Since Paul has shown that the people of Israel did not believe, now, in order that it should not be thought that he has said that they were all unbelievers, he shows that God has not rejected the inheritance which he promised to the descendants of Abraham. For he would not have promised them a kingdom if he knew that none of them would believe. . . . By using himself as an example, he shows that the part of Israel which God foreknew would be saved had in fact been saved and that the part which had been consigned to perdition because of its constant unbelief might yet be saved.

God has not rejected his people, because Paul himself was one of them. If God had cast them off, he would not have chosen one of them as the one to whom he entrusted all his preaching, the affairs of the world, all the mysteries and the whole message of salvation.

Fearing once again that exaggerating the rejection of the Jews might lead to a choice of disobedience, Paul turns to the small remnant of the election—the apostles and their fellow believers.

This refers to what Paul said above.^[1] Only those Jews who have believed in the Lord will be counted as descendants.

Because Paul had by this point humbled them far enough, he now encourages the Jews in the way a good teacher would, so as not to provoke them unduly. God has not rejected everyone, and not forever, but only those who do not believe, as long as they do not believe. Paul reminds them that if God had rejected all the Jews, he too would have been rejected.

Wisely, Paul does not make the plight of Israel appear worse than it is. Even though he says that the nation is struggling in its blindness, he manages to say something positive at this point.

Paul says that, if God had rejected his people, he would have been one of those rejected as well.

Paul has mentioned not only his first ancestor but also the head of his tribe in order to show that he is not fabricating his claim.

Paul could have supported his statement by referring to the 3,000 who believed at Jerusalem and to the many thousands spoken of by St. James,^[1] not to mention all those Jews of the diaspora who believed the message. But instead he uses himself as an example.

This is what the Savior says: Father, I have kept those whom thou didst give to me, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition.^[1]

Predestination is sometimes designated by the name of foreknowledge, as here, where he foreknew can only mean he predestined, as the context of what follows demonstrates.

God has not rejected those whom he knew in advance would believe. Paul eliminates any occasion for pride among the Gentiles, in case they become boastful because so few of the Jews believed.

Paul takes these words of Elijah and applies them by analogy to the Savior, in that only a remnant obtained the grace of the promise.

The prophets knew only the things which had been revealed to them by the Lord. That is why the king, uncertain of mind, asked Jeremiah if, at the time at which he spoke with him, a word of the Lord had come to him.^[1] . . . Elijah was unaware that there were others besides himself who worshiped God.^[2]

This is clear, for Paul shows that not only Elijah remained as one devoted to God who did not worship idols, but that there were many who remained faithful to God, just as there were not a few Jews who believed in Christ.

If so many men were hidden from the prophet, how much more are you unaware of how many Jews have been saved and are to be saved!

Elijah did not know about these 7,000 until God revealed their existence to him.^[1] So it is not unbelievable that you too are ignorant of how many Jews have believed in the Savior.

The fact that Paul adds the words chosen by grace seems to me to be significant. He could have said simply that there is a remnant saved by grace, but by adding chosen he indicates that there is grace both with and without election. For everyone who is saved has doubtless been saved by grace, but those who have been saved by the election of grace seem to me to be more perfect than the others. For just as Israel includes all those who are descended from the nation of Israel as well as those who worship God with a pure mind and sincere heart, so we may also assume that all who come to faith in Christ come by grace. But those in whom the gift of grace is adorned with the works of virtue and purity of heart will be said to be saved not only by grace but by the election of grace.

Not only the Gentiles are benefited by the coming of Christ but also some who belong to the divine race, many of whom have been called to salvation.

The remnant of the Jews has proclaimed the sign of the Lord to all the Gentiles and has joined to God in one people, drawn to him, the souls of the Gentiles which are brought out of destruction to the knowledge of the Lord.

Even though many have fallen away, those whom God foreknew have remained in the promise of the law. For those who have accepted Christ as he was promised in the law have remained in the law, but those who rejected Christ have fallen away from it.

The remnant refers to the Jews who have believed in Christ. Many of them did believe in the days of the apostles, and even today there are some converts, though very few.

The election of which the apostle speaks is according to grace, not merit.

Just as all did not perish then, so too some are saved now. The election of grace is faith just as works are the election of the law. Otherwise, what sort of election is it where there is no difference in merit?

