Faith, and Israel Not Cast Off

…our Lord Jesus Christ once set before Nicodemus the words about spiritual rebirth, and he said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5). [Then he added to these the words that follow.] But when Nicodemus understood nothing at all, then indeed Christ, showing how far the dullness of the human mind stands from the fineness of these thoughts, says, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). And to these he added, “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, and no one receives our testimony” (John 3:11).

So the things that are beyond us are not to be put to the test. For if it is true that “we find with difficulty the things that are in our hands,” as it is written (Wisdom of Solomon 9:16), how can we not see that, in matters beyond reason at least, faith is of the greatest use, with no inquiry following after it and no idle questioning brought to bear? For it is by understanding that matters of this kind are splendidly honoured.

“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11), and the rest. Let Israel not make salvation through faith its own private good. For, he says, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13), whether he is a Jew or a Greek, a slave or free. The God of all saves without distinction, for all things are his. In this sense we say that all things are summed up in Christ (Ephesians 1:10).

“Has God rejected his people? By no means” (Romans 11:1). Paul acts wisely. Although Israel had suffered the darkening, he does not let it be hardened still further by utter despair, but he goes after it, as it were, with skill and with kind words. For just now he was accusing Israel of disobedience; yet he does not strip it of the hope that comes from above, nor does he say that it has been wholly thrust out of its closeness to God.

And he makes the proof of the matter plain by setting himself forward as an Israelite and of the seed of Abraham (Romans 11:1). Most aptly, too, he still calls them God’s people, and he adds “By no means” to the words about being rejected. This was the act of one who, as it were, gently wins over those who had chosen to disobey, coming round them with coaxing words and bringing them to a devout and teachable habit of mind. If, then, it is evident that he himself has been called to apostleship, and has been appointed a minister of the sacred mysteries of the Saviour, a herald and apostle to the nations (1 Timothy 2:7), although he is from Israel, it is plain that “God has not rejected his people” (Romans 11:2).

“Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the story of Elijah?” (Romans 11:2). Most fittingly he brings in the account of Elijah as a kind of picture of what had happened to Israel. For from the likeness of the events of that time one can easily see that Israel itself has acted outrageously, to its own harm. When Ahab reigned over Samaria, things carved by hand were worshipped by Israel beyond all bounds, and there were sacrifices and sacred precincts everywhere (1 Kings 16:29–33). Those who held fast to God were utterly afraid, and so hard to bear…