Cornelius a Lapide

Romans XI

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

Paul taught in chapters IX and X that the Gentiles had been admitted through faith to righteousness and salvation, but that the Jews had been repelled from the same on account of their unbelief: now, for the consolation of the Jews, he admonishes the Gentiles not to be indignant at and insult the unbelief and rejection of the Jews; but rather to have compassion and sympathy for them, and to provoke them to imitation of themselves; and this,

First, because not all Jews are unbelievers and rejected: for Paul himself and others, as the remnant of Israel, have been saved.

Second, in verse 8, because even though many are blinded, nevertheless their blindness is salvation for the Gentiles. For the unbelief of the Jews was the cause why the preaching of the Gospel, righteousness, and salvation turned aside to the Gentiles.

Third, in verse 16, because the Jews are children of the holy patriarchs, in whom they themselves are, as it were, consecrated and sanctified to God.

Fourth, in verse 17, because the Gentiles, who were as it were the wild olive of paganism, have been grafted by grace into the olive tree of the Jews, namely into the Church of God, from which they can easily fall away again through unbelief, pride, and disobedience.

Fifth, in verse 23, because the Jews, if they are willing to depart from their unbelief, will again be grafted into their own olive tree, that is, the Church.

Sixth, in verse 25, because at the end of the world, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will believe and will be saved.

Seventh, in verse 30, because the Gentiles themselves were also, before the Jews, unbelieving and neglected by God, just as now the Jews are unbelieving and neglected. Whence, in verse 32, he concludes saying: God has shut up all things under sin, that He may have mercy on all. And marvelling at this alternation and succession of the Jews and Gentiles in obedience and in the Church of God, He exclaims: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

Vulgate Text: Romans 11:1-36

1. I say therefore: Has God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3. Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have dug down Your altars: and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4. But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed their knees before Baal. 5. So therefore, even in this present time, a remnant has been saved according to the election of grace. 6. But if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. 7. What then? That which Israel sought, this it has not obtained: but the elect have obtained it: and the rest were blinded. 8. As it is written: God has given them the spirit of compunction: eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, even to this day. 9. And David says: Let their table become a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense to them. 10. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back always. 11. I say then: Have they so stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But by their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles, that they may emulate them. 12. Now if the offense of them is the riches of the world, and the diminution of them the riches of the Gentiles: how much more their fullness? 13. For I say to you Gentiles: For inasmuch as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry, 14. if by any means I may provoke to emulation my own flesh, and may save some of them. 15. For if the loss of them is the reconciliation of the world: what shall the assumption be, except life from the dead? 16. For if the firstfruit be holy, so also is the lump: and if the root be holy, so also are the branches. 17. And if some of the branches are broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and have been made a partaker of the root and of the fatness of the olive tree: 18. do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, you do not bear the root, but the root bears you. 19. You will say: The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. 20. Well: because of unbelief they were broken off. But you stand by faith: do not be high-minded, but fear. 21. For if God did not spare the natural branches: He may not spare you either. 22. See therefore the goodness and severity of God: toward those who fell, severity: but toward you, the goodness of God, if you continue in goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. 23. But they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 24. For if you were cut off from the wild olive that is natural to you, and were grafted contrary to nature into the good olive tree: how much more shall these, who are according to nature, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25. For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this mystery (lest you be wise in your own conceits): that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, 26. and so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Zion, He who shall deliver, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 27. And this is My covenant to them: when I shall take away their sins. 28. According to the Gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sake: but according to election, they are most beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30. For as you also at one time did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy because of their unbelief: 31. so these also have not now believed in your mercy, that they themselves also may obtain mercy. 32. For God has shut up all things in unbelief: that He may have mercy on all. 33. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God: how incomprehensible are His judgments, and unsearchable His ways! 34. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? 35. Or who has first given to Him, and shall be repaid? 36. For of Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things: to Him be glory forever. Amen.

Verse 1: I Say Therefore: Has God Cast Away His People?

1. I SAY THEREFORE: HAS GOD CAST AWAY HIS PEOPLE. — Note: The phrase "I say therefore" is an idiom of the Apostle, which he uses when he raises an objection to himself, as he does here. The sense therefore is, as if to say: I said in chapters IX and X that the Jews had been cast away from God and from righteousness, but the Gentiles admitted to it; but has God then completely cast away His people, namely all the Jews? He answers, God forbid. For I also am a Jew and an Israelite, yet faithful and a Christian; such also are the Apostles, and many others, believers from among the Jews. Therefore God has not cast away His people absolutely, but only those who refuse to believe in Christ.

Verse 2: God Has Not Cast Away His People Whom He Foreknew

2. GOD HAS NOT CAST AWAY HIS PEOPLE WHOM HE FOREKNEW. — Note the word "foreknew," which first, St. Chrysostom explains thus, as if to say: God did not cast away the whole people of the Jews, but called to the Church those whom He foresaw would be worthy. If this is understood of the first calling to faith and grace, it is Pelagian; but if it is understood of the second calling to righteousness, it is sound and orthodox: therefore St. Chrysostom must be explained as referring to this second calling.

Second, Oecumenius says: God foreknew the Jews before the Gentiles, because the Jews were called to Christ before the Gentiles, and they believed in Him. These therefore God foreknew, that is, He knew them to be His own and His people, before He called the Gentiles and knew them to be His own.

Third, St. Augustine, in book II On the Gift of Perseverance, chapter XVIII: "God has not cast away His people, whom He foreknew": this means, he says, whom He predestined, whom He decreed from eternity to draw to Himself and make His own. Whence others explain it thus: "whom He foreknew," that is, whom He preloved, and whom He once benefited with many gifts.

Fourth, more plainly and simply, "God has not cast away His people, whom He foreknew," that is, whom He foresaw would willingly embrace the faith and grace of Christ, and would be faithful, and therefore would be His people. See what was said in chapter VIII, verse 29.

OR DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT THE SCRIPTURE SAYS OF ELIJAH? — "In Elijah," that is, concerning Elijah. It is a Hebraism: for the bet (preposition) is put for "concerning"; or "in Elijah," that is, in the history of Elijah, 3 Kings XIX, where Elijah complains to God and pleads with Him against the Israelites, namely against Ahab, king of Israel, and his wife Jezebel, and their followers, saying:

Verse 3: Lord, They Have Killed Your Prophets

3. LORD, (the Israelites) HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE DUG DOWN YOUR ALTARS. — "Altars," namely those erected to the true God on high places and hills. Whence these altars are called Excelsa (high places) in Scripture. Although they were forbidden by the law of Deut. XVI, 2, and therefore piously overturned by Hezekiah and Josiah, yet it was impious to overturn them out of hatred of divine worship and of the true God, as the idolaters Ahab and Jezebel did.

[The Church] was visible and flourishing in Judah, that is, in the two tribes, where under Jehoshaphat, a faithful and pious king, the true God was worshiped publicly with temple, sacrifices, and ceremonies, to which those who were truly faithful resorted, as it were to an oracle and asylum of faith and religion, and this is what the Lord signifies when He says: "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee before Baal," while He adds: "In Israel," that is in Samaria, but not in Judah; for of that He does not speak.

Although therefore we should grant that the Church in Israel had then failed, nevertheless it does not follow from this that it failed altogether, because it persisted in Judah. Let Luther now say, if before his own times Lutherans existed and were hidden in Saxony, Germany, France, in what nations or lands they would have been visible and conspicuous, so that those who followed or sought the true faith, religion, and Church could resort there. Where was Luther's Church before Luther, which took its name and beginning from Luther? Surely it was there where Luther was before he was born.

Third, that the Church in Israel itself, that is in Samaria, did not fail in the time of Elijah, but had many worshipers of the true God, is clear from the fact that shortly before Jezebel had killed many of the Prophets, of whom there still remained alive Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Obadiah (the steward of Ahab and Jezebel themselves), and another hundred Prophets, whom this same Obadiah hid lest they be killed by Jezebel, as is clear from 3 Kings XVIII, 4, and besides these other Prophets of whom mention is made in 3 Kings XX, 22, 28, and 35. So when Elijah says to God: "They have killed Your prophets, and I am left alone," understand: alone who publicly and fearlessly opposes myself to Baal and Jezebel: for the other Prophets, lest they be killed, were in hiding, just as the bishops and priests were in hiding in the time of Decius and Diocletian. But that there were then many more faithful among the laity in Israel is clear from the words of the Lord: "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee before Baal." Finally, all Israel a little before, under David and Solomon, had been a worshiper of the true faith and of God, but under Jeroboam many along with him fell away to the idolatry of the calves.

Note against the Innovators recently sprung from darkness, this passage for the preservation and duration of the Church. For here gravely err, first, Melanchthon, who in his Loci Communes, chapter On the Church, teaches that in the time of Elijah the Church consisted of Elijah alone, Elisha, and a few priests. Second, Calvin, who in the preface to his Institutes attempts from this passage of Elijah to prove that the Church can fail. Third, other Innovators, who apply this to their own invisible Church, that is, one not existing before Luther and Calvin, as if there had been before them some Lutherans who taught the same faith which afterward Luther and Calvin taught; but few, like those in the time of Elijah, unknown and hidden.

First, they say this gratuitously. For it must be proven by them that such people really existed. Let them say, I ask, where, when, under what king or Pope they existed? Let them at least name them by the common name of their sect, or produce historians who testify that they existed: for the sacred history, in book 3 Kings XIX, which Paul here cites, testifies that there were such true worshipers of God in Israel in the time of Elijah, though unknown to Elijah.

Second, although the Church of God, when it suffered persecution from Jezebel in Israel, that is in Samaria, had there few faithful, and those hidden or in hiding; nevertheless at that time the same Church was visible and flourishing in Judah...

