Romans 11:30

Rom_11:30-32

For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy.

The memory of the past should

1. Promote humility.

2. Awaken gratitude.

3. Soften our censures.

4. Strengthen our hopes of others. (T. Robinson, D.D.)

Mercy for the Jew

I. We have received mercy--

1. Unmerited.

2. Free.

3. Through the unbelief of Israel.

II. We must show mercy--

1. As an expression of gratitude.

2. A debt of justice.

3. A Christian duty. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

The gospel given to us as a deposit for the Jews

Observe--

I. The mysterious way is which God has dispensed His blessings to mankind--first the Jew, then the Gentile; all Israel, then the fulness of the Gentiles. The mysteriousness of this plan--delay, partial bestowment, transfer, final restoration.

II. The design of it.

1. To provoke the Jews to jealousy.

2. To provoke the Christian world to love. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The last argument to prove the conversion and general calling of the Jews

The argument is taken from the like dealing of God with the Gentiles. The impiety of the Gentiles was no impediment to their mercy, neither shall the infidelity of the Jews to theirs.

I. The Gentiles were Infidels (Eph_2:12), but by the unbelief of the Jews they are received to mercy.

1. Forget not what thou wert, for we have all fun the race of the prodigal son. It is Gods grace if it be otherwise with thee now. Be thankful. How if God had taken thee away in thy sins? Let this bind thee to thy good behaviour for ever (1Ti_1:15; cf. Tit_3:8).

2. Faith is a sweet mercy, so is the Word of God, the means of that faith. Alas for them which, having the means of faith, yet contemn the same!

3. Sin breeds sorrow, and many times sorrow kills the sin which bred it, as a worm breeding in timber consumes it. So the sin of the Jews works to the good of the Gentiles by the goodness of God. Gregory the Great calls the sin of Adam happy, because it was the occasion of salvation; so in some sort may we say of the unbelief of the Jews.

4. God forbid that we should lightly esteem the grace God offers us, it coming unto us at so dear a rate as is the casting off of His people.

5. When we were infidels, God showed us mercy; much more will He be merciful to us now we believe.

II. The Jews are now in an estate of unbelief, but they shall be received to mercy (Isa_46:4; Jer_24:6-7).

1. There is yet mercy for the Jews, by the example of the like mercy to the Gentiles. But it is now sixteen hundred years ago since they were cast off; is it likely that after so long time they should be called? Yes; for the Gentiles lay longer under their infidelities, yet at last received grace.

2. Faith is not in the power of man, nor can any means effect it without Gods blessing. One would think that this long affliction of the Jews might make them cry peccavi, beside other means God hath afforded them. In trouble, then, pray it may be sanctified to thy profit. Pray also for a blessing on the Word, else it will be unprofitable, though the preacher were a son of thunder.

3. Carry thyself meekly toward a Jew, and toward unbelievers among ourselves, considering thyself, who wert in the same condemnation. Judge not thy neighbour for damned; He that converted thee can in His good time convert him also. Play the physician to thy neighbours soul; show him of the mercy thou hast received, that he also may be stirred up to seek to Him who is merciful. God gave Paul consolation in distress, that he might comfort others; so if He give thee knowledge, faith, etc., use them in like manner.

4. Who, then, is the better for thy gifts? The Jew compasseth sea and land to make a proselyte. The Jesuits wind themselves like serpents into every place to make a papist. Drunkards and other ungodly persons seek to draw others to their practices.

5. Let the Jew follow the faith of the Gentile, so do thou the example of good Christians among whom thou livest. It is a great furtherance to godliness to have an example to the rule. It is a help to the scholar to have a copy to write by, but a greater furtherance to his profiting to see his master make the letters. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)

For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.--

All are shut up in unbelief

I. How?

1. By nature.

2. By providence--first the Gentile, then the Jew.

3. By the appointment of eternal justice.

II. Why?

1. That Gods mercy.

2. To all.

3. Might be more gloriously manifested.

III. In what way this Divine arrangement contributes to such a result.

1. By convincing man of his sinfulness and utter helplessness.

2. By preparing him for the reception of mercy. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Why God locked up (so to speak) Gentiles and Jews in the prison of unbelief

1. That their salvation might be manifestly seen to be by grace.

2. That self-righteous boasting might be excluded.

3. That men might duly appreciate the blessings of His redemptive love.

4. That scope might be afforded for the full display of His mercy. (C. Neil, M.A.)

Mans unbelief and Gods mercy

Here is an elegant similitude. Men unconverted are prisoners--God the Judge, unbelief the prison, the devil the gaoler, the law the sergeant, and natural corruption the fetters.

