Romans 11:31

Rom 11:31. Ἠπείθησαν, they have disbelieved) They have been left to their unbelief.—τῷ ὑμετέρῳ, your [of you]) the Genitive of the object, [your mercy, i.e. the mercy, of which you are the objects,] as τὰ ἐλέη Δαυίδ, the mercies of David, 2Ch 6:42, רצון עמך, the favour directed to thy people, Psa 106:4.—ἐλέει, through mercy) construed with ἐλεηθῶσι, might obtain mercy; for ἴνα, that, is often transposed; and in verse 30, the disbelief of the Jews precedes the mercy of the Gentiles; wherefore in verse 31 the mercy of the Gentiles does not [is not to be supposed to] precede the same disbelief of the Jews [as would be the case, if ἐλέει, owing to your partaking of mercy, were taken with ἠπείθησαν]. See Appendix. crit. Ed. ii. on this passage.—ἐλεηθῶσι, might obtain mercy) that mercy, which goes before faith, and which is only acknowledged and received through faith, by which ἀπείθεια, disbelief is retracted.

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, 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.

Even so have these--the Jews.

now not believed--or, "now been disobedient"

that through your mercy--the mercy shown to you.

they also may obtain mercy--Here is an entirely new idea. The apostle has hitherto dwelt upon the unbelief of the Jews as making way for the faith of the Gentiles--the exclusion of the one occasioning the reception of the other; a truth yielding to generous, believing Gentiles but mingled satisfaction. Now, opening a more cheering prospect, he speaks of the mercy shown to the Gentiles as a means of Israel's recovery; which seems to mean that it will be by the instrumentality of believing Gentiles that Israel as a nation is at length to "look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him," and so to "obtain mercy." (See Co2 3:15-16).

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 31. Even so have these also] In like manner the Jews are, through their infidelity, shut out of the kingdom of God:-

That through your mercy] But this exclusion will not be everlasting; but this will serve to open a new scene when, through farther displays of mercy to you Gentiles, they also may obtain mercy - shall be received into the kingdom of God again; and this shall take place whenever they shall consent to acknowledge the Lord Jesus, and see it their privilege to be fellow heirs with the Gentiles of the grace of life.

As sure, therefore, as the Jews were once in the kingdom, and the Gentiles were not; as sure as the Gentiles are now in the kingdom, and the Jews are not; so surely will the Jews be brought back into that kingdom.

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

(31) Through your mercy—i.e., through the mercy vouchsafed to you. The sight of the admission of the Gentiles is to act as a stimulus upon the Jews, and so lead to a renewal of their faith and obedience.

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

31. have these also now not believed] Better, did these disobey.

through your mercy] Connect these words with “have these not obeyed.” The verse will then read;—Thus these also now disobeyed through your mercy, that they also, &c.—The “mercy of the Gentiles” is the mercy of God in Christ to them, not any mercy of theirs to the Jews.—The statement of this verse is the almost exact converse of that of Rom_11:30. Jewish unbelief was, in a certain sense, the instrumental cause of Gentile salvation; so, in a certain sense, Gentile salvation was the final cause of Jewish unbelief. In the Divine Plan the call of the Gentiles was to hinge upon the unbelief of the Jews when they should reject Messiah; and thus the grand act of Jewish unbelief was, in a guarded sense, “caused” by the promise of the call of the Gentiles.

that they also may obtain mercy] Q. d., “that their reception again (in single cases, and at length in a mass,) may be as remarkably an act of sovereign compassion as your own call was.” The emphatic idea throughout this section is mercy.

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.

