Romans 11:6

Rom_11:6-10

And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.

The Christian doctrine of Divine grace

I. Man is the object of grace.

1. The present dispensation is only the perfection of many, and grace is the characteristic of all. But the gospel is emphatically the gospel of the grace of God. The Father is the God of all grace. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the Spirit of grace. This grace is uniformly stated as the cause of the electing purpose--the reason of our personal justification--the germ of the renovating process--the potent motive to all piety, as it is the prolific source of all favour.

2. The atonement is the effect of Divine grace. Jehovah is not merciful because Christ has died, but Christ has died because Jehovah was merciful.

3. The grace which bringeth salvation, is, in no sense, impaired by any arrangements which had a reference to ourselves. Antecedent questions of justice and satisfaction could not injure the display of that love which was equally in the Father and the Son; which was equally evinced in inflicting and enduring death.

4. The death of the Cross is only a means to the most benevolent end. A benefaction is not commonly reduced in its value by its cost, nor a deliverance by its peril. Is the grace of God the greater, or the less, when encountering no difficulty, or when encountering it to overcome it? Is the grace of God more brightly, or more faintly glorious, when associated with moral principles, or when disregarding them?

5. The gospel, while it upholds the claims of the Divine law, has an exclusive bearing upon us as sinners. Let the awful negotiations between the Father and the Son--who are one--be whatever they were--the sinner has no righteousness or claim. Salvation is a question not of justice but of grace.

6. No blessing of the gospel is in any legitimate sense the subject of purchase. Christians are the purchased possession; they are bought with a price. But the sure mercies of the covenant are free gifts. God was ready to forgive, but there was an impediment. The atonement removed that impediment and the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ, now flows without check or restriction. By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men.

II. The grace, which is so pre-eminent, cannot be confounded with any inferior or incongruous principle. Let us define--

1. Grace is free favour; it can be related to no right, and contained in no law. Whenever bestowed, it depends upon the mere will of him who exercises it. If there is any necessity for it, it is no more grace.

2. Work is individual action or conduct, and implies those particular qualities which provoke praise or condemnation. This course of accountable behaviour is properly--

(1) Personal. We all feel possessed of a something which we cannot transfer. Whatever we have taken part in still attaches to us. We reap what we have sown.

(2) Work must be voluntary to be accountable. If I am compelled to do what I disapprove, the hand is mine, but that hand is only a mechanical instrument of anothers will.

(3) Work, therefore, goes to form the general character of the moral agent. A succession of works forms, a habit, a variety of habits mould a character. Such has merit or demerit.

3. But if this be the just delineation of work, it cannot be employed indiscriminately with grace. Grace is opposed to work as it--

(1) Is extrinsic of the person. It reaches us from another source. Personal qualities it may inspire--but its origin is supernal and Divine.

(2) Is independent of the volition, Man had no desire to be saved in this manner; it is the kindness of God our Saviour, who doeth as it pleaseth Him.

(3) Most jealously and tenaciously challenges that merit and honour which virtuous and sinless obedience claims, and the Divine code awards. To him that worketh, the reward is reckoned not of grace but of debt.

III. Grace and work are often violently tortured into an unnatural alliance. That system cannot reconcile itself to the idea of grace, which--

1. Proceeds upon the merits of human ronduct. Merit is a relation of justice, and not of favour.

2. Rests human acceptance on a foreknowledge of some attractive qualities of character. For whence do these originate? Foreknowledge is not potential. Who has smitten the rock, and melted it into streams of grief? Who has turned the wilderness into the fruitful field?

3. Reckons on the self-determining power of the human will. How is it, in conversion, that the will, which is but the bias of our tainted nature, elects the part of good, but by the grace of Him from whom all good proceeds?

4. Accounts the gospel as a provision of simple facility to man to save himself. By this view we are never to invoke Christs righteousness and expiation, but when, after our most strenuous self-justifying efforts, we feel that a little more may be required to give our case its perfect recommendation.

5. Varies the universal freeness of the gospel by moral differences in man. Without distorting or forcing into one another the things which differ, Christianity surveys all men in their equal need of salvation, and in their ruin without it.

6. Founds our duty upon a bestowment of grace.

IV. The effects of these opposing principles.

1. How differently they explain Christianity! If work predominate over grace, the gospel is the republished law, and if the unabated law, is a message of despair; or if the extenuated law changes that glory into whatever is short-sighted and inconsistent; and in the prostration of that law, sinks the standard of our good, falls the pattern of our dignity. But let grace have the pre-eminence. What a change comes over the great salvation! It is pardon to the guilty, restoration to the undone. It never pauses until it has found out our low estate, and never relaxes its effort until it has lifted us from it.

2. How oppositely they affect the mission of Christ! We honour grace in the degree to which we honour the mediation of Christ. But if it be of works, at once the Saviours mediation is degraded. For what did He pour out His soul unto death? According to this unworthy calculation--to follow in the train of the sinner who strives to save himself, ready to lend His aid, should occasion require it.

3. How inversely they influence the human mind.

(1) Which of these two principles is the better fitted to inspire that humility of dependence which every relation of the creature, and much more every adjunct of the sinner, dictate? There is all the difference of claim and suppliance. God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are! God be merciful to me a sinner! The gospel repeats By grace ye are saved; it adds the reason, blot of works, lest any man should boast.

(2) But the spirit of grace, in contradistinction to work, is also the spirit of obedience. (R. W. Hamilton, D.D.)

Salvation by grace

Some are all their days laying the foundation, and are never able to build upon it to any comfort to themselves or usefulness to others. And the reason is because they will be mixing with the foundation stones that are only fit for the building. They will be bringing their obedience, duties, mortification of sin and the like, into the foundation. These are precious stones to build with, but unmeet to be first laid to bear upon them the whole weight of the building. The foundation is to be laid in mere grace, mercy, pardon in the blood of Christ; this the soul is to accept of and rest in merely as it is grace, without the consideration of anything in itself, but that it is sinful and obnoxious to ruin. This it finds a difficulty in, and would gladly have something of its own to mix with it; it cannot tell how to fix these foundation stones without some cement of its own endeavours and duty; and because these things will not mix, they spend fruitless efforts about it all their days. But if the foundation be of grace, it is not at all of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. If anything of our own be mixed with grace in this matter, it utterly destroys the nature of grace, which, if it be not alone, is not at all. (J. Owen, D.D.)

What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for.

The judgment upon Israel is

I. Partial.

II. Self-occasioned (cf. Rom_9:31-32)

.

III. A fulfilment of prophecy uttered--

1. By Isaiah.

2. By David.

IV. Is a warning to us. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Israels failure

I. What he sought--righteousness.

II. How he sought it. Not by faith, but by works.

III. What was the result?

1. The elect obtained it by faith.

2. The rest failed--were blinded. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Seeking and obtaining salvation

So many seek salvation and are not saved because they seek amiss. To seek that we may find, three things are to be observed.

I. The time. Seek first the kingdom of God. If thou seekest it not first but at leisure, it is a thousand to one thou shalt never find it. Usually men postpone this to their age: in their youth nothing but pleasure; old heads must not be set on young shoulders; but when they lie upon their death bed then send for the minister. Is this enough? I should marvel if God should be content with the dregs of thy life when the devil hath had the flower. There is an old saying--He that neglecteth the occasion, the occasion will neglect him, as it appeareth by the example of the five foolish virgins.

