“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”
Romans 11:6, KJV
“But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”
Romans 11:6, ESV
Table of Contents
- Romans 11:6 Meaning – And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace
- Romans 11:6 Meaning – But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work
- Romans 11:6 Meaning – The Doctrine of Election
Romans 11:6 Meaning – And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace
The amplification is derived from comparing opposite subjects, for the grace of God and the merit of works are so contrasted with each other, that the establishment of one of these is the subversion of the other.
If, also, no consideration of works can be admitted without obscuring the gratuitous goodness of Eternal Wisdom, which Paul is so very desirous to commend in election, what answer will those fanatics be able to give our apostle, who make the cause of election to consist in that dignity which the All-wise foresees to exist in the descendants of Adam? For, whether past or future works are considered, this opinion of Paul will always militate against the doctrine of foreseen works, as determining the Cause of all things to elect his people, since the apostle says that grace leaves no room for works.
Paul is not here disputing only concerning our reconciliation with God, nor the intermediate or proximate causes of our salvation, but he ascends still higher, and considers why the Lord, to whom all praise and glory belong, has chosen some before the foundation of the world, and passed by others.
He asserts that God is induced to make this distinction between the children of Adam from no other cause than his own mere good will and pleasure; for Paul contends that every concession made to works detracts so much from grace.
It hence follows, that it is absurd and ridiculous to mingle up the foreknowledge of works with election.
For the reward of works is already established, if God elects some, and reprobates others, according to his foreknowledge of their being worthy or unworthy of salvation; and the grace of God will not have entire dominion and rule, but will only be considered to have a half-share in the cause of election.
For, as Paul, in his former dissertation concerning the justification of Abraham, says, the reward to him that worketh is not reckoned of grace but of debt, so he now derives his argument from the same source, “If works be taken into consideration, where God adopts a certain number of men to salvation, a reward can be claimed as due to their good actions, and gratuitous kindness is subverted.”
Although, indeed, Paul is here discoursing concerning election, yet, because the reasoning adduced by him is general, it ought to be extended to the whole chain of argumentation used in considering our salvation.
The following truth must be acknowledged and felt: “That so often as our salvation is attributed to the grace of our heavenly Father, the Author of all happiness, the merits of works must be entirely renounced, and we must believe the righteousness of works to be completely annihilated whenever the name of grace is taken into our lips.”
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
From hence the Apostle infers two conclusions [Conclusion 1 and 2]; the first answering the design of this epistle, viz. That the election, seeing it is of grace, not of any works foreseen, because in the matter of election, grace and works (as causes) mutually destroy each other. For if grace be the cause of election, works are not and on the contrary. But grace is the cause, as hath been said. Therefore works foreseen are not the cause.
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
The words which follow appear to be explanatory of the phrase, “election of grace.” Let us remember, when we say an election of grace, how much these words imply — nothing short of the entire exclusion of all human work as, foreseen, the cause of the choice, or as, as actually existing, the cause of the selection. If “by grace” the selection has taken place — if it has originated in sovereign mercy on the part of God, as we know it has — then it is not at all of works; works — merit, anything in man — cannot be its cause, otherwise grace, which is sovereign, self-moved love, would lose its nature; but if it were of works, which we know it is not, then it were no more of grace — the cause would be in man, not in God, otherwise work would be no more work — that which earns reward. There is no mingling the two principles. It must be all earned, or none; none conferred by Divine grace, or all. The two schemes of grace and works cannot be combined without destroying the plain meaning of words, and confounding the nature of things. In the first case, the cause is in God; in the second, in the creature. In the one, the benefit is matter of free favour; in the other, of equitable or stipulated right. If the grace of God is the cause of election, the merit of man is not; if the merit of man is, the grace of God is not. Light and darkness, heat and cold, are not more opposed to one another than grace and merit.
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
The opponents of the doctrine of election maintain that men are chosen on account of their good works foreseen. But here it is expressly declared by the Apostle that it is not on account of works at all, whether past, present, or future.
What, then, is the source of election? Grace, — It is an election of grace, or free favour; that is, a gratuitous election, not by the merit of works of any kind, but purely from the favour of God.
Grace and works are here stated as diametrically opposite and totally irreconcilable.
If, then, election is by grace, it is not of works; for this would imply a contradiction. Grace would not then be grace.