It is clear that because grace is the gift of God there is no reward due for works, but it is granted freely because of the free mercy which intervenes.^[1]

Grace shows the love for mankind of the one who gives it, but works demand compensation according to what they are worth.

If we are all saved by grace, some might argue, why is everyone not saved? Because they did not want to be is the answer. For grace, even though it is grace, saves the willing, not those who refuse it and turn away from it.^[1]

Grace is given not because we have done good works but in order that we may have power to do them, not because we have fulfilled the law but in order that we may be able to fulfill it.

In case the Jews replied to Paul about those concerning whom the word comes to Elijah: They were righteous; why were these sinners chosen? the apostle adds that they too are saved freely just as the Gentiles are.

The apostle has expressed himself in this way . . . because he wants to show that the law and grace are completely incompatible and that the two of them can never go together. Of necessity, one must drive the other out.^[1]

What was Israel seeking? The promise that they would be made sons and heirs of the universe.^{[1] [2]} THEY ^[1]

Israel as a whole has not obtained righteousness because it did not seek it by faith but thought that it was justified solely by works of the law, even though it disregarded the greatest commandments of the law. That is why the Savior censures those who strain at a gnat but swallow a camel.^[1]

Israel tried to find righteousness in the type which was the law but did not obtain it. However, those who were sealed were elected and did obtain it on account of their belief, being justified by their faith. The rest were blinded, being hardened and rebellious.

The elect are those who believed. . . . The rest were hardened because of their unbelief.

I have not been able to find the source of this quotation. If someone consults holy Scripture more carefully than I have done and finds it, let him say so.^[1]

These are the carnal Israelites who thought they were justified by the law and did not realize that they were justified by faith before God, because through the law they were all guilty.

Those who were blinded were those who were unable to see the way of truth which in their wickedness they had rejected and gone away from so that they could no longer come to the grace of salvation. The examples taken from the prophets reveal that there are two kinds of blind people. The first kind consists of those who are blinded forever, who will never be saved. These people are of such evil will that they knowingly say that they do not know what they hear. . . . The second type consists of those who, although they try to live according to the law, do not accept the righteousness of Christ. These people are doing this not out of the envy of an evil will but by an erroneous imitation of the tradition of their ancestors. They are blinded for a time, for although they ought to recognize the great works of Christ which cannot be ignored. . . . They have forgotten God and follow human opinions instead.

This quotation was taken directly from the Hebrew by the apostle himself. The Septuagint edition has God has put a spirit of stupor in you. The version of Aquila more clearly has virulence and that of Symmachus has pride. . . . In effect, because of the ignorance of the people, the prophetic writings will be a sealed book to them, and they will be incapable of reading them.

The spirit of stupor prevented them from making the hard choice of repentance and conversion.

The rest were hardened through unfaithfulness, as it is written: Unless you believe, you will not understand.^[1]

It is God’s prerogative to give them the spirit of stupor which they desired, for they have always disbelieved the words of God. If they had wanted to have a spirit of faith they would have received it. But even today Christians who doubt the resurrection reward or Gehenna have sought a similar spirit for themselves, for in this passage the prophet was addressing both believers and sinners.

The trap is not mentioned either in the Hebrew or in the Septuagint.^[1] We have recorded these things about the order of the words and the quality of the witnesses consulted in order to show by these details that the authority of the apostle does not rely on the texts of the Hebrews nor does it always retain the words of the translators, but rather it expounds the meaning of the Scriptures in whatever words are most suitable.

He curses the feast of the wicked because the innocent are often deceived there. They are tricked into coming to dinner so that they may be ruined.

This means: Let their comforts and all their good things change and perish, and let them be open to attack from all sides.

The table is where they rejoiced at the death of Christ while they ate the passover.

Paul is using these words not as a prophecy but as a statement from the Scriptures which backs up what he has already said about the Jews, and at the same time he shows that there is nothing new under the sun.

God will do this because it is better not to know anything at all than to know something badly.

Do these words need any interpretation? Are they not plain to everyone?

Behold mercy and judgment—mercy on the elect, who have obtained the righteousness of God, but judgment upon the others who have been blinded. And yet the former have believed because they willed it, while the latter have not believed because they have not willed it. Hence mercy and judgment were executed in their own wills. ^[1] THEIR ^[1]

This prophecy speaks of those who gave the Savior vinegar and gall to drink.^[1]

What merit, then, does a man have by which he might receive grace, when our every good merit is produced in us only by grace and when God, crowning our merits, crowns nothing else but his own gifts to us?

