SEV Biblia, Chapter 11:11
Digo pues: ¿Tropezaron luego de tal manera que cayesen del todo? En ninguna manera; mas por la caída de ellos vino la salud a los gentiles, para que por ellos fuesen provocados a celos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Romans 11:11
Verse 11. 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. xxiv. 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall ? etc..] 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? ( Leviticus 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 ( Romans 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, ( Luke 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 ( Romans 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.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 11-21 - The gospel is the greatest riches of every place where it is. A therefore the righteous rejection of the unbelieving Jews, was the occasion of so large a multitude of the Gentiles being reconciled to God, and at peace with him; the future receiving of the Jews into the church would be such a change, as would resemble a general resurrectio of the dead in sin to a life of righteousness. Abraham was as the roo of the church. The Jews continued branches of this tree till, as nation, they rejected the Messiah; after that, their relation to Abraham and to God was, as it were, cut off. The Gentiles were grafte into this tree in their room; being admitted into the church of God Multitudes were made heirs of Abraham's faith, holiness an blessedness. It is the natural state of every one of us, to be wild by nature. Conversion is as the grafting in of wild branches into the goo olive. The wild olive was often ingrafted into the fruitful one when it began to decay, and this not only brought forth fruit, but caused the decaying olive to revive and flourish. The Gentiles, of free grace, ha been grafted in to share advantages. They ought therefore to beware of self-confidence, and every kind of pride or ambition; lest, having onl a dead faith, and an empty profession, they should turn from God, an forfeit their privileges. If we stand at all, it is by faith; we ar guilty and helpless in ourselves, and are to be humble, watchful afraid of self-deception, or of being overcome by temptation. Not onl are we at first justified by faith, but kept to the end in tha justified state by faith only; yet, by a faith which is not alone, but which worketh by love to God and man.
Greek Textus Receptus
λεγω 3004 5719 V-PAI-1S ουν 3767 CONJ μη 3361 PRT-N επταισαν 4417 5656 V-AAI-3P ινα 2443 CONJ πεσωσιν 4098 5632 V-2AAS-3P μη 3361 PRT-N γενοιτο 1096 5636 V-2ADO-3S αλλα 235 CONJ τω 3588 T-DSN αυτων 846 P-GPM παραπτωματι 3900 N-DSN η 3588 T-NSF σωτηρια 4991 N-NSF τοις 3588 T-DPN εθνεσιν 1484 N-DPN εις 1519 PREP το 3588 T-ASN παραζηλωσαι 3863 5658 V-AAN αυτους 846 P-APM
Robertson's NT Word Studies
11:11 {Did they stumble that they might fall?} (me eptaisan hina peswsin?). Negative answer expected by me as in verse #1. First aorist active indicative of ptaiw, old verb, to stumble, only here in Paul (see #Jas 3:2), suggested perhaps by skandalon in verse #9. If hina is final, qen we must add "merely" to the idea, "merely that they might fall" or make a sharp distinction between ptaiw, to stumble, and piptw, to fall, and take pes"Sin as effective aorist active subjunctive to fall completely and for good. hina, as we know, can be either final, sub-final, or even result. See #1Th 5:4; 1Co 7:29; Ga 5:17. Paul rejects this query in verse #11 as vehemently as he did that in verse #1. {By their fall} (t"i autwn parapt"mati). Instrumental case. For the word, a falling aside or a false step from parapiptw, see #5:15-20. {Is come}. No verb in the Greek, but ginetai or gegonen is understood. {For to provoke them to jealousy} (eis to parazl"sai). Purpose expressed by eis and the articular infinitive, first aorist active, of parazlo", for which verb see #1Co 10:22. As an historical fact Paul turned to the Gentiles when the Jews rejected his message (#Ac 13:45ff.; 28:28, etc.). {The riches of the world} (ploutos kosmou). See #10:12. {Their loss} (to hettema autwn). So perhaps in #1Co 6:7, but in #Isa 31:8 defeat is the idea. Perhaps so here. {Fulness} (plerwma). Perhaps "completion," though the word from plerow, to fill, has a variety of senses, that with which anything is filled (#1Co 10:26,28), that which is filled (#Eph 1:23). {How much more?} (poswi mallon). Argument _a fortiori_ as in verse #24. Verse #25 illustrates the point.