II. The place. He that hath lost a ring and seeks a mile from the place where he lost it is not likely to find it. Seek salvation where it is to be found: that is in Christ, in whom are all treasures. The Jews sought it in themselves and missed of it. But where is Christ to be found? In the house of God; not in an alehouse and the meetings of profane men.

III. The manner.

1. Seek painfully, as the woman for her groat. The mine of gold lies not in the first spade, it lies deeper, it is well if after all pains we find it at the last.

2. Continue seeking; he that continues to the end shall be saved; it is worth all our pains though all should seek a thousand years, give not over till thou hast found. Israel sought for salvation, in the obedience of the law, but found it not; what shall, then, become of the wicked who seek not at all: of those who seek only vanities. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)

God hath given them the spirit of slumber.--

The spirit of slumber

Blindness of mind and hardness is a spiritual lethargy, when neither the thundering noise of the law nor the sweet sound of the gospel can awake us.

1. The Greek word used by Paul from the Septuagint signifies pricking and compunction (see margin). This meaning may well be retained, dead sleep being called compunction by a figure; the effect being put for the cause because no compunction can awake it, or the cause for the effect because compunction is the cause of dead sleep in the mind.

2. There is a double compunction: one coming from sorrow for sin (Act_2:37), another from envy and malice, which was in the Jews, because the gospel of Christ, whom they crucified, was as a dagger at their hearts. This compunction is the cause of such a deadness of mind that, as a man in a dead sleep hears and understands nothing, so an envious mind is impatient to hear or conceive anything for its good. Excess of grief brings a failing of the mind, and envy is a gnawing of the heart against our neighbour. When Stephen preached the Jews gnashed their teeth and stopped their ears. And when Paul preaches at Antioch the Jews rail and contradict, so that a man had as good speak to a dead man as unto them. Chrysostom expounds it as a nailing to their passion, whereby they are unmovable in their perfidiousness. Some translate it ecstasy, for envy makes a man beside himself, capable of no good instruction. Cyprian calls it transpunction, as a vessel having a hole stricken through the bottom, holds not the liquor put in it.

3. The text teaches that God in His just judgment gives over such as are enemies to the gospel to be blinded, that they cannot convert (Joh_9:39; 2Co_4:3).

I. Many in worldly things are of great apprehension and judgment, and yet as blind as beetles, very blocks in religion. Eyes they have, they are no fools, yet they perceive not the things belonging to their peace. As bats and owls see best in the night, so their chiefest understanding is of worldly matters. As a mole within the ground is nimble and quick, but above the ground can make little shift, so talk or deal with these men of earthly matters, they are cunning, but speak of religion and you pose them as with a strange language. Achitophel, a great statesman, goes home in a dudgeon, and in a sullen fit hangs himself; could any idiot have done more foolishly? Pray that thy wit may be sanctified, otherwise thou mayest prove an enemy and be besotted with the worst folly. It is a fearful state to envy the gospel: such are given over to the devil to be blinded, and what will not the devil bring such unto? Needs must he go whom the devil drives: as he tumbled the swine into the sea, so will he thrust such into all iniquity.

II. To have eyes and not to see, to know the truth and to have no power to apply it to our consciences, is fearful. It is uncomfortable to be born bodily blind, much more is spiritual blindness uncomfortable. When Christ came nigh Jerusalem He wept over it for the blindness of the Jews. When He raised Lazarus He groaned in the spirit for the hardness of their hearts. A grievous plague must blindness of mind he when Christ so wept and groaned for them which were stricken with it, when He never cried Oh! for all His own bitter passions. Repent of thy malice to the Word that thou mayest see. (Elnathan Parr, B.D.)

The hardened sinner

I. His moral condition.

1. Insensible.

2. Blind.

3. Prejudiced.

II. The cause.

1. Resistance of grace.

2. Retributive justice.

III. The consequences.

1. Misery.

2. Despair.

3. Death, unless God interpose in sovereign mercy. (J. Lyth, D,D.)

The present condition of the Jews

I. The result of long-continued disobedience.

II. A literal fulfilment of prophecy. Instance--

1. Their moral insensibility, blindness, and prejudice.

2. Their exposure to plunder and misfortune.

3. Their intellectual deterioration.

4. Their servility and subjection to oppression.

III. A lesson to the world. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Spiritual blindness

My blindness came on very gradually. I first began to notice that I could not see so far as I used to do, and one morning when looking from the window I could only see across the road. As time went on I could see no further than the mantelpiece, and at length I had to grope my way about the room; and now no one knows what that darkness means but one who has experienced the same. As she concluded her sad story, I thought that was just like spiritual blindness. Some sin comes, and gradually obscures the light of God in the soul. By and by the darkness deepens, until at length it is darkness which may be felt. Only the removal of the cause of darkness will secure a return of light; and only when sin is forgiven and abandoned is it possible to walk in the light of Gods countenance.

Let their table be made a snare.--

Abuse of privileges

David is speaking both as a prophet and as a type of the Messiah (Psa_69:22-23). His words are quoted and applied to Jesus (Rom_15:3; Joh_2:17; Joh_19:28-29), and applied to Judas (Act_1:20). Similar denunciations are to be similarly interpreted. They are not the utterances of personal or vindictive feeling, but the denunciations and predictions of Gods Spirit.

I. Table. What would otherwise have been for good.

1. Daily and common mercies.

2. Spiritual privileges. Sin brings a curse which converts food into poison (Mal_2:2). Their table. A believers table is spread for him by God (Psa_23:5); the table of the unbeliever is regarded as his own.

II. Snare. Cause of unexpected destruction. Their very mercies are an occasion of sin and misery. To faith the means of grace are salvation; to unbelief, a snare. Table a snare. When the gospel proves a savour of death unto death. The gospel table was spread first for the Jews (Mat_22:28); the preaching of forgiveness began at Jerusalem (Luk_24:47), and being rejected proved a snare.

III. Trap--a capture. The sinner caught in Satans trap when he rejects the Saviour. Note the gradation--a snare for the foot, a trap for the whole body. The Old Testament falsely interpreted confirms the Jews in unbelief; the New Testament disbelieved becomes the occasion of deeper sin. In opposing the gospel the Jews filled up their sins (1Th_2:16). In this sin the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost. Their passover-table was made their trap. Multitudes thus caught in the siege of Jerusalem perished.

IV. Stumbling-block--that which causes to fall into a snare or trap. The gospel when believed raises men to heaven; rejected it trips them into the bottomless pit. Christ a foundation to some, a stumbling-block to others (Rom_9:32-33). (T. Robinson, D.D.)

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

CRITICAL NOTES

Rom_11:6.—εἰ δὲ χάριτι, by grace, thus not of works. Salvation must be either by one or the other.

Rom_11:7. The election.—The faithful remnant which has profited by the free grace given to it by God. Were hardened.—πώρωσις is a medical term applied to the induration of the flesh or bones so as to become like porous stones.

Rom_11:8.—A spirit of stupor, numbness, insensibility; that bewilderment or stupefaction which is the result of conscience awakened too late. The Hebrew word, as well as the Greek, is often used to signify a permission of that which we can hinder.

Rom_11:11.—Did they stumble in order that they should fall? They have swerved aside from the right path, but they have not fallen down utterly so as never again to rise. They have fallen aside so that the Gentiles might excite them to rise.