Let Luther now show, let Calvin show, who before their times taught the same faith with them through all things; let them show the continuation, descent, and derivation of their faith through each century; let them show which Fathers in each century of years taught that in the Eucharist there is not the true body, but only a sign of the body of Christ; that the Roman Pontiff is the Antichrist; that the Saints are not to be invoked; that there is no free will; that there are no merits of works; that faith alone justifies; that God is the author of all works, both evil and good.

Until now no one has dared to prove this, indeed even to promise it, no one has, not even the Magdeburg Centuriators themselves: this is doubtless the reason which compels them into these straits and forces them to take refuge in saying that the Church can err and fail, indeed has failed for as many centuries of years as flowed between St. Gregory (for then they say the Church failed, and Antichrist began to preside in it) and Luther. Necessity is a hard weapon. Has Christ then for so many ages deserted His spouse the Church? Has He then broken the promise He gave in Matt. XVI: "You are Peter, and upon this rock (that is, upon this Peter, as the Syriac has it, and Peter's successors in the Roman chair) I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"? Has the Church then collapsed, the temple and house of God, which the Apostle in 1 Tim. III says is "the pillar and ground of truth"; which the Prophets teach to be the eternal kingdom of Christ? Has the invisible Church then been hidden for so many ages, the Church which is the mistress of faith, the teacher of truth; which Isaiah, chapter II, teaches to be a mountain on the top of the mountains, and exalted above all hills; which Christ commands to be approached and heard in doubts and difficulties, Matt. XVIII: "Tell the Church," He says: "but if he will not hear the Church, let him be to you as a heathen and a publican"? May God by His goodness open the eyes of all those wandering and miserable people who, deceived by Luther and Calvin and their followers, have separated themselves from the fold of the Church like wandering sheep, that they may see, recognize, and run back as if by right of return to the ancient and stable, Catholic and Apostolic, namely Roman Church, as a most loving mother, and return into grace and mutual embrace with her. Amen.

Elijah said this grieving, afflicted, and pusillanimous from sadness, judging that all things were lost and far worse than they really were: whence the Lord here corrects both his pusillanimity and his error, saying:

AND I AM LEFT ALONE, AND THEY SEEK MY LIFE.

Verse 4: I Have Reserved for Myself Seven Thousand Men

4. I HAVE RESERVED FOR MYSELF SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THEIR KNEES BEFORE BAAL. — As if to say: Do not think, O Elijah, that you alone of God's worshipers remain; that the rest have either been killed, or have turned aside to Baal. Behold, I have preserved by My providence and grace seven thousand men, both from slaughter and from idolatry; who worship Me equally as you do. So also at this time of Christ and Paul I have preserved the remnant of the Jews to Myself and to My worship and to the Church, namely those who have embraced the faith of Christ. So the word "I have reserved" properly signifies, I have kept for Myself as servants, worshipers, and friends, namely those who refused to worship Baal. For this antithesis is best suited to the Apostle's purpose, which is to show that even though God had cast away from righteousness and grace most of the Jews, because unbelievers in Christ, nevertheless He kept a few of them for Himself, His worship, and His friendship, namely those who believed in Christ. Again, by the word "I have reserved" God shows and intimates the power of His grace. For He does not say: They themselves have remained, but, I have reserved, in Greek kateleipsa, in Hebrew hisharti, that is, I have reserved; because although they themselves also preserved themselves, yet they were rather preserved by the grace of God; for the power of grace in a good work is greater than the concurrence of free will. So St. Augustine, in the book On the Gift of Perseverance, chapter XI.

SEVEN THOUSAND. — This means many thousands: for the number seven signifies multitude, and is familiar to the Hebrews, on account of the sabbath; just as seven and ten on account of the decalogue, says St. Jerome in chapter IV and LIV of Isaiah. Thus Eccles. XI, 2, says: "Give a portion to seven," that is, to many poor, "and also to eight," that is, to many more. Thus 1 Kings II, 5, in the Hebrew, has: "Until the barren has borne seven," which our Interpreter renders, "until the barren has borne many."

WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THEIR KNEES BEFORE BAAL. — In Greek it is feminine tê Báal, namely eikoni (image), that is, the image of Baal. Unless you prefer to say that by Jezebel, a Tyrian woman, Astarte, the goddess of the Tyrians, was set forth to the Israelites for worship, as it were a female Baal. For Baal in Hebrew is a general name for gods. But it can be most easily and solidly said that here, as also elsewhere, an error has crept into the Greek text, and the masculine tô must be restored in place of tê. For so our Interpreter and the ancients seem to have read. Beza here blasphemes when he says Catholics bow their knees before Baal when they invoke the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, and call her by the common voice of all nations "Our Lady": for Baal in Hebrew means lord; but by the usage of nations it means God, who is the supreme Lord of all. But no one invokes the Blessed Virgin as God: but why is it not lawful to call her "Our Lady," when citizens so call kings and princes, servants their masters, indeed Beza calls Calvin his lord and master?

Verse 5: A Remnant According to the Election of Grace

5. SO THEREFORE EVEN AT THIS TIME A REMNANT (that is, a few Jews believing in Christ; a few, I say, in comparison with the countless unbelievers, so that out of such great unbelief and ruin these few seem to be only the remnants and the leftovers), according to the election of grace (that is, gratuitous), HAVE BEEN SAVED, — that is, have been justified. For Paul here is not dealing with the immediate election to glory, or to first grace and faith, but with the election to righteousness, as I showed at the beginning of chapter IX. For righteousness is salvation from sin, and it is incipient salvation, which will be perfected in heavenly glory. Therefore this election of God is the love of God, of which I spoke in chapter IX: "Jacob I have loved," which He also called by another name in the same place "mercy," saying: "It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy."

Note that the consent of free will is not repugnant to this election of grace, nor its free acceptance of grace, nor faith, repentance, and other free dispositions of man toward righteousness: for none of these confer any merit, any efficacy, any right properly so called on man toward righteousness. But all these being granted, it is of God's pure election and grace that He justifies such men, not others who lack these things, as the Apostle expressly says in chapter IV, verse 5, and from him the Council of Trent, sessions V and VI.

Both therefore are true, and both can truly be answered, if you ask, why is the faithful penitent justified rather than the unfaithful penitent? I will answer first, because he disposed himself, the latter did not. I will answer second, because God willed gratuitously to justify him and to accept his dispositions; but not this other, who lacks them. For faith is a disposition to righteousness, not by its own nature or natural force and efficacy, but because God so willed and ordained. And St. Chrysostom seems to speak according to the former response, when he says that God elects this man to righteousness and salvation rather than that one, because He foresaw that this one would consent to His grace, not that one. On the contrary, St. Augustine, according to the latter sense, when one asks why this man is chosen by God rather than that one, answers that the cause is not human merit, but divine election and grace. For both are true, in the sense which I have said.

Finally, the Apostle here opposes only the election of grace to election from the works of the law or of nature, as is clear from what follows and from the entire epistle. Therefore, under grace, he understands the free embrace of grace, and those who, stirred up by grace, freely obey and submit themselves to grace. For the free embrace of grace is itself a kind of grace: for it is brought about by prevenient and cooperating grace. Hence the faithful themselves and the Saints who obey grace are children of grace and are so called. Toletus teaches this same point more fully here, in note 4.

You will say: St. Augustine does not read the word "saved," and in the Greek there is only leimma gegonen, that is, "a remnant has come to be."

I answer: "a remnant," supply "of the saved," that is, of those who have been saved, as Our (translator) renders it, that is, of those who have been justified, has come to be through the election of justifying grace.

If, however, with some, from St. Augustine, you wish to extend this reservation, just as the "I have left" or "I have reserved" of the preceding verse, and take it of the calling and prevenient grace, as if through this the reservation of those to be saved, that is, of those to be justified, was made: I answer that this too can truly be said, namely that it pertains to divine election and calling grace that these are converted, not those: because although both physically had equal calling grace, this grace, working with free will, brought about conversion in these, but not in those; that is, these by the power of grace converted themselves, not those; for the fact that these converted themselves was the power and efficacy of grace, which free will used and with which it cooperated, as grace required, and as God intended in giving this grace: but the fact that others refused to be converted was the malice of free will. Therefore those who are justified should attribute their righteousness, though freely accepted by themselves, to grace; just as a poor man attributes to the grace of the rich man that he is sustained by his bread, and does not arrogate this to himself, although he himself ought freely to accept and eat the bread offered by the rich man, if he wishes to be sustained by it. For this acceptance of his has nothing of praise, nothing illustrious, especially if it be compared with the liberality and liberal giving of the rich man.

Verse 6: If by Grace, Then Not of Works

6. BUT IF (this election is of grace, as I have said, and therefore is itself) GRACE, IT IS NO LONGER OF WORKS, — as if to say: If this election to righteousness, namely justification itself, is of God's grace, therefore it does not come to us from the merit of our works. By "works" I here understand the works of the law of nature, indeed even of faith; insofar, namely, as such, these are not man's works, because the dispositions of faith, hope, repentance, as they are human acts, have neither merit nor efficacy of justifying; but only by God's gratuitous ordinance dispose man to righteousness, as I said.

From these last words wrongly understood, certain ones, drawing an argument from contraries, have so concluded: If the dispositions of faith, hope, repentance, as they are man's acts or human acts, have neither merit nor efficacy of justifying, but only by God's gratuitous ordinance; therefore the same acts of hope, etc., considered as they are man's acts, that is, as they are acts of nature alone and of free will excluding grace, granting that of themselves they have no merit nor efficacy of justifying, nevertheless have this from God's gratuitous ordinance. Therefore from this, the purely natural acts of man, without grace, merit at least congruously justification, and dispose man for it. But this is the error of the Semipelagians, who hold that nature alone, by the good use of free will, disposes us for grace, which I have always detested. Therefore I explain my mind: When I say, "man's acts" or "human acts," I do not exclude grace, but include it. For it is clear that acts of faith, hope, repentance cannot be elicited by man except through grace: but supposing grace, and that man by grace freely elicits them, I say that these human acts neither from grace nor from man's cooperation properly merit justification, or give to man a right and merit to it; but that they are dispositions for justification, and are directed and lead to it, all of this is to be attributed to God's gratuitous ordinance, good pleasure, and liberality, namely because God has so ordained.

