I say then, have they so stumbled, that they should fall? God forbid. But by their offence, salvation is come to the Gentiles, that they may be emulous of them.

“Do you see the cause of the calling from among the nations, clearly declared, by the prophet, to be the disobedience and gainsaying of the people? Then the goodness of God is shown also in their case. For the apostle says, "But through their transgression salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy" and to willingness to repent.”

“Much more aptly would they have matched the Christian with the elder, and the Jew with the younger son, "according to the analogy of faith," if the order of each people as intimated from Rebecca's womb permitted the inversion: only that (in that case) the concluding paragraph would oppose them; for it will he fitting for the Christian to rejoice, and not to grieve, at the restoration of Israel, if it he true, (as it is), that the whole of our hope is intimately united with the remaining expectation of Israel. Thus, even if some (features in the parable) are favourable, yet by others of a contrary significance the thorough carrying out of this comparison is destroyed; although (albeit all points be capable of corresponding with mirror-like accuracy) there he one cardinal danger in interpretations-the danger lest the felicity of our comparisons be tempered with a different aim from that which the subject-matter of each particular parable has bidden us (temper it).”

“"I say then, Have they stumbled, that they should fall? God forbid." When he has shown that they were liable to evils without number, then he devises an allayment. And consider the judgment of Paul. The accusation he had introduced from the prophets, but the allayment he makes come from himself. For that they had sinned greatly, he would say, none will gainsay. But let us see if the fall is of such kind as to be incurable, and quite preclude their being set up again. But of such kind it is not. You see how he is attacking them again, and under the expectation of some allayment he proves them guilty of confessed sins. But let us see what even by way of allayment he does devise for them. Now what is the allayment? "When the fulness of the Gentiles," he says, "shall have come in, then shall all Israel be saved," at the time of his second coming, and the end of the world. Yet this he does not say at once. But since he had made a hard onset upon them, and linked accusations to accusations, bringing prophets in after prophets crying aloud against them, Isaiah, Elijah, David, Moses, Hosea, not once or twice, but several times; lest in this way he should both by driving these into despair, make a wall to bar their access to the faith, and should further make such of the Gentiles as believed unreasonably elated, and they also by being puffed up should take harm in matter of their faith, he further solaces them by saying, "But rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles." But we must not take what is here said literally, but get acquainted with the spirit and object of the speaker, and what he aimed to compass. Which thing I ever entreat of your love. For if with this in our minds we take up what is here said, we shall not find a difficulty in any part of it. For his present anxiety is to remove from those of the Gentiles the haughtiness which might spring in them from what he had said. For in this way they too were more likely to continue unshaken in the faith, when they had learnt to be reasonable, as also those of the Jews were, when quit of despair, more likely to come with readiness to grace. Having regard then to this object of his, let us so listen to all that is said on this passage. What does he say then? And whence does he show that their fall was not irremediable, nor their rejection final? He argues from the Gentiles, saying as follows: "Through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy." This language is not his own only, but in the Gospels too the parables mean this. For He who made a marriage feast for His Son, when the guests would not come, called those in the highways. (Matt. xxii. 9). And He who planted the Vineyard, when the husbandmen slew the Heir, let out His Vineyard to others. (ib. xxi. 38, etc.) And without any parable, He Himself said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel." (ib. xv. 24.) And to the Syrophoenician woman, when she persevered, He said somewhat further besides. "It is not meet," He says, "to take the children's bread, and cast it to the dogs." (ib. xv. 26.) And Paul to those of the Jews that raised a sedition, "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you: but seeing ye judge yourselves unworthy, lo, we turn unto the Gentiles." (Acts xiii. 46.) And throughout it is clear that the natural course of things was this, that they should be the first to come in, and then those of the Gentiles; but since they disbelieved, the order was reversed; and their unbelief and fall caused these to be brought in first. Hence it is that he says, "through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy." But if he mentions what the course of things issued in, as if the chief design of Providence, do not feel surprised. For he wishes to solace their down-stricken souls, and his meaning is about this. Jesus came to them; they did not receive Him, though He did countless miracles, but crucified Him. Hence He drew the Gentiles to