Rom_11:12.—Wealth of [to] the world—that is, a rich mine of blessing to a whole world, by occasioning the admission of all nations into the birthright of Israel.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_11:6-12

Human folly and divine grace.—St. Paul’s clearness of thought and precision of expression are brought out in the sixth verse. Grace and works cannot be combined in human salvation. If salvation be a free gift, it cannot be earned. Here is shown St. Paul’s anxiety to establish foundation principles. Having mentioned election by grace, he cannot pass on to the discussion of his main topic without striving to leave his readers under no misapprehension. Grace is eliminated if the blessing be earned; works as a ground of merit are excluded if the blessing be freely bestowed. Salvation is so precious that it is above human price. It cannot be bought with silver, neither can it be valued with the pure gold of earth. Human efforts cannot reach divine heights. Ethical systems have failed for human salvation. Moralities have no redeeming force. The grace of God that bringeth salvation has done an effective work, and is destined to work to a still larger extent. Human efforts have shown human folly.

I. Human folly.—

1. Goes on a bootless errand. Israel seeks, and does not find. Seeking their own righteousness, they could not possibly find; for all human righteousness is as filthy rags. Seeking human ideas in a Divine Messiah, they could not find; for He came to reveal the divine thought, to incarnate and unfold the divine idea of love and redeeming mercy. Seeking to establish themselves as the Church and people of God, they could not find; for He would have a pure Church, a people not guided by pride and self-will. Seeking gain, they could not find; for that which they thought to be gain was bitterest loss. Human seekers are divine losers. Folly seeks, and never finds; it mistakes the true way and the right soul end. We seek for pleasure, and find pain. We seek for riches, and find soul poverty. We seek for fame, and sink into obscurity. We seek for righteousness, and cannot get away from the sense of guilt.

2. Produces stupor. A spirit of slumber passes over the frame of the morally insensate. How often is the Jew a remarkable example of the possibility of combining great worldly sharpness and intellectual power with moral blindness and darkness! The Jew hath eyes to see material beauty and a prospect of material gain; but it does not follow that the Jew hath eyes to see moral beauty. There are glad prospects which his vision never beholds. And the Jews have many brethren among the Gentiles—unseeing eyes behind the eyes which can see the ways of commerce, the steeps of politics, and even the beauties of nature as science can unfold—unhearing ears behind the ears that can be thrilled with the harmonies of nature, with the swelling strains of music, with the rhythmical measures of poetry. Christ the light-bringer and sight-producer must pour the light of heaven upon the visual orbs of the foolish sleepers.

3. Turns divine blessings into curses. The table becomes a snare, a trap, and a stumbling-block. How true of the mere sensualist! The table spread with dainties becomes a physical snare; it is a stumbling-block to physical health, and more, also a hindrance to intellectual growth, death to moral life. Human folly turns divine blessings into curses. Amid both material and moral bounties we should learn to distinguish between use and abuse.

II. Divine grace.—

1. Leads on a fruitful errand. God has no vain seekers in His kingdom. God’s elect always obtain. They are wounded, but never beaten. They may be faint with pursuing, but somehow they must reach the goal. They may be cast down, but can never be destroyed in the royal part of them: the essential greatness of their manhood will survive every battle-field. They obtain and possess eternally soul treasure.

2. Endows with moral sensibility. God’s elect have eyes to see the unseen. They pierce farther than either the range of the telescope, or the ken of the philosopher, or the scrutiny of the scientist. The eyes of the faithful require no earth spectacles. They see afar off, and as they see the vision grows and brightens. They hear sounds which earth’s ear-trumpets cannot catch. They hear eternal voices; the whispers of the infinite are richer to them than the loudest choruses of time.

3. Educes salvation. Out of the fall a gracious rise. Destruction ministers to salvation. True temporally: the fall of one nation the rise of another. True spiritually: the fall of the Jew the rise of the Gentile. How true that Christ by His fall brought salvation! He conquered when He fell.

Rom_11:12. Human falls.—The Fall popularly used of Adam’s sin and loss of happiness in Eden. Not so used in the Bible (only in margin). Used here of Israel’s loss of land and privileged position. What St. Paul says of Israel’s fall here gives us teaching about man’s fall from Eden.

The Fall a sad event for man. Before it no sin, no pain, no death. Yet not altogether bad for man, or God, the all-good, would never have allowed it to happen. Israel’s falls sad, yet each produced good. First, led to stricter observance of religion afterwards. Second, helped towards dissemination of Christianity. So with man’s fall. Banishment from Eden:

1. Threw man on his own resources, developed energy.

2. Gave him knowledge of self, compelled him to seek God in a way he could not have done before.

3. Pain brought out sympathy.

4. Previous to Fall human race innocent, yet like a child; afterwards sinful, yet like a man.

5. More to God’s glory to be worshipped by child who fell and came back again than by child who did not, could not fall. Our Lord says so (Mat_18:12-13). Two sorts of fall while climbing a cliff: fall downwards to destruction; fall forwards, from which you rise bruised, but continuing ascent. Man’s fall latter.

Remember this:

1. When grumbling at toil;

2. When suffering pain.—Dr. Springett.

Grace and works opposed to each other as grounds of salvation.—In reference to the doctrine of grace St. Paul maintained a most watchful and “godly jealousy.” On points of a less vital nature he was ready to concede as far as possible; but on the point of salvation by grace through faith he was firm and immovable. He would not give way for a moment, even though all the college of apostles had opposed him, or an angel from heaven had professed to have received a commission to proclaim anything that was inconsistent with it. In the superstructure of our religion there might be errors, yea, considerable errors, as he tells, and yet our souls be saved. Injurious indeed they would be, extremely injurious, to our welfare; but still they would not be utterly subversive of our hopes. But if the error affected the foundation of our religion, he declared it to be utterly incompatible with our final salvation. This jealousy of his is peculiarly visible in the words which we have just read. They were not necessary to the apostle’s argument. In the preceding context he is showing that God has among the Jews as well as among the Gentiles a chosen remnant: but having called them “a remnant according to the election of grace,” he lays hold on the opportunity to confirm his favourite position that salvation is altogether of grace—so entirely of grace as absolutely to exclude works altogether from having any share in meriting or procuring it. The observation thus introduced deserves the deeper attention, because it shows how near to the apostle’s heart the truth was that is contained in it. Let us then, in considering this observation, attend to:—

I. The truth of it.—The observation is simply this, that salvation must be altogether of grace or altogether of works; for that the two cannot possibly coalesce, since each of them excludes the other, as light and darkness. Now this observation is true in reference to every part of our salvation. The truth of the apostle’s observation being established, we proceed to show—

II. The importance of it.—We have already called your attention to the way in which the observation is introduced, and which we conceive marks very strongly the importance of it in the apostle’s mind; and we may notice the same from the very pointed way in which the observation is made. The apostle seems determined that nobody shall misunderstand him; and he has effectually secured his object in that particular. To show the importance of his observation, then, we say that it establishes beyond all doubt the freeness and fulness of the gospel salvation, and it secures against all invasion the honour of God. It makes clear the path of the true penitent. On the observation thus explained we ground a few words of advice. Accept with gratitude this free salvation, and give no occasion for the objections that are raised against it. Recommend and adorn it by a holy conversation. Show by your lives what the proper tendency and effect of grace is. We are told that “the grace of God which bringeth salvation teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live righteously and soberly and godly in this present world.” Show, then, by all your dealings with men what true righteousness is; show by your perfect self-government in all your tempers, dispositions, and habits what true sobriety is; and show by the spirituality of your minds and the heavenliness of your lives wherein true godliness consists. This will recommend the gospel more effectually than all the encomiums that can be lavished upon it, and will operate more strongly to convince men of its excellence than all the arguments that can be urged. Let it be seen, then, that whilst you magnify and extol the grace of God, you are the truest friend of good works; for that though you exclude them from your foundation, you display them in your superstructure, and in fact raise them higher and of a nobler quality than any other people in the universe.—Simeon.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_11:6-10