They would have seen this is what I meant, if they had considered my last words, namely the "as I said," for at verse 5, p. 187, col. 2, opposite the words just cited, § Note, "this election of grace is not repugnant," etc., I expressly write and explain my mind.

Therefore the acts of faith, hope, repentance, fully considered, namely as they flow both from grace and from free will, of themselves give no right or merit to righteousness, but by God's gratuitous ordinance alone accepting them, and thus gratuitously establishing them, they dispose and lead to righteousness. This is the truth, this is my mind.

Furthermore, that there and elsewhere I distinguish disposition from merit, this I do from the common phrase and opinion of Theologians, who say and teach that the acts of faith, hope, fear, etc., are dispositions to justification, but do not properly merit it, namely of condignity. For although they may merit it of congruity, yet this merit is slight and restricted, and does not deserve the name of absolute and strict (merit).

Finally, justification is taken in two ways, namely first, formally: formal justification takes place when God infuses into man justifying grace and charity; second, dispositively, namely when through the acts of faith, hope, fear, the penitent prepares and disposes himself for righteousness, grace, and charity. Now when the Apostle says that we are justified gratuitously without works, some, with St. Augustine, epist. 105, take "to be justified" in the second way, as if to say: That man elicits acts of faith, hope, repentance, by which he disposes himself to righteousness, this he has not from himself and from his own natural strengths; but gratuitously, that is, from the prevenient grace of God. Nor do I deny that the Apostle's words can be extended this way; but nevertheless I assert that they are properly said by the Apostle concerning formal justification. The Council of Trent expressly, fully, and professedly teaches that this is so, in session VI, chapter VIII, so that it is amazing that some have said that the Council speaks of one justification, the Apostle of another. And the Apostle himself, in chapter III, verse 21: "But now," he says, "the righteousness of God has been manifested without the law, etc. But the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ." And verse 24: "Being justified freely by His grace, etc., on account of the remission of previous transgressions: to show His righteousness in this time; that He might be just, and justifying him," etc. And chapter IV, 3: "Abraham believed God: and it was reckoned to him for righteousness." And verse 7: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." All these signify formal justification and righteousness. I have confirmed this same point with many arguments at the beginning of chapter IX.

OTHERWISE GRACE IS NO LONGER GRACE. — Chemnitz calumniously charges that something has been omitted in our manuscripts which is found in the Greek, namely ei de ex ergôn, ouk eti esti charis, epei to ergon, ouk eti estin ergon, that is, "but if of works, it is no longer grace: otherwise the work is no longer a work." And so Cajetan and Theophylact read it, but Origen, Chrysostom, Ambrose and others do not read this; indeed Erasmus says it is superfluous. And truly our Latin reading is briefer and more vigorous, and therefore truer. Note, the phrase "of works" here always signifies the merit of works: for this alone is opposed to grace, or to gratuitous gift and election.

Verse 7: That Which Israel Sought, This It Has Not Obtained

7. What then (supply: shall we say, and from what has been said up to now shall we conclude? namely that which follows) THAT WHICH ISRAEL SOUGHT (namely to be justified, from the merits of legal works), THIS IT DID NOT OBTAIN; BUT THE ELECT OBTAINED IT, — that is, those elected according to grace from among the Jews, namely the Jews who embraced Christ's faith and grace, these elected by God to righteousness obtained it. The abstract is put for the concrete, namely "election" for "the elect," according to Canon 30.

BUT THE OTHERS (namely the Jews, not elect, but rejected and repulsed from God and from righteousness, on account of their unbelief) WERE BLINDED, — properly and directly by themselves and by their own malice, because they obstinately clung to the law of Moses and despised the faith of Christ: but indirectly by God deserting them and abandoning them to their unbelief and obstinacy.

Verse 8: God Has Given Them a Spirit of Compunction

8. AS IT IS WRITTEN (Isaiah VI, 9): GOD HAS GIVEN THEM A SPIRIT OF COMPUNCTION. — He gave, by permitting, by deserting, and by providing occasions, good in themselves indeed, but by which they hardened themselves more by their own vice and fault. So St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius.

You will ask, what is here called the spirit of compunction? First, Anselm by "spirit of compunction" understands the spirit impelling to evil, like the goad which by pricking incites the oxen to running.

Second, Ambrose understands the grief of the Jews arising from zeal for Judaism, when they saw it abolished through the Gospel.

Third, others understand the spirit of emulation and envy of the Jews against Christ and the multitude of Christians.

But note: Paul here cites Isaiah VI, 10, as Origen and Chrysostom hold, or rather and more clearly, Isaiah XXIX, 10, as Anselm thinks, where our Interpreter renders: "The Lord has mingled for you a spirit of slumber; He will close your eyes; He will cover your Prophets and your princes who see visions." The sense of this passage is this: God for you, O Jews, will veil and cover Isaiah and the other Prophets, lest you understand them. So Jerome and Cyril on the same place, where note: for "slumber," the Hebrew is tardema, which Theodotion renders ekstasin, that is, ecstasy of mind; Aquila, karôphorôn, that is, heavy sleep; the Chaldean, spirit of error; the Syriac, spirit of stupidity. The Hebrew tardema signifies a very deep lethargy, which takes from man the use of eyes and ears and all sense. Whence the Septuagint, whom St. Paul here follows, in rendering katanyxin, seem to have put this for katanystazein, that is, drowsiness: for nyx is night, and nystazein means to sleep. So Hesychius.

Antiquity relates that a certain most wise Philosopher, when his brain had been struck by a stone, forgot his letters, so that he did not even know how to read. And a Grammarian who, when he had fallen from the donkey on which he was riding and received a wound in the brain, completely forgot all Grammar. And the rhetorician Hermogenes, who, although as a youth was the most learned of his age, when he became old had forgotten everything. A greater miracle happened here, when God made the most eminent doctors of the law of the Jews into the most stupid, as a punishment of their obstinacy in Judaism.

But our Interpreter, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Vatablus, Erasmus and others properly translate katanyxeôs as "of compunction." So in Acts II, 37, it is said: "When they heard these things, they were pricked in their heart"; where Luke in the Greek put this same word katenygêsan. For the blinding and hardening, which Isaiah signifies by slumber and lethargy, the Septuagint and Paul signified by another metaphor, namely by compunction: but compunction here is the same as transpiercing, and to be pricked is the same as to be transpierced. This transpiercing signifies the blinding of the Jews. First, because when an eye is transpierced by a nail or knife, then it is dug out and blinded; and when an ear is pierced and transpierced by a knife, hearing is extinguished, and the man becomes deaf; so the Jews have their mind pricked through, that is, transpierced, both by the nail of envy against Christ and Christians, and by the nail of perfidy and obstinacy, so that the things which are of Christ, of God, of the Christian faith and salvation, they cannot see and hear, just as if they had the eyes and ears of their mind transpunctured and pierced through, and that every faculty and sense of hearing, seeing, and understanding might be extinguished in them. Therefore the spirit of compunction, that is, of transpunction, is obstinacy and rancor, or grief and envy, breathed in and suggested to the Jews from their own malice and from the demon, which like a nail bored through, transpunctured, and blinded their eyes and mind.

Note here: Just as the vehemence of pain at last overcomes and extinguishes the senses, so that a man by the force of pain falls into a faint of mind, becomes stupefied, insensible, indeed sometimes mad and demented; so this rancor and pain of envy was so vehement in the Jews that it stupefied their senses, eyes, ears and mind, and made them insensible and as it were demented in matters of faith and salvation. And this is what St. Cyprian says, bk. I, epist. 3: "The Jews," he says, "demented through the alienation of a transpunctured mind, despise the precepts of God, neglect the remedy of their wound, refuse to do penance, improvident before the crime is committed, obstinate after the crime," as if to say: The vehemence of rancor and grief and envy against Christ and Christians was so great in the Jews that it alienated them from their mind and made them as it were demented, so that they comprehend Christian and divine matters no more than stones or brutes, which are destitute of mind.

Secondly, just as a pot or vessel, when transpunctured and pierced through, retains no water or other liquid; and a mirror, when transpunctured, retains no image of the visible thing, but as if pierced through lets it flow away: so the ears, eyes, and mind of the Jews, transpunctured and pierced through by envy and blindness, retain nothing, but let flow away whatever they hear or see concerning Christ and Christians. Hence having eyes they do not see, and having ears they do not hear. And this is what St. Cyprian, at the place already cited, adds and says: "Their mind is pierced through, their spirit dull, and their sense alienated from God, faith, and repentance."

Thirdly, just as a nail transpuncturing some coin inserts and fastens it to itself; so this envy, perfidy, and obstinacy in their law and Judaism so transpunctured and penetrated the souls of the Jews, that they seem to be transfixed and fastened to them as by beam-nails, so that they are immovable from their perfidy, and consequently, blinded in faith of the Messiah, they have lost all light of the Scriptures, all sense of heavenly things. Therefore this compunction is obstinacy in their perfidy, which penetrated the Jews, transpunctured them, and fastened them immovably to itself. So St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius explain this compunction. See to what envy, stubbornness, tenacity of one's own judgment, and obstinate will lead a man.

EYES THAT THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND EARS THAT THEY MAY NOT HEAR. — Note here five signs and effects of an obstinate mind.

The first is blindness of soul, concerning which Job ch. XII, v. 25: "They shall grope," he says, "as in darkness, and not in light, and He will make them err as drunkards." And ch. XXIV, v. 13: "They have been rebels to the light, they have not known His ways."

The second is voluntary deafness, Job XXI, 14: "Who said to God: Depart from us, and we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." Such was Pharaoh, saying in Exodus V, 2: "Who is the Lord, that I should hear His voice? I know not the Lord." Of both Isaiah XLII, 18: "Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that you may see; who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers?"