I. God hath shut up all in unbelief. This is the common condition of all men (Rom_3:9; Rom_3:19; Rom_3:23; Gal_3:22).

1. Paul hath in the passage of this business ten times told us of our miserable condition by nature. Here we are poor sinners; it is our part to take knowledge of our corrupt nature.

2. Great is the misery that accompanies imprisonment, restraint of liberty, hunger, cold, shame, chains, but no dungeon more loathsome than an unbelieving heart. Oh that we could be sensible of it, that we might sigh to God for deliverance, as did the Israelites in Egypt. When a man is arrested, what lamenting among his friends: but our very souls are imprisoned in the worst of prisons, under the worst of gaolers, and yet we are merry, as though it were but a trifle.

3. We may know whether we be yet in this prison by two things.

(1) By faith in God. Hast thou this? If not, there needs no jury to find thee guilty: thou art in the very bottom of the dungeon. But thou sayest there is a God. Thy life condemns thee, for thou actest as if there were no God.

(2) By faith in His Word. The Scripture threatens ungodly men with the plagues of God, and promiseth eternal life to the godly. Did men believe this, durst they run on in all profaneness?

II. That He might have mercy on all (Gal_3:22).

1. Our salvation is of mere mercy, but it is a hard thing to be brought to acknowledge it. The Gentiles were 2,000 years before they could learn this lesson, and the Jews have been 1,600 about it, and yet have not learned it; yea, there are many amongst us that cannot say this lesson right. Most men hope to be saved by their prayers and good serving God; we are loth to lose the commendation of our own goodness.

2. Jews and Gentiles should live together, seeing they are both in one prison for one end, and set free by one and the same mercy.

3. If any be set free, it is by the mercy of God, who hath the key of our unbelieving hearts, doth open and shut them at His pleasure. As a man committed by the king can be set free by none but the king, so God committed us, and none can set us free but Himself. Cry, therefore, to the Lord for mercy.

4. There are two notes whereby we may discern whether we be released out of the prison or no.

(1) Our joy. A liberated prisoner leaps and dances, so as no ground will hold him; so birds and beasts escaping from their restraint scud about, as sensible of the sweetness of liberty.

(2) Our carefulness not to commit anything that may bring us into such bondage. So he that believeth the pardon of sin will for ever hate sin. For the most part, prisoners are of wicked behaviour; so if thy conversation be lewd, it is a manifest sign thou art not yet delivered. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 11:30-32. For as ye — Believing Gentiles; in times past — Before Christ was preached to you; have not believed God — Did not believe in the living and true God: or rather, as the words ποτε ηπειθησατε τω θεω signify, were once disobedient to God, and were buried in ignorance and superstition; but now have obtained mercy — Namely, to be converted and pardoned; through their unbelief — τη τουτων απειθεια, through, or on occasion of, their disobedience. The apostle does not mean that the Gentiles would not have been admitted into the covenant and church of God, by having the gospel preached to them, if the whole Jewish nation had embraced the gospel, the title of the Gentiles to all the blessings of the covenant with Abraham being established by the covenant itself. But his meaning is, as is explained in the note on Rom 11:11. Even so have these —