Indeed, a man who has been justified, who from impious has been made pious, receives a gift, since he had no antecedent good merit, by which gift he may acquire merit. Thus, what was begun in him by Christ’s grace can also be augmented by the industry of his free choice, but never in the absence of God’s help, without which no one is able to progress or to continue in doing good.

Note that Paul distinguishes between stumbling and sinning on the one hand and falling on the other. For he envisages a cure for stumbling and sinning but not for falling. . . . This is why he denies that Israel has fallen. . . . For the Israelites, although they rejected their redeemer and stoned and persecuted those who were sent to them, nevertheless still contain a remnant within them. For they have the witness of the law even if they do not believe or understand it. They also have the imitation of God even if it is not according to knowledge.

After showing that the Jews were guilty of evils without number, Paul devises something in mitigation. Note that he accuses them on the basis of the prophets but modifies the condemnation by his own words. For nobody will deny that they have sinned greatly.^[1] But let us see if the fall is of such a kind as to be incurable. . . . No, it is not!

Paul says here what I have recorded above, that these people have not fallen into unbelief in such a way as to make their ultimate conversion impossible.

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.^[1] 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.

Once more, Paul explains the position of the Jews. They have not fallen away completely and beyond hope. God loved them so much that the Gentiles were called for their salvation, so that when the Jews saw that the Gentiles were being allowed into the kingdom of God, they might perhaps repent more easily.

I marvel at your kindness, Paul, and the way in which you so artfully craft the words of the divine dispensation. You assert that the Gentiles were called not because the Israelites had lost all hope of salvation after they had stumbled on Christ the stumbling stone but rather that they would imitate those who were so unexpectedly accepted by God, that they would recognize their wickedness, that they would want to understand better than before and that they would accept the redeemer.

Consider the wisdom of God in this. For with him not even sins and lapses are wasted, but whenever someone rejects freedom of his own accord, the dispensation of divine wisdom makes others rich by using the very failing by which they have become poor. . . .

Now indeed, until all the Gentiles come to salvation the riches of God are concentrated in the multitude of believers, but as long as Israel remains in its unbelief it will not be possible to say that the fullness of the Lord’s portion has been attained. The people of Israel are still missing from the complete picture. But when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and Israel comes to salvation at the end of time, then it will be the people which, although it existed long ago, will come at the last and complete the fullness of the Lord’s portion and inheritance.

It is clear that the world will be even richer in good people if those who have been blinded are converted.

Even if the Jews had fallen a thousand times, the Gentiles would not have been saved unless they had shown faith. Likewise, the Jews would not have perished unless they had been unbelieving and disputatious. Here Paul is consoling the Jews in their distress, giving them reason to be confident of their salvation if they were to change. ^[1] GENTILES SHOULD NOT LOOK DOWN UPON JEWS. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Writing to the Romans, the apostle warns the Gentiles not to look down on the Jews, because a remnant of them will be saved in the future.^{[1] [2]}

If the transgression of the Jews benefitted you to the extent that without the works of the law you were made coheirs with them, and if the few Jews who believed called all of you to salvation, how much more could they benefit you with instruction if they all believed!

What is more worthy than to magnify the ministry which one has received by the providence of God? For the man who ministers well magnifies his ministry, while on the other hand the one who has ministered negligently and unworthily dishonors his ministry and draws unfavorable comment on it.

Paul is showing the Gentiles here how much he loves the Jews. For he magnifies his ministry, by which he is the apostle of the Gentiles, if by loving his own people he wins them to the faith as well. For he is more honored still if he wins to eternal life those to whom he has not been sent. For he who finds his lost brothers will have the greatest honor with his parents.

Paul wants to show that he is especially anxious to save the Jews. As long as he is in the body he will honor his ministry, striving to save many of them by his example.^[1]

By his attentive care and close attention to the teaching of the Gentiles and by making their behavior worthy of eternal life, Paul is inviting and provoking the Jews who see these things and who are his kinsmen according to the flesh to imitate those who are progressing in the faith of God. It is the glory of his ministry that he can use the teaching of the Gentiles to reach some of his own people as well.

Paul appears to be blaming the Gentiles and to be humbling their conceits, but he gives a gentle provocation to the Jews as well. He tries to veil their great ruin, but he cannot do so because the facts are too clear.

