Romans 11

Romans 11:1

From these awful hints by the prophets, and the no less awful present appearances of things among the Jews, we must not conclude that God has universally, and for ever, abandoned his whole favourite nation, who have so long been his peculiar people, in visible covenant with him. No,—I myself, to whom, notwithstanding the greatest unworthiness and guilt, his grace has been exceeding abundant, am an Israelite, of the very meanest and first miscreant tribe

Romans 11:2-5

Whatever he has done with multitudes of the natural descendants of Jacob, and might justly do with them all, for their many heinous provocations, yet he has rejected none whom, in his eternal purpose, he chose to special and saving benefits; but, as in the days of Elijah, when idolatry and other wickedness so remarkably prevailed, that he thought scarcely a true worshipper of God but himself remained among the ten tribes, the Lord had secretly preserved no less than seven thousand, so now, notwithstanding our general and deplorable infidelity, a large remnant have been effectually brought to believe in Christ to the saving of their souls, according to that free choice which God, from all eternity, made of them in the riches of his own sovereign mercy and grace

Romans 11:6

And if the choice, calling, and saving, of some rather than others, be entirely the effects of his mere favour and grace, then it is plain that no foreseen good works deserved, or moved him to it: nothing being more evident than that the mere undeserved favour and mercy of God, and the merit of men’s good works, are so directly contrary the one to the other, that they cannot be blended together; but salvation, from first to last, must be simply of the one to the exclusion of the other

Romans 11:7-10

The present state of the Jewish nation stands therefore precisely thus, that all such of them as were divinely chosen to everlasting life have obtained, or shall obtain, righteousness entitling to it through faith in Christ; but the rest, who are the far greater part, are, in the awful, but just providence of God, and according to his predictions by Isaiah and David, given up to their own lusts, to blind and harden themselves in their rejection of Christ and his gospel, and thereby bring upon themselves fearful curses and miseries spiritual and temporal in this world, as well as everlasting destruction in that which is to come

Romans 11:11

Nor has God permitted them to stumble at his crucified Son, in order that their whole nation should fall from all their ancient privileges into utter and everlasting ruin; but has overruled their obstinate unbelief into an occasion of sending the gospel to the Gentiles, that the ready reception of it among that idolatrous and detested people might stir up the Jews to vie with them in faith and obedience, that these despised Gentiles might not wholly take away the gospel and its privileges from them

Romans 11:12

Now, if the apostasy of the Jews, and their falling off from their peculiar relation to God as his people be, in his infinite wisdom, made a mean of sooner enriching the Gentiles with the gospel and all its inestimable blessings, how much more shall the faith of the Gentiles be confirmed, their blessings increased, and converts multiplied, when, in some future period, the Jewish nation shall be converted to Christ; and enjoy the fulness and privileges of the gospel

Romans 11:13

It is with great pleasure that I, who reckon myself highly honoured to be the apostle of Jesus Christ for the conversion and edification of you Gentiles, mention this to you for your comfort

Romans 11:14

And it would give me inexpressible joy and satisfaction if, by this or any other means, I could be an instrument of stirring up my Jewish brethren to bethink themselves, and believe in Christ, to their own everlasting salvation : 15. For, if God’s casting them off from being his peculiar people for their obstinate unbelief has been made an occasion of bringing you Gentiles, by the gospel, into a state of favour and fellowship with him, through faith in his Son, shall not their future general conversion to Christ, be a mean of introducing an inexpressibly more glorious, enlarged, and lively condition to the gospel church !

Romans 11:16

And this general conversion we ought to hope for.—For God’s sanctification of Abraham, and others of their ancestors, to his service, and entering them and their seed into special covenant with himself, imports that though, for their wickedness, the present and many succeeding generations should be cut off from the favour of God, and expelled from his church, yet he will, in some future period, from regard to that ancient covenant, convert multitudes of them to Christ, and reinstate them in his church. And of this I and others, who are already converted, are a specimen, pledge, and earnest

Romans 11:17

But if the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those friends of God, be for their obstinate unbelief, cut off and expelled from God’s covenant and church, that you, ignorant, unprofitable, and wicked Gentiles, fit only for everlasting destruction, might, in the transcendent mercy of God, be brought into the church as their spiritual posterity ; and along with believing Jews, made partakers of all the promises, ordinances, privileges, and blessings, of the gracious covenant made with Abraham

Romans 11:18

Never insult or condemn these rejected Jews, nor imagine yourselves more worthy than they. Remember ye contributed nothing to the honours and privileges of Abraham and his posterity, but receive your gospel privileges through means of Abraham as their root, and the father of all the nations of them that believe

Romans 11:19

Think not that they, as superlatively wicked, were expelled from God’s church, that you, as better, might be admitted in their stead

Romans 11:20

It was for their rejection of Christ, and the way of salvation through him, that they were cast out from their peculiar relation to God, and the gospel removed from them to you ; and it is only by faith in Christ, and his salvation, as freely offered to you, that ye have been admitted to, and continued in possession of, the privileges which they have lost ; never therefore ruin yourselves by contempt of others, or by a conceit of your own worthiness or ability to persevere in your holy profession ; but study always to maintain a holy reverence of God, an humble diffidence of yourselves, and a filial fear of falling by unbelief, as they have done

Romans 11:21

For if God would not pass over, without fearful punishment, the obstinate unbelief of his ancient people, descended from Abraham his distinguished friend, what need have ye, who, contrary to all your deserts, have been admitted into his gospel church in their stead, to take heed, lest, by pride and unbelief, you should provoke him to punish you in a similar manner ?

