Romans 11:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He proved that they fell into blindness because of unreasonable stubbornness. Now he repeats the same thing.

When he says, "eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear," he accuses nothing else but their stubborn will.

They had eyes to see miracles and received ears to hear wondrous teaching. Yet they did not use either as they ought.

By the word "gave," therefore, understand here not cooperation, but permission.

By compunction the Apostle here means a habit of soul toward the worse, wholly incurable and beyond correction.

In another place David says: "That my glory may sing praise to You, and I may not be moved to compunction" (Ps 29:13), that is, that I may not be changed.

As one moved to compunction in piety is not easily changed, so one moved to compunction in evil can only with difficulty turn away from it.

For to be moved to compunction means nothing other than to be strengthened and attached to something.

Therefore the Apostle, wishing to express that the will of the Jews was incurable and difficult to correct, called this a spirit of compunction.

The other kind consists of those who try to live according to the law, but do not receive the righteousness of Christ.

They do this not from the envy of an evil will, but because of a mistaken understanding of the tradition of the fathers.

They are blinded for a time. For although they ought to acknowledge the great works of Christ, which cannot pass unnoticed, they have left God and follow human opinion instead of Him.

Again he said: "He delivered them over to a reprobate mind, to do what is improper." Then the Apostle explains himself and says: "filled with all unrighteousness, malice, covetousness"; Rom 1:28-29. Therefore, if they were filled, how did He deliver them over? Notice the precision of the expression. He did not say, "He delivered over those who would be filled." He says, "He left those who were filled." This is like a good shepherd who drives from the flock sheep infected with a contagious disease. In a certain sense he delivers them to the wolves. Not that he throws them into the wolves' mouths, but that he deprives them of his care and protection. Therefore the word "gave" has this meaning. The spirit of compunction, κατανύξεως, means the spirit of astonishment and being struck. For νύττειν means "to pierce and to strike," according to what is said: "with a spear he pierced His side"; Jn 19:34. Therefore, since to bring to compunction means to strike, it is rightly said that "to be brought to compunction" stands in place of "to be struck." Then the Apostle explains the word "brought to compunction. " namely, that it means "struck," by saying: "eyes not to see and ears not to hear." For this is what usually happens to those who are struck. When the mind is disturbed, the senses also refuse their activity. That this is what he means, hear the Scripture, which says: "Blessed is he who has not been wounded by grief over sin"; Sir 14:1. Meanwhile, "godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted"; 2 Cor 7:10. What, then, do the words of Scripture mean? If we say, as some think, that one who has not sinned at all is blessed here, perhaps no one will have a share in this blessedness. For we are all under prohibitions. Who will boast that his heart is pure? Who will dare to say that he is clean from sin? But if we say that Scripture blesses not the one who is not grieved, but the one who is not stricken down by grief, then we may touch the true sense of the saying. Such a man has not abandoned his own salvation, as Judas did when he killed himself by hanging. The wise Paul feared that the fornicator among the Corinthians might suffer this same thing. Therefore he commanded that he be received when he repented, "lest such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow"; 2 Cor 2:7. If compunction also occurs with respect to something beautiful, let no one wonder at this. For there too it means being wounded by something beautiful. Thus the soul that loved with divine love cried out: "For I am wounded with love"; Song 2:5. It must be known that the same names or words do not always and necessarily contain one and the same concept. David also said: "That my glory may sing to You, and I may not be moved"; Ps 29:13. By this, as I think, he expressed that he would not be astonished and reach the point of no longer singing praise. For he added: "O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever." Simeon and Levi, after their sister's chastity had been violated, were troubled; Gen 34:2. That is, they were struck and wounded by zeal. Therefore they fell into such unrestrained anger that, by using deceit, they put to death not only the violator, but all the grown men in the city.

He speaks as if saying: "There are three thousand with me, 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: "Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying: Lord, they have killed Your prophets and 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 reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (Rom 11:2-4).

"Even so then, at this 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 rest were hardened and did not receive salvation, as the prophets had foretold (Rom 11:6-10).

Concerning the Apostle's example from Elijah the prophet, St. Chrysostom observes: "If the Apostle had wanted to prove only that few make up the people properly belonging to God, he would merely have said that seven thousand remained in Elijah's time.

But lest the Jews say, 'We killed Christ as a deceiver and persecute the Apostles as seducers,' the Apostle brings forward the whole testimony.

It says: 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars.' This meant that, just as then they killed not false but true prophets, so now they killed not a false but the true Savior.

And they persecute not seducers, but true preachers."

The deliverance of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery is the final type of our deliverance from slavery to sin and the devil.

But then, according to the testimony of the prophet Moses, the Lord did not give the Hebrews a heart to understand, eyes to see, and ears to hear, even to that day.

So also now, seeing the multitude of saving works and divine miracles of Jesus Christ, the Hebrews related to them as men struck with blindness.

They were like those in a state of stupor, or sweetly intoxicated by their own unbelief. In the Apostle's expression, they were in a spirit of compunction.

Concerning this last expression, St. John Chrysostom says: "By compunction the Apostle here means a habit of soul toward the worse that is incurable.

As one who is moved to compunction in piety does not quickly depart from that state, so one moved to compunction in evil can change only with difficulty."

As for the words, "God gave," he observes: "The Apostle accuses nothing else but their stubborn will.

They had eyes to see miracles and received ears to hear wondrous teaching. Yet they did not use either as they ought.

Therefore by the word 'gave' understand here not action, but permission."

Pausing further over the fulfillment of the punishments foretold by the prophet David for those who do not believe in the Savior, St. John Chrysostom says: "When were the Jews ever so easily captured and overcome?

