Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 11:13
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
13. For ] Better, perhaps, But, or Now; by documentary evidence. The particle merely calls attention to the fresh and fuller statement.
I speak to you ] Immediately. He implies a hope to reach the Jews through them.
you Gentiles ] Evidently the Roman Christians were in the main a Gentile body, and as such St Paul here speaks to them. The words, of course, would be intelligible if he spoke only to a Gentile section; but the whole drift of cch. 9 11 shews that the Gentiles were a very large majority.
I am the apostle, &c.] “I” is emphatic: his position toward the Gentiles was distinct among the Apostles. “A noble self-consciousness here finds expression.” (Meyer.) For the fact of this distinctive commission see Act 9:15; and see below, Rom 15:15-19; Gal 2:7-8; Eph 3:8. See also 1Th 2:14-16 for an illustration of his intense and sympathetic devotion to this his work, and his holy indignation at the sin of Jewish unbelief and persecution.
magnify ] Lit. glorify. The practical meaning is that he is, and rejoices to be, the Apostle for the Gentiles; makes much of his commission both in word and deed; discusses with his Gentile converts even those truths which specially concern Jews; and yet, all the while, not without a longing and design to benefit his Jewish brethren for he knows that the more his work prospers among the Gentiles, the more hope there is that Jews will be roused to attention and enquiry, and so to the desire to enter the covenant of Messiah. See on Rom 11:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For I speak to you Gentiles – What I am saying respecting the Jews, I say with reference to you who are Gentiles, to show you in what manner you have been admitted to the privileges of the people of God; to excite your gratitude; to warn you against abusing those mercies. etc. As Paul also was appointed to preach to them, he had a right to speak to them with authority.
I am the apostle of the Gentiles – The apostle of the Gentiles, not because other apostles did not preach to Gentiles, for they all did, except perhaps James; nor because Paul did not himself preach occasionally among the Jews; but because he was especially called to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, and that this was his original commission Act 9:15; because he was principally employed in collecting and organizing churches in pagan lands; and because the charge of the Gentile churches was especially intrusted to him, while that of the Jewish churches was especially intrusted to Peter; see Gal 1:16; Eph 3:8; Gal 2:7-8. As Paul was especially appointed to this function, he claimed special authority to address those who were gathered into the Christian church from pagan lands.
I magnify mine office – I honor doxazo my ministry. I esteem it of great importance; and by thus showing that the gospel is to be preached to the Gentiles, that the barrier between them and the Jews is to be broken down, that the gospel may be preached to all people, I show that the office which proclaims this is one of signal honor. A minister may not magnify himself, but he may magnify his office. He may esteem himself as less than the least of all saints, and unworthy to be called a servant of God Eph 3:8, yet he may feel that he is an ambassador of Christ, intrusted with a message of salvation, entitled to the respect due to an ambassador, and to the honor which is appropriate to a messenger of God To unite these two things constitutes the dignity of the Christian ministry.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. This and the following verse should be read in a parenthesis. St. Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, wished to show them the high pitch of glory and blessedness to which they had been called, that they might have a due sense of God’s mercy in calling them to such a state of salvation; and that they might be jealous over themselves, lest they should fall as the Jews had done before them: and he dwells particularly on the greatness of those privileges which the Gentiles had now received, that he might stir up the minds of his countrymen to emulation, and might be the means of saving some of them, as he states in the following verse.
I magnify mine office] This is a very improper translation of , which is, literally, I honour this my ministry. Dr. Taylor has justly observed that magnify, except when applied to the most High, carries with it, in our language, the idea of stretching beyond the bounds of truth; whereas the apostle simply means that he does justice to his ministry, by stating the glorious things which he was commissioned to preach among the Gentiles: blessings which the Jews by their obstinacy had forfeited.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. I speak to you of being rich in the faith above the Jews, because I challenge a special interest in you, inasmuch as
I am appointed to be the apostle of the Gentiles, and am sent chiefly unto them: see Rom 15:16; Act 9:15; 13:2; 22:21; 26:17; Gal 1:16; 2:7; Eph 3:8; 2Ti 1:11. And therefore, in thus setting forth your privileges and blessings:
I magnify mine office.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13, 14. I speak“amspeaking”
to you Gentilesanotherproof that this Epistle was addressed to Gentile believers. (See onRo 1:13).
I magnify“glorify”
mine officeThe clausebeginning with “inasmuch” should be read as a parenthesis.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I speak to you Gentiles,…. The church at Rome, as the primitive churches for the most part did, consisted of Jews and Gentiles; hence the apostle sometimes addresses the one, as in Ro 2:17, and sometimes the other, as here; and this he does to observe unto them the grace and goodness of God, in enriching them with the Gospel of salvation; and that they might not despise the Jews, from whom it first came out, and through whose fall it came to them, and was preached among them by some of that nation:
in as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. He was ordained and set apart by God, in his eternal purposes, to be a teacher of the Gentiles; he was sent immediately by Christ to bear his name among them, though not among them only, to the exclusion of the people of Israel; he chiefly preached the Gospel to them, though sometimes to the Jews also; and the success of his ministry was mostly among the uncircumcision, though he sought by all ways and means to gain both Jews and Gentiles: hence he addresses the Gentiles with greater freedom and boldness, because he was their apostle, and had been so useful among them; and is a reason why we Gentiles should have a special regard to his writings; for though every word of God is pure, and all Scripture is divinely inspired, and is profitable on one account or other; nor is any part of it to be slighted and neglected; yet as Paul’s epistles are written chiefly to the Gentile churches, excepting that to the Hebrews, and which some question whether it is his, they ought especially to be attended to by us; though, alas, of all the inspired writings they are had in the least esteem:
I magnify mine office: not himself, for he was not of a self-exalting spirit, but humble and lowly minded, ready at all times to own himself to be less than the least of saints and the chief of sinners; but his office, which he had received from Christ, as an instance of his grace and favour. This was magnified partly by the miracles, signs, and wonders done by him, in proof, and for the confirmation of his apostleship; and partly by his constant, diligent, and faithful preaching of the Gospel: as also by the unwearied pains he took to spread it far and near; and likewise by the numbers of souls he was the means of bringing to the knowledge of Christ; and it was no small accession of glory to his office, as an apostle of the Gentiles, that he was an instrument of the conversion of many among the Jews.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To you that are Gentiles ( ). “To you the Gentiles.” He has a serious word to say to them.
