Rom 9:29

“What children are these that the Lord has left? No doubt this means what the apostle expounds elsewhere, when he says that it was said to Abraham: "I shall give this land to you and to your seed." He did not say "to your seeds," as if to many, but to your seed, as if to one, and that one is Christ.Nor was it an accident that Isaiah called the remnant a seed. It was so called because it was meant to be sown in the earth and bear much fruit. In this way he teaches that Christ must also be sown, that is, buried in the earth, from which he would rise and bear fruit in the whole multitude of the church.”

“"And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and had been made like unto Gomorrha." Here again he shows another thing, that not even those few were saved from their own resources. For they too would have perished, and met with Sodom's fate, that is, they would have had to undergo utter destruction (for they of Sodom were also destroyed root and branch, and left not even the slightest remnant of themselves,) and they too, he means, would have been like these, unless God had used much kindness to them, and had saved them by faith. And this happened also in the case of the visible captivity, the majority having been taken away captive and perished, and some few only being saved.”

“Predicted is a good choice of words, because the same thing as he mentioned [in verses 27-28] was written even earlier. God did not allow a few righteous people to perish along with a host of the ungodly. Or this text may mean that this would have happened had Christ, Abraham's offspring, not been sent to set the people free. The interpretation of the objectors, however, is that it would have happened, unless God had wished to call at least a few from among the Jews.”

“Having said that the remnant will be saved, he now explains what this means, and says that God left us a chosen seed and bread, for the word "left" he used instead of "chose," so that if God had not preserved it, we would have been subjected to destruction, like the Sodomites and Gomorrahites, as those condemned for their sins.”

“Then, when he says and as Isaiah foretold, he cites the texts pertaining specifically to the apostles, saying: and as Isaiah foretold: unless the Lord of the Sabbaoth, that is, of armies or power, had left us, namely, in his mercy, a seed, i.e., the word of the Gospel: the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11); or a seed, i.e., Christ; and to your seed which is Christ (Gal 3:16); or a seed, i.e., the apostles: that which shall stand therein shall be a holy seed (Isa 6:13), we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah. For the sin of the Jews was greater than that of the men of Sodom: the iniquity of my people has been greater than the sin of Sodom (Lam 4:6) and your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done (Ezek 16:48). Consequently, it was an act of divine mercy that the Jews were not totally exterminated as were the Sodomites: the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed (Lam 3:22).”

“This seed, which alone remains reserved for the conversion of the human race is Christ and his teaching, as he himself said: "The seed is the Word of God." Therefore what was long ago promised to us who have been delivered from the burden of the law remains for our redemption, so that by receiving the forgiveness of sins we might not be punished by the law and perish as Sodom did.”

“This may also be said of Christ, which is how Cyril of Alexandria interpreted it.”