The restoration of the Jews a blessing to the Gentiles.—“The ways of God are in the great deep, and His footsteps are not known.” They are utterly inscrutable to us. “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so are His ways and His thoughts above our thoughts.” We cannot see the end of any one of His dispensations. Who could ever have conceived the designs of God in suffering Joseph to be sold into Egypt? Yet did God intend by that dispensation to keep the whole Egyptian nation from perishing by famine; yea, and the very persons who sold him thither. No less mysterious are His dealings with the Jews. They are cast off, they are led captive of all nations. Yet are they suffering for the good of all people amongst whom they dwell, and even for their own ultimate advantage also. This is strongly asserted in the passage before, where their fall is said to be “the riches of the Gentiles,” as their recovery also will be in a far more signal manner and degree. We presume not to think that we can ever fathom this deep mystery. Yet will it be profitable for us to consider it as far as it is revealed; and therefore we shall endeavour, according to the light given us, to show you what an interest the Gentiles have in God’s dealings with the Jews, particularly in—

I. Their present dispersion.—This was designed of God for the salvation of the Gentiles. The fall of the Jews has led to the salvation of the Gentiles. The present rejection of the Jews is ultimately designed also even for the good of that benighted people. But still richer benefits will flow to the world from—

II. Their future restoration.—That the Jews will in due time be converted to Christianity is certain, and the effect of this upon the Gentiles will be blessed in the extreme. From this subject the following reflections naturally arise: What compassion should we feel for the Jewish nation! How should we fear and tremble for ourselves! How earnestly should we labour for the conversion of the Jews! God has decreed that they shall be converted, and we have reason to believe that the period fixed for it in the divine counsels is not far distant. It is a fact that multitudes in the heathen world are expecting a change in their religion. The Mohammedans and Hindus throughout our Eastern empire are strongly impressed with this idea; and the exertions making in every possible way for the conversion of the heathen world warrant us to hope that “their fulness” will speedily commence. At all events, “we are debtors to the Jews,” and should seek to discharge our debt. Though they are at this time “enemies for our sakes, they are still beloved for their fathers’ sakes”; and if, notwithstanding their present enmity against Christ, they are beloved of God for their fathers’ sakes, should they not be beloved of us? Think how indebted we are to their fathers, to those who, at the peril of their lives, brought the glad tidings of salvation home to us; and should we not labour to recompense all this in acts of love to their descendants? It is a favourite notion with many that to attempt the conversion of the Jews is a hopeless task. But what ground is there for such a desponding thought as this? Are they further off from God than the Gentiles were when the gospel was first published to them? or is it a harder thing to convert them than to convert us? God expressly tells us that it is a work of less difficulty. “If thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?” Despair not, then, of doing them good; but exert yourselves in every possible way for their conversion to the faith of Christ. You are told that, “if they abide not still in unbelief, they shall be graffed in again.” Seek, then, to convince them of the truth of Christianity, and to bring them to the knowledge and love of their Messiah. If you desire only the conversion of the Gentile world, you should begin with the Jews, because it is the fulness of the Jews that is to operate on the Gentiles, and to effect, as it were, among them “a resurrection from the dead.” But it is for God’s sake whose people they are, and for Christ’s sake who bought them with His blood, and for your own sake who must give an account of the talents entrusted to your care, that I call upon you to be workers together with God in this great cause; and if you have any sense of God’s “goodness to you,” seek to avert and terminate “His severity to them.”—Simeon.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11

Rom_11:13. Practical preaching.—A practical preacher is one who knows what he means to say and says it in the simplest words, who hits something because he aims at something, who acts in the spirit of the Baptist’s noble words about his Master, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” When Demosthenes had done speaking, the Athenians said, “Let us fight Philip.” When Cicero ceased, the Romans said, “What a fine orator!” After hearing Massillon at Versailles, Louis XIV. said to him, “I have heard many great orators in this chapel, and have been highly pleased with them; but for you, whenever I hear you I go away displeased with myself, for I see more of my own character.” Preachers magnify their office when they lead their hearers to be displeased with themselves and think much of Christ.

Rom_11:22. God is love.—Mr. Spurgeon relates that he deemed it a strange thing when he saw on a country weathercock the motto “God is love,” and he. asked his friend if he meant to imply that the divine love can be fickle as the wind. “No,” said he; “this is what I mean—whichever way the wind blows God is love; though the cold north wind, the biting east wind, still God is love, as much as when the warm, genial breezes refresh our fields and flocks.” God is love both in severity and in goodness. Whatever be the divine aspects, the divine nature is love.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 11:6. Χάριτι, by grace) The meaning of the dative is one, and that of the particle ἐκ with the genitive is another [is different]. The former rather indicates the vehicle or instrument, as a canal, in the pure and simple sense; the latter, more properly the material cause, the principle [first origin], the source.—οὐκ ἔτι, now no longer [no more]) This phrase used four times shows the strength of the conclusion. This decree, which God has decreed, is absolute: I will make men righteous only by faith, no man by works. This decree no one shall break through.—γίνεται—ἐστὶν, [becomes] is made—is) This is a nice and just distinction between these words [lost sight of in the Engl. Vers.]. Nature asks for works; faith acknowledges supervenient grace, γενομένην [grace coming into exercise]. So, ἐγένετο [came into exercise] Joh 1:17. φερομένην χάριν, 1Pe 1:13.—εἰ δὲ ἐξ ἔργων, οὐκ ἔτι ἐστὶ χάρις· ἐπεὶ τὸ ἔργον οὐκ ἔτι ἐστί ἔργον. But if it is of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work) From this short clause, it is no more of works, this inference is drawn, Israel has not obtained: and from that short clause, it is no more grace, the inference is, the election has obtained. The first part of this verse excludes works, the second establishes grace; with this comp. Rom 11:5. The first part forms the protasis, the last, the apodosis, which is always the more necessary part, and is improperly omitted by some in this passage, comp. by all means ch. Rom 4:4-5; Eph 2:8-9. Grace and work are opposed to each other, כְּעֻלָּה, LXX. for the most part interpret it ἐργον, work, for example Psa 109:20.

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

Rom_11:6. This thought is not merely by the way and incidental (Koppe, Rückert, de Wette, Fritzsche, Maier, and others), but it belongs essentially to the development of the apostles thought to set forth the mode according to which λεῖμμα γέγονε, not only positively (κατʼ ἐκλ. χάρ.), but also negatively (οὐκ ἐξ ἔργ.); because he then, in Rom_11:7, goes on to argue: ὃ ἐπιζητεῖ Ἰσραήλ κ.τ.λ., which ἐπιζητεῖν, in fact, took place exactly ἐξ ἔργων, Rom_9:32.

εἰ δὲ χάριτι] but if through grace, sc. λεῖμμα γέγονε.

οὐκέτι ἐξ ἔργων] As previously the individuals who compose the λεῖμμα are conceived as the objects of the divine grace, through which they belong to the λεῖμμα; so are they also (not the people generally, as Hofmann takes it) conceived in this contrasted negative statement as the subjects, who do not owe it to legal works that in them is present the λεῖμμα composing the true community of God. On the logical οὐκέτι, see on Rom_7:17. Of ἐξ ἔργων there can be nothing more said.