Inasmuch then (‘ ). Not temporal, quamdiu, “so long as” (Mt 9:15), but qualitative quatenus “in so far then as” (Mt 25:40).
I glorify my ministry ( ). As apostle to the Gentiles ( , objective genitive). Would that every minister of Christ glorified his ministry.
If by any means ( ). This use of with purpose or aim is a kind of indirect discourse.
I may provoke (). Either future active indicative or first aorist active subjunctive, see same uncertainty in Php 3:10 , but in 3:11 after is subjunctive. The future indicative is clear in Ro 1:10 and the optative in Ac 27:12. Doubtful whether future indicative or aorist subjunctive also in (save).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
For I speak. The best texts read de but instead of gar for. The sentence does not state the reason for the prominence of the Gentiles asserted in ver. 12, but makes a transition from the statement of the divine plan to the statement of Paul ‘s own course of working on the line of that plan. He labors the more earnestly for the Gentiles with a view to the salvation of his own race.
Inasmuch as I am. The best texts insert oun then. So Rev.; thus disconnecting the clause from the preceding, and connecting it with what follows.
I magnify mine office [ ] . Lit., I glorify my ministry, as Rev. Not I praise, but I honor by the faithful discharge of its duties. He implies, however, that the office is a glorious one. The verb, which occurs about sixty times in the New Testament, most frequently in John, is used, with very few exceptions, of glorifying God or Christ. In ch. 8 30, of God ‘s elect. In 1Co 12:26, of the members of the body. In Rev 18:7, of Babylon. For ministry, see on minister, Mt 20:26.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For I speak to you Gentiles,” (humin de lego tois ethnesin) “Yet I speak to you, the Gentiles”; Paul, both a national and spiritual Israelite, as a called and commissioned apostle to the Gentiles, addressed the Roman brethren as Gentiles who were located in Rome, the then center of the one world Gentile Roman Empire.
2) “Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,” (eph’ hoson men oun eimi ego ethon apostolos) “Inasmuch as I am, 0 exist as) an apostle of the Gentiles, of the nations, races, or masses, beyond national Israelites. The term “apostle” means “one sent out with authority of administration, or one commissioned;” Paul was specially called of the Lord, commissioned to the Gentiles, Act 9:15; Act 22:21; Act 26:15-20; Gal 2:7-8; Paul was not only called by the Lord to be a preacher to the Gentiles but he was also ordained and sent (commissioned) by church authority, Act 13:2-4; 1Ti 2:7-8; Eph 3:7-8; Eph 3:10.
3) I magnify mine office”, (ten diakonian mou doksazo) “I magnify my ministry,” as an apostle, and the office of administration to which I have been called, and chosen, and sent. From the above passages of reference it is evident that Paul was called and ordained a preacher, 2) commissioned or sent forth as a missionary, by church authority, 3) to serve as a minister and a witness of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles world, as an apostle born “out of due season”, one who was not either baptized by John the Baptist or did not witness the entire public ministry of Christ, as was required of the twelve apostles, 1Co 15:7-10; Act 1:17-22.
The office Paul magnified was that of the church, the office of apostleship, in which he was placed and sent out, commissioned by the church, Mat 28:18-20; Act 13:4. God did the sending of Paul, but he did it thru the church to whom he had delivered all authority, in administration of his worship and service. As a minister, a witness, a preacher, and an administrative apostle in teaching, in disputing, in writing, in soul-winning, and in fund-raising, he magnified his office.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. For to you Gentiles I speak, etc. He confirms by a strong reason, that nothing shall be lost by the Gentiles, were the Jews to return again to favor with God; for he shows, that the salvation of both is so connected, that it can by the same means be promoted. For he thus addresses the Gentiles, — “Though I am peculiarly destined to be your Apostle, and ought therefore with special care to seek your salvation, with which I am charged, and to omit as it were all other things, and to labor for that only, I shall yet be faithfully discharging my office, by gaining to Christ any of my own nation; and this will be for the glory of my ministry, and so for your good.” (352) For whatever served to render Paul’s ministry illustrious, was advantageous to the Gentiles, whose salvation was its object.
And here also he uses the verb παραζηλῶσαι, to provoke to emulation, and for this purpose, that the Gentiles might seek the accomplishment of Moses’ prophecy, such as he describes, when they understood that it would be for their benefit.
(352) The meaning attached here to the words τὴν διακονίαν μου δοξάζω, is somewhat different from what is commonly understood. Its classical sense, “highly to estimate,” is what is generally given here to the verb: but [ Calvin ] takes it in a sense in which it is mostly taken in Scripture, as meaning, “to render illustrious,” or eminent, “to render glorious.” The construction of the two Rom 11:13 and 14, is somewhat difficult, and the meaning is not very clear. To include the words, “as I am indeed the Apostle of the Gentiles,” in a parenthesis, as it is done by some, would render the sense more evident, and to add “this” after “say,” and “that” before “I render.” The version then would be as follows, —
13. For I say this to you Gentiles (as I am indeed the Apostle of the Gentiles,) that I render my ministry glorious,
14. If I shall by any means excite to emulation my own flesh and save some of them.
The sentiment in the last clause is the same as that at the end of Rom 11:11. The Vulgate, and some of the Latin Fathers, and also [ Luther ], read δοξάσω in the future tense; which would make the passage read better, — “ that I shall render,” etc. These two verses are not necessarily connected with the Apostle’s argument; for in the following verse he resumes the subject of Rom 11:12, or rather, as his usual manner is, he states the same thing in other words and in more explicit and stronger terms. So that the γὰρ in the next verse may very properly be rendered “yea,” or as an illative, “then.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom. 11:15.The apostle awaits a boundless effect of blessing on the world from the future conversion of the Jews, which will be as life from the dead.