Paul will always present himself to the Jews in such a way that they will want to imitate him.^[1]

Paul evangelized the Gentiles of necessity, addressing himself to them and showing that the prophets had predicted this many centuries before.^[1] His aim was to make the Jews jealous and thus encourage some of them to come to salvation also.

This is why Paul worked so hard for the conversion of the Jews, since the handicap of their blindness will be removed at the time when their sin is paid for, so that they might receive the free exercise of their will.

This also condemns the Jews, because although others gained from their sins, they did not profit from the good works of others.

What was the occasion for the reception of the Gentiles but that they came to life because of the death of the Jews? Or it may mean from among the Jews that were dead, Christ and the apostles have become life to the Gentiles. Or perhaps if those whom Christ sets free from death contribute to your life.

Note how diplomatically Paul phrases his statements. On the one hand he teaches those who already believe not to think too highly of themselves, and on the other hand he extends a hand to those Jews who do not believe, showing them that they could obtain salvation through repentance. In the following [verses] he develops this theme more clearly.

First fruits and root both refer here to the patriarchs, the lawgiver and the prophets. Lump and branches refer to the whole of the Jewish people.

It is clear that they are one and the same substance, so it is impossible for the offering to be holy and the lump unclean, given that the offering comes from the lump. Thus Paul shows that those whose ancestors believed cannot be regarded as unworthy to receive the faith, for if some of the Jews have believed, why can it not be said that the others may also believe? ^[1] THE ^[1]

By first fruits Paul means Christ, because he was selected out of the entire race of the Jews; by root he means Abraham, from whom the race descended.

The first fruits refers to Christ in his human nature, the root is Abraham the patriarch and the branches of the olive tree are the Jews who descended from the root.

Paul calls the Lord Christ the first fruits, because he was one of them according to the flesh, and through his resurrection he became the first to claim the inheritance.

The graft uses as soil the tree in which it is engrafted. Now all the plants sprouted forth simultaneously in consequence of the divine order. Wherefore also, though the wild olive is wild, it crowns the Olympic victors. . . . Now we see that the wild trees attract more nutriment because they cannot ripen. The wild trees therefore have less power of secretion than those that are cultivated. And the cause of their wildness is the absence of the power of secretion. The engrafted olive accordingly receives more nutriment from its growing in the cultivated one, and it gets accustomed, as it were, to secrete the nutriment, becoming thus assimilated to the fatness of the cultivated tree.

If the wild olive takes kindly to the graft . . . it becomes a fruit bearing olive. . . . So likewise men shall be spiritual if they progress by faith to better things and receive the Spirit of God and bring forth the fruit.

If some Jews have not believed, then they have been cut out of the promise. . . . The Gentiles, who were from a bad root, were grafted into a good tree, which is the opposite of what happens in agriculture, where it is the good branch which is grafted onto a bad root.^[1]

The branches were not broken off for your sake, but you were grafted in because they were broken off. You were an olive shoot, to be sure, but a wild and uncultivated one. The richness of the olive tree is the root of their fathers, the richness of Christ.

The riches of the olive tree means the teaching of righteousness.

Whenever I see a synagogue, the thought of the apostle always comes to me—that we should not boast against the olive tree whose branches have been broken off but rather fear. For if the natural branches have been cut off, how much more we who have been grafted on the wild olive should fear, lest we become like them.

It displeases God if someone rejoices at the misfortune of others, as Solomon says.^[1] In any case, the Jews were not rejected for the sake of the Gentiles. Rather, it was because they were rejected that they gave an opportunity for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles. If you boast against those onto whose root you have been grafted, you insult the people who have accepted you so that you might be converted from bad to good. You will not continue like that if you destroy the thing on which you stand.

Do not rejoice in the fall of the Jews, or else you will hear that they do not abide through you but you through them and that you do not supply them with life, but they supply you.^[1]

When you were stripped you were anointed with exorcised olive oil, from the topmost hairs of your head to the soles of your feet, and became partakers of the good olive tree, Jesus Christ. Cuttings from the wild olive tree, you were grafted into the good olive tree and became partakers of the richness of the true olive tree.