As if he had said, As you obtained mercy after a long time of disobedience, so shall the Jews, who now, since the preaching of the gospel, have not believed, ηπειθησαν, have disobeyed; that through your mercy — The mercy shown to you in the conversion of so many of you, being provoked to emulation, Rom 11:11; they also may obtain mercy — May be brought to believe in Christ, and so partake of mercy. “The disobedience of the Jews consisted in their rejecting the gospel, notwithstanding it was preached to them, as the fulfilment of the prophecies contained in their own sacred records. And by obtaining mercy, is meant the being admitted into the covenant and church of God, which is called mercy, because it proceeded entirely from the mercy of God, Rom 9:15.” For God hath concluded them all in unbelief — Suffered the main body both of the Jews and Gentiles, successively, for some time, to continue under the power of their unbelief, or disobedience rather, that, in his own time, he might fulfil the great counsel of his goodness, in showing undeserved mercy both to Jews and Gentiles. See Joh 12:32. First, God suffered the Gentiles, in the early ages of the world, to revolt from him, and took the family of Abraham, as a peculiar seed, to himself: afterward he permitted them to fall through unbelief, disobedience, idolatry, and, at last, the rejection of their own Messiah, and took the believing Gentiles for his people. And he did even this to provoke the Jews to emulation, and so bring them also, in the end, to faith in, and obedience to, the gospel. This was truly a mystery in the divine conduct, which the apostle adores with such holy astonishment.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 11:30. καὶ) [125] I formerly admitted this particle marked with an obelus, thus †, and am now glad that Baumgarten agrees with me.—ἠπειθήσατε, ye have not believed) unbelief falls upon [applies to] even those, who themselves have not heard the word of God, because they had however received it primitively in the persons of the patriarchs Adam and Noah. [The Gentiles are accountable for not having retained the revelation received from Adam, Noah, etc.]

[125] The German version agrees in this.—E. B.

ABCD (later correction), Gfg, omit καί, before ὑμεῖς. But Vulg. and Rec. Text. have it.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_11:30-31. Γάρ] not referable to Rom_11:28 (Hofmann), introduces that, which, according to the economy of salvation under the divine mercy, will emerge as actual proof of the truth of Rom_11:29.

ἠπειθήσατε] have refused obedience, which came to pass through unbelief. For the elucidation of this, see Rom_1:18 ff.

νῦν δέ] contrast to the time before they become Christian (ποτέ), Eph_2:8.

ἠλεήθητε] For the reception into Christianity with its blessings is, as generally, so in particular over-against the preceding ἠπειθήσατε, on Gods part solely the work of mercy.

τῇ τούτων ἀπειθ.] through the disobedience of these; for they are ἐχθροὶ διʼ ὑμᾶς, Rom_11:28. Comp., besides, Rom_11:11 f., 15, 19 f. The noncompliance of the Jews with the requirement of faith in the gospel brought about the reception of the Gentiles. The latter, the converted Gentiles, are individualized by the address to the Gentile-Christian community of the readers (ὑμεῖς).

ἠπείθησαν] namely, through rejection of the gospel.

τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει] is, on account of the parallelism, to be joined to the following (ἵνα κ.τ.λ.), and the dative to be taken in the sense of mediate agency, like τῇ τούτ. ἀπειθ.: in order that through the mercy that befell you (which may excite them to emulation of your faith, Rom_11:11), mercy should also accrue to them. The position of τ. ὑμ. ἐλ. before the introductory conjunction is for the sake of emphasis; comp. 2Co_12:7; Gal_4:10, et al.; Winer, p. 522 [E. T. 688]. Hence the parallelism is not to be sacrificed by placing a comma after ἐλέει. Nevertheless such is the course followedand with very different views of the dative, arbitrarily departing from the datival notion in τῇ τούτ. ἀπειθείᾳby the Vulgate (in vestram misericordiam), Peschito, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Estius, Wolf, Morus, Lachmann, Glöckler, Maier, Ewald (so these also became now disobedient alongside of [bei] your mercy), Buttmann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1860, p. 367 (in favour of your mercy, that you might find mercy), and others.

