“For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.”
Romans 11:32, KJV
“For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”
Romans 11:32, ESV
Table of Contents
- Romans 11:32 Meaning – For God hath concluded them all in unbelief
- Romans 11:32 Meaning – Concluded
- Romans 11:32 Meaning – Them All
- Romans 11:32 Meaning – that he might have mercy upon all
Romans 11:32 Meaning – For God hath concluded them all in unbelief
A very beautiful sentence, which shows there is no cause why any, who entertain the least hopes of their own salvation, should despair of the salvation of others.
Whatever their present character may be, they formerly were the same as all others; and if, by the alone mercy of God, they have emerged from the depths of infidelity, they ought to leave room for the operations of the same pity in converting unbelievers to the truth.
For he makes the Jews equal with the gentiles in their state of guiltiness, for the purpose of convincing both that the entrance and access to eternal salvation are fully opened to all nations and classes of mankind.
There is only one mercy that saves, and this offers itself, with the same freedom, to Jew and heathen.
This opinion agrees with the testimony of Hosea 2:23 quoted above, (Romans 9:25,) ” I will say to them which were not my people thou art my people.”
Paul does not mean that God so hardens all men, as their unbelief is to be imputed to the Fountain of infinite mercy, tenderness, and love; but such are the dispensations of his all-gracious providence, that the whole human race stands convicted of unbelief, and is condemned by the divine judgment; and the design of Omnipotence, in this arrangement, is to make salvation depend on his own goodness alone, and to bury and sink for ever all the claims of merit.
Paul intends to impress on his readers the two following truths — “That there is nothing besides the mere grace of God, in any individual of the human race, on account of the merit of which he deserves to have a preference shown him above others; and that the Supreme Being, in the dispensation of his grace, is not hindered from bestowing it on whomsoever he chooses.”
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
Romans 11:32 Meaning – Concluded
To “conclude all men, both Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief,” is a very uncouth English phrase, and scarcely conveys any very distinct idea.
The word rendered “conclude,” properly signifies to shut up. To “shut up” in unbelief, or disobedience, may signify, to prove most clearly that a person is unbelieving and disobedient. This, in the opinion of some interpreters, is the meaning of the phrase in Galatians 3:22: “The Scripture hath concluded all under sin;” — the Scriptures clearly prove that all men are sinners.
I rather think these words are parallel to those before us, and mean, ‘The Scripture teaches that all men are under the power of guilt.’
To be shut up in, or under sin, is to be delivered over to its power and influence, and consequences. This seems the meaning of the expression “shut up” in the only passages of Scripture which can properly be considered as parallel, as Job 16:11, margin; Psalm 31:8, in the LXX.; Galatians 3:22,23.
The declaration here, then, is, God has delivered up all men, both Gentiles and Jews, to unbelief and disobedience; i.e. He has allowed the principles of human depravity to develop themselves; He has given up men to “the lusts of their own heart;” He has permitted them to “walk in their own ways,” that they might show what was in their heart; He has, as it were, in succession made two great experiments on fallen humanity — in the case of the Gentiles, and in the case of the Jews; He has left them to themselves, that it might be evident what, in this case, they would make of themselves; He has allowed the Gentiles, by their idolatrous and gross immoralities, and the Jews, by their rejection of the Messiah, and their obstinate unbelief and disobedience, to prove that fallen human nature, as existing in both, is a thoroughly depraved thing.
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Romans 11:32 Meaning – Them All
This is illustrative of the great principle of the Divine administration, equally involved in the Divine dispensations to the Gentiles and to the Jews.
The words, “them all,” are not to be considered as referring to every individual of the human race, but to the two great bodies of mankind of whom he is discoursing; — the Jews and the Gentiles.
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Romans 11:32 Meaning – that he might have mercy upon all
The word mercy is emphatic, for it means that the Judge of all is under no restriction from any of the sons of Adam, and he therefore saves all gratuitously, because all are equally sunk in ruin.
Nothing can equal the gross conception of those madmen, who infer from this passage the salvation of the whole human race: Paul simply means, that Jews and gentiles obtain salvation from no other cause than the mercy of God, that he may leave no ground for any one to complain.
It is an undoubted truth that this mercy is offered equally to all, and granted to none but those who have sought it by faith.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
Argument 18. After this manner, The most wise providence of God hath so ordered the business of saving his own, that all being found in sin and rebellion, might have no matter of boasting, and whoever should obtain salvation, might ascribe all to Divine bounty. Therefore the Jews are not to be despised, as wholly cast off, but the work of Divine mercy towards this people, in the time appointed, is to be expected.
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
And God has done this, “that He may have mercy on all.” The meaning here, as in the preceding verse, will vary according to the sense you give to the particle “that” — according as you consider it as referring to the design or to the result of the Divine dispensation.
In the first case, the meaning is, ‘He has suffered Gentiles and Jews, in succession, to fall into, and continue long in, a state of unbelief and disobedience, that, in the salvation of vast multitudes of both, the riches of His mercy might be equally displayed — that it might be evident that all the saved, whether Jews or Gentiles, owe their salvation to “grace, reigning through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ.”‘
If we render the particle ‘so that,’ the meaning is — ‘Since Gentiles and Jews have equally, at different periods, been distinguished for unbelief and disobedience — have fallen into, and continued in, a state which makes them the fit objects of God’s moral disapprobation — the fit subjects of His penal vengeance — it is plain that all who are saved, of either division of mankind, are equally the monuments of Divine sovereign kindness — are equally deprived of all ground of glorying in themselves, and equally bound, by the ties of duty and gratitude, to the service of their God and Saviour.’
It is the mercy of God alone that saves; and that mercy is equally needed by, and equally open to, Jews and Gentiles. His providence has so arranged it, that all have been brought into a state from which nothing but mercy can save any of them, and mercy can save the worst of them.
“Extremely gross,” says Calvin, “is their folly who hence conclude that all shall be saved. Paul simply means that both Jews and Gentiles do not otherwise obtain salvation but through the mercy of God; and thus he leaves to none any reason for complaint. This mercy is, without any difference, offered to all; but it can be received only in believing.“
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
