Romans 11:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He recalled this whole testimony in order to expose their ingratitude more clearly, and to prove that they have been like this from of old.

If he had not had this intention, but wished to prove only that the people consists of a few, he would merely have said that in Elijah's time seven thousand remained.

But now he cites the whole testimony from the beginning. By every means he was trying to prove that the Jews' treatment of Christ and the Apostles is nothing strange, but is usual for them and has become a habit.

And so that they might not say, "We killed Christ as a deceiver and persecute the Apostles as impostors," the Apostle cites the testimony that says, "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars."

Then, so as not to grieve them excessively by this word, he presents another reason for citing the testimony. He cites it as though not chiefly to accuse them, but to prove something else.

Meanwhile, he deprives them of every excuse concerning their former deeds. See how the accusation gains special force from the person who brings the charge.

The accuser is not Paul, nor Peter, nor James, nor John. It is the one whom the Jews admired most of all: the head of the prophets, the friend of God.

He was so zealous on behalf of the Jews that he chose to endure even famine. He is the one who even now has not died. What does he say?

"Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I alone am left, and they seek my life." What could be more terrible than such savagery?

When they ought to have been praying over the sins already committed, they intended to kill him also. All this deprives them of every excuse.

For not during the famine, but when fruitfulness had returned, when the disgrace had already been removed, the demons put to shame, God's power revealed, and the king himself humbled, they dared such wickedness.

They passed from murder to murder, putting to death teachers and those who corrected their life. What could they say about this? Were those also deceivers?

Did they also not know where those men came from? Did they grieve you? Yet they also spoke what was profitable.

And what about the altars? Did they also grieve you? Did they also insult you? Such examples of stubbornness and arrogance the Jews have always shown.

Therefore Paul says elsewhere, in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, "You suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out.

"They do not please God and oppose all men" (1 Thess 2:14-15). He says something similar here, that the Jews destroyed the altars and killed the prophets.

But why did your fathers tear down the altars? Did the altars also offend them? And why did they seek to kill Elijah himself, who was zealous for the Jews and renowned for miracles?

If in those times, when there were so many wicked people, the Lord chose for Himself only seven thousand, as Scripture shows, that is, revelation and the word of God, then there is nothing new at all if He now chooses only the worthy. He explains this further below.

Yet at once he heard in answer: "I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (cf. 3 Kgs 19:18).

But then, God had not cast Israel into such terrible impious deeds. Rather, they themselves slipped, having given themselves over to their own madness.

So also now, in turn, when God the Father offered salvation through Christ to all and pushed no one away, they voluntarily fell into apostasy by rejecting the Redeemer.

Therefore God has not rejected His people (Rom 11:2). For, as I have said, He offered them participation in salvation through Christ, if only they had accepted it.

The Apostle added, "God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew" (Rom 11:2). He speaks as if to say: with me there are three thousand, five thousand, and a great multitude of Israelites foreknown by God.

Indeed, referring to the example of the prophet Elijah, the Apostle goes on to say, "Do you not know what the Scripture says in the account of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying: Lord, they have killed Your prophets.

"They have torn down Your altars. I alone am left, and they seek my life" (3 Kgs 19:14). "But what does the divine answer say to him? I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (Rom 11:2-4).

"So too at the present time," the Apostle adds, "there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom 11:5). That is, some of the Jews received justification by faith in Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile the others were hardened and did not receive salvation, as the prophets had foretold concerning this (Rom 11:6-10).

Concerning the example of the prophet Elijah cited by the Apostle, St. Chrysostom notes: "If the Apostle had wished to prove only that few constitute the people properly belonging to God, he would have said only that in Elijah's time seven thousand remained.

"But so that the Jews might not say, 'We killed Christ as a deceiver and persecute the Apostles as impostors,' the Apostle cites the whole testimony, which says: 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars.'

"This meant that, just as then they killed not false prophets but true ones, so now they killed not a false savior but the true Savior. And they persecute not impostors, but true preachers."

No smaller number of Hebrews had been converted to Christ at the time when the Apostle wrote this epistle.

Thus one can in no way say that the Lord rejected His people. This is especially so because, from the Apostle's point of view, God's people cannot mean Israel alone.

It means all who have entered the people of God by the election of grace. This does not exclude the Gentiles. Nor does it include only proselytes who turned to the Lord by accepting the Law of Moses.

It also includes those who entered directly, by receiving the spirit and teaching of the Gospel.

Their conversion and justification were accomplished chiefly by the gift of grace, and not by works. For if works were involved, grace would no longer be a gift given without merit.

And if works gave salvation, they would rise above their proper significance. In that case one could ascribe to them a power they do not possess, and which belongs only to grace.

Therefore all who direct their gaze toward grace must turn it away from works. For where grace is present, the works of the Law are no longer works, that is, they have no saving significance.

In the words of verse 6, the Apostle expresses one of his constant thoughts. He unfolds it both in this epistle and in others. Therefore it is not surprising that, despite its depth and richness, he expressed it so briefly.

Explaining its meaning, St. John Chrysostom says: "By the words, 'So too at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace,' he makes clear that those seven thousand were also saved by grace.

"The same is seen from the words, 'I have kept for Myself.' By this God shows that He Himself accomplished the greater part of the work.

"But if it is by grace, you say, why are we not all saved? Because you yourselves do not want it. For grace, even though it is grace, saves those who desire it.