ἵνα] the divinely ordained aim of the ἠπείθησαν. On the emphatic ὑμετέρῳ in the objective sense, see Winer, p. 145 [E. T. 191]; Kühner, II. 1, p. 486.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 11:30-32 . There is the less need, too, that they should be withdrawn, because God makes the very misuse of them contribute to the working out of His universal purpose of redemption. The past unbelief of the Gentiles and the mercy they presently enjoy, the present unbelief of the Jews and the mercy they are destined to enjoy in the future these things not only correspond to each other, but they are interwoven with each other; they are parts of a system which God controls, and in which every element conditions and is conditioned by all the rest: there is a Divine necessity pervading and controlling all the freedom of men a Divine purpose mastering all the random activity of human wills; a purpose which is read out by the Apostle in Rom 11:32 : God shut them all up into disobedience that He might have mercy upon them all. Rom 11:30 . ποτὲ : once, in the past, chap. Rom 1:18-32 . τῇ τούτων ἀπειθείᾳ = owing to their disobedience. Cf. Rom 11:11 ; Rom 11:15 .Rom 11:31 . τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει is to be construed with ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ νῦν ἐλεηθῶσιν . For the order cf. Gal 2:10 , 2Co 12:7 . It seems pedantic to make the construction strictly parallel to τῇ τούτων ἀπειθίᾳ , and to translate: “that owing to the mercy shown to you i.e. , owing to the jealousy to which the Jews would be stirred at seeing the Gentiles the objects of Divine mercy they also may obtain mercy”; the simpler construction is to take the dative as explanatory of the verb, and to translate: “that they may be made the objects of the very same mercy which has been shown to you”. This is really the point which the Apostle wishes to be at; though the idea brought out in the former rendering is essential in the passage, it is not essential, nor obvious, in these particular words. The second νῦν (wanting in [17] [18] [19] [20] ) is probably genuine ( [21] [22] ), but cannot be forced to mean more than “now in their turn”. The imminence of the result is not in view. Rom 11:32 . συνέκλεισεν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπειθιαν : this is the nearest approach made in the N.T. to putting the sin of man into a direct and positive relation to the act and purpose of God. But it would be a mistake to draw inferences from the concrete historical problem before the Apostle viz. , God’s dealings with Jew and Gentile, and the mutual relations and influence of Jew and Gentile in the evolution of God’s purpose and to apply them to the general abstract question of the relation of the human will to the Divine. Paul is not thinking of this question at all, and his authority could not be claimed for such inferences. Salvation, he sees, as he looks at the world before him, is to come to Jew and Gentile alike by the way of free grace; and it answers to this, that in the providence of God, Jew and Gentile alike have been made to feel the need of grace by being shut up under disobedience. It is within Paul’s thought to say that the sin of Jews and Gentiles, to whom he preached the Gospel, did not lie outside the control, or outside the redeeming purpose, of God; but it does not seem to me to be within his thought to say that God ordains sin in general for the sake of, or with a view to, redemption. This is a fancy question which an apostle would hardly discuss. God subordinates sin to His purpose, but it is not a subordinate element in His purpose. The same order of considerations ought to guide us in the interpretation of τοὺς πάντας . “Them all” certainly refers in the first instance to Jews and Gentiles. It is not the same as τοὺς ἀμφοτέρους , “both parties”; but it differs from it in its present connection only by giving emphasis to the fact that both parties consist of numbers, to all of whom the truth here stated applies. To find here a doctrine of universal salvation a dogmatic assertion that every man will at last receive mercy is simply to desert the ground on which the Apostle is standing. It is to leave off thinking about the concrete problem before his mind, and to start thinking about something quite different. It is gratuitous to contrast, as, e.g. , is done by Lipsius, this passage with others in which Paul speaks of ἀπολλύμενοι as well as σωζόμενοι , and to say that they represent irreconcilable view-points the Apostle speaking in the present instance from the standpoint of Divine teleology; in the other, from that of actual experience. The truth is, as Weiss puts it, there is not a word here to show how far, when the history of man has reached its term, Paul conceived God’s saving purpose to be realised. συνέκλεισεν answering to הִסְגִּיר is frequent in LXX: the συν does not refer to the fact that Jews and Gentiles are shut up together , but indicates that those who are shut up are shut up on all sides, so that they cannot escape: cf. con-cludo and examples in Gal 3:22 , Psa 30:9 LXX, ἐλεήσῃ : “to have mercy upon” means “to make partakers of that ‘ common salvation ’ (Jud 1:3 ) which is emphatically a dispensation of mercy” (Gifford).

[17] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[18] Codex Augiensis (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Trinity College, Cambridge, edited by Scrivener in 1859. Its Greek text is almost identical with that of , and it is therefore not cited save where it differs from that MS. Its Latin version, f, presents the Vulgate text with some modifications.

[19] Codex Boernerianus (sæc. ix.), a Græco-Latin MS., at Dresden, edited by Matthæi in 1791. Written by an Irish scribe, it once formed part of the same volume as Codex Sangallensis ( δ ) of the Gospels. The Latin text, g, is based on the O.L. translation.

