“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?”
Romans 11:12, KJV
“Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!”
Romans 11:12, ESV
Table of Contents
- Romans 11:12 Meaning – Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world
- Romans 11:12 Meaning – how much more their fulness?
Romans 11:12 Meaning – Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world
Since Paul had taught that the Gentiles had entered into the situation formerly occupied by the Jews, after the last had been rejected, that he might not render the salvation of the Jews odious to the Gentiles, as if the destruction of the former constituted the salvation of the latter, he opposes this false opinion, and adopts the contrary sentiment, that nothing could contribute more to the promotion of the salvation of the Gentiles, than the flourishing and vigorous state of the grace of God among the Jews.
To establish his proof he uses an argument from the less to the greater.
If the fall of the Jews could rouse the Gentiles, and the diminishing, decay, and loss of the former, be the cause of enriching the latter, how much more would the fulness of the descendants of Abraham add to the wealth of the heathen? For the former is a state contrary to nature, and the latter agreeable to its laws.
Nor is the cogency of this reasoning weakened, because the word of God was dispersed and spread abroad among the heathens, after the Jews had scornfully rejected and cast it from them with contempt and loathing; for had the Jews received the word of God, their faith would have been productive of much more fruit than was occasioned in the present instance by their unbelief; for the truth of God would have received a greater confirmation by its fulfilment being manifested in the Jews, and they would have made many disciples by teaching the doctrine of Christ, who had been turned away from the cross by the obstinacy of the posterity of Abraham.
The antithetic character of the sentence would have been better preserved, and more adapted to the subject under consideration, if the fall of the Jews had been opposed to the provoking, stirring, and raising up of the Gentiles.
I give this admonition with a view to prevent my readers from expecting, in this passage, all the ornaments of elocution, and to secure them from feeling any disgust on account of Paul’s ignorance of oratory.
Paul’s writings are intended to form the breast, heart, and affections to piety, peace, truth, and virtue; not the tongue to the fascinating arts of eloquence.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
And then this change in the state of Israel will react, in its turn, in the most favourable way on the Gentiles. In this verse emphasis is given to the sentiment by repetition. In the first parallel the sense is incomplete. The full expression is, ‘If the fall of them be the riches of the world, how much more their restoration?’
Though the temporary unbelief and consequent fall of Israel have greatly conduced to the promotion of the interests of the Gentiles, it does not at all follow that the continuance of this degraded state of Israel is necessary to the continuance of the exalted state of converted Gentiles, or would be indeed at all advantageous to them. The truth is just the reverse. The fall of Israel has served its purpose to the Gentiles. They have derived advantage, great advantage, from it; but they are also to derive advantage, still greater advantage, from their rise.
This seems the plain meaning of the words of the apostle. The fall of the Jews is their rejection of the Messiah, and its results to them. The diminution of the Jews is their lessened, degraded state — a state devoid of privileges formerly possessed — a state of spiritual poverty.
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Romans 11:12 Meaning – how much more their fulness?
Argument 3. As the ruin of the Jews turned to the good of the Gentiles, so also, and much more, the restitution of the Jews, shall prove an advantage to the world, and the Gentiles. Therefore, so far should it be from us to despise the Jews, as wholly cast away, that on the other side, their conversion is to be wished and hoped for.
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
And the fulness of the Jews is the state of fulness of blessiiig which shall belong to them when, moved by jealousy, they return to their God, and embrace His Messiah. And what the apostle states is this, ‘If the Gentiles have derived so much advantage from the former, what will they derive from the latter? The conversion of the Jews will, directly and indirectly, do more for the advantage of the Gentiles than their unbelief has done.’
Such a result may naturally be expected. It is easy to see in how many ways the general conversion of the Jews, were it now to take place, would conduce more to the speedy and extended progress of Christianity, than their unbelief did in the primitive age. And this is quite in accordance with Old Testament prediction.
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