Him, that the honor they had, by cutting them to the heart for their insensibility might at least out of a moroseness against others persuade them to come over. For they ought to have been first admitted, and then we. And this was why he said, "For it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." (Rom. i. 16.) But as they had started off, we the last became first. See then how great honors he gathers for them even from this. One that he says, we were then called, when they were not willing; a second that he says, the reason of our being called was not that we only might be saved, but that they also, growing jealous at our salvation, might become better. What does he say then? that if it were not for the Jews' sake, we should not have been called and saved at all? We should not before them, but in the regular order. Wherefore also when He was speaking to the disciples, He did not say barely, "Go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel" (Matt. x. 6), but, "Go rather to the sheep," to show that to those parts also they must come after these. And Paul again saith not, "It was necessary that the word of God should have been spoken unto you," but "should first have been spoken unto you" (Acts xiii. 46), to show that in the second place it must be to us also. And this was both done and said, that they might not be able, shameless though they were, to pretend that they were overlooked, and that was why they did not believe. This then was why Christ, though he knew all things before, yet came to them first.”

“Paul says that the Jews have not fallen but rather that their fall was not pointless, since it led to the salvation of the Gentiles. The Jews did not sin only to fall as a punishment but so that their fall might serve the salvation of the Gentiles. Paul even begins to praise the Jewish people for this fall of unbelief, in order that the Gentiles should not become proud, seeing that the fall of the Jews was so important for their own salvation. On the contrary, the Gentiles ought to be all the more careful, lest they too should grow proud and fall also.”

“After the Apostle has shown that the fall of the Jews is not universal, here he begins to show that their fall is neither useless nor irreparable. And concerning this he does two things. First he shows that the fall of the Jews is useful and reparable; second he excludes the boasting of the Gentiles who insult the Jews, at the place, but if some of the branches, and so on. Concerning the first he does two things. First he proposes a question; second he resolves it, at the place, far be it, and so on. He says therefore first: it has been said and proved that the rest of the Jews besides the elect have been blinded. He says therefore, raising a question, have they so stumbled that they should fall? This can be understood in two ways. In one way thus: did God permit them to stumble only that they should fall, that is, for no other advantage following from it, but only willing them to fall? This indeed would be against the divine goodness, which is so great, as Augustine says in the Enchiridion, that it would never permit anything evil to happen except for the sake of the good which it draws out from the evil. Hence also it is said in Job 34: he will crush many and innumerable, and will make others to stand in their place. And it is said in Apocalypse 3:11: hold fast what you have, lest another take your crown, namely because God permits some to fall in such a way that the fall of some may be the occasion of salvation for others. In another way it can be understood thus: have they so stumbled that they should fall? That is, that they should remain perpetually in their fall? Psalm 40:9: shall not he who sleeps rise again? Then when he says far be it, etc., he resolves the question. And first according to the first understanding, showing that the fall of the Jews was useful; second he resolves the question as to the second understanding, showing that the fall of the Jews is reparable, at the place, but if their offense, and so on. He says therefore first, far be it, namely that they should fall uselessly. But, rather, by their offense, namely that of the Jews, salvation has come to the Gentiles occasionally. Hence also the Lord says in John 4:22: salvation is from the Jews. This indeed can be understood in three ways. In the first way, because through the offense which they committed in the killing of Christ, the salvation of the Gentiles followed by the redemption of the blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18: for you were not redeemed with corruptible things, gold or silver, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with the precious blood of the immaculate lamb. In the second way it can be understood of the offense by which they rejected the teaching of the apostles, from which it came about that the apostles preached to the Gentiles, according to that word of Acts 13:46: it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you have rejected it, behold we turn to the Gentiles, and so on. In the third way it can be understood of this, that on account of their impenitence they have been dispersed among all the nations. And thus Christ and the Church everywhere had testimony to the Christian faith from the books of the Jews, for the converting of the Gentiles, who might have suspected that the prophecies concerning Christ, which the preachers of the faith brought