The third is contempt of God and men, Proverbs XVIII, 3: "The wicked, when he is come into the depth of sins, despises: but ignominy and reproach follow him." Conversely, such a one is despised and held in contempt by God, Proverbs I, 25: "You have despised all My counsel: I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that which you feared shall come upon you."

The fourth is incorrigibility, Eccles. VII, 14: "Consider the works of God, that no one can correct whom He has despised." Connected with this is impudence and a hardened brow, Jerem. III, 3: "Thou hast had a harlot's forehead, thou wouldst not blush." Prov. II, 14: "Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things."

The fifth is stupor, Prov. XXIII, 34: "Thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the helm is lost, and thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I felt it not." Joined to this is difficulty, and a kind of impossibility of repenting. Jeremiah XIII, 23: "If the Ethiopian can change his skin, you also may do well, when you have learned evil." And ch. XVII, 1: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond, engraven upon the breadth of their heart."

Verse 9: Let Their Table Become a Snare

9. And David (Psalm LXVIII, 23): LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE, AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING-BLOCK. — First, some explain it thus: The table, that is, the food of gall and vinegar which the Jews prepared for Me, Christ, on the cross, let them likewise enjoy in the siege under Titus, and thereafter.

Second, Theodoret on Psalm LXVIII: The table, he says, let it become a snare, that is, let their joy be turned into sorrow.

Third, St. Augustine: Let the table become a snare, that is, he says, let their faith become unbelief and perfidy.

Fourth, St. Hilary on the same Psalm LXVIII: Let the table become for them a snare, that is, he says, let the ancient sacrifices harm them.

Fifth, the table, that is the Paschal lamb, let it become for the Jews a snare, namely so that on the occasion of the Passover all may gather at Jerusalem, and there be besieged and captured by Titus: for so Josephus relates that it actually happened, bk. VII of the War, ch. XVII.

Sixth, the plainer and simpler sense is, as if to say: Just as birds and fish are caught by the bait of the hook or of the net: so let God turn the Jews' table, that is, food, drink, and every abundance of temporal things (often acquired by usury) by which life is sustained and refreshed, into ruin for the Jews, so that they may grow proud and wanton with these things, and provoke the Romans to their own pillage and destruction; and that, by these means—being acquired through usury and serving as incentives to every luxury and pride—they may pave for themselves the road to hell. Thus St. Chrysostom.

Again, the spiritual table of the soul, says Anselm, Origen, and Cajetan, namely the table of God's law and of Holy Scripture, which the Jews regard as their sole delight and highest good — let it become for them a scandal and a retribution, that is, a punishment for their demerits, so that namely by God's just judgment, because they have abused these things, and because from them they refused to recognize Christ, they may now thence draw death and blindness, from which they were striving to grasp life and light.

Verse 10: Bow Down Their Back Always

10. And bow down their back always. — As if to say: More and more, O God, burden them, in what way Thou canst, with errors, scandals, calamities, servitude, says Theodoret, so that, pressed by burdens, they may walk like decrepit old men bent down to the ground.

Secondly, "bow down their back," that is, bring it about that their will and affections, bent down to the ground, may be fastened to gain and to the earth, and may not look up to or seek heavenly goods. So the Poet says: O souls bowed to the earth, and empty of heavenly things! Such we now see the Jews to be.

Verse 11: Have They So Stumbled That They Should Fall?

11. I SAY THEN: HAVE THEY SO STUMBLED THAT THEY SHOULD FALL? — As if to say: If these so dire sayings of David concerning the Jews are true; then have the Jews thus dashed against and stumbled at Christ, as against a stone of stumbling, "so as to fall," without any hope of rising again: that is, that they have collapsed dashed and crushed in a full and irreparable fall? Thus St. Chrysostom and Theophylact.

The Apostle objects this to himself (for the "I say then" is the language of one objecting, as I noted at v. 1) in order to soften the odium and bitterness of the Jews' ruin. Whence he answers:

GOD FORBID. BUT BY THEIR OFFENCE (by the offence, ruin, and fall of the Jews) salvation has come to the Gentiles, THAT THEY MAY EMULATE THEM. — As if to say: God has so far from utterly despising the Jews, that He willed to use the calling of the Gentiles for the conversion of the Jews; for therefore, the Jews struggling against the faith, He called the Gentiles to righteousness and salvation, and the Apostles transferred their preaching to the Gentiles, so that the Jews, seeing the holiness of the Gentiles and the gifts of faith and of the grace of the Holy Spirit, might be aroused as by a holy envy to imitate them and to receive the faith of Christ. And this is what he says, "that they may emulate them," that is, that the Gentiles may provoke "them," namely the Jews, to emulation and to imitation of themselves. For this is the meaning, and the Hebrew קנא kinna means the same, that is to emulate; and so the Greek παραζηλóω, v. 14, is taken. Thus Origen, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Ambrose.

Note: When one falls and falls away from grace and glory, another is at once raised up by God and destined for the crown of the one fallen. Thus when the angels fell, men took their place: when the Jews were unbelieving, the Gentiles took theirs; when one nation falls, another is substituted for it and succeeds. Hence in Apoc. III, 11, each one is warned: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one may take thy crown."

Verse 12: How Much More Their Fullness?

12. NOW IF THE OFFENCE OF THEM IS THE RICHES OF THE WORLD, AND THE DIMINUTION OF THEM THE RICHES OF THE GENTILES. — As if to say: If the unbelief of the Jews and their diminution, that is, the small number of believers, was for the Gentiles the occasion of so great a good and of such great spiritual riches, namely of the preaching of the Gospel (for this, repelled by the Jews, was diverted to the Gentiles), of faith, of righteousness and of salvation, so that as much as the Jews were diminished both in grace and in number of believers, by so much were the Gentiles enriched and increased both in number and in grace of believers.

HOW MUCH MORE THE FULNESS OF THEM, — when namely their full multitude, and all Israel at the end of the world shall believe in Christ — supply: shall enrich and provoke and confirm the Gentiles to imitate themselves; especially since many of the Israelites, from infancy versed in the Sacred Letters, will, with Elijah and Henoch, preach throughout the world, and will demonstrate Christ from Scripture effectively and clearly to the Jews.

Note: The Apostle does not say their conversion, but their fulness; because he aptly opposes this to their diminution. It is an argument from the lesser to the greater: for the latter happens and follows per se, but the former per accidens. And it is more likely that what is naturally apt to follow from a thing per se will come about, than what only follows per accidens; as if to say: If from an evil that is per se opposed to good, namely from the unbelief of the Jews, divine wisdom by an accidental occasion drew so great a good, namely the conversion of all the Gentiles, who are a thousand times more numerous than the Jews; how much more from a good which is per se ordered to good, namely from the faith and conversion of the Jews, will the same God draw an immense good, namely the propagation and confirmation of the Gentiles in the faith, so that thus through the Jews the whole world may be brought to a flourishing and most excellent state, and to eternal salvation and glory? Behold how the Apostle makes the faith and conversion of the Jews desirable to the Gentiles, so that they may not insult the unbelieving Jews, but may grieve over them and have compassion on them, and strive by word and example to convert them. He soon urges the Gentiles to the same thing by his own example, when he adds:

Verse 13: I Will Honor My Ministry

13. I WILL HONOR MY MINISTRY. — Note the "I will honor," that is, I will praise it, I will perform it honorably, I will illuminate and adorn the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles; that I may adorn the Sparta that I have obtained and which has been entrusted to me, which the Hebrews call אכבד acabbed, that is, I will adorn, I will glorify by both words and deeds. Whence the Syriac translates חשם mesabbach, that is, I will make it glorious, I will celebrate with eulogies. Thus St. Bernard, epist. 28 to Ardutio, Bishop of Geneva, urges him in these words: "Take care," he says, "to imitate Paul in honoring thy ministry. Thou wilt honor it by gravity of conduct, maturity of counsels, integrity of actions. These are the things which most ennoble and adorn the Episcopal office."

And in epist. 42 to Henry, Archbishop of Sens: "Be not," he says, "too lax in correcting, nor too severe in pardoning, nor faint-hearted in waiting. Be not excessive in food, nor remarkable in clothing. Be not quick to promise, nor slow to repay, nor a prodigal giver. The counsel of these things will always keep far from you the evil that is old in time but new in greed: simony and its mother avarice, which is the service of idols. And to conclude all in a brief discourse, if in all things you trust these things by the example of the Apostle, you will honor your ministry: ministry, I say, not lordship. Therefore you will honor it, not yourselves. For he who seeks his own desires to be honored himself, not his ministry." Then he adds a new way of honoring: "You will honor it not by ornament of clothing, not by pomp of horses, not by great buildings, but by adorned conduct, by spiritual pursuits, by good works. How many do otherwise! In some priests is seen great ornament of clothing, and of virtues either none or very little." And a little later: "These are not the stigmata of Christ which they carry about in their body after the example of the Martyrs: they are known rather to be feminine ornaments."

Verse 14: That I May Provoke to Emulation My Flesh

14. IF BY ANY MEANS I MAY PROVOKE TO EMULATION MY FLESH, — namely the Jews, who according to the flesh are my kinsmen and blood relatives, as if to say: I value the Jews and their salvation so highly that I profess myself to be the Apostle not so much of the Gentiles, as of the Jews. For for this reason am I the Apostle of the Gentiles, that namely by this my apostolate among the Gentiles, I may provoke the Jews to a certain holy emulation; that they may imitate both me and the Gentiles whom I convert, in the faith and zeal of Christ.

Verse 15: What Shall Their Receiving Be, but Life from the Dead?