ἐπεὶ ἡ χάρις κ.τ.λ.] because (otherwise) grace ceases to be grace (namely, if ἐξ ἔργων λεῖμμα γέγονε)since in truth gratia nisi gratis sit, gratia non est, Augustine. Ἡ χάρις is the definite grace, which has made the election, and γίνεται (not equivalent to ἐστί) means: it ceases, in its concrete manifestation, to become, i.e. to show itself as, that (comp. on Luk_10:18, et al.) which according to its nature it is. Positively expressed: it becomes what according to its essence it is not; it gives up its specific character.

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 11:6 . Expansion of χάριτος in Rom 11:5 : grace and works are mutually exclusive. Nothing a man can do gives him a claim as of right against God to be included in the remnant. ἐπεὶ : otherwise. Cf. Rom 11:22 , Rom 3:6 . Gratia nisi gratis sit gratia non est . Aug [4] The fact that there is a remnant, and one owing its existence to God’s grace, is the proof that (in spite of the wholesale defection of Israel) God has not cast off His people.

[4] Augustine.

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

Rom_11:6

And if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. This verse is an exegetical comment on the last clause of the preceding one. If the election spoken of be of grace, it is not founded on works, for the two things are incompatible. It evidently was, in the apostles view, a matter of importance that the entire freeness of the election of men to the enjoyment of the blessings of the Messiahs kingdom, should be steadily kept in view. He would not otherwise have stopped in the midst of his discourse to insist so much on this idea. This verse serves to illustrate several declarations of the apostle in the preceding chapter. For example, Rom_11:11, in which, as here, men are said to be chosen in a sovereign manner, and not according to their works. It is obvious that foreseen works are as much excluded as any other. For a choice founded upon the foresight of good works, is as really made on account of works as any choice can be, and, consequently, is not of grace, in the sense asserted by the apostle. In the second place, the choice which is here declared to be so entirely gratuitous, is a choice to the kingdom of Christ. This is evident from the whole context, and especially from Rom_11:7. It was from this kingdom and all its spiritual and eternal blessings that the Jews, as a body, were rejected, and to which the remnant according to the election of grace was admitted. The election, therefore, spoken of in the ninth chapter, is not to external privileges merely.

The latter part of this verse is simply the converse of the former. But if of works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work. If founded on any thing in us, it is not founded on the mere good pleasure of God. If the one be affirmed, the other is denied. This clause is omitted in the uncial MSS. A. C. D. E. F. G., and in several of the ancient versions, and by all the Latin fathers. On these grounds it is rejected as a gloss by Erasmus, Grotius, Wetstein, Griesbach, and the later editors. It is found, however, in the MS. B., and in the Syriac version, both of which are important authorities, and is retained by Beza and Bengel, and defended by Fritzsche, Tholuck, and others. The internal evidence, and a comparison with similar passages, as Rom_4:4; Eph_2:8, Eph_2:9 are in its favor.

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

Although that all be not elect and chosen, yet let them that are elected, remember that they are freely chosen, and let them that stubbornly refuse the grace and free mercy of God, impute it unto themselves.

This saying beateth down flat to the ground all the doctrine of all kinds and manner of works, whereby our justifiers of themselves do teach, that works are either wholly or partly the cause of our justification.

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

And, &c.--better, "Now if it (the election) be by grace, it is no more of works; for [then] grace becomes no more grace: but if it be of works," &c. (The authority of ancient manuscripts against this latter clause, as superfluous and not originally in the text, though strong, is not sufficient, we think, to justify its exclusion. Such seeming redundancies are not unusual with our apostle). The general position here laid down is of vital importance: That there are but two possible sources of salvation--men's works, and God's grace; and that these are so essentially distinct and opposite, that salvation cannot be of any combination or mixture of both, but must be wholly either of the one or of the other. (See on Rom 4:3, Note 3.)

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 6. And if by grace] And let this very remnant of pious Jews, who have believed in Christ Jesus, know that they are brought in, precisely in the same way as God has brought in the Gentiles; the one having no more worthiness to plead than the other; both being brought in, and continued in by God's free grace, and not by any observance of the Mosaic law.

And this is done according to the election of grace, or the rule of choosing any persons to be the people of God upon the footing of grace; which takes in all that believe in his Son Jesus Christ: some of the Jewish people did so believe; therefore those believing Jews are a remnant according to the election of grace. They are saved in that way in which alone God will save mankind.

And if by grace] Then let these very persons remember, that their election and interest in the covenant of God has no connection with their old Jewish works; for were it of works, grace would lose its proper nature, and cease to be what it is-a free undeserved gift.

But if it be of works] On the other hand, could it be made to appear that they are invested in these privileges of the kingdom of Christ only by the observance of the law of Moses, then GRACE would be quite set aside; and if it were not, work, or the merit of obedience, would lose its proper nature, which excludes favour and free gift. But it is not, and cannot be, of WORKS; for those very Jews who now believe, and are happy in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, are so according to the election of grace, which does not mean a particular act of God's sovereignty, which has singled out some of the Jews who deserved to have been cast off as well as the rest; but it is that general scheme of grace, according to which God purposed to take into his Church and kingdom any, among either Jews or Gentiles, who should believe on Christ. And the remnant here mentioned were not selected from their countrymen by such a sovereign act of God's grace as might have taken in the whole if it had so pleased; but they were admitted into and received the privileges of the Messiah's kingdom, because they believed on the Lord Jesus, and received him as their only Saviour; and thus came into that scheme of election which God had appointed. And we may observe, farther, that out of this election they as well as the others would have been excluded, had they like the rest remained in unbelief; and into this election of grace all the Jews, to a man, notwithstanding they were all sinners, would have been taken, had they believed in Christ Jesus. This is the true notion of the election of grace. See Taylor.

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

6. If through grace, it is no more by works, etc. This amplification is derived from a comparison between things of an opposite character; for such is the case between God’s grace and the merit of works, that he who establishes the one overturns the other.

But if no regard to works can be admitted in election, without obscuring the gratuitous goodness of God, which he designed thereby to be so much commended to us, what answer can be given to Paul by those infatuated persons, (phrenetici — insane,) who make the cause of election to be that worthiness in us which God has foreseen? For whether you introduce works future or past, this declaration of Paul opposes you; for he says, that grace leaves nothing to works. Paul speaks not here of our reconciliation with God, nor of the means, nor of the proximate causes of our salvation; but he ascends higher, even to this, — why God, before the foundation of the world, chose only some and passed by others: and he declares, that God was led to make this difference by nothing else, but by his own good pleasure; for if any place is given to works, so much, he maintains, is taken away from grace.

It hence follows, that it is absurd to blend foreknowledge of works with election. For if God chooses some and rejects others, as he has foreseen them to be worthy or unworthy of salvation, then the grace of God, the reward of works being established, cannot reign alone, but must be only in part the cause of our election. For as Paul has reasoned before concerning the justification of Abraham, that where reward is paid, there grace is not freely bestowed; so now he draws his argument from the same fountain, — that if works come to the account, when God adopts a certain number of men unto salvation, reward is a matter of debt, and that therefore it is not a free gift.

Now, though he speaks here of election, yet as it is a general reasoning which Paul adopts, it ought to be applied to the whole of our salvation; so that we may understand, that whenever it is declared that there are no merits of works, our salvation is ascribed to the grace of God, or rather, that we may believe that the righteousness of works is annihilated, whenever grace is mentioned.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) And if by grace.—The true text of this verse differs considerably from that which is translated in the Authorised version, “But if by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more seen to be grace.”