forward, were fabricated, unless they were proved by the testimony of the Jews; hence in Psalm 58:12 it is said: he has shown me concerning my enemies, namely the Jews, slay them not, lest at any time my people forget: scatter them by your power. There follows, that they may be zealous of them. And because he does not say who or whom, since there is also a twofold zeal, namely of indignation and of imitation, this can be explained in four ways. In the first way, so that it is understood thus: that the Gentiles may be zealous of them, namely of the Jews, that is, may imitate them in the worship of the one God. Ephesians 2:12: at that time you were without Christ, alienated from the way of life of Israel, and afterward he adds: but now you, who once were far off, have become near in the blood of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2:14: you have become imitators of the Churches of God, which are in Judea. Or that the Gentiles may be zealous of the Jews, that is, may be indignant against them on account of their unbelief. Psalm 118:158: I saw those who transgressed and I pined away, because they did not keep your words. In the third way it can be understood thus: that the Jews may be zealous, that is, may imitate the Gentiles, when here and there and now some of them are individually converted to the faith, imitating the faith of the Gentiles, and finally all Israel will be saved when the fullness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, and thus what is said in Deuteronomy 28:44 will be fulfilled: he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. In the fourth way it can be explained thus: that the Jews may be zealous of the Gentiles, that is, may be stirred up against them out of envy when they see their glory transferred to them. Deuteronomy 32:21: I will provoke them by that which is not a people. Then when he says but if their offense, etc., he resolves the question as to the second understanding, showing that the fall of the Jews is reparable, which indeed he shows in three ways. First from its usefulness; second from the Apostle's intention, at the place, for I say to you, etc.; third from the condition of that people, at the place, but if the firstfruit is holy, and so on. Concerning the first he sets forth this argument: good is more powerful for conferring benefit than evil; but the evil of the Jews conferred a great benefit on the Gentiles, therefore their good confers a much greater benefit on the world. This, then, is what he says: it has been said that by their offense salvation has come to the Gentiles, and, in place of but, their offense, namely that of the Jews, is the riches of the world, that is, of the Gentiles, because namely the offense of the Jews redounded to the spiritual riches of the Gentiles, of which it is said in Isaiah 33:6: the riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge, which indeed refers to their guilt. And their diminishing, by which namely they fell away from that height of glory which they had, which pertains to punishment. Daniel 3:37: we have been diminished more than all nations, and we are brought low in all the earth this day because of our sins. But these are the riches of the Gentiles by occasion, as has been said. Or their diminishing, that is, some of the least and most abject of the Jews spiritually enriched the Gentiles, namely the apostles, of whom 1 Corinthians 1:27: God has chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the strong. How much more will their fullness, that is, their spiritual abundance, or their multitude converted to God, redound to the riches of the Gentiles? Ecclesiasticus 24:16: in the fullness of the saints is my abode. And thus, if God for the benefit of the whole world permitted the Jews to offend and to be diminished, much more will he make good their ruins for the benefit of the whole world. Then when he says for I say to you Gentiles, etc., he shows the same thing from his own intention, which he first proposes; second he assigns the reason for it, at the place, for if the loss, and so on. Concerning the first it is to be considered that, whereas in the earlier parts of this epistle he had spoken to all the faithful existing at Rome, whether they were of the Gentiles or of the Jews, now he directs his discourse specially to the converted Gentiles. He says therefore: I have said that their fullness would be the riches of the world. As a sign of this, I say to you Gentiles, namely to the Gentiles converted to the faith. Isaiah 65:1: I said, behold I am to the nations, and so on. This, I say, I say to you as long as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, whose care specially rests upon me from the office enjoined on me. Galatians 2:9: they gave to me and to Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision. 1 Timothy 1:7: in which I have been appointed a preacher and an apostle, for I speak the truth in Christ Jesus, I do not lie, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I will honor my ministry, not indeed by those things which pertain to worldly honor, but first indeed by adorning it with good conduct. 2 Corinthians 6:4: in all things let us show ourselves as ministers of God in much patience. Second, by the supererogation of works, to which he was not bound. 