15. For if the loss (rejection, reprobation: for in Greek it is ἀποβολή; St. Augustine reads, if the rejection) OF THEM (of the Jews) IS THE RECONCILIATION OF THE WORLD (namely is the occasion of the conversion and reconciliation of all the nations of the whole world, according to the sense already given, v. 12), WHAT (of what kind, and how joyful) WILL BE THEIR RECEIVING (that is, as the Syriac, the restoration and adjoining of the Jews to Christ? assuredly it will be nothing else), BUT (such as is) LIFE FROM THE DEAD, — if namely someone dead, or rather very many dead, should rise again to life, as if to say: If the unbelief and rejection of the Jews brought the Gentiles and the whole world the occasion of reconciliation, because namely the faith repelled by the Jews passed over to the Gentiles: how joyful a thing will it be, if even the Jews themselves should be received back again to the faith? It will namely be just as if a dead man should be called back to life: nay rather, as if the world itself, which consists of Gentiles and Jews, having died on one side, should completely revive whole; just as when a dead person returns to life, all rejoice, and no one grieves or suffers loss. Thus Ambrose.

Secondly, "but life from the dead," as if to say: When the Jews are received back and converted to Christ, nothing more will remain (for all the Gentiles will then already have been converted to Christ), except that the end of the world should come, and the resurrection of the dead, and the consummation of the redemption of men, so that namely all the faithful and elect, both Jews and Gentiles, may pass with Christ to eternal life and glory. Thus St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Anselm, Cajetan.

Verse 16: If the Firstfruit Be Holy, So Is the Lump

16. FOR IF THE FIRSTFRUIT BE HOLY, SO IS THE MASS. — As if to say: "If the firstfruit," that is, the firstfruits of the dough of foods and of bread are consecrated to God, then the whole rest of the mass or dough is also reckoned as consecrated to God. For the Apostle alludes to Numbers XV, 29, as is plain if you compare the Greek texts in both places. For in both places it is ἀπαρχή and φύραμα, which our translator there renders "pulmenta" (pottage), and here "massa" (mass). Now the sense is, as if to say: Inasmuch as the firstfruits of the Jews — that is, as Chrysostom says, the Patriarchs and Prophets; and as Theodoret says, Christ; and as Ambrose and Anselm most aptly say, the Apostles and the first Christians from the Jews — were as firstfruits offered to God and appointed to faith and holiness, also the rest of the body of the Jews is reckoned offered and appointed to God, and by a certain moral estimation and a certain analogical sprinkling of holiness sanctified, as it were in hope, in preparation, in seed and family, namely in their holy progenitors.

It is a new argument, by which Paul proves that the Jews are not to be rejected, as if cast away and reprobated by God, from the fact that they themselves are sons of the holy fathers, and therefore holy, according to the sense already given.

Therefore Calvin has nothing here by which to prove that the infants of the faithful are holy and do not need baptism in order to be sanctified: for in like manner he would prove the unbelieving Jews to be holy, because their parents were holy. For of these the Apostle is literally speaking. In a similar way in I Corinthians VII, 14, he calls not only the children, but even the spouse holy, if one spouse is holy, that is, Christian; whom nevertheless no one, not even Calvin himself, would say is properly sanctified by the other spouse.

AND IF THE ROOT BE HOLY, SO ARE THE BRANCHES. — He says the same thing with another metaphor, as if to say: If the Patriarchs were and are holy: therefore their sons, namely the Jews, are not to be repelled from holiness, says Theodoret; nay rather, they themselves in their parents seem now by a certain moral denomination to be holy and sanctified, and so are in fact holy, if they cling to and rest upon their own root, that is, the faith and holiness of their parents. Whence it follows:

Verse 17: Some of the Branches Broken Off; the Wild Olive Grafted In

17. AND IF SOME OF THE BRANCHES (some of the Jews) BE BROKEN OFF. — In Greek ἐξεκλάσθησαν, broken away, namely from their own root, namely they have fallen away from the faith and righteousness of their parents, in that the faith which they had in Christ as about to come, they cast off when He came. The sense of this sentence depends upon what follows, and is there completed. For Paul adds:

AND THOU (O Gentile people), BEING A WILD OLIVE (ἀγριέλαιος, a wild olive, and unfruitful in good works, on account of unbelief and impiety, because thou wert a Gentile), WERT MADE PARTAKER OF THE ROOT AND OF THE FATNESS OF THE OLIVE, — namely of the faith, grace, and fatness of the Holy Spirit, which the parents of the Jews had, especially Abraham the father of believers and his posterity, who were the Church of God: for this is the olive tree.

The name of olive, says Anselm, is taken from Jeremiah XI, 16, where it is said of the people of Israel: "A plentiful olive (in Hebrew רענן raanan, that is, flourishing), beautiful, fruitful, comely, the Lord called thy name," as if to say: O Israel, O Synagogue, thou wast to the Lord like an olive flourishing and blooming, when thou didst worship Him sincerely and faithfully, happy in the highest peace and abundance of things, blessed and most famous among the Gentiles. Often Scripture compares the Church and the faithful to trees; thus Christ is the vine, we the branches, we are planted together with Him in this vine and olive, and grow up as plants and branches. See what was said in ch. VI, v. 5.

Verse 18: Boast Not Against the Branches

18. BOAST NOT AGAINST THE BRANCHES (now broken off, namely against the unbelieving Jews); BUT IF THOU BOAST, THOU BEAREST NOT THE ROOT, BUT THE ROOT THEE. — As if to say: If thou, O faithful Gentile, dost insult the unfaithful Jew, it will be answered and said to thee that thou hast only been inserted into the root, that is, into the faith and Church of the holy Patriarchs, Prophets and Apostles, who all were Jews, and that from this thou drawest all glory and benefit, and that gratuitously, and so canst again be cut off; just as the natural branches, that is, the Jews, on account of their pride were broken off and torn out.

Verse 19: The Branches Were Broken Off, That I Might Be Grafted In

19. THOU WILT SAY THEN: THE BRANCHES WERE BROKEN OFF, THAT I MIGHT BE GRAFTED IN. — The "that" here and elsewhere does not signify the end or the aim intended by God, but only the event and consequence, as if to say: The Jews were broken off and rejected from the Church: whence it came about and followed that I, a Gentile, in place of the Jews was joined to it and grafted in.

Verse 20: Be Not Highminded, but Fear

20. Well (and rightly thou sayest; but know that) BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF THEY WERE BROKEN OFF, BUT THOU STANDEST BY FAITH (Erasmus and Cajetan wrongly think it should be rendered "thou hast stood," or "thou wert established"; for the Greek ἵστηκας, although it is past tense, has the force of the present. For this is most frequent among the Hebrews. "Thou standest," therefore, that is, thou hast been inserted into the olive through faith); BE NOT (therefore) HIGHMINDED (that is, do not become proud), BUT FEAR. — For the glue by which thou art united to the aforesaid root and olive, namely faith, is not so firm but that thou canst fall away from it, and consequently be separated from the root, as we now see that many nations have been separated from the Church and have fallen away from the faith.

Note here against Calvin, that a man can fall away from faith and grace; for these Gentiles had true faith, and yet the Apostle threatens them with falling away from the faith and the Church. Just as the Jews, having true faith in Christ, when He came, lost it.

Again, this whole passage is moral, exciting every faithful person to fear and diligence in the duties of Christianity, lest, if he be negligent in them, he should fall from the faith or from his state, calling, and rank, as the Jews fell, and as our apostates daily fall. "The best guardian of virtues and of benefits is fear," says Anselm. "Therefore," says St. Augustine, epist. 107, "those not destined to persevere are mingled with those destined to persevere by the most provident will of God, lest regenerated and beginning to live piously, we, secure, should be highminded." Again from this passage St. Chrysostom, in his Moral, teaches that the merits of fathers do not help degenerate sons. Hear also St. Bernard, epist. 42 to Henry, Archbishop of Sens: "Do not," he says, "be highminded, but fear. To be highly placed and not to be highminded is difficult, and altogether unusual: but the more unusual, the more glorious. Fear of the height already attained makes the higher things weary rather than pleasing. Do not therefore think yourselves fortunate because you are in authority: but if you are not of profit, count yourselves unfortunate. And that you may rule securely, do not disdain to be in subjection yourselves to whomever you owe it. For the disdain of subjection makes one unworthy of preferment. The counsel of the Wise Man is: The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things. And the precept of Wisdom: He that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger."

Verse 21: If God Spared Not the Natural Branches

21. FOR IF GOD HATH NOT SPARED THE NATURAL BRANCHES (the Jews, by expelling them from His Church, friendship and salvation), (fear) LEST PERHAPS HE ALSO SPARE NOT THEE (a grafted-in Gentile, if thou sin against the faith or against the Christian life).

Verse 22: The Goodness and Severity of God

22. ON THEM INDEED WHO HAVE FALLEN, SEVERITY (because God has excluded the unbelieving from Himself, from His grace, friendship and salvation): BUT TOWARDS THEE, THE GOODNESS OF GOD (χρηστότητα, that is, kindness, by which He has called and accepted thee unto His grace, friendship and glory), IF THOU CONTINUE IN HIS GOODNESS. — This is, in the faith of Christ, says Clement of Alexandria, bk. I of the Paedagogus, ch. VIII.

Secondly, Anselm: "In goodness," he says, that is, in grace and good works. But these are not the genuine senses; for this goodness is not of man, but of God. For it is the same as that of which a little earlier he said: "See in thee the goodness of God." For in Greek it is in both places χρηστότης, that is, goodness, kindness. The sense therefore is, as if to say: See, O faithful one, God's goodness and kindness toward thee, if thou shalt remain in this goodness of God, namely if thou live worthily of that kindness which God has shown thee, by praising it, by giving thanks to it, by serving and obeying it, that the same goodness of God may always grasp, hold, cherish and embrace thee with the arms of His paternal favor and care. Otherwise, if thou art ungrateful to this goodness of God, disobedient and rebellious, thou too wilt fall away from this olive of God, that is, from the Church.

Note the "if thou shalt remain." For from this it is plain, first, that perseverance is a certain sign and cause of election and of predestination to salvation and eternal glory. From this it is plain, secondly, that no one is certain of this perseverance. See St. Augustine, bk. XI Of the City of God, ch. XII.

