For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
God has shut up both Jews and Gentiles in unbelief in order that He might have mercy upon all. Israel as a nation lost its connection with God through unbelief and rejection of His purpose and was broken off from the olive tree. Gentiles who in times past had not believed obtained mercy through Israel's unbelief, being grafted as wild branches contrary to nature into the good olive tree.
The broken-off natural branches will be grafted back into their own olive tree if they do not remain in unbelief, so that unbelieving Israel may obtain mercy through the mercy shown to the Gentiles. Jewish converts thus become branches grafted into Christ as the true stock. This reveals God's goodness toward those who continue in His goodness and severity toward those who fell, and His power to transform the hearts of Jew and Gentile alike and to grant to every believer in Christ the blessings promised to Israel. As touching election Israel is beloved for the fathers' sakes, and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
The declaration of mercy opens into praise of the depth of the riches of God's wisdom and knowledge, His unsearchable judgments and ways past finding out. No one has known His mind or been His counsellor or first given to Him, for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. That praise grounds the call to present the body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, as reasonable service. There is to be no conformity to the world but transformation by the renewing of the mind to prove the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, thinking soberly according to the measure of faith.
The verse teaches the great privilege of understanding and knowing God's will and of increasing in faith and righteousness and growing up in Christ the living Head. The following chapter gives religious duty for all to study, with every member doing his fitted class of work blending into a complete whole. The chapter containing the verse is to be studied as the outline for a work for the Jewish people, a work that requires special wisdom and must not be ignored. God's wisdom must come to His people so that in all wisdom and righteousness they clear the King's highway and give the Jews every opportunity to come to the light and receive mercy.
God has shut up both Jews and Gentiles in unbelief in order that He might have mercy upon all. Israel as a nation lost its connection with God through unbelief and rejection of His purpose and was broken off from the olive tree. Gentiles who in times past had not believed obtained mercy through Israel's unbelief, being grafted as wild branches contrary to nature into the good olive tree.
The broken-off natural branches will be grafted back into their own olive tree if they do not remain in unbelief, so that unbelieving Israel may obtain mercy through the mercy shown to the Gentiles. Jewish converts thus become branches grafted into Christ as the true stock. This reveals God's goodness toward those who continue in His goodness and severity toward those who fell, and His power to transform the hearts of Jew and Gentile alike and to grant to every believer in Christ the blessings promised to Israel. As touching election Israel is beloved for the fathers' sakes, and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
The declaration of mercy opens into praise of the depth of the riches of God's wisdom and knowledge, His unsearchable judgments and ways past finding out. No one has known His mind or been His counsellor or first given to Him, for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. That praise grounds the call to present the body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, as reasonable service. There is to be no conformity to the world but transformation by the renewing of the mind to prove the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, thinking soberly according to the measure of faith.
The verse teaches the great privilege of understanding and knowing God's will and of increasing in faith and righteousness and growing up in Christ the living Head. The following chapter gives religious duty for all to study, with every member doing his fitted class of work blending into a complete whole. The chapter containing the verse is to be studied as the outline for a work for the Jewish people, a work that requires special wisdom and must not be ignored. God's wisdom must come to His people so that in all wisdom and righteousness they clear the King's highway and give the Jews every opportunity to come to the light and receive mercy.