1 Corinthians 9:18: what then is my reward, that in preaching the Gospel of Christ I make it without charge, and so on. Third, by extending his solicitude to the salvation of all. 2 Corinthians 11:28: besides those things which are from without, my daily pressing care, the solicitude of all the churches. Hence also here he adds, if by any means I may provoke to emulation my flesh, that is, the Jews, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, as was said above in chapter 9:3. Isaiah 58:7: do not despise your own flesh. And this, to emulation by a good emulation, according to that word of 1 Corinthians 12:31: be zealous for the better gifts. And in this way, that I may save some of them, namely of the Jews. 1 Corinthians 10:33: not seeking what is profitable to myself, but to many, that they may be saved. But against this is what he himself says in 2 Corinthians 10:13: but we will not glory beyond measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has measured out to us, a measure to reach even unto you. But he had not received the measure of his ministry except over the Gentiles. He ought not, therefore, to have concerned himself with the Jews. Some say, however, that the Jews dwelling in Judea did not belong to his apostolate, but to that of Peter, James, and John, as is said in Galatians 2:7; but the Jews dwelling among the Gentiles belonged to his apostolate, and he pressed on toward their salvation. But this seems to be against the intention of the text. For if those Jews belonged to his apostolate in that he was intent on their conversion, he would not have honored his ministry by this. And therefore it must be said that the preaching to the Gentiles was so committed to him that he was bound to it out of necessity, just as he himself says in 1 Corinthians 9:16: if I do not preach the gospel, woe to me; for necessity lies upon me; nor nevertheless was he forbidden to preach to the Jews, although he was not bound to this. And according to this, by pressing on toward their salvation, he honored his ministry; which indeed he would not do, if he reckoned their fall to be irreparable. Hence the Apostle's own zeal, which he applied to the conversion of the Jews, he brings forward as a sign that the fall of the Jews is reparable. Then when he says for if, etc., he assigns the reason for his intention, namely because he saw that the conversion of the Jews would result in the salvation of the Gentiles. Hence he says, for if the loss of them, that is, their unbelief and disobedience, just as a servant is said to be lost when he flees from being under the care and obedience of his master. Jeremiah 50:6: my people have become a lost flock. If, I say, this loss of the Jews is occasionally the reconciliation of the world, insofar as through the death of Christ we have been reconciled to God, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? That is, that the Jews be received back by God, according to that word of Zechariah 11:7: I took to myself two rods. What, I say, will such a receiving bring about, except that it will make the Gentiles rise again to life? For the Gentiles are the faithful who will grow lukewarm. Matthew 24:12: because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many will grow cold. Or even those who will totally fall, deceived by Antichrist, will be restored to their former fervor by the conversion of the Jews. And also, just as the Gentiles, after enmities, were reconciled when the Jews fell, so after the conversion of the Jews, the end of the world now being imminent, there will be a general resurrection, through which men will return from the dead to immortal life. Then when he says, but if the firstfruit, etc., he shows the same thing from the condition of that nation of the Jews itself. And this indeed in two ways. First, on the part of the apostles, when he says, but if the firstfruit is holy, so also is the lump. Now the firstfruit is called that which is taken from the lump of dough, as it were for testing it. Now the apostles are taken up by God from the nation of the Jews, as the firstfruit from the lump. And therefore if the apostles are holy, it follows that the nation of the Jews is holy. 1 Peter 2:9: a holy nation, a people of acquisition, and so on. Second he proves the same thing on the part of the patriarchs, who are compared to the Jews as a root to branches, hence also it is said in Isaiah 11:1: there shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse. If, therefore, the patriarchs, who are the root, are holy, then the Jews too, who proceeded from them as branches, are holy. Hosea 14:6: its root shall burst forth like Lebanon, its branches shall go forth, and so on. But against this is what is said in Ezekiel 18:5 ff.: if a man be just, he shall surely live. Thus, then, it does not follow that if the root is holy, the branches are too. There likewise it is also added that if a son, seeing the sins of his father, fears and does not do the like, he shall not die, but shall surely live; hence also it seems not to follow that if the firstfruit is holy, so also is the lump. But it must be said that the Apostle here is not speaking of actual holiness; for he does not intend to show that the unbelieving Jews are holy, but he speaks of potential holiness. For nothing prevents those from being restored to holiness whose fathers and whose sons are holy. Or it can be said that those are especially the branches of the patriarchs who imitate them, according to that word of John 8:39: if you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.”