Romans 11:22

Observe, and ponder therefore with solemn awe, the dreadful, but just, severity which God has exercised towards the obstinate and rejected Jews, and the transcendent mercy and kindness which he has manifested towards you Gentiles in sending his gospel to you, opening your hearts to receive it, admitting you into his church, and rendering you partakers of his blessings, if by an humble faith ye improve his kindness. But, if through pride and unbelief ye abuse his merciful dispensation, assure yourselves that he will also unchurch you, and all other merely nominal Christians. 23, 24. And know that even the Jewish nation, who are now rejected, shall, in God’s time, by an effectual conversion to the faith of Christ, be again made members of his church: for if, by his supernatural and almighty grace, you idolatrous Gentiles, worthless, unprofitable, and wicked, have been brought into his church, to render you fruitful in good works, much more may we expect that these descendants of Abraham with whom God established his covenant in their pious ancestors, shall, by faith in the exalted Messiah, be brought back into the covenant and church of God, from which their unbelief had cut them off, that they may partake of the spiritual benefits thereof

Romans 11:25

Nay, that ye may not indulge yourselves in vain reasonings or self-conceit, or in contempt of them, know that this strange and tremendous abandoning of most of the Jews to their ignorance and unbelief will only continue till there be a general conversion of the Gentile nations to Christ; 26, 27. And then shall multitudes of all the tribes of Israel be in like manner turned to the Lord, through faith in Christ as the gracious forgiver of their guilt, subduer of their lusts, and reformer from their sinful practices, manifested to them according to the ancient predictions

Romans 11:28

In judgment to them, and in order to the merciful spread of the gospel among you, they are indeed now enemies to, and contradicters and blasphemers of, it, and have thereby cut themselves off from the blessedness of it: but, with respect to that absolutely gracious choice which God made of them as his peculiar people, they are still the objects of his kind and merciful regard, in consequence of that special favour which he had for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other pious ancestors

Romans 11:29

For the effectual calling and other blessings, which God bestows upon men in consequence of his choice of them in his eternal purpose, being irrevocable, we may depend on his infinite wisdom, power, goodness, and unchangeableness, that this chosen nation shall again be turned to the Lord, and multitudes saved with an everlasting salvation: 30. For, as ye Gentiles, who had for many ages continued in the most hateful, helpless, and hopeless, circumstances, have now, through occasion of their unbelief, been brought into God’s covenant and church, and made partakers of his saving benefits

Romans 11:31

Even so, in like manner, the generality of the Jews are now, for a time, permitted to reject Christ and the gospel, that, through your receiving and preserving the gospel in the world, it may at length be preached unto them, and through faith in their own Messiah, they may be mercifully restored to their ancient privileges, and many of them eternally saved

Romans 11:32

Thus by turns hath God, in infinite sovereignty, as well as equity, shut up mankind, first the Gentiles, and then the Jews, under the power of their disobedience and unbelief, and out of his visible church, that in his own time he may magnify the exceeding riches of his grace in calling multitudes of all ranks, among both Jews and Gentiles, to himself

Romans 11:33

O the unbounded, the unfathomable, depth of his wisdom and knowledge, and of his counsels and dispensations, especially those which relate to the disposing of, and preparing, men for their eternal state! How impossible is it for created minds to explore the reasons of his determinations with respect to particular persons or nations! And how intricate and unknown are the methods of his providence for accomplishing his great designs!

Romans 11:34

How impossible it is for mere creatures to penetrate into the secret thoughts and noble schemes of his infinite mind, who is the great Sovereign of heaven and earth; and which he by the most improbable means, pursues in the most unsearchable dispensations of providence! And how impossible for any to assist him in forming his plans, or to direct him in accomplishing them!

Romans 11:35

Very absurd then is it to imagine that any creature, and especially any sinful man, Jew or Gentile, should have any claim of debt upon the infinite God, the Creator and Preserver of all

Romans 11:36

For not only all things relative to his dispensation of justice and mercy, but all things in heaven, earth, or hell, are of him, as their contriver, Creator, and cause; and are all preserved, directed, governed, and disposed by him; and are all intended, formed, preserved, and managed, for the glorious illustration of his infinite perfections

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XI.—Awful is the thought that so many members of the visible church should be eternally rejected and ruined. Yet it is a great mercy that in the very worst of times a remnant larger than many think are saved; that our whole salvation is owing to God’s free and rich grace; and that not one elect vessel can be finally lost. But it is absurd for men to attempt connecting their merits with God’s grace, as joint causes of their eternal salvation, when the one is utterly aversive of the other. Dreadful are spiritual judgments, especially when least perceived! And awful is the providence when God casts off a person, and especially a nation, which he has long and remarkably favoured. It is necessary therefore for all professors humbly to fear and tremble for themselves, and to make sure their standing in Christ by vigorous and often-repeated acts of faith. But, when God casts off one nation, he supplies their room in his church and covenant with another: and, when they are long cast off, God can nevertheless mark his regard to their ancestors, and to his promises made to them, in shewing them distinguished favour at last.—Blessed indeed will be the period when both Jews and Gentiles shall be generally gathered to Jesus Christ. May the Lord hasten it in his time! And with reverend awe should we adore and acquiesce in all his purposes and providences, resolving all into his infinite wisdom, power, mercy, equity, and high sovereignty, and referring the glory of all things, all events, to his name!