Rom. 11:16.Firstfruit denotes the representative offerings by which the whole mass is consecrated to God.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rom. 11:13-22
The right method of magnifying.St. Paul was no empty boaster. No vain words fell from his lips. He was humble, and yet his humility did not prevent him asserting rightful claims and vindicating his position. He magnified his office by deeds as well as words. He here says: I magnify my office so that the Gentiles may be encouraged and the Jews have no reason to be disheartened. St. Paul magnifies his office:
I. By identifying himself with his hearers.He speaks to the Gentiles, not as an exclusive Jew, but as one of themselves. He goes down to their position in order to raise them to his own high level. He is a Jew, and yet the apostle of the Gentiles. The preacher must identify himself with his hearers by love, by genial sympathy, by manly effort, if he is to do them good.
II. By seeking the salvation of some.And might save some. The impelling idea of apostolic ministration. One might listen to some preachers Sunday after Sunday, and never discover that the gospel was a remedial scheme for the salvation of men. One might suppose that Christ had come on a useless errand when He came to give His life a ransom for many. The salvation of some should be the consuming desire of every preacher.
III. By entertaining a large hope.Despairing men cannot make the best preachers. The general without hope is on the way to defeat. A preacher without hope cannot successfully rescue the perishing. St. Paul had large hope. The casting away of the Jewish nation was a ground of hope. He does not wail amid the ruins, but rises by their means to joyful expectations. The casting of them away is the reconciling of the world. The view expands before his eager vision. The receiving of them is life from the dead. A bright era is in the happy future. The valley of apostolic vision is not a valley of dry bones. The world is not to be for ever a vast moral sepulchre. Spiritual life shall animate the race; moral wastes shall quickly become gardens of the Lord; spiritual deserts shall speedily rejoice and blossom as the rose. Let hope animate the preacher, and he will lead to great successes.
IV. By investigating divine methods.Some preachers have only one text. Other preachers, with several texts, have only one sermon. Other preachers, with several sermons, have only one round of elementary topics. St. Paul keeps prominent the way of salvation by faith. Christ crucified is central, and other topics are circumferential. St. Paul can give milk to babes, and meat for strong men. Indeed, the men must be very strong who can assimilate St. Pauls strong meat. How skilfully he treats the subject of the breaking off the Jewish branches? The unbelieving Jews are broken off, while the believing Gentiles are grafted in. The wild olives become fruit-bearing and glorious because the root and fatness of the eternal olive tree are imparteda beautiful figure of the working of divine grace. Wild olives are both grafted and changed. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Successfully to graft requires skill; but what skill is required to graft a wild olive and make it rich! This skill is only possible to the Divine. Philosophy, education, ethical systems, cannot graft and change. The wild olive retains its wildness. Divine grace can and does both graft and change. Wild olives become part of the fruitful tree. Even hearts of stone are turned to flesh.
V. By considering the totality of the divine nature and the divine proceedings.Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God. The God of some preachers is maimed. He is fashioned according to their tastes or their peculiar theological tenets. Severity hides the goodness, or goodness is made to obliterate the severity. The modern theologian has an all-father for a God,an all-father whose children rule the world; an all-father who is never to be seen, and who exists merely for the happiness of His family, the word happiness referring mostly to present benefits. True to the perfection of the divine nature and to the reading of history and of providence, we are compelled to behold both the goodness and the severity of God.
VI. By making deep subjects have a practical bearing upon lifes morals and manners.Teachers of homiletics tell us that the conclusion is the proper place for application in every style of treatment. Can the earnest preacher wait for his conclusion? Can he always restrain the swelling tides of his soul by the weak barriers of homiletical rules? Can a St. Paul preach for an hour, if modern light and leading would allow him to speak so long on the sublimest themes, and then say, And now a few words by way of application? St. Paul is always applying. After a few sentences he cautions against unseemly pride: Boast not against the branches. He proceeds a little further, and then cautions against presumption: Be not high-minded, but fear. He may preach election and predestination; but according to some he is not logically consistent, for he appends, if thou continue in His goodness. Is burning love ever logically consistent?
Rom. 11:22. The goodness and severity of God.Man is often so perverse as to tempt God to strike, and then God must strike sternly. It seems as if we were bent on challenging God to do His utmost to try how much we can endure. Yet the goodness of God is everywhere manifest.
I. The history of Gods dealings with the Jews a great parable of mercy to man.Through all the ages of their history they were the children of sparing, delivering, redeeming mercy. Their national history was zooted in redemption. Every defeat, every captivity, was not unto death, but life. Paul, summing up the whole history, breathes the same strain. But there is a dark side. Life is not the one thing needful. It may be the most terrible of gifts. And the Jews, spared, endured sharpest agonies. Their final overthrow is the saddest act in the tragedy of history. Mark their modern persecutions. The worlds outcasts.
II. The principle of the divine method in which the goodness and the severity are thus intertwined.Psa. 99:8 expounds it. The goodness is for us; the severity is for the sins and follies. This involves a principle little in tune with those who hold that man is homogeneous.
1. Mans nature is in an unnatural condition, lapsed, fallen under the dominion of an alien power. There is strong internal discord. Flesh lusteth against. etc.
2. God has declared Himself mans helper in the grand enterprise of life. God is really the author of the enterprise. It is Gods revelation of Himself which reveals sin (Rom. 7:7-13), God kindles in the soul the hope of conquering it.
3. The severity is the hand of help which He brings to us in the working out of the great problem of our lives. He distinguishes between us and our sins, and He trains us to distinguish. The one He crushes, the other He saves. No light treatment of sin in the Bible. Modern philosophy says, Do not trouble too much about sin. Heavens philosophy says, Be in anguish about sin, because God lives to trouble it; and the soul that loves it drinks to the dregs lifes cup of bitterness.
