Israel Provoked to Jealousy
…insisting that the nations were not called for this reason, that Israel, having stumbled against Christ as against a stone (Romans 9:32–33), should fall away altogether from its hope in God, but rather so that, moved to jealousy by those who had been received beyond all expectation (Romans 11:11), they might choose to unlearn their baser ways, think better than before, and so receive the Redeemer.
A short example will make the point. Children who are small and not yet grown sometimes fall into the sulks that suit those who are still infants. Then they run a little way off from father or mother, pour tears from their eyes for no real cause, and grieve their parents not a little; for the law of natural affection brings them to this. And then the parents, skilfully drawing them away from their pettiness and childish folly, simply catch up any child who happens to be near and give it the marks of their own affection, so making their own child jealous and, as it were, provoking it to turn back and love them. Something of this kind, as I think, is what the inspired Paul said had been done, since he does not allow anyone to despair of Israel, though it has stumbled.
“Now if their trespass means riches for the world” (Romans 11:12). For if, he says, the world has been enriched with closeness to God because Israel stumbled, and the nations were received because Israel lacked a right mind, what then would their acceptance be, if not very nearly the undoing of death and life from the dead?
“If somehow I may make my flesh jealous” (Romans 11:14). So he draws the believers from the nations and from the Jews into one mind and peace, so that they may not be puffed up, but may offer their thanks to God, who freely granted the forgiveness of their trespasses and bore no grudge. He says that he glorifies his own ministry (Romans 11:13), not from a desire for empty glory, but, he says, “so that I may make my flesh jealous.” Here again he calls Israel his own flesh, that is, his kin according to the flesh. It is much as if he were to say: “I declare my apostleship to be glorious, worthy, and most dear to God, and most needful to all who live under the sun, not so that I might be seen crowning my own head with empty honours and outlandish boasting, but so that I might save my own kin according to the flesh.” He all but pricks them with jealousy as with a goad, and rouses them to resolve that they must be justified by the grace that comes through Christ.
“For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15). Since, then, there was no way to praise Israel for its faith or its conduct, he turned to the reasoning of the economy, and says that their unbelief has become for the world the means of its closeness to God. He tries to say that by the very things in which they stumbled they have perhaps even become benefactors of the world; and so he crowns the Jews, as it were, though they have fallen and lie on the ground. For he says that their acceptance is life from the dead, if indeed it is true that their rejection has become the reconciliation of the world.
“If you continue” (Romans 11:22). So it was with skill that the argument…
Greek