Even so have these also now not believed,.... Now is the time of the Jews' unbelief, blindness has happened to them, the vail is over their hearts; as the Gentiles formerly did not believe God, so the Jews do not now; though they believe there is a God, and that there is but one God, yet they do not believe God in Christ; nor that he is the Father of Christ; or that Christ is the Son of God, the true Messiah, and Saviour of the world: they do not believe, as some read the words, connecting them with the next clause, and so they stand in the original text, "in your mercy"; meaning either Christ, in whom the Gentiles obtained mercy; or the Gospel, the means of it; or the sense is, that they do not believe that mercy belongs to the Gentiles, having entertained a notion, treat the Messiah, and the blessings of mercy and goodness by him, are peculiar to Israel: but our version after Beza, who follows Theophylact, connects the clause with the following,

that through your mercy they may obtain mercy; not through the mercy the Gentiles show to others, but which they have received of God; and principally intends faith, which springs from the mercy of God, and is a gift of his pure, free, rich grace; and stands opposed to the unbelief of the Jews, through which the Gentiles are said to obtain mercy; and the meaning: is, that in time to come, the Jews, observing the mercy obtained and enjoyed by the Gentiles, will be provoked to jealousy, and stirred up to an emulation of them, to seek for the same mercy at the same hands, and in the same way, they have had it; see Rom 11:11; The apostle's argument in favour of the call and conversion of the Jews, upon the whole is this, that since the unbelief of the Gentiles was no bar to their obtaining mercy, and that through the infidelity of the Jews; then it cannot be thought, that the present blindness, hardness of heart, enmity, and unbelief, which now attend the Jews, can be any obstacle to their obtaining mercy in the same way the Gentiles have; but as the one has been, the other also will be.

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

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Ver. 31. That they also] It noteth not the cause, but the event, as 1Co 11:19.

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.

Even so have these ... - That is, the Jews.

That through your mercy ... - The immediate effect of the unbelief of the Jews was to confer salvation on the Gentiles, or to open the way for the preaching of the gospel to them. But its remote effect would be to secure the preaching of the gospel again to the Jews. Through the mercy, that is, the compassion or deep feeling of the converted Gentiles; through the deep and tender pity which they would feel for the blinded and degraded Jews: the gospel should be again carried to them, and they should be recalled to the long lost favor of God. Each party should thus cause salvation to come to the other - the Jews to the Gentiles by their unbelief; but the Gentiles, in their turn, to the Jews by their belief. We may here learn,

That the Jews are to be converted by the instrumentality of the Gentiles. It is not to be by miracle, but by the regular and common way in which God blesses people.

(2)That this is to be done by the mercy, or compassion of the Gentiles; by their taking pity on the lost and wretched condition of the Jewish people.

(3)It is to be when the abundance of the Gentiles - that is, when great numbers of the Gentiles - shall be called in.

It may be asked here whether the time is not approaching for the Gentiles to make efforts to bring the Jews to the knowledge of the Messiah. Hitherto those efforts have been unsuccessful; but it will not always be so; the time is coming when the promises of God in regard to them shall be fulfilled. Christians shall be moved with deep compassion for the degraded and forsaken Jews, and they shall be called into the kingdom of God, and made efficient agents in extending the gospel through the whole world. May the time soon come when they shall feel as they should, for the rejected and forsaken children of Abraham, and when their labors for their conversion shall be attended with success.

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

even so have these [the Jews] also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy . [How the Gentile received blessing by reason of the casting off of the Jew has already been explained at verse 15. As the Gentile went through a season of disobedience, from which he was saved by severity shown to the Jew, so the Jew was to have a like season of disobedience, from which he in turn is to be eventually saved by God's mercy to the Gentiles. Some construe the "mercy" to mean that the Gentiles are to have a continuous, ever-increasing spiritual prosperity until finally the very excess of the flood of it sweeps Israel into belief, and therefore into the kingdom. But such a construction plainly denies the New Testament prophecies which speak of a "falling away" ( 2Th_2:3 ) in "the last days" ( 2Ti_3:1-9 ), and do not accord with the effects of gospel preaching as announced by Christ ( Mat_24:14 ). The meaning is that God's mercy to the Gentiles in Paul's day preserved the gospel in the world for the ultimate blessing of the Jews, and God's continued mercy to the Gentiles through the centuries, and even through the latter days of their acute apostasy, will still keep the gospel till the Jews are ready to accept it. God's mercy to the evil, Gentile earthen vessel preserves the truth wherein lies salvation, and will continue to preserve it till the Jew drinks of the water of life which it conserves ( 2Co_4:7 ). In short, the cases are reversed. The Jewish dispensation ended in a breakdown, but not until the Gentiles became receptacles of the truth. Mercy was shown to the Jew till this Gentile belief was assured. So the Gentile dispensation shall likewise terminate in failure, but not until Jewish belief is assured. We are even now obtaining mercy waiting for the consummation of that part of God's plan. As God once spared the Jew till his blessings were transferred without loss to the Gentiles, so will he now spare the Gentile till the truth now stored in him has time to pass safely to the Jew. And as surely as he shifted his Spirit and mercies from Jew to Gentile, just so surely will he in turn shift back and re-endow the Jew. The apostle is here giving, his whole attention to the acts of God, and omits for the time all reference to that human agency which paved the way for the divine action. However, it is indicated in the word "mercy." The change in either case was in justice long overdue before it came.]