4. It is with you to hail the severity and convert it to mercy, or to cling to your sin and convert it to doom. The severity not inconsistent with abounding mercy. God does not, will not, in our state of trial, recognise that our sins and ourselves are one. If deliverance from sin be the end of it, what matters the anguish of the moment? But if you continue with sin, you hate your own soul and love the gates of death.J. Baldwin Brown.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom. 11:22, etc
Final perseverance not Pauls doctrine.The above section is a complete and designed disproof of the doctrine held by Calvin and others, but not by Augustine, that all who have been justified will be saved. For after assuming (chaps, Rom. 5:9; Rom. 8:16-17) that his readers are already justified and adopted as sons and heirs of God, Paul here solemnly and emphatically warns them that unless they continue in faith and in the kindness of God they will be cut off. The words broken off, used of the unbelieving Jews, evidently denote a separation from God, which, if it continue, will end in eternal death. Hence Pauls sorrow. That the words cut off, used as a warning to the believing Gentiles, have the same sense is proved by the comparison of Jews and Gentiles, and by the contrast of being cut off and continuing in the kindness of God. Dr. Hodge asserts under Rom. 11:22, but without proof, that Paul speaks, not of individuals, but of the relation of communities to the Church and its various privileges. But of this Paul gives no hint whatever. And as yet he has not mentioned in any way either the Church or its privileges, but has spoken only of the relation of individuals to Christ. On the other hand, the words some of them (Rom. 11:14), some of the twigs (Rom. 11:17), they that fell (Rom. 11:22), point us to individuals. The word thou, which does not always refer to an individual, is proved to do so here by its contrast with some of the twigs. Can we conceive that Paul would support this urgent and personal appeal by warning the Roman Christians that if they do not continue in faith, although they will themselves be brought back and be finally saved, the Roman Church will perish? It has been suggested that Paul speaks of that which is possible in the abstract, but which will never actually take place. But could a mere abstract possibility call forth the earnest tones of Rom. 11:20-22? The warning would have no force to readers who believed that God had irrevocably purposed to exert upon them irresistible influences, which would secure without fail their final salvation. He tells them to fear. But an intelligent man will not be moved by fear of that which he knows will not happenthat certain lines of conduct lead towards a certain goal will not affect us if we are sure that the goal will not be reached. We may be moved by consequences which lie on the way to the goal, but only by such as lie within the range of possibility. There are many serious considerations which, even if Calvins doctrine were true, would prompt us to cling to faith. But to seek to deter his readers from unbelief by speaking of what both he and they knew could never come would be unworthy of an apostle. I notice that Act. 27:31a passage very different from that before usis the only instance given by Dr. Hodge of the mode of speech which he supposes that Paul here adopts. He says that it is very common to speak thus hypothetically. But I do not know of a similar instance in the Bible. It may be said that Paul refers to a personal and possible, but only temporary, separation from Christ, and that those who fall will be certainly restored. I admit that such a separation would be exceedingly hurtful, though not fatal, and would be worthy of Pauls warning and his readersfear. But we cannot accept this important limitation without plain Scripture proof; and I hope to show that no such proof exists. Moreover the contrast between this temporary fall, which on this supposition is all that could happen to the Gentiles, and that which happened to the Jews would destroy the parallel on which the argument rests, and would increase rather than lessen the high-mindedness of the Gentiles. We now ask, Has Paul said anything elsewhere which compels us to set aside what all would admit to be the plain meaning of his words if they stood alone? Hodge says that Paul has abundantly taught in chap. 8 and elsewhere that the connection of individual believers with Christ is indissoluble. I thankfully acknowledge that chap. 8 supplements the teaching of this section and guards it from perversion. But we have seen that it does not contradict or modify in the least the plain meaning of the words before us. And I do not know of any other passage in the epistle which even seems to teach the doctrine in question. This doctrine is also contradicted by Rom. 14:15, which assumes the possibility of the perdition of a brother for whom Christ died.Beet.
We estimate God by ourselves.In the prosecution of this discourse we shall first endeavour to expose the partiality, and therefore the mischief, of two different views that might be taken of the Godhead; and, secondly, point your attention to the way in which these views are so united in our text as to form a more full and a consistent representation of Him. We shall then conclude with a practical application of the whole argument.
I. One partial and therefore mischievous view of the Deity is incidental to those who bear a single respect to His one attribute of goodness.They look to Him as a God of tenderness, and nothing else. In their description of Him they have a relish for the imagery of domestic life, and in the employment of which they ascribe to Him the fondness rather than the authority of a father. It may be thought that surely He at whose creative touch all loveliness has arisen must Himself be placid as the scene or gentle as the zephyr that He causes to blow over it. At present we do not stop to observe that, if the divinity is to be interpreted by the aspects of nature, nature has her hurricanes and her earthquakes and her thunder, as well as those kindlier exhibitions in which the disciples of a tasteful and sentimental piety most love to dwell. Throughout all the classes of society, in fact, it is this beholding of the goodness without a beholding along with it of the severity of God that lulls the human spirit into a fatal complacency with its own state and its own prospects. Independent of all lofty speculation, and aside from the mysteries which attach to the counsels and determinations of a predestinating God, there is abroad on the spirits of men a certain practical and prevalent impression of His severity, to which we believe that most of this worlds irreligion is owing. Beholding the severity alone without the goodness, you feel it more tolerable for to live in the oblivion rather than in the remembrance of Deity. There is both a goodness and a severity; and this brings us to the second head of discourse, under which we proposed to point your attention to
II. The way in which these two views of the Godhead were so united in the gospel of Jesus Christ as to form a more full and consistent representation of Him.First, then, there is a severity. There is a law that will not be trampled on; there is a Lawgiver that will not be insulted. The great delusion is that we estimate God by ourselves, His antipathy to sin by our own slight and careless imagination, of the strength of His displeasure against much evil only by the languid and nearly extinct moral sensibilities of our own heart. We bring down heaven to the standard of earth, and measure the force of the recoil from sin in the upper sanctuary by what we witness of this recoil either in our own bosom or in that of our fellow-sinners upon this lower world. Now if we measure God by ourselves, we shall have little fear indeed of vengeance or severity from His hands. But along with this severity there is a goodness that you are also called upon to behold; and if you view both aright, you will perceive that they do meet together in fullest harmony. It is this, in fact, which constitutes the leading peculiarity of the gospel dispensation, that the expression of the divine character which is given forth by the severity of God is retained and still given forth in all its entireness in the display and exercise of His goodness. Were we asked to state what that is which impresses on the mercy of the gospel its essential characteristic, we should say of it that it is a mercy in full and visible conjunction with righteousness. The severity of God because of sin was not relaxed, but only transferred from the head of the offenders to the head of their Substitute; and in the depth of Christs mysterious sufferings has He made as full display of the rigours of His inviolable sanctity. That severity of God, on which we have so much insisted, so far from lessening or casting a shade over His goodness, only heightens and enhances it the more.
