The Remnant and the Stone of Stumbling
…he drove so far into wicked ways as to be from then on a vessel of wrath and of destruction. God made use of this man to display the strength that is in himself, so that his name might be proclaimed in all the earth (Romans 9:17), and so that Pharaoh, when he suffered, might be seen to deserve his suffering; for suffering was owed to him for his first sins, even if he had not offended by his later ones. So let every reproach and every idle charge against God be dismissed. For “desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, he endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Romans 9:22), in order to benefit vessels of mercy (Romans 9:23), that is, those who have received mercy through faith; for we have been called not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles (Romans 9:24).
“As indeed he says in Hosea” (Romans 9:25). We too, the servants of idols, who did not know the one who is God by nature and in truth, were not his people (Hosea 2:23); but we have received mercy through faith, have come under him, have been called through grace, and have been justified and sanctified through Christ.
“Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea” (Romans 9:27). So even if Israel were as many as the sand, “the remnant will be saved” (Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:22), that is, those who have been justified through faith in Christ; and this has come about because God had mercy on them. “For he is completing and cutting short the word” (Romans 9:28). He saved, he says, by “completing and cutting short the word”; that is, he declared to us the preaching of the gospel as an apt and concise and, so to speak, cut-short saying. For the law and the prophets, by a long circuit of words, scarcely set before us through the letter the meaning of what they say; but the preaching of the gospel is simple and a word cut short.
“But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness” (Romans 9:31). In giving the reasons why not all the Jews have been saved, he at once weaves wonder into his argument and says: What a strange thing! The crowd of those who had gone astray, with no aim at all of doing good, has been justified (Romans 9:30), while Israel, though trained toward righteousness by the law given through Moses, missed its hope and has had no share in the gift that leads to it (Romans 9:31). What the cause is, then, is plain: they did not accept salvation through faith and justification in Christ, but thought that the boasts they had, as in shadows, were enough for them (Romans 9:32).
“A stone of stumbling” (Romans 9:33). Surely we do not say that Christ was set in Israel for this purpose; but since this was foreknown to God, he of necessity foretold what was to be: that a cause of slipping would lie in the foundations of Zion, and that some of the foolish would fall upon it and suffer this from their disobedience (Isaiah 8:14; Isaiah 28:16). He made the prediction for their benefit, not that they should stumble, but that, knowing it beforehand, they might rise above the evil. So Christ has been laid as a precious stone (Isaiah 28:16); but for those who stumble out of unbelief the loss was ruin, while for those who have believed the gain is life and justification.
“For I bear them witness” (Romans 10:2). He bears them witness, then, to their zeal for God; yet he convicts them of having gone astray, because, when they ought to have marvelled at Christ, from the works he was doing, as being by nature…