“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?.... This is an objection, which the apostle takes from the mouth of an adversary; and the purport of it is, you say that the people of the Jews being blind, have stumbled at Christ and his Gospel, as was prophesied of them, and to which they were appointed; pray what were God's view and end in this? was it that they should fall and perish eternally? if it be so, is not this doing himself, what he forbids others, namely, "to put a stumblingblock before the blind?" Lev 19:14, and can he be excused from cruelty, and rejoicing at the misery of others? or is their stumbling permitted, that they should "all" fall through unbelief, and be cast away? and so it is an objection of the same kind with Rom 11:1; or since they have stumbled, and have thereby fell into a forlorn and miserable condition, are they always to continue in it, as the last clause in the above cited passage suggests? To which the apostle answers, God forbid; neither of these are to be admitted of. The end which God had in view, in suffering the Jews to stumble and fall, was not their destruction, but rather the salvation of the Gentiles; and especially not the destruction of "all" of them, blindness had only happened "in part" to them; for there was a remnant among them according to the election of grace, which should be saved; a chosen number, which obtained life and righteousness by Christ; yea, a fulness of them, how small soever their number might be now, which should be brought in; and still less that they should always continue in this sad condition, their unbelief had brought them into; for the time would come, when there would be a receiving of them as life from the dead, when all Israel should be saved. And at present there appeared nothing ill in view, but rather through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles. That is, the Gospel; which is sometimes called salvation, the Gospel of our salvation, the word of "salvation"; because it is a declaration of salvation by Christ, and is the power of God unto it; or a means made effectual by the power of God to convince persons, both of their need, and of the worth of it, and also a means of the application of it to them, by the Spirit of God: now this came to the Gentiles by the ministry of the apostles, according to the orders and command of Christ; and that through the fall of the Jews, their unbelief and rejection of the Messiah; for the Gospel was first preached to them, but they contradicting and blaspheming it, the apostles turned to the Gentiles, and preached it to them, as the Lord had commanded them: and thus they came to be acquainted with the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Christ, and to have it powerfully applied to their souls by the Spirit of God; when salvation might be said to "come" to them, in such sense as our Lord says it did to Zacchaeus and his house, Luk 19:9, and another end is to be answered hereby; which is for to provoke them to jealousy: that is, to provoke the Jews to jealousy; not in an ill sense, as in Rom 10:19, and as they were provoked upon the first sending of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and the calling of them, when they discovered a great deal of envy, wrath, and bitterness; but in a good sense, as will appear in the latter day, when being convinced of their sin in rejecting the Messiah, and observing the many advantages the Gentiles have received by embracing him, and they have lost by their contempt of him, will be provoked to an holy emulation of them, and be stirred up through their means to seek the Lord their God, and David their King; and thus things will wind about in Providence. The fall of the Jews makes way for the Gospel among the Gentiles; and this having had its effects with them, will be a means of putting the Jews upon serious thoughts about, and a studious inquiry after, the true Messiah, and salvation by him; all which is a full answer to the question, and the objection contained in it.”