A believing Gentile says that he can rejoice that the Jews did not believe, saying that their condemnation made room for the Gentiles. But the Jews were not condemned by God in order to let the Gentiles in. They condemned themselves by rejecting God’s gift, and by doing that they gave the Gentiles an opportunity to be saved. Paul wants to stop this boasting, so that we might rejoice in our salvation rather than insult the weak. For the man who insults a sinner is easily deceived.

Who is the one from whom they have been broken off but he in whom they have not believed?^[1]

You ought to thank God for his gift in Christ and not insult them but rather pray that, if their wickedness has led to your salvation, they too might return to their roots. Then you will please God who has shown you mercy, for he called you so that by making them jealous of you he might bring them to grace as well.

It was not God who cut them off but rather they broke themselves off and fell. . . . You see what a great thing man’s free choice is, how great the working of the mind is. For none of these things is immutable, neither your good nor their evil.

Some interpreters, who do not understand this passage and do not consider the reason for which or the people to whom the apostle is speaking, think that the pursuit of wisdom is forbidden by this text. But if this is so Paul will seem to contradict himself in the eyes of these interpreters, since here he is forbidding what elsewhere he asks of the Lord, that the Ephesians and others may receive.^[1]

Judgment will be in accordance with grace, and the Judge will make examination of how you have used the graces bestowed upon you.^[1]

If God did not spare those who sprang from the holy root because of their unbelief, how much less will he spare you if you sin!

Paul testifies that God is good to the Gentiles because, although they followed idols and deserved to die, he waited for them in his patience, and even though they did not seek him, he called them and forgave their sins. But God is severe toward the Jews and has even blinded them because they rejected God’s gift. Here Paul is referring to those Jews who because of their wickedness have been permanently blinded. For this reason he says that they have fallen, whereas the others whom I mentioned above have not fallen, even though they have sinned, because Paul shows that they have been blinded for a time. But God has been severe to these, because they have become eternally blind and apostate.

Paul does not point to human works but to the goodness of God as a reminder to us that our salvation comes from God’s grace and to make us tremble.

Severity is shown against those who assert that there are two Gods, one righteous and another good; and against those who deny that God punishes sinners. . . . But you were mercifully grafted in, through faith which has been bestowed upon you by the kindness of God.

Paul is telling us that we ought to learn from both these things and consider how great God’s love for us is, that we should have been counted worthy through faith. We ought to become ever more eager to live a godly life bearing in mind how God rejected them because of their unbelief and do everything in our power not to fall in the same way.

If either of you changes you will experience severity and they will receive kindness.^[1] Humanly speaking, it is impossible to restore withered cuttings, but with God all things are possible and even easy.^[2]

Paul shows what an easy matter this would be for God to accomplish.

The olive tree represents faith, whereas the wild olive refers to wickedness.

If faith could do what was contrary to nature, how much more will it be able to accomplish that which is according to nature. For if the Gentile, who was cut off from his natural fathers and came, contrary to nature, to Abraham, how much more will God be able to recover his own! ^[1] FOLLOW ^[1]

Their fathers had fallen away from nature because they had forgotten the law of nature, and when their habits had become fixed through repeated sinning, they came to be bitter and unproductive, as it were, by nature.

And grafted, contrary to nature. . . . It is against nature to graft a wild olive tree into a cultivated olive tree, because the branch usually alters the effectiveness of the root. The root does not change the effectiveness of the branches to conform to its character.

Part of the Jewish people have been blinded, but not all, for many of them already have believed in Christ. ^[1] UNTIL ^[1]

All that follows is designed to prevent the Gentiles from being filled with pride toward the Jews. It is a secret unknown to mankind why the Gentiles were saved, because Israel’s blindness in fact furnished the occasion for their salvation. The blindness continued until the Jews saw that the Gentiles were being saved, since all were called to salvation.

Paul insists that only a part of Israel has been hardened, for in fact many of them believe. He thus encourages them not to despair that others will be saved as well. After the Gentiles accepted the gospel, the Jews would believe, when the great Elijah would come to them and bring them the doctrine of faith. The Lord himself said as much: Elijah will come and will restore all things.^[1]

What all Israel means or what the fullness of the Gentiles will be only God knows along with his only begotten Son and perhaps a few of his friends, as he said: I no longer call you servants but friends, for I have made known to you everything which I have heard from my Father.^[1]

What does it mean to say that all Israel will be saved? Just as we say that the whole world and all the nations are being saved because everywhere and among all nations there are those who are coming to faith, so also all Israel will be saved does not mean that every one of them will be but that either those who were understood by Elijah or those who are scattered all over the world will one day come to faith.