We must now conclude with a short practical application.And, first, such is the goodness of God, that it overpasses the guilt even of the most daring and stout-hearted offender amongst you. Let him even have grown grey in iniquity, there is still held out to him the offer of that peace-speaking blood in which there resides the specific virtue of washing it utterly away. There is none whose transgressions are so foul and so enormous as to be beyond the reach of the Saviours atonement. But, again, in very proportion to this goodness will be the severity of God on those who shall have rejected it. There is reconciliation to all who will; but if ye will not, the heavier will be the vengeance that awaiteth you. The kindness of God is still unquenched, even by your multiplied provocations of His broken law; but quenched it most assuredly will be if to this you add the tenfold provocation of His rejected gospel. And, finally, let us warn you all, that no one truly embraces Christ as their Saviour who does not submit to Him as their Master and their Lord. No one has a true faith in His promises who is not faithful in the observation of His precepts. No one has rightly taken refuge in Him from the punishment of a broken law who still heedlessly and presumptuously gives himself up to the violation of that law; for then shall he be judged worthy of a severer punishment, seeing that he has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and accounted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing.Chalmers.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(13) For I speak to you Gentiles.The connecting particles in this verse must be altered according to an amended reading. For should be omitted, a full stop placed after Gentiles, and then inserted after inasmuch. I speak to you Gentilesspoken with something of a pause. Inasmuch then (or, in so far then) as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I seek to do honour to my office. But not without an arrire-pense. My motive is at least partly to win over my own countrymen.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(13-16) In this I am speaking to you Gentiles. It is you who will benefit by the restoration of the Jews. And this is the real reason why, as Apostle of the Gentiles, I make the most of my office. I do it in order to incite to emulation my own countrymen, knowing that the effects of their rejection lead us to infer the very happiest effects from their readmission. For their end will be as their beginning was. They began their career as the chosen people of God, and the conclusion of it will be still more glorious.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. I speak As if he had both classes in the Roman Church within his eye and voice. Yet he truly spake to both races in the then future centuries.
Magnify Hold it of high consequence by a bold exertion of its powers.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But I speak to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.’
Paul now turns his comments specifically to the Gentile element in the church at Rome. He explains to them that, as the Apostle to the Gentiles, he glorifies his ministry in the hope by any means of provoking his fellow-Jews to jealousy, so that some of them might respond and be saved. It is quite clear from this that he does not see them as already saved. Their only hope, as with everyone else, is to truly believe in the Messiah. And that is what he is seeking to make them do.
‘I glorify my ministry.’ He makes it out to be a glorious ministry, something which he genuinely does believe, so as to arouse the jealousy of Jews in order that they might come back to the Messiah. He wants them to know that he has a great concern (already expressed – Rom 9:1-3; Rom 10:1-3) for the unbelieving among the Jews.
‘May save some of them.’ We must remember that Paul has a different perspective from us. He does not see two thousand years lying ahead. Like all the early church he is anticipating Christ’s soon return. Thus the fact that he only expects ‘some’ Jews to be saved is significant. This appears to contradict the idea that ‘all Israel’ will be saved as in Rom 11:26. But as we shall see, in our view ‘Israel’ there includes the believing Gentiles. So while he is certainly confident that some Jews will be saved, and passes that confidence on in his words to the Gentile Christians in the Roman church, it is apparent here that he clearly is not expecting a huge revival among them in his lifetime.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Illustration Of The Olive Tree (11:13-24).
‘The Olive Tree’ is the name of Israel specifically given to it by God. In Jeremiah we are told “YHWH called your name ‘a green olive tree’, fair, with goodly fruit” (Jer 11:16). The formula ‘YHWH called your name’ is significant. It is the one used concerning YHWH’s naming of Adam as the representative of mankind (Gen 5:2). Thus it is indicating the official pronouncement of a permanent reality. Mankind was called ‘Man’ by God. Israel is called by God ‘the green olive tree’, probably with a view to it benefiting the world with what it produces. Olive oil was a major Israelite export. But as with the true vine in Joh 15:1-6, fire would come against it and disobedient branches would be ‘broken’ (Jer 11:16). YHWH who had planted it would bring evil against it. The continued existence of its people would depend ultimately on its faith and obedience.
Thus when Paul speaks of the olive tree from which branches would be broken off and into which branches would be grafted there is no doubt concerning what is primarily in mind. It is the Israel chosen by God, but as represented by those who are obedient, the ideal Israel in mind in Jer 2:2-3. There is no room in such an olive tree for broken and unfruitful branches. They have to be removed. Here is a clear indication that it is the Jews who have believed in the Messiah who form the true Israel. Those of old Israel who have been disobedient and unbelieving are cast off. Believing Israel remain as branches in the olive tree. And, as Paul makes clear, the true Israel will be supplemented by Gentiles who also believe in the Messiah. They too become a part of the true Israel, the genuine continuation of the old Israel. When the cast off branches gather together and call themselves Israel, it is not as genuine Israel. They are not of the elect.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
An admonition to the Gentiles:
v. 13. For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office,
v. 14. if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
v. 15. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?
