Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Commentary on Romans own nature, it must be allowed that this warning which Paul gives belongs in a certain way to the faithful, lest they indulge themselves in the sloth of the flesh. But with regard to the present passage, it is enough for us to know, that the vengeance which God had executed on the Jews, is pronounced on the Gentiles, in case they become like them.
23. For God is able, etc. Frigid would this argument be to the profane; for however they may concede power to God, yet as they view it at a distance, shut up as it were in heaven, they do for the most part rob it of its effect. But as the faithful, whenever they hear God's power named, look on it as in present operation, he thought that this reason was sufficient to strike their minds. We may add, that he assumes this as an acknowledged axiom, — that God had so punished the unbelief of his people as not to forget his mercy; according to what he had done before, having often restored the Jews, after he had apparently banished them from his kingdom. And he shows at the same time by the comparison, how much more easy it would be to reverse the present state of things than to have introduced it; that is, how much easier it would be for the natural branches, if they were again put in the place from which they had been cut off, to draw substance from their own root, than for the wild and the unfruitful, from a foreign stock: for such is the comparison made between the Jews and the Gentiles.
Romans 11:25-27
Romans 11:25-27
25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
25. Nolo enim vos ignorare, fratres, mysterium hoc, ut ne apud vosmetipsos superbiatis, quod caecitas ex parte Israeli contigit, donec plenitudo gentium ingrediatur:
26. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
26. Atque ita universus Israel salvus fiet; quemadmodum scriptum est, Veniet ex Sion is qui liberat, et avertet impietates a Iacob:
27. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 27. Et hoc illis a me testamentum, quum abstulero peccata eorum. 25. I would not, etc. Here he rouses his hearers to a greater attention, while he avows that he is going to declare something that was secret. Nor did he do this without reason; for he wished to conclude, by a brief or plain sentence, a very perplexed question; and yet he declares what no one could have expected. But the words, Lest ye should be proud in yourselves, 361 show what was his
361"Ne apud vos superbiatis;" {ἵνα} {μὴ} {ὢτε} {παρ} {ἑαυτοῖς} {φρόνιμοι}; "ut ne sitis apud vosmetipsos sapientes — lest ye should be wise in yourselves," — Beza and Piscator. The meaning, as given by Grotius, is, "Lest ye think yourselves so wise as to suppose that ye can by your own understanding know what it is to come." But the object of the Apostle seems to have been, to keep down self-elevation on account