Romans 11:12-15
‘If the fall of them (the Jews) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles — how much more their fullness?… May I by any means provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and save some of them! For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world — what shall the receiving back of them be, but life from the dead?!’
Romans 11:12-15.
Calvin comments: “Paul had taught that the Gentiles had entered into the place of the Jews, after they had been rejected…. Not to make the salvation of the Jews offensive to the Gentiles — as though their salvation rested on the destruction of the Jews!
“He therefore anticipates this false view, and states that in contradiction…nothing could contribute more to the promotion of the salvation of the Gentiles — than that the grace of God should flourish and thrive among the Jews to the greatest extent…. If the fall of the Jews could raise up the Gentiles, and their diminution enrich them — how much more would their fullness?!….
“The latter, would come to pass!… The Word of God extended to the Gentiles, after the Jews had rejected it and cast it from them. Had they received it, their faith would have brought forth much more fruit than their unbelief then occasioned….
“Paul…uses a very strong argument to confirm that the Gentiles lose no benefit, if the Jews return again into favour with God…. The salvation of the Gentiles is so annexed to the salvation of the Jews, that the same means is able to advance both.
“He addresses the Gentiles in the following way. ‘I am peculiarly destined to be your Apostle…. I shall, however, be faithfully performing my duty — if I shall win to Christ any of my own nation…. This will be for the glory of my ministry, and so for your own good!’….
“‘For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world (– what shall the receiving back of them be, but life from the dead)?’… If the rejection of the Jews had been able to occasion the reconciliation of the Gentiles — will not their reception (back again) be much more powerful, and would it not raise them even from the dead?!…
“Since therefore God has marvellously brought life out of death and light out of darkness — how much more…ought we to hope that the resurrection of a people virtually dead will bring the Gentiles to life?… Reconciliation is not different from resurrection!
“We understand ‘resurrection’ here to mean the act by which we are transferred from the kingdom of death to the Kingdom of Life!… God will again reconcile to Himself His former people!”
The reconciling of Jews, shall be life from the dead! How many have you won, for Christ?