[20] Codex Angelicus (sæc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.

[21] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[22] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_11:30, Rom_11:31

For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so, etc. These verses contain a repetition and confirmation of the previous sentiment. The cases of the Gentiles and Jews are very nearly parallel. Formerly the Gentiles were disbelieving, yet the unbelief of the Jews became the occasion of their obtaining mercy; so now, though the Jews are disobedient, the mercy shown to the Gentiles is to be the means of their obtaining mercy. As the gospel came from the Jews to the Gentiles, so it is to return from the Gentiles to the Jews. Paul had before stated how the unbelief of the Israelites was instrumental in promoting the salvation of other nations, and how the conversion of the Gentiles was to react upon the Jews.

It is in confirmation of what had just been said, that the apostle introduces what follows by ga&r, for. For as ye in time past have not believed. Ye, of course referring to the Gentiles. In times past, i.e. before the coming of Christ. Have not believed God, ησπειθήσατε τῷ Θεῷ, disobeyed God. According to the Scriptures, however, faith is an act of obedience, and unbelief is disobedience. Hence the to obey often means to believe or confide in. That is, the same act may be expressed by either word. Thus in Heb_5:9, Christ is said to be the author of salvation to all those who obey Him. In the New Testament ἀπειθεῖν and ἀπείθεια are always used to express disobedience to the truth; that is, the act of rejecting the truth. It is not, therefore, moral disobedience in general that is here referred to, but unbelief. Have obtained mercy through their unbelief, τῇ τούτων ἀπειθείᾳ. The dative has here a causal force. The unbelief of the Jews was, as an historical fact, the occasion of the gospels being extended to the Gentiles. So have these also not believed, that through your mercy they may also obtain mercy, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι, νῦν ησπείθησαν τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθῶσι. The translation given of this clause in the English version, supposes that ἵνα is out of its proper place, and should stand before τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει, that through your mercy they may obtain mercy. In the Greek these words are connected with ἡπείθησαν; and accordingly in the Vulgate they are rendered, ita et isti nunc non crediderunt in vestram misericordiam. And Luther translates, And these now have not chosen to believe the mercy which you have accepted or experienced. Calvin: Si nunc increduli facti sunt, eo quod adepti estis misericordiam, (because ye have obtained mercy.) Lachmann, in his edition of the Greek Testament, adopts the same construction, putting a comma after ἐλέει. The parallelism of the verse, and the obvious antithesis between ἐλέει and ἀπειθείᾳ, (your mercy and their unbelief,) demand the other mode of explanation. This trajection of the particle ἵνα is not unusual. For the sake of emphasis, some clause or word is placed before, when its logical position would be after the particle. See 2Co_2:4, τὴν ἀγάπην ἵνα γνῶτε.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Another reason, because that although that they which are hardened, are worthily punished, yet hath not this stubbornness of the Jews so come to pass properly for an hatred to that nation, but that an entry might as it were be opened to bring in the Gentiles, and afterward the Jews being inflamed with emulation of this mercy which is showed to the Gentiles, might themselves also be partakers of the same benefit, and so it might appear that both Jews and Gentiles are saved, only by the free mercy and grace of God, which could not have been so manifest, if at the beginning, God had brought all together into the Church, or if he had saved the nation of the Jews without this interruption.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

For as ye in times past have not believed--or, "obeyed"

God--that is, yielded not to God "the obedience of faith," while strangers to Christ.

yet now have obtained mercy through--by occasion of

their unbelief--(See on Rom 11:11; Rom 11:15; Rom 11:28).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 30. For as ye in times past] The apostle pursues his argument in favour of the restoration of the Jews. As ye, Gentiles, in times past-for many ages back.