Verse 23: They Shall Be Grafted In

23. AND THEY ALSO (the unbelieving Jews), IF THEY DO NOT REMAIN IN UNBELIEF, SHALL BE GRAFTED IN (into this olive of the Church, of which I spoke at v. 17); FOR GOD IS ABLE TO GRAFT THEM IN AGAIN. — Note the emphasis on the words "is able": for the "is able" signifies not the bare power of God, but also act and effect, as if to say: If the Jews change their perfidy into faith, God is able by His power to graft them in, and indeed in fact will mightily again graft them into His Church. The phrase is similar in II Corinthians IX, 8.

Verse 24: Grafted into Their Own Olive

24. FOR IF THOU WERT CUT OUT OF THE WILD OLIVE TREE WHICH IS NATURAL TO THEE (namely out of Gentilism and paganism, which was barren, uncultivated, and wild like a wild olive, that is, a wild and woodland olive), AND, CONTRARY TO NATURE (of this wild olive), WERT GRAFTED INTO THE GOOD OLIVE TREE (the Church, which is cultivated, fruitful, and sweet like an olive); HOW MUCH MORE SHALL THOSE WHO ARE ACCORDING TO NATURE (namely the Jews, who according to natural propagation are sprung from this olive, namely from the faithful and holy Patriarchs, to whom the promise of the Messiah was made, who therefore were the people and the Church of God: for to Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed: the Jews, I say, if they forsake their perfidy and believe in Christ, again) BE GRAFTED INTO THEIR OWN OLIVE, — namely into the former Church of God?

St. Augustine treats this passage beautifully in Psalm LXXII, where in this grafting of the wild olive into the olive — that is, of the Gentile people into the Jewish and faithful one — he notes two miracles. The first is that the Apostle says the wild olive has been grafted into the olive, whereas, on the contrary, the olive is usually grafted into the wild olive. The latter is that this wild olive, grafted into the olive, has produced not the fruits of the wild olive but of the olive, although in natural grafting the contrary happens: for that which is grafted in is itself what grows, and bears fruit not of the tree into which it is grafted, but of its own shoot which has been grafted in. And for this reason Paul calls this grafting "contrary to nature."

Verse 25: Blindness in Part Has Happened in Israel

25. FOR I WOULD NOT, BRETHREN, HAVE YOU IGNORANT OF THIS MYSTERY (which follows, namely), THAT BLINDNESS IN PART HAS HAPPENED IN ISRAEL, UNTIL THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES SHOULD COME IN. — Paul here proves what he had said, that the Jews are not so excluded from the Church and the Kingdom of God but that they can again be grafted in, from the fact that in fact they will again be grafted in after the conversion and grafting in of the Gentiles. And this the Apostle calls a mystery, that is, a wonderful, hidden and stupendous judgment of God, and a disposition, providence, permission and ordination, by which it has been brought about and accomplished that, when Christ was first sent, the Jews were blinded, with this design, that the Gentiles might be called to salvation, and then all the Jews might be enlightened, might believe and be saved.

THAT YOU MAY NOT BE WISE IN YOUR OWN CONCEITS. — Lest, considering yourselves prudent or wise, you become elated and insolently arrogate something to yourselves. Thus Theodoret. Whence some translate: "Be not insolent," or elated. It is therefore a metalepsis, "be not wise," that is, proud. For wisdom begets pride. The Apostle is speaking to the faithful Gentiles, that they may not become proud and insolent of their faith, wisdom, and prudence against the Jews who remain in their unbelief and blindness.

BECAUSE BLINDNESS IN PART (that is, in some, says St. Chrysostom and Theodoret) HAS HAPPENED IN ISRAEL. — For "blindness," the Greek has πώρωσις, that is, hardening. But πώρωσις is sometimes the same as π́ηρωσις, that is, blindness. So Theodoret, the Syriac, and others.

UNTIL THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES SHOULD COME IN. — The "should come in" is here put by enallage for "may come in," as if to say: Blindness will be in Israel until the number of those who are to believe from among the Gentiles be fully completed, and they enter into the fold of Christ. And so after them all Israel shall be saved, and from each fulness, of the Gentiles and of the Jews, one full and perfect Church shall arise and exist.

Verse 26: All Israel Shall Be Saved

26. AND SO ALL ISRAEL SHOULD BE SAVED. — In Greek σωθήσεται, that is, will be saved, shall be saved. Some here take Israel not as carnal but as spiritual, namely all from among the Jews and Gentiles who believe and are to be saved. So Theodoret, Augustine, Jerome on Isaiah ch. XI, Caesarius in Gregory Nazianzen's dialog. 4. But it is plain that the Apostle in this whole chapter is dealing with carnal, not spiritual, Israel. So all the other Fathers and Greek and Latin commentators teach.

Whence secondly, better, St. Chrysostom, Ambrose, Origen, and Hilary on Psalm LVIII: "All Israel," they say, that is, all the Jews. Therefore from this passage St. Chrysostom, St. Thomas, Cajetan, and Sotus judge that absolutely all the Jews are to be converted and saved at the end of the world.

Thirdly and best, "all Israel," that is almost all, very many from each of the tribes of Israel, with the exception of the one tribe of Dan, will at the end of the world be converted and saved. I except the tribe of Dan because from it none are signed among the 144 thousand sealed from the XII tribes of Israel, Apoc. VII. Whence many think the Danites will adhere to Antichrist as their fellow tribesman. Indeed St. Hippolytus, in his book On the Consummation of the World, and many others teach that Antichrist will have as his chief followers and defenders the Jews. And Christ sufficiently signifies this in John V, 43, and Paul in II Thessal. II, 10, as I shall say there. Therefore absolutely all the Jews at the end of the world will not be converted to Christ.

AS IT IS WRITTEN (Isaiah LIX, 20): THERE SHALL COME OUT OF SION, ONE WHO SHALL DELIVER, AND TURN AWAY UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. — Namely from Israel; for Jacob was called Israel by the angel, Gen. XXXII, 28, and from him all his posterity, namely the Jews, are called the family of Jacob or Israel.

Note, for "out of Sion," in Hebrew it is לציון letsion, which our translator in Isaiah renders "shall come Sion," that is, to Sion; the Septuagint and from them Cyril translate, as we now read in them, ἔνεκεν Σιών, on account of Sion. But St. Jerome teaches that they had translated ἐκ Σιών, out of Sion: and that this is true is plain here from St. Paul, and the Hebrew ל sometimes means "from," as is plain at II Kings XV, 19. Now the sense is, as if Isaiah said: From the nation and tribe of Judah, which dwells in Sion, Christ shall be born, who will take away the iniquity of Jacob, that is, of all the tribes of Israel.

Verse 27: This Is My Covenant to Them

27. AND THIS IS MY COVENANT TO THEM, — this is the covenant (of which I shall speak at I Corinthians XI, 23) which I God shall make with these believing Jews. This covenant Isaiah, ch. LIX, explains in the following words, saying: "My Spirit who is in thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, and out of the mouth of thy seed, even for ever," as if to say: "The Holy Spirit who is in Thee," O Christ (so Procopius and Cyril in the same place: for they wish these to be the words of the Father to the Son); or rather, "who is in thee," O Jacob and Sion, that is, O Church to be gathered from the Jews, "and my words," that is, my law and my precepts, "shall not depart out of thy mouth"; but thou wilt fulfill and perform them, both by faith, and by profession of faith and a holy life, by the grace and help of the same Spirit: for the New Testament is a covenant of grace and of the Spirit; just as the Old Testament was a covenant of law, of threats, and of punishments, as Jeremiah more fully describes, ch. XXXI, 33.

Not Isaiah, but the Apostle adds and explains that this will be when God shall have taken away their sins, namely at the end of the world, as St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine say, bk. XX Of the City, ch. XXIX, by the preaching of Elijah and Henoch, as is plain from Malachi I, 5, and Apocalypse XI, 3. From this passage of the Apostle, therefore, as also from Malachi, the tradition of the Church concerning the conversion of the Jews to Christ at the end of the world is most certainly established.

Verse 28: Enemies for Your Sake, Beloved for the Fathers' Sake

28. ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL (which the Jews oppose) THEY ARE ENEMIES (of God) FOR YOUR SAKE, — that you, O Gentiles, may on this occasion receive the preaching and the faith. Thus Ambrose and others. The Apostle urges, repeats, and inculcates this, so that the Gentiles may acknowledge that the benefit of the Gospel was granted to them on the occasion of the Jews, and therefore may not be indignant against them, although unbelieving, but may have compassion on them.

BUT ACCORDING TO ELECTION (by which God formerly chose the Jews as His people) THEY ARE MOST DEAR TO GOD FOR THE FATHERS' SAKE, — namely the holy Patriarchs, friends of God, to whom God promised that He would convert their sons at the end of the world to Christ, and elect them to His friendship, Church, and salvation, after the fulness of the Gentiles should have entered: God moreover will keep and fulfill His promises, and therefore, when at the end of the world the Jews shall receive the faith, they will be most joyfully received by the Church for the sake of their fathers. Thus Ambrose, Origen, Augustine.

Verse 29: The Gifts and Calling of God Are Without Repentance

29. THE GIFTS AND THE CALLING OF GOD ARE WITHOUT REPENTANCE. — "Without repentance," in Greek ἀμεταμέλητα, irrevocable, that is, immutable. Whence the Basel codex reads ἀμετάθετα, and the Syriac translates: God has not changed His gift and calling. The sense is: Although the Jews are now unbelieving, yet God does not revoke that which He has absolutely given or promised, and consequently what He promised to the Patriarchs, namely the calling, protection, and love toward their sons, especially those to be converted at the end of the world: this He will in fact perform, as if to say: God will now in fact call the Jews, whom He once called to Himself by Moses and promised and decreed to call to Christ, and to endow with the gifts of grace and glory; and He will most especially call them at the end of the world, and will lavish upon them the spiritual goods which He promised: for then the Jews, wearied of so many evils and of their so long blindness and desolation, by the preaching and miracles of Elijah and Henoch, will open their eyes and will believe in Christ.

