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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 11:28 - 11:28
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
28. κατὰ μὲν. The verse states in another form the fact laid down in 25 b. Hence the asyndeton. The Gospel preached by S. Paul, by its abolition of law and inclusion of Gentiles, involved, as a matter of fact, the throwing of the greater part of Israel into a state of hostility to GOD: that hostility was incurred for the sake of the Gentiles: but that does not involve a change in GOD’s original purpose in selecting Israel; His love still holds towards them for the sake of the fathers in whom that purpose found its first expression and a true response; cf. above Rom 11:1.
τὴν ἐκλογὴν. The choice made long before—of Abraham and Israel; cf. Rom 11:5, Rom 9:11.
τοὺς πατέρας, Rom 9:5; Act 3:25; Act 13:17; Act 13:32; infra, Rom 15:8; 1Co 10:1; Heb 1:1; Heb 8:9 (qu.). There seems no strong reason for limiting the reference to the Patriarchs. The plural seems to include the whole ancestry of Israel, here regarded as the object of GOD’s love shown in His earlier dispensation. It is for the sake of them, on whom He had lavished so much, that their wayward descendants are still not allowed to travel beyond the range of His love.