Have not believed] Were in a state of alienation from God, yet not so as to be totally and for ever excluded,

Have now obtained mercy] For ye are now taken into the kingdom of the Messiah; through their unbelief-by that method which, in destroying the Jewish peculiarity, and fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant, has occasioned the unbelief and obstinate opposition of the Jews.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(30, 31) Have not believed . . . unbelief . . . not believed . . .—Rather, disobeyed . . . disobedience . . . disobeyed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. For as ye, &c.] A new short paragraph. See on Rom_11:28.—The main purpose of this paragraph is to shew, in a new respect, the Divine “reason why” of the rejection of the Jews; viz., that the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles might be conspicuously put on the footing of mere mercy. The Gentile believers had once rejected God (see Rom_1:19, &c.), and mere mercy called them to grace. The Jews were now rejecting God, and mere mercy would again act in calling them back to grace.

have not believed] Better, did not obey. For the best commentary, see Rom_1:18-32.

have now obtained mercy] Better, did obtain mercy. Lit. were compassionated.

through their unbelief] Which was, in a certain sense, the instrument, “through,” or by, which the covenant was thrown open to the world. Jewish unbelief (1) slew “the Lord of Glory,” the Propitiation; and (2) was the occasion for the mission of the Apostles “far unto the Gentiles.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For as ye in times past have not believed God,.... The times referred to, are the times of ignorance, idolatry, and superstition; when God suffered the Gentiles, for many hundreds of years, to walk in their own ways; while the Jews were his favourite people, were chosen by him above all people, separated from them, and distinguished by his goodness; had his word and oracles, his judgments and his statutes to direct them, and many other valuable blessings: the times before the coming of the Messiah are here meant, when these people sat in darkness, and in the region of the shadow of death; till Christ, who came to lighten the Gentiles, sent his Gospel among them, and which has been attended with great success; in these times they were in a state of incredulity: they either, as some of them, did not believe there was a God, or that there was but one God, at least but very few believed it; and these did not know who he was; nor did they glorify him as God, or perform any true spiritual worship to him: the far greater part believed there were more gods, and did service to them which by nature were no gods, and fell down to idols of gold, and silver, and wood, and stone:

and yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; that is, they were regenerated, effectually called and converted, through the rich and abundant mercy of God; repentance unto life was granted to them; and faith in our Lord Jesus, as a free grace gift, was bestowed upon them; and they had an application of pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of Christ, made unto them; and all this through the unbelief of the Jews: not that their unbelief could be the cause of their obtaining mercy; but the Jews not believing in the Messiah, but rejecting him, and contradicting and blaspheming his Gospel, it was taken away from them, and carried to the Gentiles; which was the means of their believing in Christ, and obtaining mercy; so that the unbelief of the Jews was the occasion and means, in Providence, of bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, whereby faith came; see Rom 11:11. This mercy they are said to enjoy "now"; for the present time of the Gospel is the dispensation of mercy to the Gentiles.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

Ver. 30. Through their] By occasion of their unbelief. Pungit Iudaeos et humiliat Gentes, saith one.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For as ye - You who were Gentiles.

In times past - Before the gospel was preached. This refers to the former idolatrous and sinful state of the pagan world; compare Eph 2:2; Act 14:16.

Have not believed God - Or have not obeyed God. This was the character of all the pagan nations.

Yet have now obtained mercy - Have been pardoned and admitted to the favor of God.