The apostle in the entire section now following addresses himself to his Gentile readers. In so far as he is indeed the apostle of the Gentiles, he intends to praise his ministry. He wants the Gentiles to remember that he, in his capacity as apostle of the heathen, brings glory upon this office of his in its faithful execution also by the fact that he thereby wants to arouse and stimulate the Jews, and thus, if possible, to save some of them. The Gentile Christians should know that the apostle, in the midst of his earnest work in their behalf, always feels responsibility for the Jews also. If he can but succeed in inciting emulation among them that are of his flesh, at least some of them, bring them to the knowledge and acceptance of their Savior and thus bestow upon them the blessings of salvation: that is the apostle’s earnest desire. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life out of death? With the rejection of the Jews, by their own fault, the reconciliation could be made known and thus realized in the wider circles of the whole world. The Gospel of the reconciliation of God with man, as accomplished in Christ, was carried out into the heathen world as a result of the rejection of the Jews. But if this punishment of the Jews had such a blessed result, what blessings, what life will flow from their acceptance, from the conversion of such as might still be gained through the method employed by the apostle! When the remnant out of Israel has been converted to the Messiah, then the object of God will have been realized, then will come the glorious life in and with Christ through all eternity, then both Jews and Greeks will inherit, through faith, the Kingdom which was prepared for them before the foundation of the world. Note: History repeats itself, also with regard to the reception of the Word of God and its reaction on the behavior of men. The Gospel is taken from the ungrateful and given to such as are more appreciative of its value. And in many instances the establishment of new congregations, where the first love brought forth rich fruits, has reacted favorably upon older congregations in stimulating new interest for the work of the kingdom of God.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rom 11:13-14. For I speak, &c. Some read these verses in a parenthesis, thus: (I say to you, Gentiles, so far as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I am used to honour my ministry, Rom 11:14. That I may by any means excite to emulation them who are of my flesh, and may save some of them:). Magnify, unless when applied to the Most High, who never can be too highly exalted, in our language carries in it the idea of stretching beyond the bounds of truth, or making a thing seem greater than it really is. The word is , I glorify,honour: so we render it, 1Co 12:26 and so it should be translated here;I honour my ministry: for the word , in the like case, is always rendered ministry. See Act 21:19; 1Ti 1:12; 1Ti 1:20. St. Paul honoured his ministry, by speaking magnificently of the state of the Gentiles, whom he had converted to the faith, in comparison of the poor and low condition to which the unbelieving Jews were reduced. His sense will appear, if in reading Rom 11:12-13 we lay the emphasis upon the RICHES of the world,the RICHES of the Gentiles. St. Peter sets the honours of the believing Gentiles, and the degraded state of the infidel Jews, in a still more striking contrast, 1Pe 2:8-9. They stumbled at the word, and are fallen; but ye are raised to the honour of being a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 11:13-14 . Not a parenthetical thought (Reiche), but the connection with the preceding and following is: “ I say: but you precisely, the Gentile Christians , who might think that my office belongs only to you and the Gentiles, and that the conversion of the Jews lies less in my vocation, you I hereby make to know ( ), that I, as apostle of the Gentiles , etc.; for (motive) the conversion of the Jews will have the happiest consequence (Rom 11:15 ).”
] to the (born) Gentiles , denotes, as an apposition to , the readers according to their chief constituent element , in virtue of which the Christian Gentile body is represented in them; comp. Rom 1:13 . Observe that Paul does not write , as though he intended only a Gentile fraction of the otherwise Jewish-Christian community (in opposition to Mangold). In contradistinction to his readers, the Jews, although his flesh, are to him third persons, whom he, as apostle of the Gentiles, might mediately serve. Baur fails to recognise this, I. p. 371.
] not temporal ( quamdiu , Mat 9:15 ; 2Pe 1:13 ), but: in quantum, in as far as I, etc. Comp. Mat 25:40 ; Plato, Rep . p. 268 B; Xen. Cyr . v. 4. 68. Just so and .
] as so often in Paul without a corresponding . But we see from the following that the train of ideas passing before his mind was this: “I seek indeed, so far as I am one who has the commission of Apostle to the Gentiles (observe the emphatic , in which a noble self-consciousness is expressed), to do honour to my office, but I have in view withal (for see Rom 10:1 , Rom 9:2-3 ) to incite my kinsmen to emulation, etc.”
] whether in any way . The practical honouring of the office, which consists in a true discharge of it, is an acting, whereby the desired attainment is attempted , see on Rom 1:10 ; Phi 3:11 ; Act 27:12 ; Buttmann, neut. Gr . p. 220. Less in accordance with the text since the very . . . . presupposes an actual (2Th 3:1 ; Joh 12:28 ).
Reiche and Ewald (after Grotius and many others, including Flatt) take it as: I boast , hold my office something high and glorious. Hofmann, indeed, understands an actual glorification, but conditioned by . . ., so that the latter is not whether possibly , but if possibly . From this the illogical relation of present and future which thus arises must deter us (Paul must have used the future ).
. and ] future indicative, like Rom 1:10 . On , comp. 1Ti 4:16 ; 1Co 7:16 ; 1Co 9:22 . The enclitic standing before the noun cannot be emphatic (van Hengel), but represents, at the same time, the dative of interest (whether I shall perhaps rouse to me my flesh to jealousy ), like 1Co 9:27 , Phi 2:2 , Col 4:18 , et al ., and frequently in classical Greek.
] refers to those intended by the collective . , Theophylact. Theodoret quite erroneously thinks that Paul wished to intimate a denial of spiritual fellowship. On the contrary, (Oecumenius), he says . . , which is like , Rom 9:3 , but more strongly significant. Gen 37:27 ; Jdg 9:2 ; 2Sa 5:1 . Comp. Isa 58:7 . Note the modesty of the expression , which, however, was suggested by the experience of the difficulty of the conversion of the Jews; comp. 1Co 9:22 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Ver. 13. I magnify mine office ] I make the utmost of it by gaining souls to Christ.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13 .] ‘Why, in an argument concerning the Jews , dwell so much on the reference to the Gentiles discernible in the divine conomy regarding Israel? Why make it appear as if the treatment of God’s chosen people were regulated not by a consideration of them , but of the less favoured Gentiles?’ The present verse gives an answer to this question. But (apology for the foregoing verse: if be read, the sense will be much the same For (i.e. let it be understood, that), &c.) I am speaking to you the Gentiles. Inasmuch therefore ( is surely not to be rejected as yielding no sense, as De Wette and Tholuck, who object to it as proceeding from those who hold a new sentence to begin at , and . to refer to the foregoing: but the usage of in 1Co 6:4 seems strictly analogous to that in our text, where no new sentence is begun in any sense which may not be true here.
, not ‘ as long as ,’ as Orig [103] and Vulg.) as I am Apostle of the Gentiles, I honour mine office (by striving for their conversion and edification at all times, by introducing a reference to them and their part in the divine counsels, even when speaking of mine own people), if by any means I may (regarding it as a real service done on behalf of Israel, thus to honour mine office by mentioning the Gentiles, if this mention may) provoke to jealousy mine own flesh (the Jews) and may save some of them.