“Have they stumbled that they should fall? - Have the Jews, now for their disobedience and unbelief rejected, so sinned against God as to be for ever put out of the reach of his mercy? By no means. Are they, as a nation, utterly irrecoverable? This is the sense of the place, and here the prophecy of the restoration of the Jewish nation commences. But rather through their fall salvation is come - The Church of God cannot fail; if the Jews have broken the everlasting covenant, Isa 24:5, the Gentiles shall be taken into it; and this very circumstance shall be ultimately the means of exciting them to seek and claim a share in the blessings of the new covenant; and this is what the apostle terms provoking them to jealousy, i.e. exciting them to emulation, for so the word should be understood. We should observe here, that the fall of the Jews was not in itself the cause or reason of the calling of the Gentiles; for whether the Jews had stood or fallen, whether they had embraced or rejected the Gospel, it was the original purpose of God to take the Gentiles into the Church; for this was absolutely implied in the covenant made with Abraham: and it was in virtue of that covenant that the Gentiles were now called, and not Because of the unbelief of the Jews. And hence we see that their fall was not the necessary means of the salvation of the Gentiles; for certainly the unbelief of the Jews could never produce faith in the Gentiles. The simple state of the case is: the Jews, in the most obstinate and unprincipled manner, rejected Jesus Christ and the salvation offered them in his name; then the apostles turned to the Gentiles, and they heard and believed. The Jews themselves perceived that the Gentiles were to be put in possession of similar privileges to those which they, as the peculiar people of God, had enjoyed; and this they could not bear, and put forth all their strength in opposition and persecution. The calling of the Gentiles, which existed in the original purpose of God, became in a certain way accelerated by the unbelief of the Jews, through which they forfeited all their privileges, and fell from that state of glory and dignity in which they had been long placed as the peculiar people of God. See Taylor.”

“Have they so stumbled, that they should fall? God forbid. That is, their fall is not irreparable, or so as never to rise again: but by their offending, salvation (through the liberal mercy of God) is come to the Gentiles, that they, the Jews, may be emulous of the Gentiles, and of their happiness, and so may be converted. (Witham) — The nation of the Jews is not absolutely and without remedy cast off for ever; but in part only (many thousands of them having been at first converted) and for a time: which fall of theirs God has been pleased to turn to the good of the Gentiles. (Challoner) — How much more the fulness of them? As if he should say, if the obstinacy of so many Jews seem to be an occasion upon which God, whose mercy calls whom he pleaseth, hath bestowed the riches of his grace on other nations; and while the glory of the Jews, the elect people of God, has been diminished, the Gentiles have been made happy: how much more glorious will be the fulness of them? that is, according to the common interpretation, will be the re-establishment and conversion of the Jews hereafter, before the end of the world? See St. Chrysostom, om. ith . p. 164; St. Hilary, in Ps. lviii; St. Jerome, in chap. iii. Osee. Habacuc iii.; St. Augustine, lib. xx. de Civ. Dei. chap. xxix. — Then (ver. 15.) the receiving of them into the Church, and their conversion to Christ, shall be like life from the dead, when the Jewish nation in general, shall rise from the death of sin, and their hardened infidelity, to the life of faith and grace. These things I speak to you, Gentiles, to honour and comply with my ministry of being your apostle: yet endeavouring at the same time, if by a pious emulation, or by any other way, I may be able to bring any of my flesh, or of my brethren, the Jews, to be saved by the faith of Christ. (Witham)”

“I say then, Have they stumbled--"Did they stumble" that they should fall? God forbid; but--the supplement "rather" is better omitted. through their fall--literally, "trespass," but here best rendered "false step" [DE WETTE]; not "fall," as in our version. salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy--Here, as also in Rom 10:19 (quoted from Deu 32:21), we see that emulation is a legitimate stimulus to what is good.”