“(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.”
Romans 11:8, KJV
“as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.””
Romans 11:8, ESV
Table of Contents
Romans 11:8 Meaning – God gave them
Paul, I doubt not, cited Isaiah 6:9 as it is in Matthew 13:14; Luke 8:10; John 12:40; and Luke (Acts 28:26) says our apostle quoted it to the Jews at Rome, but not precisely in the same words.
Nor does the apostle use the very language of the prophet, but deduces only the following opinion, “that God hath given them a spirit of bitterness and maliciousness, so that they continue overwhelmed in a stupid slumbering state, having eyes they see not, and ears they hear not.”
The prophet is commanded to harden the heart of the people of Israel; but Paul penetrates the fountain itself, because a brutish stupidity occupies all the senses, when men are so given up to this state of madness and folly, as to provoke and whet themselves against the truth by virulent incentives.
For Paul does not only denominate it a spirit of giddiness and dimness, but of remorse and pricking of conscience, where, indeed, the very bitterness of gall displays itself, nay, even madness in rejecting the truth.
He pronounces the reprobates to be so maddened by the secret judgment of God, that, lost in stupefaction and amazement, they can form no correct judgment of any kind.
For by the expression, seeing they see not, is implied the dulness and obtuseness of all their senses.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
That the reprobate were hardened, he proves by a twofold testimony [Testimony 1 and 2].
The first is of Isaiah 29:16 and 6:9 where God is said in his righteous judgement to have smitten this perverse people with the punishment of blindness and stupidity, or, for the contempt of his Word, to have given up to a reprobate sense, that they might not discern the grace of God offered in the Gospel; which judgement lay upon the multitude, till the time of the preaching of the Gospel.
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
And, in this blindness of the majority of the Israelitish people, there was a striking fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy, and, of consequence, a confirmation of the truth and divinity of that Gospel, on which their rejection might be supposed otherwise to cast a cloud of suspicion. This is what is stated in verses 8, 9, 10.
The first passage referred to by the apostle is from the Prophet Isaiah — “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and liath closed your eyes.”
The quotation seems, like so many more in the apostle’s writings, made from memory. The whole of the twenty-ninth chapter [of Isaiah] is occupied with a prediction of events which exactly correspond with those of the closing scene of the Jewish polity, and to which no satisfactory correspondence can be found in any other period of their histoiy. To be under the influence of the “spirit of deep sleep,” or rather of stupefaction, is to be in a state of delusion — to be under the guidance of what the apostle, in Romans 1:28, calls “a reprobate mind,” to which God gave up the idolatrous Gentiles — better rendered in the margin, ‘a, mind void of judgment;’ and by “God giving this,” we are to understand God punishing them for their sins, by not interfering with the natural operation of circumstances on their depraved minds to stupify and delude. The word ‘to give,’ is used in a similar way in Genesis 31:7, and Deuteronomy 18:14, where it is rendered ‘suffered.’
The remaining words in the 8th verse are an allusion to, rather than a quotation of, either Isaiah 6:9,10, or Deuteronomy 29:4.
The first of these passages runs thus: “And he said, Go and tell this people. Hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”
The second, thus: “Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.”
The first of these passages is referred to by our Lord (Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10); and by the Evangelist John (John 12:40), and by the apostle Paul, to their countrymen, in a manner that leads us to conclude that it was directly prophetic of them.
The second plainly is a description of Moses’ contemporaries.
The most probable interpretation is, that “as it is written” should be considered as equivalent to ‘to use the words of Scripture,’ and that the verse is to be considered as the apostle’s own description of the unbelieving Jews, clothed in Old Testament language. The meaning seems to be — ‘The great body of the Jewish people have, according to the description of their legislator and prophets, been all along, and continue to be, a stiff-necked and rebellious race; and though, for this, they have been without doubt entirely to blame, yet still this state of mind, as the natural effect of the Divine arrangements on the depraved minds of the Jews, the Divine Being is considered as having such an agency in producing, that He may, in a sense not implying that He is the author of sin, be said to give, as a punishment for sin, the spirit of stupidity— the eyes and the ears inept to perform their proper functions.’
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Mr. Stuart asserts that it is not necessary to understand this as a prediction, in the appropriate sense of the word. But it is most undoubtedly a prediction; and although it was adapted to describe the Jews at a preceding period, the Holy Spirit, as from Paul’s application we are bound to believe, intended it to describe the people of Israel in the time of the Apostles.
The same thing that in one sense is ascribed to God, in another is ascribed to man.
Although, by the decree and providence of God, Israel was blinded, yet the blame was their own.
The Jews, at that period, had the light of natural understanding, yet they did not see what was exhibited with the clearest evidence.
This is still the case.
Multitudes who are distinguished for their intellectual vigour and mental powers, are altogether blind in spiritual things.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
Romans 11:8 Meaning – unto this day
The addition, until this day, is Paul’s, to prevent any objector from stating that the prophecy had been formerly fulfilled, and was therefore improperly applied to the period of preaching the gospel of Christ; since the apostle hints that the blindness described by the prophet did not continue merely for a day, but had remained unchanged with the incurable obstinacy of the Jews until the advent of the Messiah.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
Some join this with the words of the Prophet, and others make it the additional observation of Paul.
In whatever way this is understood, they are equally the words of the Apostle, for he applies them to the case in hand.
Haldane, Robert – Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans (1874)