Here we have the warrant of Scripture for asserting that a contradiction is necessarily untrue, and that no authority is sufficient to establish two propositions which actually contradict each other.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
Romans 11:6 Meaning – But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work
Many suppose these words are spurious, because they are wanting in some manuscripts, and because the idea is substantially included in what has been already stated.
This reason, however, is not conclusive, and those who build on such a foundation show little knowledge of Scripture.
It is not useless to reverse the idea, and draw the same conclusion from the converse.
It is far more likely that human wisdom has in some manuscripts omitted this passage, than that it should hare been transcribed from the margin into the text.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
Romans 11:6 Meaning – The Doctrine of Election
In the foregoing verses, as well as in the eighth and ninth chapters, the doctrine of election is stated in the clearest manner. This doctrine, as implying the total inability of man to recover himself from guilt and ruin, and the necessity for this end of Divine interposition, has ever been highly offensive to human pride and human wisdom.
These and the preceding strong statements of it, can never be silenced; but they have often been subjected to the most violent perversions.
Every artifice of human ingenuity has been employed to turn away the Apostle’s words from bearing on the point; but it has been employed in vain; and nothing will ever be able to reconcile these statements to the mind of the natural man.
But, after all, what does this doctrine assert that is not necessarily and obviously implied in every other doctrine of the Gospel?
Are all men by nature dead in sin? If so, he that is made spiritually alive, must be made so by Him who alone gives life; and it is nothing short of Divine sovereignty that constitutes the difference between him and those who remain in death and enmity to God.
Are Christians represented as being born again? Does not this refer men’s spiritual existence to the sovereign choice, and mercy, and agency of their heavenly Father?
Are Christians saved faith? If faith be the gift of God, salvation by faith implies election. Why, then, should the Scriptures be wrested to avoid the admission of a doctrine which is not only essential to their consistency with themselves, but which the whole system of Christianity implies?
The salvation of every individual of the human race who partakes of it must be wholly gratuitous on the part of God, and effected by His sovereign grace.
Sinners could have no claim upon God; His justice demanded their punishment, and they could plead no right to mercy, which, if admitted, would make mercy justice.
The sending of His Son, therefore, into the world to save sinners, was an act of free grace; and Christ, accordingly, is spoken of as God’s gift. ‘He gave His only-begotten Son,’ John 3:16. ‘ Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift,’ 2 Corinthians 9:15.
It is no impeachment of the mercy of God, that all the fallen angels perished, and that upon the whole of them justice took its course.
Could it then have been impeached, if in like manner God had left all men to perish? and if not, can it be so because only a part of them are left under that condemnation into which they have fallen, while to another part, He, who ‘hath mercy on whom He will have mercy,’ has extended that mercy?
These truths, when unreservedly admitted, greatly contribute to promote in Christians, in contemplating the distinguishing goodness of God to them, joy in the Lord, and to their bringing forth all the fruits of the Spirit.
It leads them to admire the mercies of God, who hath brought them from darkness to light, and hath saved and called them with an holy calling, not according to their works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given them in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Timothy 1:9; whereby they have the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, ‘promised,’ in like manner, ‘before the world began,’ Titus 1:2.
The fact that the doctrines of election and of the Divine sovereignty are so clearly taught in Scripture, is a most convincing proof that they are not the invention of man.
Such a view could not have suggested itself to the human mind, and, if suggested, could not have been pleasing to its author.
As little would it be calculated to serve the purpose of an impostor, being universally unpalatable to those intended to be gained as converts.
Nothing but the supposition of their truth and Divine origin can account for their being found in the Bible.
‘It is a glorious argument,’ says President Edwards, in his Enquiry respecting the Freedom of the Will, ‘of the divinity of the Holy Scriptures, that they teach such doctrines, which in one age and another, through the blindness of men’s minds, and strong prejudices of their hearts, are rejected as most absurd and unreasonable by the wise and great men of the world; which yet, when they are most carefully and strictly examined, appear to be exactly agreeable to the most demonstrably certain and natural dictates of reason.’
If the Scriptures, he observes, taught the opposite doctrines to those which are so much stumbled at, viz., the Arminian and Pelagian doctrine of free will, and other modifications of these errors, it would be the greatest of all difficulties in the way of the internal evidence of the truth of the Bible.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
