Pelagius — Commentary on Scripture

Romans 11:5

Just as all did not perish then, so too some are saved now. The election of grace is faith just as works are the election of the law. Otherwise, what sort of election is it where there is no difference in merit?

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Romans 11:6

In case the Jews replied to Paul about those concerning whom the word comes to Elijah: “They were righteous; why were these sinners chosen?” the apostle adds that they too are saved freely just as the Gentiles are.

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Romans 11:7

Israel as a whole has not obtained righteousness because it did not seek it by faith but thought that it was justified solely by works of the law, even though it disregarded the greatest commandments of the law. That is why the Savior censures those who strain at a gnat but swallow a camel.

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Romans 11:8

The rest were hardened through unfaithfulness, as it is written: “Unless you believe, you will not understand.”It is God’s prerogative to give them the spirit of stupor which they desired, for they have always disbelieved the words of God. If they had wanted to have a spirit of faith they would have received it. But even today Christians who doubt the resurrection reward or Gehenna have sought a similar spirit for themselves, for in this passage the prophet was addressing both believers and sinners.

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Romans 11:9

The table is where they rejoiced at the death of Christ while they ate the passover.

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Romans 11:10

This prophecy speaks of those who gave the Savior vinegar and gall to drink.

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Romans 11:11

Once more, Paul explains the position of the Jews. They have not fallen away completely and beyond hope. God loved them so much that the Gentiles were called for their salvation, so that when the Jews saw that the Gentiles were being allowed into the kingdom of God, they might perhaps repent more easily.

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Romans 11:12

If the transgression of the Jews benefitted you to the extent that without the works of the law you were made coheirs with them, and if the few Jews who believed called all of you to salvation, how much more could they benefit you with instruction if they all believed!

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Romans 11:13

Paul wants to show that he is especially anxious to save the Jews. As long as he is in the body he will honor his ministry, striving to save many of them by his example.

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Romans 11:14

Paul will always present himself to the Jews in such a way that they will want to imitate him.

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Romans 11:15

What was the occasion for the reception of the Gentiles but that they came to life because of the death of the Jews? Or it may mean from among the Jews that were dead, Christ and the apostles have become life to the Gentiles. Or perhaps if those whom Christ sets free from death contribute to your life.

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Romans 11:17

The branches were not broken off for your sake, but you were grafted in because they were broken off. You were an olive shoot, to be sure, but a wild and uncultivated one. “The richness of the olive tree” is the root of their fathers, the richness of Christ.

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Romans 11:18

Do not rejoice in the fall of the Jews, or else you will hear that they do not abide through you but you through them and that you do not supply them with life, but they supply you.

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Romans 11:20

Some interpreters, who do not understand this passage and do not consider the reason for which or the people to whom the apostle is speaking, think that the pursuit of wisdom is forbidden by this text. But if this is so Paul will seem to contradict himself in the eyes of these interpreters, since here he is forbidding what elsewhere he asks of the Lord, that the Ephesians and others may receive.

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Romans 11:21

If God did not spare those who sprang from the holy root because of their unbelief, how much less will he spare you if you sin!

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Romans 11:22

“Severity” is shown against those who assert that there are two Gods, one righteous and another good; and against those who deny that God punishes sinners.… But you were mercifully grafted in, through faith which has been bestowed upon you by the kindness of God.

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Romans 11:23

If either of you changes you will experience severity and they will receive kindness. Humanly speaking, it is impossible to restore withered cuttings, but with God all things are possible and even easy.

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Romans 11:24

Their fathers had fallen away from nature because they had forgotten the law of nature, and when their habits had become fixed through repeated sinning, they came to be bitter and unproductive, as it were, by nature.“And grafted, contrary to nature.” … It is against nature to graft a wild olive tree into a cultivated olive tree, because the branch usually alters the effectiveness of the root. The root does not change the effectiveness of the branches to conform to its character.

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Romans 11:25

All that follows is designed to prevent the Gentiles from being filled with pride toward the Jews. It is a secret unknown to mankind why the Gentiles were saved, because Israel’s blindness in fact furnished the occasion for their salvation. The blindness continued until the Jews saw that the Gentiles were being saved, since all were called to salvation.

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Romans 11:26

Some interpreters regard all these events as future. To them one must reply: Then this prophecy … must still take place, and Christ will come again to set them free. If they have been blinded temporarily by God and not by themselves, what will become of those who are now perishing as unbelievers?

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