Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans John Calvin (continued)
Commentary on Romans to this reasoning, that the word of God had flowed to the Gentiles, after the Jews had rejected, and, as it were, cast it from them; for if they had received it, their faith would have brought forth much more fruit than their unbelief had occasioned; for the truth of God would have been thereby confirmed by being accomplished in them, and they also themselves would have led many by their teaching, whom they, on the contrary, by their perverseness, had turned aside.
Now he would have spoken more strictly correct, if, to the fall, he had opposed rising: 351 of this I remind you, that no one may expect here an adorned language, and may not be offended with this simple mode of speaking; for these things were written to mold the heart and not the tongue.
13. For to you Gentiles I speak, etc. He confirms by a strong reason, that nothing shall be lost by the Gentiles, were the Jews to return again to favor with God; for he shows, that the salvation of both is so connected, that it can by the same means be promoted. For he thus addresses the Gentiles, — "Though I am peculiarly destined to be your Apostle, and ought therefore with special care to seek your salvation, with which I am charged, and to omit as it were all other things, and to labor for that only, I shall yet be faithfully discharging my office, by gaining to Christ any of my own nation; and this will be for the glory of my ministry, and so for your good." 352 For whatever served to render Paul's ministry illustrious, was advantageous to the Gentiles, whose salvation was its object.
And here also he uses the verb {παραζηλῶσαι}, to provoke to emulation, and for this purpose, that the Gentiles might seek the accomplishment of Moses' prophecy, such as he describes, when they understood that it would be for their benefit.
14. And save, etc. Observe here that the minister of the word is said in some way to save those whom he leads to the obedience of faith. So conducted
351This is not quite correct: the first part is a mere announcement of a fact — the fall of the Jews; and then in what follows, according to the usual style of Scripture, the same thing is stated in other words, and a corresponding clause is added; and the antithesis is found to be suitable — the diminution and the completion. The reason for the restatement of the first clause seems to be this, — that the fall might not be deemed as total, but in part; it was {ἣττημα}, a less part, a diminution, a lessening of their number in God's kingdom. A contrast to this is the {πλήρωμα}, the full or complete portion, that is, their complete restoration, as it is said in Romans 11:26. To preserve the antithesis, the first word must have its literal meaning, a diminution or lessening, that is, as to the number saved. Hammond renders the phrase, "their paucity." — Ed.
352The meaning attached here to the words {τὴν} {διακονίαν} {μου} {δοξάζω}, is somewhat different from what is commonly understood. Its classical sense, "highly to estimate," is what is generally given here to the verb: but Calvin takes it in a sense in which it is mostly taken in Scripture, as meaning, "to render illustrious," or eminent, "to render glorious." The construction of the two Romans 11:13 and 14, is somewhat difficult, and the meaning is not very clear. To include the words, "as I am indeed the Apostle of the Gentiles," in a parenthesis, as it is done by some, would render the sense more evident, and to add "this" after "say," and "that" before "I render." The version then would be as follows, — 13. For I say this to you Gentiles (as I am indeed the Apostle of the Gentiles,) that I render my ministry glorious, 14. If I shall by any means excite to emulation my own flesh and save some of them. The sentiment in the last clause is the same as that at the end of Romans 11:11. The Vulgate, and some of the Latin Fathers, and also Luther, read {δοξάσω} in the future tense; which would make the passage read better, — "that I shall render," etc. These two verses are not necessarily connected with the Apostle's argument; for in the following verse he resumes the subject of Romans 11:12, or rather, as his usual manner is, he states the same thing in other words and in more explicit and stronger terms. So that the {γὰρ} in the next verse may very properly be rendered "yea," or as an illative, "then." — Ed.