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.

31. Even so have these also now not believed. These Jews who were now in unbelief. Their disobedience had opened the door for the Gentiles. But the mercy shown the Gentiles, the fact that they are honoring and worshiping God, shall be a means of converting the Jews. Thus shall they also (the Jews) may also obtain mercy.

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.

31. νῦν, again under the Gospel, ἠπείθησαν refused to obey GOD’s voice speaking in the Gospel, τῷ ὑ. ἐ. owing to the mercy shown to the Gentiles: the wide range of the Gospel was in S. Paul’s experience the principal cause of offence to the Jews. This construction gives a clear and fitting sense: others take τῷ ὑ. ἐ. with ἐλεηθῶσιν; but this involves a very awkward order and does not give a quite clear sense.

ἵνα καὶ αὐ. νῦν ἐλ. In order that they in their turn under the Gospel may experience the mercies of God, in contrast, that is, with their present subjection to His wrath, not with their former covenant relation, as that also was a state of mercy.

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.

31. τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει: ‘by that same mercy which was shown to you.’ If the Jews had remained true to their covenant God would have been able on His side merely to exhibit fidelity to the covenant. As they have however been disobedient, they equally with the Gentiles are recipients of the Divine mercy. These words τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει go with ἐλεηθῶσι, cf. Gal 2:10; 2Co 12:7, as is shown by the parallelism of the two clauses

This parallelism of the clauses may account for the presence of the second νῦν with ἐλεηθῶσι, which should be read with א B D, Boh., Jo. Damasc. It was omitted by Syrian and some Western authorities (A E F G, &c. Vulg. Syrr. Arm. Aeth., Orig.-lat. rell.) because it seemed hardly to harmonize with facts. The authorities for it are too varied for it to be an accidental insertion arising from a repetition of the previous νῦν.

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

Vv. 31. The word νῦν, now, strongly contrasts the present period (since the coming of Christ) with the former, Rom 11:30. Now it is the Jews who are passing through their time of disobedience, while the Gentiles enjoy the sun of grace. But to what end? That by the grace which is now granted to the latter, grace may also one day be accorded to the Jews. This time, then, it will not be the disobedience of the one which shall produce the conversion of the others. A new discord in the kingdom of God will not be necessary to bring about the final barmony. In this last phase, the good of the one will not result from the evil of the other, but from their very blessedness. Israel went out that the Gentiles might enter. But the Gentiles shall not go out to make place for the Jews; they will open the door to them from within. Thus are explained at once the analogy and the contrast expressed by the conjunctions ὥσπερ, as, and οὕτω, even so, which begin and form a close connection between Rom 11:30-31. It cannot be doubted that the clause τῷ ὑμετέρῳ ἐλέει, by your mercy (that which has been shown to you), depends on the following verb ἐλεηθῶσι, may obtain mercy, and not on the preceding proposition. The apostle places this clause before the conj. ἵνα, that, to set it more in relief; for it expresses the essential idea of the proposition. Compare the similar inversions, Rom 12:3; 1Co 3:5; 1Co 9:15, etc.

For the form καὶ οὖτοι, these also, in the first proposition, there is substituted in the second the form καὶ αὐτοί, they, or they themselves also, to bring out the identity of the subject to which those two so opposite dispensations apply. It is impossible to admit the Greco-Latin reading, which has καὶ αὐτοὶ both times. We must also reject the reading of some Alex. and of some ancient translations, which in the second proposition repeat the νῦν, now. These last words refer evidently to the future.

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.