[103] Origen, b. 185, d. 254
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 11:13 f. . Paul does not here address a new class of readers. He has been speaking all along to a Gentile church, and speaking to it in that character (see above, pp. 561 ff.); and he feels it necessary to show the relevance, in such circumstances, of bestowing so much attention on the condition and prospects of the Jews. His mission to the Gentiles has an indirect bearing on his own countrymen; the more successful he can make it, the greater is the prospect that some of the Jews also may be provoked to jealousy and saved. Every Jew, again, who is saved, goes to make up the of Rom 11:12 , and so to bring on a time of unimaginable blessing for the Gentile world. Mat 25:40 . is printed in all the critical editions, but Sanday and Headlam would read as one word, and discount the restrictive force of the , which suggests that apostleship to Gentiles was but one part of Paul’s mission. : the pronoun expresses not merely a noble consciousness of vocation, but Paul’s feeling that in his particular case at all events a mission to the Gentiles could not but include this ulterior reference to the Jews. His devotion, accordingly, to his Gentile ministry, never let them fall out of view. “As far then as apostleship to Gentiles is represented by me (as no doubt it is) I glorify my ministry (by faithful discharge of it), if by any means I may save some of the Jews.” For the interpretation of see 2Th 3:1 , Joh 17:4 . For see Buttmann, p. 255 f. : disenchanting experience taught him to speak thus. cf. 1Co 9:22 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
apostle. App-189.
magnify = glorify. Seep. 1511.
office = ministry. App-190.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] Why, in an argument concerning the Jews, dwell so much on the reference to the Gentiles discernible in the divine conomy regarding Israel? Why make it appear as if the treatment of Gods chosen people were regulated not by a consideration of them, but of the less favoured Gentiles? The present verse gives an answer to this question. But (apology for the foregoing verse:-if be read, the sense will be much the same-For (i.e. let it be understood, that), &c.) I am speaking to you the Gentiles. Inasmuch therefore ( is surely not to be rejected as yielding no sense,-as De Wette and Tholuck, who object to it as proceeding from those who hold a new sentence to begin at , and . to refer to the foregoing:-but the usage of in 1Co 6:4 seems strictly analogous to that in our text, where no new sentence is begun in any sense which may not be true here.
, not as long as, as Orig[103] and Vulg.) as I am Apostle of the Gentiles, I honour mine office (by striving for their conversion and edification at all times,-by introducing a reference to them and their part in the divine counsels, even when speaking of mine own people), if by any means I may (regarding it as a real service done on behalf of Israel, thus to honour mine office by mentioning the Gentiles, if this mention may) provoke to jealousy mine own flesh (the Jews) and may save some of them.
[103] Origen, b. 185, d. 254
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 11:13. ) to you, not that you may be elated, but that the Jews may be invited.-, ministry) apostleship among the Gentiles.-, magnify) To wit, Paul enhances the grace given to the Gentiles and its fulness, as about to be reciprocated upon [towards] the Israelites themselves [intended to have a reflex influence on Israel]; and here he gives a reason for his so enhancing that grace.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 11:13
Rom 11:13
But I speak to you that are Gentiles.-The effort is to excite their gratitude and to warn them against abusing Gods mercies so graciously vouchsafed to them.
Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;-He magnified and gloried in his work. He did this by showing that the conversion of the Gentiles had been foretold in prophecy and what a wonderful influence it would have on the world.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Others Grafted in by Faith
Rom 11:13-24
Paul never abandoned the hope that ultimately Israel would come back to God in Christ. He believed that Gods promises pointed in that direction, and that, though centuries might pass, those sure guarantees would be abundantly fulfilled. Notice his expressions: how much more their fullness, Rom 11:12; what shall the receiving of them be, but from the dead? Rom 11:15; God is able to graft them in again, Rom 11:23; all Israel shall be saved, Rom 11:26; that He might have mercy upon all, Rom 11:32. He realized, however, that Israel must temporarily make way for the ingathering of the Church, in which there is neither Jew nor Greek; and that when the Church has been formed and gathered to its Lord, then the time for the ingathering of the Jewish people will have arrived.
Let us see to it that we Gentiles understand our position as being permitted to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree, Rom 11:17. Christ was the root of that tree, and it is from His rich nature that all the freshness and fatness, all the quickening and energy, all the love and grace of the Hebrew Scriptures and heritage of promises were gained. Whatever Israel had, we may have. Let us go up and possess the land!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
the apostle: Rom 15:16-19, Act 9:15, Act 13:2, Act 22:21, Act 26:17, Act 26:18, Gal 1:16, Gal 2:2, Gal 2:7-9, Eph 3:8, 1Ti 2:7, 2Ti 1:11, 2Ti 1:12, I magnify mine office. Rather, “I honour my ministry,” [Strong’s G1248], [Strong’s G3450], [Strong’s G1392].
Reciprocal: 2Ki 5:8 – and he shall Job 33:23 – one Luk 14:23 – compel Rom 1:1 – called Rom 3:29 – General 1Co 9:1 – I not an 2Co 11:28 – the care Eph 3:2 – the dispensation 1Ti 3:1 – desireth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:13
Rom 11:13. Magnify means “to honor” according to Thayer. Since Paul was especially the apostle of the Gentiles (chapter 15:16; Gal 2:9), he honored that office (work) by showing to them their favored standing with God.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 11:13. But I am sneaking to you Gentiles. But is better supported than for. The clause implies the preponderance of Gentile Christians in the congregation at Rome. We do not regard Rom 11:13-14 as parenthetical, but as meeting a thought which might arise in the minds of the Gentile readers, namely, that his ministry, as the Apostle to the Gentiles, had no reference to the Jews. He shows that the blessed results to the Jews formed a part of the purpose of his labors (Rom 11:14). Others think the implied objection relates to the prominence given to the Gentiles in Gods purpose respecting the Jews. But it is unlikely that the Gentiles would raise such an objection. Godet differs from both views, and finds in these verses a proof that the Apostle was laboring for the ultimate benefit of the Gentiles by seeking the conversion of the Jews, since the latter would result in life from the dead (Rom 11:15), and thus bring blessing to the Gentiles. But the first view is to be preferred.
Inasmuch then, etc. Then is well supported, and disconnects the clause from what precedes. We separate the clauses by a colon; others explain: I say to you Gentiles, inasmuch, etc. But then opposes this view.
I am, etc. I is emphatic here.
I glorify my ministry; i.e., his ministry to the Gentiles. Glorify is not = praise, or, magnify; the meaning is, by faithfully discharging the duties of this specific ministry he could do honor to it. The original suggests that there is another phase of the subject, which is stated (though not in exact correlation) in the next verse.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The honourable office which St. Paul was called to; namely, to be an apostle, and the apostle of the Gentiles.