God will give them back the free exercise of their will so that, because their unbelief did not spring from malice but from error, they may be put right and afterward be saved. . . . Paul quotes Isaiah in order to prove that God has reserved a gift for them, in order to teach that they can be set free by the same grace by which the believing Jews have already been set free, because he is not empty but always full of grace.

Not all the Jews were blind; some of them recognized Christ. But the fullness of the Gentiles comes in among those who have been called according to the plan, and there arises a truer Israel of God . . . the elect from both the Jews and the Gentiles.

Some interpreters regard all these events as future. To them one must reply: Then this prophecy . . . must still take place, and Christ will come again to set them free. If they have been blinded temporarily by God and not by themselves, what will become of those who are now perishing as unbelievers?

Although it was rejected, Israel will also be saved eventually, a hope which Paul confirms by quoting this text of Scripture. For indeed, Israel will be saved in its own time and will be called at the end, after the calling of the Gentiles.

All Israel means all those who believe, whether they are Jews, who have a natural relationship to Israel, or Gentiles, who are related to Israel by faith.

When their sins are taken away and forgiven their salvation will be clear and indisputable.

The covenant will always be there, however long it takes for them to believe. For this is the Lord Jesus, who has promised to come from heaven in order to set the human race free. Every day he forgives the sins of those who turn to God, nor does he condemn unbelievers straightaway but waits for them, knowing that they may come to a knowledge of God.

God’s covenant will be fulfilled not when they are circumcised, nor when they do the other deeds of the law, but when they obtain forgiveness of sins. If this has been promised but has not yet happened in their case, nor have they enjoyed the forgiveness of sins in baptism, nevertheless it will certainly come to pass.

This new covenant Jeremiah promised which only those who are new, whose sins have been wiped away, will receive.^[1]

However seriously the Jews may have sinned by rejecting the gift of God, and however worthy they may be of death, nevertheless, because they are the children of good people, whose privileges and many benefits from God they have received, they will be received with joy when they return to the faith, because God’s love for them is stirred up by the memory of their ancestors.

When the Gentiles believed, the Jews became even more obnoxious. But even now God has not stopped calling the Gentiles. He is waiting for all of them who are to believe to come in, and then the rest of the Jews will come as well.

They are Paul’s enemies because he preaches Christ to the Gentiles. But if they believe they are beloved, i.e., doubly blessed.

It is usually thought that those who have sinned badly by not accepting the promise of God cannot receive mercy if they do not demonstrate their sorrow, because those who have sinned badly cannot be forgiven without tears and wailing. But Paul shows that these things are not required at the start, because God’s gift freely pardons sins in baptism.

For God to order his future works in his foreknowledge, which cannot be deceived or changed, is entirely (and nothing other than) to predestine. But just as he whom God has foreknown to be chaste, al-though this may be unclear to him, acts in such a way as to be chaste, so he whom God has predestined to be chaste, although this may be unclear to him, does not, simply because he hears that by God’s gift he will be what he will be, fail to act so as to be chaste. Indeed, his charity is delighted, and he is not puffed up as if he had not received it. Not only is he not hindered from the work of charity by the preaching of predestination, but on the contrary he is helped in this task, so that when he glories he may glory in the Lord.^[1]

If they believe, their sins will not be counted against them, because God does not repent that he made a promise with Abraham’s descendants. Or it may mean if they believe they will be saved without the anguish of penance.

Paul says this in order to encourage the Jews. In fact, of course, God did revoke the good gifts which he gave . . . King Saul, for example, who received spiritual grace which later deserted him.^[1] Likewise Solomon, who received peace through the kindness of God, but after his transgression was deprived of grace.^[2] And then there are the Jews themselves, who always had their prophets to take care of them but who at the present time have been deprived of them.

You did not believe when the Jews did, and now you have received mercy, but not because you have de-served it.

Paul shows that both Jews and Gentiles were guilty of the same thing and that they were likewise cleansed by one and the same grace.

Paul recalls the unbelief of the Gentiles so that being ashamed of it they may not insult the Jews who have not believed but rejoice when they accept the promise of God.

