31).
Rev. S. Baring-Gould.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
:12
Rom 11:12. If such benefit came to mankind through the fall of the Jews, certainly more will come when they as a nation (the meaning of their fulness) come back.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 11:12. Now if their trespass is, etc. If is logical, not conditional; Rom 11:11 has stated the fact here assumed.
Their diminishing. The word rendered diminishing means, becoming inferior, suffering defeat. It has here a numerical sense: the reduction in number of the Jewish people, inasmuch, namely, as the unbelieving portion by its unbelief practically seceded from the people of God (Meyer). But the idea of a defeat is not necessarily suggested. The contrast with fulness opposes the sense of impoverishment, or degradation; while the common explanation: the minority of them, is objectionable on both lexical and grammatical grounds. The fact that the nation, regarded as the people of God, had been thus reduced proved to be the riches of the Gentiles, i.e., thus the Gentile nations were enriched through the Gospel preached to them. This is parallel to the previous phrase, the riches of the world.
How much more their fulness. Fulness has three senses: (1.) that with which anything is filled; (2.) that which is filled, the state of fulness; (3.) the act of filling. The first sense is most common, and is to be accepted here in the numerical sense (comp. Rom 11:25): that which fills up the nation to completeness. If the diminution of Israel through unbelief had such a blessed result, how much more their full number when they as a nation become believers. Some find here their full restoration or blessedness, contrasted with their impoverishment (diminishing). But this leaves out of view the numerical sense, giving to both the contrasted terms a less obvious meaning, and identifies the thought of this verse with that of Rom 11:15. The reference to the filling up of the number of the elect is far-fetched. Many fanciful views of the verse have been presented.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “If the casting off the Jews was so profitable to the Gentile world; if the Gentiles have been such great gainers by occasion of the sin and fall of the Jews; how much more, when they shall become Christians, will they add to the fulness, the glory, and greatness of the Christian church?”
Observe here, The wonderful wisdom, the astonishing goodness, the overruling providence and power of God, in causing the fall of the Jews to be the occasion of God’s manifesting his abundant grace in the conversion of the Gentiles, and spreading the plentiful knowledge of Christ over all the world; and also in causing the general conversion of the Jews, towards the end of the world, to confirm the faith of the believing Gentiles.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 12. The is that of gradation: well then. It is a new and more joyous perspective still which the apostle opens up. If the exclusion of the Jews, by allowing the gospel to be presented to the world freed from every legal form, has opened for it a large entrance among the Gentiles, what will be the result of the restoration of this people, if it shall ever be realized? What blessings of higher excellence for the whole world may not be expected from it! Thus the apostle advances from step to step in the explanation of this mysterious decree of rejection.
Their fall or their false step: this expression, which refers back to the term , to stumble, Rom 11:11, denotes Jewish unbelief.
By the riches of the world, Paul understands the state of grace into which the Gentiles are introduced by faith in a free salvation.
The two abstract expressions fall and world are reproduced in a more concrete way in a second proposition parallel to the first; the former in the term , which we translate by diminishing (reduction to a small number); the latter in the plural word the Gentiles. The word comes from the verb , the fundamental meaning of which is: to be in a state of inferiority. This inferiority may be one in relation to an enemy; in this case the verb means: to be overcome (2Pe 2:19), and the substantive derived from it signifies defeat (clades). Or the inferiority may refer to a state fixed on as normal, and below which one falls. The substantive in this case denotes a deficit, a fall. Of these two meanings the first is impossible here; for the enemy by whom Israel would be beaten could be no other than God; now in the context this thought is inapplicable. The second and only admissible sense may be applied either qualitatively or numerically. In the former case, the subject in question is a level of spiritual life beneath which Israel has fallen; comp. 1Co 6:7 : There is utterly an inferiority, (a moral deficit), among you because ye go to law one with another, and 2Co 12:13. Applied here, this meaning would lead to the following explanation: The moral degradation of Israel has become the cause of the enriching of the Gentiles. But there is something repugnant in this idea, and, besides, we should be obliged by it to take the substantive , the fulness, which corresponds to it, also in the moral sense: the perfect spiritual state to which the Jews shall one day be restored. Now this meaning is impossible in view of Rom 11:25, where this expression evidently denotes the totality of the Gentile nations. We are therefore led by this antithesis to the numerical meaning of , diminishing to a small number (of believers): If their diminishing as God’s people to a very small number of individuals (those who have received the Messiah) has formed the riches of the world, how much more their restoration to the complete state of a people…! But it is important to observe the shade of difference between this and the often repeated explanation of Chrysostom, which applies the word to the believing Jews themselves, which would lead to an idea foreign to the context, namely this: that if so small a number of believing Jews have already done so much good to the world by becoming the nucleus of the church, the entire nation once converted will do more still. The pronoun (their) excludes this sense; for in the three propositions it can only apply to the same subject, the Jewish people in general (Meyer).