Through their unbelief - By means of the unbelief and rejection of the Jews; see the note at Rom 11:11.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As you also in times past did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy through their unbelief, which was an occasion of God’s sending his preachers to you: but the cause of your salvation is God’s mercy. --- That they also may obtain mercy. That is, God has permitted their incredulity, that being a greater object of pity, he may shew greater mercy in converting them by the free gift of his grace. --- For God hath concluded [2] all, that is, has permitted at different times, both Gentiles and Jews, to fall into a state of unbelief, that the salvation of all may be known to come, not from themselves, but as an effect of his mercy and grace. (Witham) --- He hath found all nations, both Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief and sin; not by his causing, but by the abuse of their own free-will; so that their calling and election are purely owing to his mercy. (Challoner)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This is the last argument, to prove the conversion and calling of the Jews, which is further confirmed, Rom 11:32. The argument is taken from the like dealing of God with the Gentiles; after a long time of infidelity, he received them to mercy; therefore he will also at last receive the Jews. He argues from the less to the greater; If the infidelity of the Jews was the occasion of mercy to the Gentiles, much more shall the mercy showed to the Gentiles be an occasion of showing mercy to the Jews: q.d. There is more force in that which is good, to produce a good effect, than in that which is evil, to have a good event: therefore, if the unbelief of the Jews had so good an event, as to occasion the conversion of the Gentiles, why may we not think, that the calling of the Gentiles will contribute to the conversion of the Jews? See Rom 11:11,14. When the Jews shall see the Gentiles’ mercy, i.e. God’s mercy to them; how the whole world flourisheth under the profession of Christianity; how the Messias is in vain expected by them; how their nation is dispersed, &c.; then they shall at last come in and cleave to Christ, and be mercifully received by him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 30, 31. For as ye in times past believed not God (so, except that the aorist hpeiyhsate is translated "have not believed," in the Authorized Version: but with an alternative in the margin of "obeyed" for "believed." The substantive apeiyeia , which follows twice, should be translated "disobedience" rather than "unbelief," if hpeiyhsate is translated "disobeyed." Properly and usually apeiyeia conveys a different idea from apistia , denoting "disobedience" or "contumacy," and not merely want of faith. But it appears to be sometimes used in the sense of apistia . For instance, in Joh_3:36, o apeiywn tw uiw is opposed to tw pisteuonti eiv ton . Most modem commentators, with reason, understand "disobedience" here. The difference does not affect the drift of the argument), but now have obtained mercy through their unbelief (or, disobedience): even so have these also now not believed (or, obeyed), that through your mercy (i.e. the mercy shown to you) they also may obtain mercy. The position of ina after tw umeterw eleei has led commentators, ancient and modem, to connect tw umeterw eleei with the preceding hpeiyhsan , and to try to hit upon a meaning in this connection. But the sense of the passage, as well as the parallalism of the preceding clause, favours the connection of the Authorized Version, as given above. (For a similar position of ina , cf. 2Co_12:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Here we have the conclusion of the apostle’s argument to prove the conversion and calling of the Jews towards the end of the world. The argument is drawn from a comparison of equals: "If God, after a long time of disobedience, receive the Gentiles to mercy, he will also, after a long time of infidelity, receive the Jews to mercy. If God hath called the Gentles to his grace after long idolatry, though God never promised to be their God, how much more will he recall his covenant-people from their infidelity in his own appointed time?"

So that the argument is from the less to the greater: If the infidelity of the Jews was an occasion of mercy to the Gentiles, much more shall the mercy showed to the Gentiles be an occasion of mercy to the Jews; and consequently their present infidelity shall be no obstacle to their conversion afterward.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30-36. In this beautiful elaboration Paul recognizes the Jews with their double election, i. e., that of the Messianic progenitorship and also the election of grace, blindly forfeiting all and plunging into sin, and the Gentiles, though reprobated from the progenitor ship, felicitous participants of the election of grace, also sunk deep in low debauchery, gross sensuality and idolatry, the obliquity and rebellion of both Jew and Gentile only preparing them alike to become the recipients of God’s wonderful and unfathomable commiseration and redeeming mercy. Hence the apostle exultantly breaks out in joyous exclamations while he contemplates the bright side in case of both Jews and Gentiles all alike caught in Satan’s lasso of unbelief, but gloriously redeemed by the sovereign mercy of the Father and the dying love of the Son.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For as ye [Gentiles] in time past were disobedient to God [ Rom_1:16-32 ; Act_17:30 ], but now have obtained mercy by their [the Jews'] disobedience [ Rom_11:15 ],

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. For as ye, etc. The Gentiles. Formerly they were without God, but had now obtained mercy. This was due, indirectly, as shown, to the Jewish unbelief.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

you were formerly disobedient

"you did not obey in the past"

you have received mercy because of their disobedience

Here mercy means God's undeserved blessings. AT: "because the Jews have rejected Jesus, you have received blessings that you did not deserve" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

you

This refers to Gentile believers, and is plural. (See: Forms of You)

God has shut up all into disobedience

God has treated people who disobey him like prisoners who are unable to escape from prison. AT: "God has made prisoners of those who disobey him. Now they cannot stop disobeying God" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

disobey

God

mercy

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

30. ὥσπερ γὰρ. Another ground for the hope in 25 b found in a parallel between the actual experiences of Gentiles and Jews.

ὑμεῖς. Cf. Rom 11:13; the whole section is addressed to Gentiles.

ποτὲ ἠπειθήσατε. Cf. Eph 2:12; Eph 4:18: the Gentile state was due to the refusal to obey the voice of GOD speaking to them; Rom 1:19 f.