Greek
τοῦτο φαυλότητος διήλασε τρόπων, ὡς σκεῦος εἶναι λοιπὸν ὀργῆς τε καὶ ἀπωλείας. τούτῳ Θεὸς προσεχρήσατο πρὸς ἔνδειξιν τῆς ἐνούσης ἰσχύος αὐτῷ, ἵνα διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ, καὶ ἵνα παθὼν αὐτὸς ὁρῷτο τοῦ 233 παθεῖν ἄξιος· ᾧ γε τὸ παθεῖν ὠφείλετο διὰ πρώτας ἁμαρτίας καὶ εἰ μὴ προσκέκρουκε διὰ τῶν δευτέρων. οὐκοῦν λελύσθω πᾶς μῶμος καὶ φλυαρία κατὰ Θεοῦ· θέλων γὰρ ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ γνωρίσαι τὸ δυνατὸν ἤνεγκεν ἐν πολλῇ μακροθυμίᾳ σκεύη ὀργῆς κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν, ἵνα ὠφελήσῃ σκεύη ἐλέους, τουτέστι τοὺς ἠλεημένους διὰ πίστεως· κεκλήμεθα γὰρ οὐ μόνον ἐξ Ἰουδαίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ἐθνῶν. Ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ Ὠσηὲ λέγει. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τῶν εἰδώλων θεραπευταὶ, οὐκ εἰδότες τὸν φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεὸν, οὐκ ἦμεν αὐτοῦ λαός· ἀλλ' ἠλεήθημεν διὰ πίστεως, καὶ ὑπ' αὐτὸν γεγόναμεν, καὶ κεκλήμεθα διὰ χάριτος, δεδικαιώμεθά τε καὶ ἡγιάσμεθα διὰ Χριστοῦ. Ἐὰν ᾖ ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν υἱῶν 25 Ἰσραὴλ ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης. Οὐκοῦν κἂν πολλοὶ εἶεν ὡς ἡ ψάμμος ὁ Ἰσραὴλ, τὸ κατάλειμμα σωθήσεται· τουτέστιν, οἱ διὰ πίστεως τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν δεδικαιωμένοι· τοῦτο δὲ γέγονεν, αὐτοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ κατηλεήσαντος. Λόγον γὰρ συντελῶν καὶ συντέμνων. Ἔσωσε δέ φησιν λόγον συντελῶν καὶ συντέμνων, τουτέστιν εὐφυὲς καὶ σύντομον καὶ ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω συντετμημένον λόγιον ἡμῖν ἀποφήνας τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν κήρυγμα. ὁ γὰρ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται διὰ πολλοῦ κύκλου λόγων μόλις ἡμῖν τὰς τῶν λεγομένων ἐννοίας διὰ τοῦ γράμματος παριστῶσι· τὸ 234 δὲ κήρυγμα τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν ἁπλοῦν τέ ἐστι καὶ λόγος συντετμημένος. Ἰσραὴλ δὲ διώκων νόμον δικαιοσύνης. Ἀποδιδοὺς τοίνυν τὰς αἰτίας τοῦ μὴ πάντας σεσῶσθαι Ἰουδαίους, εὐθὺς ἐπιπλέκει τῷ λόγῳ θαῦμα, καί φησιν Ὢ παραδόξου πράγματος· ἡ τῶν πλανωμένων πληθὺς μὴ ἔχουσα σκοπὸν ὅλως ἀγαθοεργῆσαι, δεδικαίωται, ὁ δὲ Ἰσραὴλ, καίτοι τῷ διὰ Μωσέως νόμῳ πρὸς δικαιοσύνην παιδαγωγούμενος, διήμαρτε τῆς ἐλπίδος καὶ ἀμέτοχος γέγονε τῆς εἰς τοῦτο δωρεᾶς. τίς οὖν ἡ αἰτία, σαφής· οὐ γὰρ προσήκαντο τὴν διὰ πίστεως σωτηρίαν καὶ τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ δικαίωσιν, ἐνόμισαν δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀρκεῖν τὰ ὡς ἐν σκιαῖς αὐχήματα. Λίθον προσκόμματος. Οὐ γὰρ δήπου φαμὲν ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο ἐτέθη Χριστὸς ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο προέγνωστο τῷ Θεῷ, τὸ ἐσόμενον προαναπεφώνηκεν ἀναγκαίως, ὡς κείσεται μὲν ὄλισθος εἰς τὰ θεμέλια Σιὼν, μέλλουσι δὲ περιπίπτειν αὐτῷ τῶν ἀσυνέτων τινὲς, καὶ τοῦτο πάσχειν ἐξ ἀπειθείας. ἐποίειτο δὲ τὴν προαγόρευσιν χρησίμως, οὐχ ἵνα προσκόψειαν, ἀλλ' ἵνα προεγνωκότες ἀμείνους γένοιντο τοῦ κακοῦ. οὐκοῦν τέθειται μὲν ὁ Χριστὸς ὡς λίθος τίμιος, πλὴν τοῖς μὲν ἐξ ἀπιστίας προσκόπτουσιν, ὄλεθρος ἦν ἡ ζημία· τοῖς δὲ πεπιστευκόσι, ζωὴ καὶ δικαίωσις τὸ κέρδος. Μαρτυρῶ γὰρ αὐτοῖς. Μαρτυρεῖ τοίνυν αὐτοῖς τὸν εἰς Θεὸν ζῆλον· πλὴν ἐλέγχει πεπλανημένους· ὅτι δέον θαυμάζειν τὸν Χριστὸν ἐξ ὧν 235 ἐποίει ὡς φύσει