Instead of the riches of the world, the apostle says the second time the riches of the Gentiles; because now there presents itself to his mind that indefinite series of Gentile nations who, ever as the preaching of the gospel shall reach them, shall enter successively into the church, and thus fill up the void arising from the reduction of Israel to so small a number of believers.
Their fulness: the totality of the then living members of the people of Israel. The term , used apparently in such different acceptations by the N. T. writers, has but one fundamental signification, of which all the others are only various applications. It always denotes: that with which an empty space is filled (id quo res impletur); comp. Philippi simplifying Fritzsche. In the application of this term to the people of Israel, we must regard the abstract notion of a people as the empty frame to be filled, and the totality of the individuals in whom this notion is realized, as that which fills the frame.
From what we have said above, we must set aside meanings of a qualitative nature, such as: the fulness of the Messianic salvation, or the restoration of Israel to its normal position, or the state of spiritual perfection to which it is destined (Fritzs., Rck., Hofm.). Neither can the meaning be admitted which Philippi ascribes to the two words and ; he supplies as their understood complement the idea of the kingdom of God, and explains: the blank produced in the kingdom of God by their rejection, and the filling up of this blank by their readmission. This is to do violence to the meaning of the genitives , and to introduce into the text an idea (that of the kingdom of God) which is nowhere indicated.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Now if their fall [paraptoma] is the riches of the world, and their loss [hettema, that loss or diminution which an army suffers by defeat, also moral loss, impoverishment, to be defeated, to be reduced, or made inferior. “A reduction in one aspect to a race of scattered exiles, in another to a mere remnant of ‘Israelites indeed'”–Moule] the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? [Pleroma, the full number, the whole body, the totality. To emphasize the situation and impress it upon his readers, Paul makes use of the Hebrew parallelism, presenting two clauses which express substantially the same thing. If there be any difference, we would say that “world” indicates sinners, and “Gentiles” the uncovenanted races. If paraphrased thus, it would read, Now, if the sin or offence of godly Israel enriched the ungodly, sinful world, and if the loss or spiritual impoverishment and numerical diminution of the covenanted people enriched and multiplied the covenanted among the hitherto uncovenanted people, how much more would both the sinful world and its uncovenanted inhabitants have been blessed every way, had Israel been of the right spirit, so as to have received enrichment instead of being cast off and diminished. Because Israel had a proud, narrow, inimical spirit (1Th 2:15-16), its depletion worked blessing to the world and the Gentiles; but if Israel had yielded to Christ so as to be transformed like that persecuting Saul who became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, who can measure the fullness of blessing which would have come to the inhabitants of the earth by the enlargement, enrichment and full spiritual endowment of every son of Abraham dispersed through the world! With millions of Pauls in all lands throughout all generations, we should have measured our heavenward progress by milestones instead of inches. “Goodness,” says Thomas Aquinas, “is more capable of bearing blessing than is evil; but the evil of the Jews brought great blessing to the Gentiles; therefore much more should their goodness bring greater blessing to the world.”]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
12. But if their collapse is the wealth of the world, and their reduction the riches of the Gentiles, how much more will be their fullness. Truly the conversion of the Jews, of which some brilliant scintillations are already flashing out, will prove a sunburst on Christendom.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
11:12 Now if the fall of them [be] the {k} riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their {l} fulness?
(k) By “riches” he means the knowledge of the Gospel to everlasting life: and by the “world”, all nations dispersed throughout the whole world.
(l) Of the Jews, when the whole nation without exception will come to Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul here anticipated the national repentance of Israel that he articulated later (Rom 11:26). God promised to bless the world through Israel (Gen 12:1-3). How much more blessing will come to the world when Israel turns back to God than is coming to the world now while she is in rebellion against God!
"While pleroma probably has a qualitative denotation-’fullness’-the context and the parallel with Rom 11:25 suggest that this ’fullness’ is attained through a numerical process. Paul would then be suggesting that the present ’defeat’ of Israel, in which Israel is numerically reduced to a small remnant, will be reversed by the addition of far greater numbers of true believers: this will be Israel’s destined ’fullness.’" [Note: Moo, p. 690.]