"It does not save those who do not desire it, who turn away from grace, who constantly rise up against it and resist it."

Then, addressing Christians from among the Gentiles, St. John Chrysostom added: "Therefore let us thank God that we have become numbered among those being saved.

"When we could not be saved by works, we were saved by God's gift. Let us witness our gratitude not by words only, but also by deeds and actions that accord with gratitude.

"For gratitude is complete when we do what serves God's glory, and when we avoid the things from which we have been delivered."

They resist Christ the Lord and persecute and kill His Apostles. Yet among this same people, in every place, there are those who sincerely believe in the Lord.

They cleave to Him with all their heart and serve Him with all their soul. These, properly speaking, are the people of God.

They are God’s own, preserved by Him for Himself, foreknown before, and now called. Through the calling they have been chosen from the people.

As then only those seven thousand were God’s own, while all the rest were strangers to Him, so now the whole people, when viewed as a whole, is alien to Christ and our God.

Only these believers are His own. They seem to vanish amid the common mass of the people, yet in fact they constitute the true people of God.

Blessed Theodoret writes: "As then, out of countless thousands, only seven thousand remained free from impiety, so now the unbelievers are more numerous, while those who have believed and benefited from divine grace are fewer."

The force of the comparison between these circumstances lies in this. Then the whole people as a whole fought against God, while the seven thousand hidden among them honored God, and God called them His own.

So now the whole people as a whole fights against Christ. But the believers moving among them believe in Christ and worship Him. These are the very ones whom God has as His own.

This remnant has come into being according to God’s election. God chose and chooses it from the midst of the people by the gospel, by faith, and by grace.

From this everyone should conclude that all now taking place is in harmony with the will and intentions of God and is not contrary to His promises. Therefore it cannot be said that God has rejected His people.

Chrysostom explains at length other features of similarity in these circumstances. "The meaning of these words is this: God has not rejected the people. For if He had rejected them, He would have received no one.

But if He received some, then He did not reject them. Yet if He did not reject them, you say, does that mean He received all? By no means.

For even in Elijah’s time no more than seven thousand were saved. And now, besides those who believe openly, there are probably many who have believed secretly.

It is not surprising if you do not know them. The prophet Elijah, so great a man, did not know this either. But God was ordering His own affairs, though the Prophet did not know it.

So also now He secretly orders His work of faith. Notice the Apostle’s prudence, how, while proving what he had set out to prove, he imperceptibly increases the guilt of the Jews.

He recalled this whole testimony in order to reveal their ingratitude more solemnly and to show that they have been such from ancient times.

If he had not had this intention, but wished only to prove that not many constitute the people, properly God’s own, he would have said only that in Elijah’s time seven thousand remained.

But now he brings the whole testimony from the beginning, because he strove in every way to prove that the Jews’ actions toward Christ and the Apostles are not at all strange or new.

They are customary for them and have become their habit. So that they might not say, we killed Christ as a deceiver and persecute the Apostles as seducers, the Apostle brings forward a testimony.

In it it is said: Lord, they have killed Thy prophets and dug down Thy altars. This meant that then they killed not false, but true Prophets.

So now they killed not a false, but the true Savior, and persecute not seducers, but true preachers.

But the Apostle, so as not to grieve them too much by his word, does not express this openly. He presents another reason for bringing this testimony.

It is as though he brings it not chiefly in order to reproach them, but with the aim of proving something else, namely that not many properly constitute the people of God.

Meanwhile he deprives them of every excuse for the deeds that preceded, the crucifixion of the Lord and the persecution of the Apostles.

See how the reproof gains special force from the person who reproves. It is not Paul, nor Peter, nor James, nor John who reproves.

It is the one whom the Jews admired more than any other, the head of the Prophets and friend of God. What then does he say?

Lord, they have killed Thy prophets and dug down Thy altars. I alone am left, and they seek my life.

What could be more savage than such ferocity? They ought to have prayed over sins already committed, but instead they intended to kill yet another Prophet.

And this was not during famine, but when fruitfulness had already come. All this makes them completely without excuse.

But as it was then, so they act now. When the demons have been put to shame and the power of God has been manifested in Christ Jesus, they dare this crime against Him.

They pass from murders to murders and put to death the teachers and correctors of their morals. What can they say against this reproof in their own defense?

Were those Prophets also deceivers? Did they not know where they came from? They grieved you, but they spoke what was profitable.

Understand the same concerning the Apostles. And the altars? Did the altars also grieve them? Did they also offend?

It is evident that they did all this because they fought against God; see Blessed Theodoret. Such examples of stubbornness and evil disposition the Jews always displayed.

Therefore Paul also says elsewhere, writing to the Thessalonians: you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed the Lord and His prophets, and drove us out, and did not please God, and opposed all men (cf. 1 Thess 2:14-15).

Likewise here he says that the Jews dug down the altars and killed the Prophets, in order to show that they always resist God.

But what does the divine answer say to him? I have left for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

You ask whether this applies to the present time. It applies very much. By this it is proved that God always customarily saves the worthy, although the promise was given to the whole people.

The Apostle proved the same above when he said: though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved. And again: if the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom.

He proves the same here. Therefore he added: so then, at the present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

See how each word in the Apostle retains its force, expressing both the grace of God and the irreproachability of those being saved. By the word election the Apostle showed the dignity of those being saved.

By the word grace he indicated the gift of God."