οὐχὶ ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας κεκλῆσθαι τὰ ἔθνη διατεινόμενος, ἵνα εἰς ἅπαν ἀποπέσοι τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἐλπίδος ὁ Ἰσραὴλ οἷά τινι λίθῳ περιπταίσαντες Χριστῷ, ἀλλ' ἵνα μᾶλλον τοὺς ἀδοκήτως εἰσδεδεγμένους παραζηλοῦντες, μεταμαθεῖν ἕλοιντο τὰ αἰσχίω, καὶ φρονεῖν ἄμεινον ἢ πρὶν, παραδέξαιντό τε οὕτω τὸν λυτρωτήν. παραστήσεται δὲ ὁ λόγος ὡς ἐν βραχεῖ παραδείγματι· παῖδες μὲν γὰρ ἔσθ' ὅτε μικροί τε καὶ ἄνηβοι, τὰς τοῖς ἔτι νηπίοις πρέπουσας εἰσδέχονται λύπας· εἶτα πατρὸς ἢ μητρὸς ἀποδραμόντες βραχὺ, ἀπροφάσιστον μὲν τῶν ὀμμάτων καταχέουσι δάκρυον, λυποῦσι δὲ οὐ μετρίως τοὺς γεγεννηκότας· φέρει γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο τῆς φυσικῆς φιλοστοργίας ὁ νόμος· καὶ δὴ τῆς μικροψυχίας καὶ εἰκαιότητος νηπιοπρεποῦς ἀφιστάντες εὐτέχνως, παιδίον ἁπλῶς τὸ παρατυχὸν ἁρπάζουσιν, αὐτῷ τε προσάγουσι τὰς παρὰ σφῶν τιμὰς, παραζηλοῦντες ἐκεῖνο καὶ οἷον κατερεθίζοντες εἰς 241 ἐπιστροφὰς καὶ ἀγάπησιν τὴν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς· 28 τοιοῦτόν τι πε241 πράχθαι, καθάπερ ἐγὼ οἶμαι, καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος ἔφη Παῦλος, ἀπογινώσκειν οὐκ ἐφιεὶς, καίτοι προσκεκρουκότα, τὸν Ἰσραήλ. Εἰ δὲ τὸ παράπτωμα αὐτῶν πλοῦτος κόσμου. Εἰ γὰρ πεπλούτηκε, φησὶν, ὁ κόσμος τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν οἰκειότητα διά γε τὸ προσκροῦσαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ, ἐπείπερ εἰσὶν ἐν ἐνδείᾳ φρενὸς ἀγαθῆς, προσελήφθη τὰ ἔθνη, τίς ἂν εἴη λοιπὸν ἡ πρόσληψις αὐτῶν, ἢ μονονουχὶ καὶ θανάτου λύσις καὶ ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν; Εἴ πως παραζηλώσω μου τὴν σάρκα. Εἰς ὁμοψυχίαν οὖν καὶ εἰρήνην τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν πιστοὺς καὶ Ἰουδαίων ἐφέλκεται, ἵνα μὴ ἐπαίρωνται, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ τὰ χαριστήρια ἀναθῶσιν ὡς ἀμνησικάκως χαρισαμένῳ τὴν τῶν παραπτωμάτων ἄφεσιν· δοξάζειν δέ φησι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ διακονίαν, οὐ δόξης εἰκαίας ἐπιθυμῶν· ἀλλ' ἵνα φησὶ παραζηλώσω μου τὴν σάρκα· σάρκα δὲ πάλιν ἰδίαν ἐν τούτοις ὀνομάζει τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, ἤτοι τὸ κατὰ σάρκα γένος. ὅμοιον οὖν ὡσεὶ λέγοι τυχόν Εὐκλεᾶ τε καὶ ἀξιόχρεων καὶ φιλαιτάτην Θεῷ τὴν ἀποστολὴν τὴν ἐμὴν εἶναι λέγω, καὶ τοῖς ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑφήλιον χρειωδεστάτην· οὐχ ἵνα ταῖς διακένοις τιμαῖς καὶ ἐκτόποις φιλοκομπίαις τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ φαίνοιμι στεφανῶν κεφαλὴν, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὸ κατὰ σάρκα γένος ἀνασώσαιμι τὸ ἐμόν· μονονουχὶ διανύττων οἷά τινι κέντρῳ τῷ ζήλῳ, καὶ διανιστὰς εἰς τὸ ἑλέσθαι δεῖν τῇ διὰ Χριστοῦ χάριτι δικαιοῦσθαι. 242 Εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀποβολὴ αὐτῶν καταλλαγὴ κόσμου, τίς ἡ πρόσληψις, εἰ μὴ ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν; Ἐπειδὴ οὖν ἐκ πίστεως ἢ τρόπων οὐκ ἦν ἐπαινέσαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, ἐπὶ τοὺς τῆς οἰκονομίας κεχώρηκε λόγους, καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων ἀπιστίαν πρόξενον τῷ κόσμῳ γεγενῆσθαί φησι τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν οἰκειότητος· καὶ πειρᾶται λέγειν ὅτι δι' ὧν προσκεκρούκασι, τάχα που καὶ εὐεργέται τοῦ κόσμου γεγόνασι, καὶ οἱονεὶ πεσόντας καὶ χαμαὶ κειμένους τοὺς Ἰουδαίους στεφανοῖ· ζωὴν γὰρ εἶναί φησιν ἐκ νεκρῶν τὴν πρόσληψιν αὐτῶν, εἴ γε ἐστὶν ἀψευδὲς, ὡς γέγονεν ἡ ἀποβολὴ αὐτῶν κόσμου καταλλαγή. Ἐὰν ἐπιμείνῃς. Εὐτέχνως ἄρα ὁ λόγος