Romans 11:32Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet they will not perish entirely, because God "has shut up all in disobedience." That is, He convicted all and showed them to be disobedient. He did this not so that they should remain disobedient, but so that by the stubbornness of some He might save others: the Jews through the Gentiles, and the Gentiles through the Jews. See, then: you were disobedient, and they were saved. Then they became disobedient, and you were saved. Yet you were not saved in order to depart again, like the Jews, but in order to draw them also, provoking them to emulation.

That is, He convicted them and declared them disobedient, in order to save some through the stubbornness of others. Formerly, when the Gentiles were disobedient, He saved the Hebrews, as was said. Again, when the Jews did not obey Christ, the Gentiles were saved. When the Gentiles have been saved, the Jews also will be saved by emulating them. Thus all will be shown mercy.

Paul shows that the charges against both are equal, and that by one grace both the Gentiles and Israel have been healed.

He shows that both were subject to equal charges, and that by one grace both the Gentiles and Israel were healed. For Israel was once called through Moses and delivered from the sufferings that were in Egypt.

But the servants of demons, that is, the Gentiles, since they were understood under the figure of the Egyptians, were disobedient until then for the mercy shown to the people of Israel. They did not believe the divine signs given through Moses and did not wish to know the God of the Hebrews.

The words of the Apostle, "For God has shut up all in disobedience, that He might have mercy on all," were not spoken because God will condemn no one. Their meaning is clarified above. The Apostle was speaking of the Jews who will one day believe, and he addressed the Gentiles who already believed in the epistle: "As you once were disobedient to God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience, so they too are now disobedient for the mercy shown to you, that they also may receive mercy."

The meaning of this saying is as follows: God shut them up with the intention of freeing them. They will no longer be God's people through outward signs which they had and performed, namely sacrifices, tithes, prophets, and kings, as in former times. They sinned through the calf, and yet until now all these things remained among them. But now He did not show them mercy as He had formerly done, in order that He might have mercy on all. Certainly He will have mercy on them too, among all the rest, if they wish to turn back and perform repentance.

The highest righteousness of man is to regard every virtue of his own not as his own possession, but as belonging to God, Who is generous.

From the most ancient times all nations lived in godlessness and ignorance, because they did not know God. See, for example, Gen 6:5. For this reason the revelation of the law was given, so that through it the worst of men might be restrained.

But through the activity of the enemy, sins began to multiply, so that men became still more sinful through the commandments of the law. Then God, Who in His mercy always cares for human creatures, saw that sin existed even without the law and could not be destroyed by the law.

He proclaimed that faith alone is necessary for the forgiveness of all sins. Although men had no ground for hope in the law, they were saved by the mercy of God.

The Apostle said "shut up" in the sense of "convicted." He convicted the Gentiles, who had received natural knowledge and had creation as a teacher of the knowledge of God, but used neither. He also convicted the Jews, to whom a greater teaching was handed down. Besides nature and creation, they also received the Law and the prophets, who taught what was fitting. Therefore they became liable to greater punishments. Yet God deemed both worthy of salvation as soon as they wished to believe, though both deserved final destruction. When the Apostle embraced this in his mind and saw before him the abyss of God's love for mankind and the incomprehensibility of His wisdom, he cried out: Rom 11:33, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!"

All this must be understood not as though God Himself performs the act of shutting up, but as meaning that God permits this to happen, so that what is good may be accomplished by free will and without compulsion.

"God has shut up all in opposition." The Apostle ends his discussion of justification with the point from which he began: the proof that all are guilty before God. There he had in mind the guilt of persons; here, the guilt of peoples. The apostasy of the ancient Gentile nations from true worship of God was the cause of the election of the Hebrew people, the bearer of the true faith. Now Israel's rejection has become the cause of the calling of the Gentiles. Thus all are guilty before God. Yet behind these historical facts lies the wise and all-good plan of God's divine economy. God wished all to recognize that they are sinful and can be saved only by grace. When men recognized this, they were saved. This happened with the Gentiles. So it will happen in the future with the Jews.

"For God has shut up all in disobedience, that He might have mercy on all" (Rom 11:32). Holy Chrysostom interprets the expression "God has shut up all in disobedience" in this way: God convicted all by declaring them disobedient. He shut all into one rank of the disobedient, not so that all should remain disobedient, but so that He might save some through the stubbornness of others. He saves the Jews through the Gentiles, and the Gentiles through the Jews. This mystery arouses wonder at the incomprehensible wisdom of God: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways," and so forth (Rom 11:33-36).

Besides the possibility that the Jews may turn to Christ, the Apostle foresees and positively declares, as a mystery revealed by God, that the Jews will turn to Christ. Yet this will happen only when the predetermined number of Christians from among the Gentiles has been fulfilled.

Then the salvation of Israel foretold by the prophets will be accomplished in all fullness. The election of the Jews as the beloved people was not in vain, and the word of the Lord is faithful, with its promise of great and saving gifts to them.

That is, He convicted all and declared them disobedient. He shut them all up in one rank of the disobedient, not so that all should remain disobedient, but to save some through the stubbornness of others. He saves the Jews through the Gentiles, and the Gentiles through the Jews. See, then: you, the Gentiles, were disobedient, and they, the Jews, were saved. Then they became disobedient, and you were saved. Yet you were not saved in order to depart again, like the Jews, but in order to remain in the faith and draw them also, provoking them to emulation, says holy Chrysostom.