The preservation of the remnant cannot be due to grace and works at the same time; it must be due to one or the other.

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

6. And if by grace, &c.] This verse is wholly parenthetical. Not that its statement is alien to the whole argument, but this is not its logical place. The argument is continuous between Rom_11:5; Rom_11:7; but St Paul is so desirous to make the truth of Gratuitous Salvation perfectly clear and familiar that he seizes this passing occasion to re-state it, as it were in a note. The occasion is the quotation (Rom_11:4) of the words “I have reserved;” in which St Paul sees the sovereign act of Divine grace, withholding a remnant from the commission of idolatrous sin. The faithful seven thousand were faithful “not according to their works, but according to His purpose and the grace given to them.”

no more of works] no longer of works. i.e. when once this principle is granted, thenceforth the thought that it is “of works” is negatived. So below, “no more grace;” “no more work.”—The best commentary on this verse is the argument of cch. 3 and 4. Nothing could be clearer than St Paul’s anxiety to give an absolute denial to the whole idea of antecedent human merit as a factor among the causes of salvation. Grace, to be grace, must be entirely uncaused by anything of meritorious claim in us.

But if it be, &c.] There is much documentary evidence against the genuineness of this last half of the verse. It is however not conclusive; and slight variations in the Gr. phrases, as compared with those of the first half, afford an internal argument for retention; for an imitator would probably follow the model exactly. Certainly the reiteration of the truth in question would be just in keeping here, and it is doubtful whether that truth is one which was so well grasped in the early centuries as that copyists would tend to emphasize it by an insertion.

work is no more work] Work, in the sense in question, (i.e. as an antithesis to grace,) necessarily involves claim. This necessary idea must be negatived if “works” and “grace” can coincide as causes of salvation.

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.

And if by grace, then is it no more of works,.... Upon election, being called "the election of grace", the apostle forms an argument, showing the contrariety and inconsistency of grace, and works, in that affair; proving, that it must be by the one or the other: and if by the one, then not by the other; and that these two cannot be mixed and blended together in this matter. If election is "by grace", as it certainly is; for no other reason can be given why God has chose one, and not another, but his own sovereign pleasure, or that free favour and unmerited love, with which he loves one and not another; and not because they are better, or had done or would do better things than others; "then it is no more", or not at all, for it never was "of works", was not influenced by them, does not arise from them, for it passed before ever any were done; and those that are done aright spring from it, and therefore could never be the rule and measure, causes, motives, and conditions of it;

otherwise grace is no more grace; for

"grace (as Austin has long ago observed) is not grace, unless it is altogether freed;''

it will lose its nature, and ought to change its name, and be no more called or reckoned grace, but a due debt; and a choice of persons to salvation should be thought, not to be what God is free to make or not, but what he is obliged to, as a reward of debt to men's works:

but if it be of works, then it is no more grace; if election springs from, and depends upon the works of men, let no man ascribe it to the grace of God; for there is nothing of grace in it, if this be the case:

otherwise work is no more work; that will free gift: but these things are contrary to one another; and so unalienable and unalterable in their natures, that the one cannot pass into the other, or the one be joined with the other, in this or any other part of man's salvation; for what is here said of election, holds true of justification, pardon of sin, and the whole of salvation. The Ethiopic version applies it to justification.

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

6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Ver. 6. Then is it no more of works] Whatsoever conferrumination {a} of grace and works Papists dream of. They think that as he that standeth on two firm branches of a tree is surer than he that standeth upon one only; so he that trusteth to Christ and works too is in the safest condition. But, 1. They are fallen from Christ that trust to works, Gal 5:4; Gal 2:1-21. He that hath one foot on a firm branch, and another on a rotten one, stands not so sure as if he stood wholly on that which is sound. But let them be Moses’ disciples, let us be Christ’s. Set not up a candle to this Sun of righteousness; mix not thy puddle with his purple blood, thy rags with his raiment, thy pigeon’s plumes with his eagle’s feathers. He can and will save his to the utmost, Heb 7:25. Detest all mock stays; and account accursed for ever that blasphemous direction of the Papists to dying people, Coniunge, Domine, obsequium meum cum omnibus quae Christus passus est pro me: Join, Lord, mine obedience with all that Christ hath suffered for me.

{a} Soldering together; fig. intimate union or combination. ŒD

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.

And if grace ... - If the fact that any are reserved be by grace, or favor, then it cannot be as a reward of merit. Paul thus takes occasion incidentally to combat a favorite notion of the Jews, that we are justified by obedience to the Law. He reminds them that in the time of Elijah it was because God had reserved them; that the same was the case now; and therefore their doctrine of merit could not be true; see Rom 4:4-5; Gal 5:4; Eph 2:8-9.

Otherwise grace ... - If people are justified by their works, it could not be a matter of favor, but was a debt. If it could be that the doctrine of justification by grace could be held and yet at the same time that the Jewish doctrine of merit was true, then it would follow that grace had changed its nature, or was a different thing from what the word properly signified. The idea of being saved by merit contradicts the very idea of grace. If a man owes me a debt, and pays it, it cannot be said to be done by favor, or by grace. I have a claim on him for it, and there is no favor in his paying his just dues.

But if it be of works ... - “Works” here mean conformity to the Law; and to be saved by works would be to be saved by such conformity as the meritorious cause. Of course there could be no grace or favor in giving what was due: if there was favor, or grace, then works would lose their essential characteristic, and cease to be the meritorious cause of procuring the blessings. What is paid as a debt is not conferred as a favor.

And from this it follows that salvation cannot be partly by grace and partly by works. It is not because people can advance any claims to the favor of God; but from his mere unmerited grace. He that is not willing to obtain eternal life in that way, cannot obtain it at all. The doctrines of election, and of salvation by mere grace, cannot be more explicitly stated than they are in this passage.

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

It is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace. The election of God, and the first grace at least, are always without any merits on our part; but if we speak of works done in a state of grace, and by the assistance of God’s grace, we co-operate with the graces given, and by thus co-operating, we deserve and merit a reward in heaven. (Witham) --- If salvation were to come by works, done by nature, without faith and grace, salvation would not be a grace or favour, but a debt; but such dead works are indeed of no value in the sight of God towards salvation. It is not the same with regard to works done with and by God’s grace; for to such works as these he has promised eternal salvation. (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 verse depends upon the former; and though it doth not seem to appertain to the argument the apostle had in hand, yet, by the direction of the Spirit, he takes the little occasion that is offered, to show, that election and vocation are only by grace, and not by works. This he had spoken to before, Rom 4:4,5; 9:11; but he toucheth upon it again: and here he delivers a truth, which the Jews of old either could not, or would not, understand; i.e. that there is no mixing of the merit of good works and the free grace of God, but one of these doth exclude and destroy the nature of the other; for if election and calling were both of grace and works, (as some that call themselves Christians, as well as the Jews, affirm), then grace is no grace, and works are no works. For whatsoever proceedeth of grace, that cometh freely, and not of debt; but what cometh by merit of works, that cometh by debt; but now debt and no debt, or that which is free, and by desert, are quite contrary things. Therefore to say, that men are elected and called, partly of grace and partly of the merit of foreseen works, that were to put things together that cannot agree, to make debt no debt, merit no merit, works no works, grace no grace; and so, to affirm and deny one and the same thing.

