“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”
Romans 11:1, KJV
“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.”
Romans 11:1, ESV
Table of Contents
- Romans 11:1 Meaning – I say then
- Romans 11:1 Meaning – Hath God cast away his people?
- Romans 11:1 Meaning – God forbid
- Romans 11:1 Meaning – I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham
- Romans 11:1 Meaning – of the tribe of Benjamin
Romans 11:1 Meaning – I say then
The tendency of St. Paul’s former dissertation concerning the blindness and obstinacy of the Jews might appear to lead to the conviction, that Christ, by his advent, had removed the promises of the almighty God from the Jews, deprived of all hope of salvation, to other nations.
The apostle here anticipates the objection, and so moderates his former observations concerning the rejection of the Jews, that none of his readers can imagine the covenant formerly entered into with Abraham had been now abrogated.
Paul flatly denies the opinion, and afterwards clearly proves its falsehood, that the alone deliverer of his people had so completely forgotten his covenant, that the Jews were now entirely estranged from the kingdom of God, as the heathens had been before the coming of Christ.
Nor does the question turn on this point, whether God has justly rejected his people, or without desert, cause, or default.
For the apostle has proved, in the last chapter, that the rejection of God’s righteousness, from a preposterous zeal, by the Jewish people, had been visited with a just punishment on account of their pride, had met with a merited blindness, and the Israelites were thus finally deprived of the covenant.
The question in dispute is not the cause of God’s casting off the Israelites, but whether the covenant formerly entered into by the Judge of all the world with the patriarchs had been abolished, although the Jews had deservedly merited the divine vengeance in their rejection.
There can be no greater absurdity than to imagine any perfidious conduct on the part of man can weaken the covenant of God, since, according to the principle universally maintained by Paul, adoption is gratuitous, and founded on God alone, not man ; and, on this account, it must remain firm and inviolable, although the most impious unbelief of the whole human race should conspire to abolish and overthrow this fatherly love of the Most High.
The following difficulty is to be solved, and objection answered, that the truth and the election of a merciful Father is not to be believed to depend on the dignity of the human race
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
Dr. Macknight imagines that a Jew, and Mr. Stuart that an objector, is here and in other places in this Epistle introduced as disputing with the Apostle.
Such a supposition is not only unnecessary but groundless.
When Paul begins with the words, I say then, he states in a manner familiar to the best writers, a very obvious and probable objection which he was about to remove.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
Romans 11:1 Meaning – Hath God cast away his people?
God had cast away the greater part of the nation, whom He had afore acknowledged as His people, in consequence of their unbelief and obstinate rejection of the proffered Saviour and salvation. There was no doubt of that awful fact. But, has God cast off the descendants of Israel? has He, viewing them as individuals, cast them all off? has He, viewing them as a nation, cast them off forever?
That, from the sequel, is plainly the intended force of the apostle’s question.
adding, ” For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin”— I belong to the sacred family, and can trace my lineage. It is as if he had said — ‘If it had been so, what would have become of me? Blessed be God it is not so.’ He had obtained mercy, and so might all Israel have done, if, like him, they would have but submitted to the righteousness of faith. “God hath not cast away His people wliom He foreknew.” ^
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Argument 1. God hath not cast off all and every one of the Jews, He hath not cast off his elect people: Therefore the Jews are not to be despised, as if they were all cast-aways. This Argument he backs with three reasons [Reason 1, 2, and 3].
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
Some might conclude, from the previous declarations of the Apostle, that the whole Jewish nation was now rejected of God, and for ever excluded from the blessings of the Gospel.
This inference he strongly disclaims, and shows that God designed even now to reserve for Himself a people out of the Jews as well as out of the Gentiles, while, hereafter, it is the Divine purpose to recall the whole nation to Himself.
Paul therefore answers his own pointed interrogatory, by rejecting the thought with his usual energy, while, to strengthen his denial, he further exhibits himself as a signal example of one not cast away.
Had his doctrine involved the total rejection of the Jews, he would have pronounced his own condemnation.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
Romans 11:1 Meaning – God forbid
To this question he answers by his strong negative, “God forbid” — ‘Let it not be’ — a form of expression which not only denies the supposed fact, but deprecates the consequences which would flow from it;
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Romans 11:1 Meaning – I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham
Before entering upon the subject to be discussed, he incidentally proves, by his own example, how absurd it is to imagine the Jewish nation to be forsaken of the Fountain of all justice.
Paul himself was an Israelite, descended from the most remote posterity, not a proselyte, or recently engrafted into the civil government and policy of Israel.
Since, therefore, he justly deserved to be reckoned among the most chosen of God’s servants, he afforded a decided proof that the grace of God rested and abode in Israel.
The apostle assumes, therefore, the proposition, that God’s covenant with Abraham’s seed is not abolished as proved, which he will, however, afterwards explain and handle in a more complete manner.
By calling himself of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, as well as by assuming the title of an Israelite, he intends to establish his claim to the character of a genuine descendant from the father of believers, as in Phillipians 3:4.
For the interpretation adopted by some commentators, that Paul was descended from the tribe of Benjamin, which had nearly been exterminated, as affording a strong recommendation of the mercy of the divine Protector, seems forced and far-fetched.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
Reason 1. I Paul come of that Nation, and yet not a cast-away: Therefore not all and every one of the Jews are cast off.
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
I belong to the sacred family, and can trace my lineage. It is as if he had said — ‘If it had been so, what would have become of me? Blessed be God it is not so.’ He had obtained mercy, and so might all Israel have done, if, like him, they would have but submitted to the righteousness of faith.
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Besides being an Israelite, Paul here states that he was of the seed of Abraham.
This was implied in his being an Israelite, but it is not needless tautology. A charge is often brought of tautology when the reiteration of an important truth is made for the purpose of giving it redoubled force.
Although, in declaring himself an Israelite, he virtually claimed a direct descent from Abraham, yet it was a fact of no ordinary moment, and one therefore on which he emphatically dwells. It is his object to impress on the minds of his readers a sense of its intrinsic importance, as well as to recall to their recollection the covenant of God with Abraham, which confirmed the promises made to him respecting his descendants.
This was much to the Apostle’s purpose, in affirming that God had not cast away the children of him who was called the friend of God.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
Romans 11:1 Meaning – of the tribe of Benjamin
Paul likewise adds that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. It was doubtless an honour to deduce his lineage through a tribe which adhered to the true worship of God, and had not revolted from the house of David.
The fact, too, of his being enabled with certainty to trace his pedigree from Benjamin was sufficient to establish the purity of his origin, and to prove that he was not merely found mingled with the nation, but was, in the expressive language which he elsewhere adopts, ‘a Hebrew of the Hebrews,’ an Israelite by birth, parentage, and unbroken hereditary descent.
The design of the Apostle is evidently to magnify his privileges, that he may produce the conviction that he has no interest in teaching anything derogatory to the just pretensions of his countrymen.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
