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Pelagius

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 465 passages across 8 books

Commentary

341–360 of 465
Romans 11:9

And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:

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

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 11:10

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

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

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 11:11

I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

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.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 11:12

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

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

For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

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

If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

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

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

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

And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

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

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

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

Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

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

For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

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

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

“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

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

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

For 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?

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

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

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

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

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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Romans 11:27

For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

This new covenant Jeremiah promised which only those who are new, whose sins have been wiped away, will receive.

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Romans 11:28

As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.

They are Paul’s enemies because he preaches Christ to the Gentiles. But if they believe they are beloved, i.e., doubly blessed.

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Romans 11:29

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

If they believe, their sins will not be counted against them, because God does not repent that he made a promise with Abraham’s descendants. Or it may mean if they believe they will be saved without the anguish of penance.

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Romans 11:30

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

You did not believe when the Jews did, and now you have received mercy, but not because you have deserved it.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

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