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

6. If by grace… no more of works—Grace and works, the apostle now affirms, are a contradiction. Our faith is as free as our works, and our works as free as our will, that will possessing the full power in the given case to choose or refuse. (See sup. note to chap. 3.) If it be of compensative works, then it is no more gratuity or grace. Otherwise work or compensation is no more compensation or work. Each excludes the other.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And if by grace, then it is no more of works - Whether ceremonial or moral. Else grace is no longer grace - The very nature of grace is lost. And if it be of works, then it is no more grace: else work is no longer work - But the very nature of it is destroyed. There is something so absolutely inconsistent between the being justified by grace, and the being justified by works, that, if you suppose either, you of necessity exclude the other. For what is given to works is the payment of a debt; whereas grace implies an unmerited favour. So that the same benefit cannot, in the very nature of things, be derived from both.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

6. “And if by grace it is not at all of works, then grace is no more grace.” The divine economy had conferred on the Jews the glorious honor of representing Christ on the earth during His excarnate, i. e., invisible reign, receiving Him in His incarnate personality, and introducing Him to the whole world as the: one-anticipated Savior of the lost millions. While this honor was forfeited by the formalistic and ritualized carnal masses of both clergy and laity, it was received and enjoyed by the faithful few, e. g., Joseph and Mary, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, and others; the inspired Twelve, Paul and the Pentecostal nucleus of Jewish Christianity, who proved true to the covenant of Abraham and Moses, received their own Christ, proclaimed Him to the world, thus effecting the successful transition out of the Mosaic into the Gospel dispensation of God’s redeeming grace. Paul argues the case by the illustration of Elijah’s ministry, when the apostasy in Israel Was so tremendous that the prophet, giving up in utter desperation, falling down under a juniper tree, importuned God to let him die, as his ministry was a failure, thinking they had all gone off after Baal, i. e., into dead formalistic religion, except himself. Meanwhile God notifies him of his egregious mistake, as there are yet seven thousand true to him in different parts of the country, though unknown to the prophet. Let us not make the mistake of the prophet Elijah and conclude that ourselves are the only real saints, like the old Scotchman who said, “To tell you the truth, there are none right but myself and Sandy; and sometimes I seriously doubt whether Sandy will do.” While we bewail the current apostasy in the great Protestant churches of the present day, resultant from the rejection of the Holy Ghost under the preaching of entire sanctification, yet we must remember that there are myriads of true hearts in the Protestant denominations and some even in Romanism. The election of the progenitorship, normally expiring with the incarnation we here recognize the consolatory survival of the election of grace” out of Judaism to which Paul and his contemporary Jewish saints belonged, and destined to survive through the Gentile dispensation and hail the Lord in His second coming. As we contemplate this election problem, do not forget that the Greek eklogee, from ek, out, and lego, to choose, i. e., chosen out of the chosen, recognizing a selection from the chosen, not only runs through Judaism, but Christianity. As God chose the Jews out of all nations, conferring on them the honor of receiving His Son on His first advent and proclaiming Him to the world., and only a small remnant out of the great body succeeded in winning the prize and enjoying the exalted honor of the Savior’s introduction, so in the present Christianity is God’s people chosen out of the whole heathen world, to receive His Son in His second glorious advent, and become His conservators in the great Millennial Theocracy. While it is very sad to see the multitudes of Christendom failing and apostatizing, like the Jews in their desperation, yet look out for this election of grace, chosen from all the ranks and nations of the Christian world, now, as I verily believe, gathering in the Holiness Movement to meet my descending Lord and herald to the nations the glorious King of kings. We see in v.6 the impossibility of an admixture of grace and works in the plan of salvation. There is where the dead churches ruin everything and plunge into idolatry, thinking they are saved by faith and works, thus vitiating their faith, forfeiting their salvation, magnifying their works and becoming idolators, losing sight of God through church loyalty and conservatism to human institutions.

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

But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace . [With these words, Paul explains the last clause of the preceding verse--viz., "the election of grace"--and thereby shows that he means them in their full sense, and abides by that meaning. Alford paraphrases his meaning thus: "And let us remember, when we say an election of grace, how much those words imply; viz., nothing short of the entire exclusion of all human work from the question. Let these two terms [grace and work] be regarded as and kept distinct from one another, and do not let us attempt to mix them and so destroy the meaning of each." He means that grace and works are absolutely antithetical and mutually exclusive. Paul is talking about works of the law, not about the gospel terms or conditions of salvation. These terms are faith, repentance and baptism, and complying with them made, and still makes, anybody one of the elect. But does this compliance fulfill any part, parcel or portion of the Mosaic law? Assuredly not. On the contrary, it is seeking salvation by another way. Moreover, the one complying with these conditions is immediately one of the elect. Has he, then, in any way merited election, or is it wholly of grace?" Even granting that there is some work in complying with these conditions, could any one so lack brains as to be confused into thinking that the work weighs anything as a meritorious basis on which to demand election to that unspeakable gift, eternal life? But do not the works of a Christian life count as merit toward election? Assuredly not; for they are wrought after the election has taken place. In short, almost like Jacob, we are elected at the moment of our birth from the water, when we are spiritual babes in Christ ( Joh_3:5 ; Tit_3:5 ), "neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God," etc. ( Rom_9:11 ). Complying with the gospel conditions of election is mere spiritual birth, and what merit hath an infant though its struggles aid in its parturition? We are by the process of conversion brought no further than the condition of babes in Christ ( 1Co_3:1-3 ; Heb_5:11-14 ; 1Pe_2:2 ), and our birth-throes are without merit, though essential to our further continuance in life. There is, therefore, nothing in the gospel conditions which conflict with the doctrine of election by grace, nor do they mix works with grace.]

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.

6. If by grace, then is it no more of works. The salvation of the gospel is by grace, that is, it is the gift which springs from the love of God. If that be true, it is not to be earned by the works of the Jewish law. Paul is very emphatic is showing that the Jewish Christians were saved, not because they deserved it on account of keeping the law blameless, but because they accepted the offered mercy of God.

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.

But if it is by grace

Paul continues to explain how God's mercy works. AT: "But since God's mercy works by grace" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

What then?

"What should we conclude?" Paul asks this question to move his reader to his next point. You can translate this as a statement. AT: "This is what we need to remember" (See: Rhetorical Question)

God has given them a spirit of dullness, eyes so that they should not see, and ears so that they should not hear

This is a metaphor about the fact that the people are spiritually dull. They are not able to hear or receive spiritual truth. (See: Metaphor)

spirit of

Here this means "having the characteristics of," such as the "spirit of wisdom."

eyes so that they should not see

The concept of seeing with one's eyes was considered to be equivalent to gaining understanding.

ears so that they should not hear

The concept of hearing with the ears was considered to be equivalent to obedience.

translationWords

grace

works

Israel

written

God

spirit

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

6. εἰ δὲ χάριτι, SC. γέγονεν ἡ ἐκλογή.

οὐκέτι ἐξ ἔργων. The ‘remnant’ are not saved in consequence of their works.

ἐπεὶ, otherwise, cf. 22; 1Co 15:9; v. Field ad h.l. ἡ χάρις the grace we are speaking of; οὐ. γ. χ., loses its character of grace, cf. Rom 4:4.

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.