St. Thomas and Cajetan note that this proposition of the Apostle: "The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance," is true of efficacious and absolute calling, which obtains its effect, such as is the calling of the predestined. This is true, and in this passage, from the foreknowledge of the conversion of the Jews at the end of the world, such an efficacious calling of God is understood. In general, however, this proposition of the Apostle is true also of inefficacious calling and grace, so far as it is on God's part. Thus God called the Hebrews, and promised them the fertility of the land of Canaan, under the condition: "If you keep my law"; the Jews did not keep this condition, whence God in fact did not subsequently fulfill this His promise. But so far as it was on His part, He fulfilled the promise, because He was prepared to give, and in fact would have given them this fertility, if they had stood by the condition and the covenants, that is, by His law.

Secondly, Ambrose explains it thus: "The gifts of God are without repentance," as if to say: The gift of baptism does not require repentance, but only the profession of faith; understand this thus: Baptism does not require repentance, namely satisfactory repentance. For otherwise the one to be baptized must repent and grieve for the sins committed. Thus St. Thomas. But this sense is not according to the mind of the Apostle.

Therefore the Innovators have nothing here for their certitude of the grace of individual believers and of the elect — even by Calvin's own testimony: because, as he himself confesses, the Apostle here speaks of the election not of any individual, but of the whole Jewish nation. Much more absurdly might some other innovator infer from this: "The gifts of God are without repentance"; therefore without repentance, by faith alone, God gives pardon and grace to sinners.

Verses 30 and 31: That They Also May Obtain Mercy

30. AS YOU ALSO IN TIMES PAST (O Gentiles) DID NOT BELIEVE, etc., BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF (of the Jews): 31. SO THESE ALSO (the Jews) NOW HAVE NOT BELIEVED IN YOUR MERCY (so that you, O Gentiles, on that occasion might receive the mercy of the preaching, of the faith and of the grace from God): THAT THEY ALSO (the Jews) MAY OBTAIN MERCY, — that namely provoked by your example, especially when they see the gifts of God's grace and mercy in you, they themselves also may at length obtain mercy.

Verse 32: God Has Confined All in Unbelief

32. FOR GOD HAS CONFINED ALL IN UNBELIEF, that He may have mercy on all. — Confined, that is, God has successively convicted all men of unfaithfulness, says St. Chrysostom and Theodoret.

Secondly and better, Origen: Confined, that is, God permitted all to be confined under sin and under unbelief. For the sinner is shut up by sin, as by a stone or a prison; because from it he cannot come forth without God's grace.

The Apostle has concluded this whole disputation of his, begun in chapter 9, with the same proposition which he proposed in chapters 1 and 2: namely, that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, are sinners, and shut up under the yoke of sin, and need the grace of God and of Christ; that in this way He may humble both Gentiles and Jews, and so reduce both to concord, and may illuminate the gift of God and grace, and the benefit of Christ. But what he said and showed in chapters 1 and 2 about various sins, now, with the necessity of faith demonstrated, he concludes regarding the one sin of unbelief, as if to say: God permitted both Jews and Gentiles to be confined successively and in turn in the darkness of long unbelief, that He might call them to His faith and grace and free them, and so make manifest His glorious mercy to all.

Note first: "All," that is all, as the Greek and Syriac have it, namely both Jews and Gentiles.

Note secondly: For unbelief, in Greek it is ἀπείθειαν, which is the same as obstinacy in not believing, even when whatever reasons have been heard — that is, impersuadability. But the Apostle here attributes ἀπείθειαν also to the Gentiles: whence it appears he takes ἀπείθειαν for unfriendliness, namely for unfaithfulness.

Note thirdly: When he says: "that He may have mercy on all," understand all not of men, but of nations, that is, both Gentiles and Jews. For it is a distribution by classes of individuals, not however by individuals of classes. Therefore let no one with Origen conclude from this that demons and the damned will at some time be saved. So St. Augustine, book XXI of The City of God, chap. XXIV.

Verses 33-36: O the Depth of the Riches of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God

33. O DEPTH OF RICHES! (O deep riches! in Greek ὁ βάθος πλούτου, O depth of riches, or of treasure! as if to say: O lofty depth and deep loftiness! ὁ βάθος! ὁ ἄβυσσος! O depth! O abyss! O depth of the abyss and the abyssal depth of riches) OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD!

Note: Loftiness is often taken for depth, because depth, although with respect to our climate it descends, nevertheless with respect to another sphere and hemisphere stretches upward; thus a deep well is called profound, and a deep ditch, that is, a profound one.

Note secondly: Ambrose and Augustine join the τὸ "of riches" with the wisdom and knowledge of God, as if to say: O lofty riches! O profound treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God! O abyssal and immense wisdom of God! See St. Augustine, sermon 11 On the Words of the Apostle. For the name of riches signifies abundance and overflow, as does the name loftiness. But St. Chrysostom, Origen and Theodoret distinguish these things better: for the Greek and the Syriac distinguish these three by the conjunction "and": for they have it thus, ὁ βάθος πλούτου, καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως Θεου, O depth of riches and of wisdom and of knowledge of God! The antecedents and the sequels favor this distinction. First, because the Apostle here marvels at the abyss of divine mercy, of which He had spoken before, no less than at the abyss of wisdom. Secondly, because He proves these three things, thus distinguished, distinctly by the three following questions: namely, the depth of wisdom, when he says: "Who has known the mind of the Lord?" the depth of knowledge, when he adds: "Or who has been His counselor?" the depth of riches, when he subjoins: "Or who has first given to Him?" Where note: by riches Paul here understands the greatness of God's mercy, by which He made us rich in all the gifts of grace and glory, as is clear from Ephesians 1. The sense therefore is, as if to say: O profound mercy, wisdom and knowledge of God! Mercy, by which He had mercy on all; wisdom, by which, as Gregory says in book XXIX Moralia, ch. XXVIII, He permitted all things to be confined under sin and unbelief, and by which He so dispensed all things, that first He neglected the Gentiles, that thus He might choose the Jews; then He rejected the Jews, that thus He might choose the Gentiles; finally, that He might in the end choose and embrace both. Knowledge, by which He knows all future things most distinctly before they come to pass — such as the rejection of the Jews, the adoption of the Gentiles and their justification: which is what the Apostle has in view in this passage. For on this account he exclaims: "O depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" And this very thing is what he has been intending to teach and demonstrate from chapter 9 up to this point through these three chapters.

For if God had sent the Messiah with pomp, rich, splendid and magnificent like another Solomon, the Jews would have received Him. Again, God had a thousand other ways by which He might have drawn the Jews to Himself: but He did not wish to display them to the Jews, and willed to propose this one method of righteousness and salvation, namely a poor and crucified Messiah, whom He knew would be repudiated by the Jews, but accepted by the Gentiles. If you ask why God so determined, chose and acted? — I can give no other answer than what Paul here gives: "O depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"

Note thirdly, how great is the loftiness of divine knowledge: for in eleven ways and reasons God's knowledge excels and transcends every angelic and human knowledge. First, by reason of object; for God by His knowledge knows all past, present, future things, all possible things, and Himself, as it were the ocean of all things. Secondly, by reason of mode and perfection in knowing; for God knows all things most perfectly, in every way in which they can be known, and therefore comprehends all things. Thirdly, by reason of medium: for God knows not through species, nor through effects, but through His own essence, as it were a most clear mirror, He knows all things. Fourthly, by reason of swiftness; for in an instant, and in one glance of the mind, God knows all things at once. Fifthly, by reason of certainty; because He knows most certainly all things, even contingent ones, in themselves uncertain. Sixthly, by reason of eternity; because His knowledge never began, never will end. Seventhly, by reason of uniformity; because the knowledge of God is invariable, and always the same, neither advancing nor failing. Eighthly, by reason of simplicity and unity; because by one and most simple act of understanding God knows both Himself and all other things. Ninthly, by reason of entity; for the knowledge of God is not accidental, as it is in men and angels, but is substantial to God, and is God Himself. Tenthly, by reason of causality; because the knowledge of God is the idea and cause of all things which come to be. Eleventhly, by reason of fruitfulness and communication; because the wisdom and knowledge of God, as it were the greatest light, diffuses itself to angels, men and all living things, and causes all things to be known and to know. The Apostle here especially considers and admires the first, the fifth and the tenth. So Pererius.

HOW INCOMPREHENSIBLE (Tertullian, Against Hermogenes, at the end, reads, undiscoverable) ARE His JUDGMENTS, AND HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT (ἀνεξιχνίαστοι, that is, not traceable, unsearchable) (that is, His counsels, modes, works, the reasons of His providence)!

34. For who has known the mind (in Greek νουν, that is, the mind, the thought) of the Lord? — These judgments of God lay low every kind of pride. "The gods (says the Comic Poet) have men as their playthings." And the Emperor Zeno: "Man is the sport of God"; so that God's Wisdom plays with man as with a ball in the world. Hence the abyss of human misery calls upon the abyss of divine mercy, says St. Augustine. In like manner the abyss of human ignorance and folly calls upon the abyss of divine knowledge and wisdom.