Christ is the mercy of the Gentiles.^[1] They have been such unbelievers that they too are justified not by their works but in mercy, as you are.^[2]

From earliest times all nations lived in ungodliness and ignorance because they were without God.^[1] For this reason the law was revealed, by which the worst ones could be restrained. But by the activity of the adversary sins began to multiply, so that through the commandment man was considered more guilty still. Then God, who in the mercy of his goodness always takes care of human creation, seeing that even without the law sin still existed and that by the law it could not be wiped out, de-creed that he would require only faith, by which the sins of all men might be abolished. Thus although man had no ground for hope through the law, he was nevertheless saved by the mercy of God. To consign everything to disobedience means that this decree comes as a gift from God at a time when everyone was laboring in unbelief, so that grace might appear to be the freest of all rewards. Therefore nobody should boast, for the one who is proud of his ignorance is to be pitied.

This is complete righteousness in man, not to impute any virtue that he can attain to himself but rather to the Lord, the giver.

The apostle did not mean by these words that God would not condemn anybody. What he meant is made clear by the context. Paul was speaking about those Jews who would one day believe.

God has not imprisoned them by force, but for a good reason he has confined all those whom he found in unbelief, i.e., all Jews and Gentiles. He confined the Jews because previously they were only sinners, not faithless as well. But since they have not believed Christ they are equal to the Gentiles and receive mercy in the same way. God does all this so that he may have mercy on them all.

Paul has put consigned here instead of convicted. For God convicted the Gentiles, who had received the natural law and had created things to teach them the knowledge of God yet had not benefited from either the one or the other. He also convicted the Jews, who had received more teaching still (for besides nature and the creation they had also received the law and the prophets, who taught them what they needed to know) and had become liable to even greater punishments as a result. But God was pleased to offer salvation to each of them, even though basically they deserved to perish, if only they would believe.

This is not to be taken in the sense of God acting but in the sense of God permitting, because of free will and because virtue is not forced.

Whence this outburst of feeling? Surely from the recollection of the Scriptures, which he had been previously turning over, as well as from his contemplation of the mysteries which he had been setting forth above, in relation to the faith of Christ coming from the law.

Paul did not say that God’s judgments were hard to search out but that they could not be searched out at all. He did not say that God’s ways were hard to find out but that they were impossible to find out. For however far one may advance in the search and make progress through an increasingly earnest study, even when aided and enlightened in the mind by God’s grace, he will never be able to reach the final goal of his inquiries.

The world, this chariot of God and all that is therein, is guided by the angels and the stars. Although their movements are varied—bound nevertheless by fixed laws—we see them guided to their goals according to the time measured out to them. So may we deservedly cry out with the apostle as we admire the Maker and his works: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Paul examined . . . the unclear and hidden aspects of the divine mysteries and through suggestive phrases revealed the illuminations which came to him from God concerning the understanding of what is incomprehensible and unsearchable.

God knew from the beginning what man’s behavior and works would be like, in that the human race could not be saved only by the severity of his justice nor could it reach perfection only by his mercy. So at a particular time he decreed what should be preached, whereas before that time he allowed each person to decide for himself, because righteousness was recognized under the guidance of nature. And because the authority of natural righteousness was weakened by the habit of sin, the law was given so that the human race would be held back by the fear engendered by the revealed law. But because they did not restrain themselves and were counted guilty under the law, mercy was proclaimed, which would save those who took refuge in it but would blind those who rejected it for a time. During that time this mercy would invite the Gentiles, who earlier on had not wanted to follow the law given to Moses, to share in the promise, so that the Jews might become jealous of their salvation and because of that jealousy turn again to the source of the root, which is the Savior. This is the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, who by his many-sided providence has won both Jews and Gentiles to eternal life.

After going back to former times and looking back to God’s original dispensation of things, whereby the world has existed up to the present time, and having considered the special provision which he had made for all eventualities, Paul is struck with awe and cries aloud, making his hearers feel confident that what he is saying will come to pass.

Paul praises the wisdom of God, who according to his foreknowledge waited until all were in need of mercy in order to take from 2everyone the glory that derives from unfounded boasting in works. The judgments of God are a great deep,^[1] for they cannot be clearly grasped.

It is in this sense that one says of St. Paul that he knew God, for he knew that God is beyond every act of mind and every way of knowing.

This refers to creatures, but the other members of the Trinity are excepted because they have nothing in common with the nature of creatures.