6.] ‘And let us remember, when we say an election of grace, how much those words imply: viz. nothing short of the entire exclusion of all human work from the question. Let these two terms be regarded as, and kept, distinct from one another, and do not let us attempt to mix them and so destroy the meaning of each.’ So that the meaning of the verse is to clear up and remove all doubt concerning the meaning of ‘election of grace,’—and to profess on the part of the Apostle perfect readiness to accept his own words in their full sense, and to abide by them. This casts some light on the question of the genuineness of the bracketed clause (see authorities in var. readd.). The object being precision, it is much more probable that the Apostle should have written both clauses in their present formal parallelism, and that the second should have been early omitted from its seeming superfluity, than that it should have been inserted from the margin. Besides which, as Fritz. has remarked, the words do not correspond sufficiently with those of the first clause to warrant the supposition of their having been constructed to tally with it: we have for χάριτι in the first, ἐξ ἔργων in the second,—for γίνεται χάρις, ἐστὶν ἔργον;—and the plur. ἔργα would probably have been retained in the inference of clause 2. But (directing attention to the consequence of the admission, ἐκλ. χάριτος) if by grace (the selection has been made), it is no longer (when we have conceded that, we have excluded its being) of (arising out of, as its source) works: for (in that case) grace no longer becomes (i.e. becomes no longer—loses its efficacy and character as) grace (the freedom and ‘proprio motu’ character, absolutely necessary to the idea of grace, are lost, the act having been prompted from without):—but if of (arising out of, as the cause and source of the selection) works, no longer is it (the act of selection) grace; for (in that case) work no longer is work (the essence of work, in our present argument, being ‘that which earns reward,’ and the reward being, as supposed, the election to be of the remnant,—if so earned, there can be no admixture of divine favour in the matter; it must be all earned, or none: none conferred by free grace, or all). These cautions of the Apostle are decisive against all attempts at compromise between the two great antagonist hypotheses, of salvation by God’s free grace, and salvation by man’s meritorious works. The two cannot be combined without destroying the plain meaning of words. If now the Apostle’s object in this verse be to guard carefully the doctrine of election by free grace from any attempt at an admixture of man’s work, why is he anxious to do this just at this point? I conceive, because he is immediately about to enter on a course of exposition of the divine dealings, in which, more than ever before, he rests all upon God’s sovereign purpose, while at the same time he shews that purpose, though apparently severe, to be one, on the whole, of grace and love.

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

6. εἰ δὲ χάριτι κ.τ.λ. A further explanation of the principles of election. If the election had been on the basis of works, then the Jews might have demanded that God’s promise could only be fulfilled if all who had earned it had received it: St. Paul, by reminding them of the principles of election already laid down, implies that the promise is fulfilled if the remnant is saved. God’s people are those whom He has chosen; it is not that the Jews are chosen because they are His people.

ἐπεὶ ἡ χάρις οὐκέτι γίνεται χάρις: ‘this follows from the very meaning of the idea of grace.’ Gratia nisi gratis sit gratia non est. St. Augustine.

The TR. after γίνεται χάρις adds εἰ δὲ ἐξ ἔργων, οὐκέτι ἐστὶ χάρις· ἐπεὶ τὸ ἔργον οὐκέτι ἐστὶν ἔργον with אc (B) L and later MSS., Syrr., Chrys. and Thdrt. (in the text, but they do not refer to the words in their commentary). B reads εἰ δὲ ἐξ ἔργων, οὐκέτι χάρις·̀ ἐπεὶ τὸ ἔργον οὐκέτι ἐστὶ χάρις. The clause is omitted by א A C D E F G P, Vulg. Aegyptt. (Boh. Sah.) Arm., Orig.-lat. Jo.-Damasc. Ambrst Patr.-latt. There need be no doubt that it is a gloss, nor is the authority of B of any weight in support of a Western addition such as this against such preponderating authority. This is considered by WH. to be the solitary or almost the solitary case in which B possibly has a Syrian reading (Introd. ii. 150).

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

Otherwise [επει] . Lit., since. Since, in that case.

Grace is no more, etc. [γινεται] . Lit., becomes. No longer comes into manifestation as what it really is. "It gives up its specific character" (Meyer).

But if of works, etc. The best texts omit to the end of the verse.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 6. “Now, if it is by grace, then is it no more of works; since grace would be no more grace.”

The apostle wishes to express the idea, that if Israel possess this privilege of always preserving within their bosom a faithful remnant, it is not because of any particular merit they have acquired before God by their works; it is purely a matter of grace on the part of Him who has chosen them. The instant there was introduced into this dispensation a meritorious cause, whether for little or for much, there would be taken away from grace its character of freeness; it would no longer be what it is. Why add this idea here? Because it is only inasmuch as the maintenance of the faithful remnant is a matter of grace, that the rejection of the mass (of which Paul is about to speak, Rom 11:7-9) is not an injustice. If there were, on the part of Israel as a people, the least merit arising from work as the ground of their election, even that partial rejection, of which the apostle speaks, would be impossible.

The word οὐκέτι, no more, should be taken here in the logical sense: the principle of grace being once laid down. The verb γίνεται (literally, not is, but becomes) should be explained as Meyer does: Grace ceases to show itself as what it is, ceases to become in its realization what it is in its essence.

The second proposition, parallel to the former, which is found in the T. R., is entirely foreign to the context, and for this reason alone it must appear suspicious. But it is decidedly condemned by its omission in the greater number of documents, and in particular by the harmony on this point of the Alex. and Greco-Latin texts, excepting the Vaticanus. It is impossible to imagine a reason copyists could have had for rejecting it. Volkmar, in order to remain faithful to the Vatic. alleges this very fact of the want of relation to the context as that which struck copyists, and gave rise to its rejection. This is to do them too much honor. We should have had much graver and more numerous variants in the N. T. if copyists had proceeded so freely. It is much more probable that a reader composed a proposition parallel and antithetic to the former, and wrote it on the margin, whence it passed into the text. Cases of this kind are frequent.

It is obviously wholly unnecessary, in order to explain this verse, to hold, with the Tübingen school, that the apostle means to refute the Judeo-Christian principle of the mixing up of works and grace. Besides, would not the apostle have addressed himself directly in this case as he does to his Gentile-Christian readers in the passage Rom 11:13-14, which Volkmar himself puts parallel to this?

Let us again remark the correlation between this passage, Rom 11:1-5, and the preceding, Rom 9:6-13. The latter referred to the carnal portion of the nation, and proved the right God had to reject them (as much as Ishmael and Esau); the present passage refers to the faithful portion, and establishes the fact that God has not failed to maintain a similar elect number in Israel. These two points of view taken together form the complete truth on the subject.

Reuss finds in this passage two theories placed side by side with one another, but “which logic deems contradictory.” The one, he thinks, is that of unconditional grace, by which the holy remnant are kept in their fidelity; the other that of works, by which Paul explains the rejection of the nation in general. But there is no contradiction between these two points of view; for if the faithfulness of the elect supposes the initiative of grace, it nevertheless implies faith on their part, and if the mass of the nation are rejected, this rejection only arises from their voluntary and persevering resistance to the solicitations of grace.

The apostle put the question whether the present relation between God and Israel was that of an absolute divorce; and he began by answering: no, in the sense that a portion at least of Israel have obtained grace, and form henceforth the nucleus of the church. But, he adds—for this is the other side of the truth—it is certainly true that the greater part of the people have been smitten with hardness. This is what he expounds in Rom 11:7-10, showing, as his habit is, that this severe measure was in keeping with the antecedents of the theocratic history and the declarations of Scripture.

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.