OR WHO HAS BEEN HIS COUNSELOR? — A counselor is not only one who gives counsel to God, as Isaiah (to whom Paul here alludes) explains in chap. XL, 13, but also one who is a partaker and sharer of God's counsel; for this is what σύμβουλος is, as if to say: No one is privy to the counsels and divine secrets, and therefore no one ought to investigate why, having abandoned the Jews, God has now taken the Gentiles to Himself. Beautifully says St. Bernard, epistle 107: "Who," he says, "has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Indeed not none, but few. Only those, surely, who can truthfully say: The Only-Begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him to us. Woe to the world from clamor. The Only-Begotten cries out among the same peoples as the angel of great counsel: Let him who has ears to hear, hear. And since He does not find minds worthy to whom He may entrust the secret of the Father, He has covered with parables the multitudes; that hearing they may not hear, and seeing they may not understand. But the friends hear from above: To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. To whom He also speaks: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. Who are these? Those, surely, whom He foreknew to be conformed to the image of the Son of God, that He Himself might be the firstborn among many brethren. The great and secret counsel has been made known, the Lord knows who are His. But what was known to God has been manifested to men. Nor has He deigned others to share in so great a mystery, but those very ones whom He foreknew and predestined to be His own."

35. OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM, — what he has not received from Him. This is plain from what follows; for by such a title of gratitude God would truly and properly be bound, and would be obliged to give thanks to him, and to repay like for like. The sense therefore is, as if to say: God is bound to no one by any right or title: because He has received nothing from anyone which He had not first given to him. Therefore God is debtor to no one; and consequently He is not unjust, unfaithful, or ungrateful, if He enlightens the Gentiles, but leaves the Jews in their blindness.

Whence it is plain that nothing is here said against merits. For, as St. Augustine rightly says in On the Words of the Apostle, sermon 16: "God has been made our debtor, not by receiving anything from us; but by promising to us what pleased Him, that we may say to Him: Render what You have promised, because we have done what You commanded; and even this very thing which we have done, You have done, because You have helped us as we labored." The Apostle seems to have taken this saying from Job XLI, 2, where the Lord says: "Who has first given to Me, that I should repay him?" Furthermore, that no one has first given anything to God which he has not received from Him, the Apostle proves by that statement which he subjoins, saying:

36. FOR FROM HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, AND IN HIM ARE ALL THINGS: TO HIM BE GLORY FOR EVER. AMEN. — "From Him," namely as the first effecting cause, all things have received their being; "through Him," as it were the director, all things are disposed, directed, perfected; "in Him," that is, by His power, all things are conserved, endure, and operate. In Greek εἰς αὐτόν, into Him, namely all things look and tend.

Note: Although these three apply to God, that is, to the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity; nevertheless, as St. Augustine teaches, book I On the Trinity, ch. VI, and from him commonly the doctors, the preposition "from" is appropriated to the Father, and intimates Him as the first principle of all things, from whom all things flow forth, and from whom every power, action and effect proceeds.

"Through" is appropriated to the Son, because "through" signifies origin from the Father, and the wisdom through which all things were made. Hence even the Gentiles called God, namely Jupiter, Δία, that is, "through whom"; concerning which hear Aristides in his hymn to Jupiter: "Jupiter," he says, "is the author and maker of all things, and through Him both heavenly and earthly things are made; as the very name itself, not far removed from the word for cause, declares, when we call Him Δία. He is indeed called Ζεύς, because He is the author of life and essence to all: again, we call Him by a name akin to the efficient cause, calling Him Δία, because through Him all things were made and are being made." For Δία in Greek is the same as "through," "on account of"; whence it denotes the efficient cause. Again, "through" signifies the mediator, the door, the shepherd, and our way to the Father: all of which apply to the Son. So St. Basil, in his book On the Holy Spirit, chapters 5 and 26.

"In" finally is appropriated to the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as to Him are attributed goodness, love, union and perfection. For the Holy Spirit is the notional love of the Father and the Son, and He Himself is in the Most Holy Trinity as it were the end, from whom there is no progression to another Person. Finally, when it is said, To Him be glory, the unity of essence is signified, as Athanasius, Hilary, Augustine, Origen, Gregory and others teach against the Arians.

From God Himself therefore are all things, namely such as have true being, says St. Thomas. But sins do not have true being, but rather fall short of it; whence they are not from God. For this is the formal nature of sin, that it is a defect from good, and consequently from being: yet whatever there is of matter and entity in sins, all of that is from God. So St. Thomas.

St. Basil treats this passage in his book On the Holy Spirit against the Arians, who, as he himself says, attend to syllables. Whence in chapter 2, by the τὸ "from whom" the Arians, he says, wish to signify the founder of the world; by the τὸ "through whom," the minister and instrument of the work; by the τὸ "in whom," the time and place of the work. So that the Son is only the instrument of the Father; while the Holy Spirit only furnished the place or time for created things. Against these in chapter 3 and following, St. Basil shows that Scripture uses these prepositions indifferently, and ascribes each one to all the Persons. Whence in chapter 5, he explains this passage of God and of all the Persons jointly. For from God Himself and all the Persons all things have been created; through Him all things are conserved; into Him (in Greek it is εἰς αὐτόν) all things turn themselves with a certain invincible and unappeasable desire and hidden affection, looking to Him as their prince and the governor of life and of the whole universe.

Again in chapter 26, he shows how the preposition "in" is attributed to the Holy Spirit, and that in various ways. For first, the Holy Spirit is in us as form is in matter. For He is in us as it were a divine form, from which we are called spiritual. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is in us as a habit or art is in the artificer; for thus He is present to the Saints for the works of virtues and the working of miracles. Thirdly, the Holy Spirit is in us as a whole in its parts, because He distributes all His graces partially to His faithful. Fourthly, the Holy Spirit is in us as something located in a place: for thus He is in the Saints as in His own temple. These things are true; but they do not fit this passage: for the Apostle here does not say that the Holy Spirit is in us, but on the contrary that we and all things are in Him, namely in the Holy Spirit.

In like manner St. Chrysostom, Theophylact and Oecumenius signify here no distinction of Persons; as if these three, "from Him," "through Him," and "in Him," properly belong to God Himself, and consequently to each of the Persons; and they do this so as not to give the Arians occasion to say that the Son is "through," that is, the instrument of the Father.

But the Latins judge better, that although these three, taken separately, may be given to any Person, nevertheless when they are joined together, each is appropriated to a particular Person. So St. Augustine in the place already cited: where from these three prepositions he proves the Trinity and the equality in the one divine essence. So also St. Ambrose, Anselm and Gregory, book XXIX Moralia, chapter 28.

Whence the same St. Augustine, book I On Christian Doctrine, chap. V: "Nor easily," he says, "do I find a name which fits so great an excellence, except that it is better said thus: This Trinity, one God, from whom, through whom, in whom are all things; the same one substance; yet one is not another; the three have the same power, the same eternity, the same unchangeableness, the same majesty; in the Father unity, in the Son equality, in the Holy Spirit the concord of unity and equality. And these three: all things one because of the Father, all things equal because of the Son, all things connected because of the Holy Spirit," namely by appropriating to each Person these things, which nevertheless in reality are common to all. Doubtless all things are called equal because of the Son, because the Son is the first "equal" to the Father; in like manner all things are called connected because of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit proceeds as the bond, love and concord of the Father and the Son.

Magnificently and subtly says St. Bernard, book V On Consideration, chap. VI: "What," he says, "is God? Surely nothing better occurs to me than: He Who Is. He Himself willed to be answered thus about Himself, this He taught, when Moses said to the people, by His own command: He Who Is sent me to you. What again is God? That without which nothing is. What is God? The Beginning. What is God? To whom the ages have neither been added nor have departed, nor yet are they coeternal. What is God? From whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things. From whom are all things — by way of creating, not by way of seeding," as if to say: God created all things not from seed (for thus the seed would be uncreated, and not God Himself, and consequently He would not have created all things); "through whom are all things, lest you imagine one author and another maker; in whom are all things, not as in a place, but as in power. From whom are all things, as from the one principle and author of all; through whom are all things, lest a second principle of the artificer be introduced; in whom are all things, lest a third place be introduced. From whom are all things, not out of whom, because God is not matter. The efficient cause is also the material cause; in vain do the Philosophers seek matter — God did not need matter. For He sought no workshop, no craftsman. He through Himself, in Himself, made all things. Whence? From nothing. For if He made them out of something, that He did not make, and through this not all things."

TO HIM BE GLORY. — Hence by the institution and use of the Apostles, as St. Basil teaches in his book On the Holy Spirit, chap. VII, XXVII, XXIX, and from him Baronius, tome III, in the year of Christ 325, there began from the time of the Apostles this doxology of the Most Holy Trinity to be frequented in mind and mouth by Christians: "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:" to which, as the Council of Vaison, chap. V, has it, the Council of Nicaea added: "As it was in the beginning, and is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen." And this in order that by it the Arians might be repelled, who used to say: "There was [a time] when He was not," that is, there was, namely a time, when the Son was not.

Jerome, in his epistle to Damasus, asks him that after each psalm he order to be added: "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit." But this epistle does not appear to be Jerome's, and seems to be a fabrication. For this custom of adding to the psalms, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit," etc., existed before St. Jerome, as I have said from St. Basil. Indeed Cassian also, in chap. VIII, book I, is a witness that in his time in the West, after the psalms, as it were by ancient custom, all the people were accustomed to cry out together: "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit."

Glory therefore to the Father, from whom are all things; glory to the Son, through whom are all things; glory to the Holy Spirit, in whom are all things. Glory to the Father, from whom is every fatherhood in heaven and on earth; glory to the Son, through whom is every sonship; glory to the Holy Spirit, in whom is all sanctity and sanctification. Glory to the Father, from whom is eternity; glory to the Son, through whom is every form and beauty; glory to the Holy Spirit, in whom is all happiness and enjoyment. Glory to the Father, from whom is every unity; glory to the Son, through whom is every equality; glory to the Holy Spirit, in whom is every love and concord. Glory to the Father, from whom is every power; glory to the Son, through whom is every wisdom; glory to the Holy Spirit, in whom is every goodness. Glory to the Father, who created me; glory to the Son, through whom I have been redeemed; glory to the Holy Spirit, in whom I have been justified. Glory to the Father, who predestined me; glory to the Son, by whose blood I have been washed; glory to the Holy Spirit, in whom I shall be glorified for eternity. Amen.