It is clear that only God knows everything and it is only he who lacks nothing, because everything comes from him. No one can understand or measure this knowledge, because the inferior cannot comprehend what is superior to it. Jewish believers could not understand that the salvation of the Gentiles could be God’s plan and will. Likewise, it seemed unlikely and incredible to the Gentiles that the Jews, who had not believed, could be converted or accepted as believers.

God does not get his wisdom from anyone else but is himself the fountain of all good things.^[1]

Previously nobody knew it, but at the time of writing Paul certainly knew it, as he indicated to others when he said: We have the mind of the Lord.^[1]

God himself devised all things, created all things and worked all things together. He is rich and had no need to receive anything from anyone else.

Who has done something beforehand, so that instead of magnifying God’s mercy, he boasts that he has received what he deserved?

No good work comes from the dead; nothing righteous from the ungodly. Their whole salvation is gratuitous and is therefore the glory of God, so that he who glories may glory in him of whose glory he has stood in need.

You see how here, [as in the previous verses,] Paul indicates the mystery of the Trinity. For when he says from him and through him and to him, this corresponds to the one God and Father, from whom are all things, and our one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.^[1] Likewise he says that all things are revealed by the Spirit of God, thus indicating that the providence of the Trinity is present in everything. When he talks about the height of riches he means the Father, from whom all things come; when he talks about the height of wisdom he means Christ, who is the wisdom of God; and when he talks about the depth of knowledge he is referring to the Holy Spirit, who knows the deep things of God.

Paul adds forever to indicate that the perfection of all things is not bound by time but will extend to eternity and even be increased. He further adds Amen so that we might understand that we are coming to that blessedness through him, of whom it is written in the Apocalypse: These are the words of the Amen.^[2]

Paul declares that God is the beginning of the substance of all things by the words of him and the bond of their subsistence by the expression through him and their final end by the term to him.^[1]

All things exist by God’s command, so that they are from him; they are set in order by his Word and therefore through him. Finally, all things have recourse to his judgment so that, while they long for freedom in him, after corruption has been done away with they appear to be recalled to him.

What person who believes that he lives from him and through him and to him will dare to make the One who encompasses in himself the life of each of us a witness of a life which does not reflect him?

From him means the beginning and origin of the substance of the universe, i.e., by his will and power. . . . Through him means the continuation of the universe; unto him means its end.

By saying this Paul revealed a meaning which had been hidden from the world. For because God is the Creator of all things, everything comes from him. And because everything comes from him, it comes through his Son, who is of the same substance and whose work is the Father’s work as well. . . . And because what is from God and through God is then born again in the Holy Spirit, everything is in him as well, because the Holy Spirit is from God the Father, which is why he knows what is in God. . . . Here Paul laid bare the mystery of God, which he said above should not be unknown to them.

Paul is referring to the Trinity when he says this.

From him all creation received its beginning, through him it is governed, and in him are all things contained, whereas he is not contained by any created thing. He alone should receive glory, for it is from him that we live and move.^[1]

At the same time, this passage also contradicts the Arians when it is said that it is one and the same God from whom and through whom all things are revealed to have been made, since the Evangelist indicated that in the beginning everything was made through the Word.^[2] The apostle here teaches that what the Evangelist testifies concerning the Son should be understood and believed of the Father, through the mystery of the unity.

God himself made all things and he rules in perpetuity over everything which he has made. Everyone ought to turn to him, to thank him for what they asked for and to put their trust in him for the future. They ought to honor him as well. In this way the holy apostle shows that there is no difference between the prepositions from and through, as if the former, which might mean something greater, should apply to the Father and the latter, which might mean something less, to the Son. In fact, both apply equally to both persons.

In him are all things not only because he has brought them from nothing into being but because it is by his operation that all things he made are kept in existence and held together. Living things, however, participate more abundantly, because they participate in the good both by their being and by their living. But rational beings, while they participate in the good in the aforementioned ways, do so still more by their very rationality. For in a way they are more akin to him, although of course he is immeasurably superior to them.

This rule is required by the nature of the one and only God, who is only one in no other way than as the sole God; and in no other way sole, than as having nothing else [co-existent] with him. So also he will be first, because all things are after him; and all things are after him, because all things are by him; and all things are by him, because they came from nothing: so that reason coincides with the Scripture that says: “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or with whom took he counsel? Or who has shown to him the way of wisdom and knowledge? Who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?” [Rom 11:33–36].