2. The honour which God put upon him in the faithful execution of that office: (1.) In making him instrumental for calling many of the blind and ignorant Gentiles to the obedience of the faith:
(2.) In provoking the Jews (whom he called his own flesh, because of his own nation) not to suffer the Gentiles alone to go away with the privileges of the gospel, but to put in for a share with them: If by any means I may provoke to emulation.
As if the apostle had said, “O that I could once see an holy emulation take hold of my countrymen; that rather than not believe at all, and be saved, I might see them at last believe for anger, or for very shame, and go to heaven in a holy chafe.”
Observe, 3. What an argument the apostle makes use of, why all persons should greatly desire the general conversion both of Jews and Gentiles to the faith of Christ.
As the casting away of the Jews at present, will be the reconciling of the world; that is, by an occasion of sending the gospel to the Gentiles all the world over, whereby they become reconciled unto God; what will the receiving of the Jews again into the grace and favour of God, and the communion of the visible church, be to you Gentiles are brought into it, that it will be looked upon as a new life, or resurrection from the dead.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 11:13-14. For, or now, I speak to you Gentiles You believing Romans, and thus make known to you the present rejection of the Jews, and the happiness of the Gentiles in their future restoration, for your caution as well as comfort; inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles By a special designation of divine providence and grace, and am accordingly under an indispensable obligation to communicate to them whatever will be for their profit; I magnify my office Far from being ashamed of ministering to them, I glory therein, and esteem it the most signal honour of my life to be so employed. And the rather, if by any means Especially by converting the Gentiles; I may provoke to emulation To a striving to partake of the privileges of the gospel, as well as the Gentiles; them which are my flesh My kinsmen; and might save some of them Might bring them to believe in Jesus, and so to be saved. Here, by a most popular and affectionate turn, the apostle represents himself as zealous in converting the Gentiles, from his great love to the Jews.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 13-15 are a more particular application to St. Paul’s ministry of the ideas expounded Rom 11:11-12; for this ministry had a decisive part to play in accomplishing the plan of God sketched in these two last verses; and the feelings with which Paul discharged his apostleship must be in harmony with the course of God’s work. This is exactly what he shows in these three verses.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
But [A note of correction. At Rom 7:1; Rom 7:4 Paul began to address the Jews, and all that he has said since then has had specific reference to that people. Since verse 11, however, the thought has gradually passed to the Gentiles and now Paul openly notes that he is speaking to them, lest any should think he was still speaking to Jews about Jews] I speak to you that are Gentiles. [Much that the apostle has said might be misconstrued by the Gentiles so as to minister to their pride. The apostle therefore addresses them personally, and prepares the way for an admonition against vainglory in themselves and a contemptuous spirit against the Jews.] Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
13. But I speak to you Gentiles. Therefore, indeed, as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry,
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rom 11:13-24. The Ingrafting of the Gentiles.From Rom 9:1 onwards, Paul has written as a Jew to Jews; here he turns to the other half of the Church (see Introd. 3).
Rom 11:13. But to you Gentiles I say. Pauls labour in their evangelisation has an ulterior object; he would fain somehow stir to jealousy his own flesh and blood, etc. (cf. Rom 10:19; also 1Co 9:20-22). I glorify my ministry, make it renowned (cf. Rom 15:15-21, 1Co 15:10, etc.).
Rom 11:15 states more definitely the expectation raised in Rom 11:12 : if their casting away meant a worldwide reconciliation to God (see 2Co 5:19), what will their reception be but life from the dead! cf. the climax of Rom 5:10.Reception (as in Rom 14:1; Rom 14:3, Rom 15:7, etc.). is the taking to ones home and heart.Life from the dead means nothing short of the final resurrection: Paul asks (he does not assert) whether Israels salvation, completing the salvation of the world, will not conclude the mission of the Gospel and usher in the Lords return, which ends the reign of death (Rom 5:21; cf. 1Co 15:23-26, 1Th 4:13-17); the spiritual resurrection is presupposed in reconciliation (cf. Rom 6:4-11). Sayings of Jesus like Mat 23:39 prompted Pauls hope.
Rom 11:16. The holy beginning of Israels history (Rom 11:4; Rom 9:4 f.) prognosticates the ending: the completed kneading will match the first-fruit of the dough (the handful taken for the ritual offering, Num 15:17-21); the branches belong to the root.
Rom 11:17 f. The metaphor just used suggests a warning to Gentile Christians, some of whom were repeating the Jewish mistake in imagining themselves Gods favourites. Certain of the native branches have been broken out of the old tree; and thou, a wild-olive slip, wast grafted in, etc.You boast over this? remember, The root carries you, not you the root! You owe everything to the primitive people of God.
Rom 11:19 f. Faith secures you a standing in the good tree; unbelief caused their breaking off: they were not broken off for the purpose of grafting you in! Be humble, and fearful of a like fate.
Rom 11:21. God will not spare you either, if you relapse.
Rom 11:22-24. The Gentiles who now experience His kindness, may forfeit it; the Jews, now tasting Gods severity, unless they persist in unbelief, will be re-engrafted. God is able to do this; and their restoration is more natural than your implantation. The nature intended is the common strain of tree and branches; cf. Rom 11:16.Paul was no expert in arboriculture; he states the moral probabilities of the case under the figure adopted, without too great concern about botanical accuracy. [See Ramsay, Pauline and Other Studies, pp. 219250; also Deissmann, St. Paul, ch. ii., where it is shown that the world of the apostle was that of the olive tree.A. S. P. and A. J. G.]
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
11:13 {8} For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, {m} I magnify mine office:
(8) He witnesses by his own example, that he goes before all others in this regard.
(m) I make noble and famous.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Here Paul applied what he had said earlier to his own ministry. By evangelizing Gentiles Paul was causing more Jews to become jealous of God’s blessings on Gentile converts. He was thereby playing a part in bringing some Jews to faith.
"The Gentiles are not saved merely for their own sake, but for the sake of God’s election of Israel." [Note: James Daane, The Freedom of God, p. 145.]
"However strange it may sound, the way to salvation of Israel is by the mission to the Gentiles." [Note: Johannes Munck, Paul and the Salvation of Mankind, p. 301.]