When were they subjected to such slavery? Most important of all, these calamities will have no end, as the prophet noted.

For he did not simply say, 'Bow down their back,' but added, 'always.' If you, Jew, claim that the calamities will end, then judge the present by the past.

Now everything has gone differently with you. What is especially astonishing is that the former vices are not visible, yet the punishment increases, and there is no hope of any change in your condition.

All this has overtaken you when you do not serve idols and do none of the things you once dared to do. What is the reason?

It is that the type has been replaced by the truth, and the law has been excluded by grace."

For the Lord will make them drink a spirit of stupor and will close their eyes, and the eyes of their prophets and rulers. They will understand nothing of what is taking place before them. It will be for them like a sealed book. To what calamity and deliverance the prophecy refers is not clear. Yet the stupor of the authorities and all the leading Jews, as depicted by the Prophet, perfectly corresponds to their attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ the Deliverer. It also corresponds to their attitude toward His wondrous work and that of His Apostles. Therefore there is no doubt that the prophetic Spirit, through the mouth of Isaiah, foretold precisely this stupor and mental blindness of the Jewish authorities. After them, He foretold the blindness of the whole people before the face of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Gospel. The apostolic Spirit pointed this out to the Apostle in the Prophet's words. By them he faithfully testified to what he needed to testify, namely, that they were blinded. In the twenty-ninth chapter of Deuteronomy, the holy Prophet Moses recalled how the Lord God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. He recalled how many wondrous signs and miracles He showed in doing this, and then added: "Yet the Lord God has not given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear, to this day"; cf. Deut 29:4. That is: you looked upon this with open eyes and did not see. You heard of it with open ears and did not hear. You had no heart to understand what all this meant. The deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage by Saint Moses is the clearest type of our deliverance from slavery to sin and the devil by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore what the Prophets say about the first deliverance was undoubtedly a prophetic insight into the second. The apostolic Spirit understood this, and used the words describing the mental state of those then living as a description of the present generation. As they then had no heart to understand, so now they are blinded. From these two passages the apostolic Spirit took the prophetic thought and expressed it in his own words: "God gave them a spirit of compunction, eyes not to see and ears not to hear." Both in the Prophets and in the Apostles it is said as though God Himself, by His own power, produced such an evil state. This is the customary manner of the Prophets, who refer everything to God, both good and evil. Yet one thing is given directly by God, and another is only permitted. God desires good for all men and seeks to bestow it on all. But when He encounters resistance from men, then after attempts to overcome this resistance, He leaves them in the hands of their own will. Since this will resists God, it never leads to good, but is always accompanied by evil consequences. These evil consequences plainly come as God's punishment for resisting His will. Therefore they are ascribed to Him, though the reason God permits them lies in men themselves, in their disobedience. So it was with the Gospel. How many proofs did the Lord Himself show the Jews, clearly indicating who He is? How much did the Apostles also persuade them, by word and deed, that He is the Promised One and that they must follow His teaching? The Jews had no heart to understand what was taking place before their eyes. They did not want to hear about its meaning. But who is to blame? The Lord therefore left them in their own blindness. Blessed Theodoret writes: "The word 'gave,' like 'delivered over,' means 'permitted.' For God did not cause them not to believe. Otherwise, how could He Himself implant unbelief in them and then subject them to punishment for it? The Prophet taught this more clearly: 'For the heart of this people has grown dull, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed'; cf. Is 6:10. Therefore no one else blinded them. They themselves closed their eyes and did not wish to see the light." Saint Chrysostom says: "From what did this blindness arise? The Apostle had already explained its causes and laid all the blame upon the Jews themselves. He proved that they underwent blindness because of their untimely obstinacy, and now he repeats the same thing. For when he says, 'eyes not to see and ears not to hear,' he accuses nothing other than their stubborn will. Having eyes to see the miracles, and having received ears to hear this wondrous teaching, they did not use either as they ought. Therefore by the word 'gave' understand here not an action, but a permission." He says, "He gave them a spirit of compunction," κατανύξεως. Κατάνυξις, compunction or contrition of heart, is a good disposition. How, then, is this word used to denote an evil state? Yet this word, from νύσσω, to strike, can describe the state produced by a blow or overwhelming impression. The one struck is bewildered, cannot gather his thoughts, looks and does not see, hears and does not perceive what is heard. Such exactly were the Jews before the Lord and the Apostles. They were as men struck, dulled, and stupefied, like those of whom we say that paralysis has seized them. The Slavonic marginal replacement of this word by "insensibility" expresses the force of the saying well. Our interpreters do not change the meaning of the word. But in interpretation they consider not contrition and compunction itself, but its power. When it takes possession of the heart, it no longer inclines toward what is worse. This inflexibility of compunction is what they have in view here. By the spirit of compunction, κατανύξεως, they understand the spirit of the Jews' inflexible obstinacy. Blessed Theodoret writes: "By the spirit of compunction the Prophet and the Apostle named the fixed disposition of the heart. For as one who has praiseworthy compunction does not accept a change for the worse, so one wholly surrendered to vice does not admit a change for the better." Saint Chrysostom says the same more fully and clearly: "Here the Apostle calls compunction such a habit of the soul toward evil as is incurable and unchangeable. For elsewhere it is said: 'That my glory may sing to You and I may not be moved'; cf. Ps 29:13. That is, I shall not change. As one moved to compunction in piety does not quickly depart from this state, so one moved to compunction in evil can change only with difficulty. Therefore the Apostle, wishing to express that the will of the Jews is incurable and hard to change, called this a spirit of compunction."