νῦν δὲ, now that you have heard and received the Gospel.

ἠλεήθητε τῇ τ. ἀπ. You came under the mercy of GOD owing to their disobedience = 28 a. As a matter of fact the opposition of the Jews led to the preaching of the Gospel to Gentiles; cf. Act 12:9 f., Act 13:46 alibi

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30.] For (illustration of the above position) as ye (manuscript evidence is too decided against the καί to allow of its being retained: but we may suspect that it has been struck out as superfluous, in ignorance (Thoh) of the Greek usage which often doubles καί in two parallel clauses) in times past were disobedient to God (nationally—as Gentiles, before the Gospel) but now have (lit. ‘were compassionated,’ historical) received mercy (scil. by admission into the church of God) through (as the occasion; the breaking off of the natural branches giving opportunity for the grafting in of you) the disobedience of these (i.e. unbelief, considered as an act of resistance to the divine will: see 1Jn 3:23), so these also have now (under the Gospel) disobeyed (are now in a state of unbelieving disobedience), in order that through the mercy shewed to you (viz. on occasion of the fulness of the Gentiles coming in) they also may have mercy shewn them (‘the objective view corresponding to the subjective εἰς τὸ παραζηλῶσαι αὐτούς, ver 11.’ De W.).

Some place the comma after ἐλέει instead of ἠπείθησαν, and construe, either, as Erasm., Calv., al., ‘they have disobeyed through (upon occasion of) the mercy shewn to you,’ or as Vulg., Luth., Estius, al., ‘they have become disobedient to the mercy shewn to you.’ But thus the parallelism is weakened, and the μυστήριον of ver. 25 lost sight of. Examples of the emphatic word being placed before ἵνα are found in reff.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. The grounds for believing that God does not repent for the gifts that He has given may be gathered from the parallelism between the two cases of the Jews and the Gentiles, in one of which His purpose has been completed, in the other not so. The Gentile converts were disobedient once, as St. Paul has described at length in the first chapter, but yet God has now shown pity on them, and to accomplish this He has taken occasion from the disobedience of the Jews: the same purpose and the same plan of providence may be seen also in the case of the Jews. God’s plan is to make disobedience an opportunity of showing mercy. The disobedience of the Jews, like that of the Gentiles, had for its result the manifestation of the mercy of God.

The ὑμεῖς shows that this verse is written, as is all this chapter, with the thought of Gentile readers prominently before the writer’s mind.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 30, 31. “For as ye also in time past disobeyed God, but have now obtained mercy by their disobedience; even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may obtain mercy.”

The entire course of the religious history of the world is determined by the antagonism created among mankind by the calling of Abraham, between a people specially destined by God to receive His revelations, and the other nations given over to themselves. From that moment (Genesis 12) there begin to be described those two immense curves which traverse the ages of antiquity in opposite directions, and which, crossing one another at the advent of Christianity, are prolonged from that period in inverse directions, and shall terminate by uniting and losing themselves in one another at the goal of history.

Ver. 30 describes the rebellion of the Gentiles, then their salvation determined by the rebellion of the Jews; and Rom 11:31, the rebellion of the Jews, then their salvation arising from the salvation of the Gentiles.

Vv. 30. The Gentiles first had their time of disobedience. The expression in time past carries the reader back to the contents of chap. 1, to those times of idolatry when the Gentiles voluntarily extinguished the light of natural revelation, to abandon themselves more freely to their evil propensities. This epoch of disobedience is what the apostle calls at Athens (Act 17:30) by a less severe name: “the times of ignorance.” Perhaps we should read with the T. R. καί, also, after for. This little word might easily be omitted; it reminds the Gentiles from the first that they also, like the Jews, had their time of rebellion.

That time of disobedience has now taken end; the Gentiles have found grace. But at what price? By means of the disobedience of the Jews. We have seen this indeed: God needed to make the temporary sacrifice of His elect people in order to disentangle the gospel from the legal forms in which they wished to keep it imprisoned. Hence it was that Israel required to be given up to unbelief in regard to their Messiah; hence their rejection, which opened the world to the gospel. Now then, wonderful to tell, an analogous, though in a certain sense opposite, dispensation will take effect in the case of the Jews.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.