I say then, {1} Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For {2} I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

(1) Now the apostle shows how this doctrine is to be applied to others, remaining still in his propounded cause. Therefore he teaches us that all the Jews in particular are not cast away, and therefore we ought not to pronounce rashly of individual persons, whether they are of the number of the elect or not.

(2) The first proof: I am a Jew, and yet elected, therefore we may and ought fully to be sure of our election, as has been said before: but of another man's we cannot be so certainly sure, and yet ours may cause us to hope well of others.

People's New Testament

11:1 The Two Olive Trees

SUMMARY OF ROMANS 11:

A Part of Israel Saved. The Rest Blinded by Their Hardness of Heart. The Salvation of the Gentiles Through the Fall of Israel. The Figure of the Two Olive Trees. The Jewish Branches Broken Off. The Gentile Branches Grafted in. Yet Israel Shall Be Saved. God's Unsearchable Judgments.

Hath God cast away his people? In chapter 10 Paul has shown that the Gentiles were to come into God's favor, and the Jews, the chosen people, to be rejected. He now asks whether the Jews were finally cast off. He shows that the rejection was not total, but partial, many Jews being saved; and secondly, that it was not eternal, but finally all Israel would come to Christ.

I also am an Israelite. Hence all Israel is not cast off, since he, an Israelite, is an apostle of Christ. He shows that he is of approved Jewish descent.

Wesley's Notes

11:1 Hath God rejected his whole people - All Israel? In no wise. Now there is a remnant who believe, Rom 11:5; and hereafter all Israel will be saved, Rom 11:26.

Scofield Reference Notes

[2] cast

That Israel has not been forever set aside is the theme of this chapter.

(1) The salvation of Paul proves that there is still a remnant (Rom 11:1)

(2) The doctrine of the remnant proves it (Rom 11:2-6).

(3) The present national unbelief was foreseen (Rom 11:7-10).

(4) Israel's unbelief is the Gentile opportunity (Rom 11:11-25).

(5) Israel is judicially broken off from the good olive tree, Christ (Rom 11:17-22).

(6) They are to be grafted in again (Rom 11:23,24).

(7) The promised Deliverer will come out of Zion and the nation will be saved (Rom 11:25-29). That the Christian now inherits the distinctive Jewish promises is not taught in Scripture. The Christian is of the heavenly seed of Abraham Gen 15:5,6 Gal 3:29 and partakes of the spiritual blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant.

See Scofield Note: "Gen 15:18" but Israel as a nation always has it own place, and is yet to have its greatest exaltation as the earthly people of God. See "Israel" Gen 12:2 Rom 11:26 "Kingdom" Gen 1:26-28 Zech 12:8.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 11

Ro 11:1-36. Same Subject Continued and Concluded-The Ultimate Inbringing of All Israel, to Be, with the Gentiles, One Kingdom of God on the Earth.

1. I say then, Hath-"Did"

God cast away his people? God forbid-Our Lord did indeed announce that "the kingdom of God should be taken from Israel" (Mt 21:41); and when asked by the Eleven, after His resurrection, if He would at that time "restore the kingdom to Israel," His reply is a virtual admission that Israel was in some sense already out of covenant (Ac 1:9). Yet here the apostle teaches that, in two respects, Israel was not "cast away"; First, Not totally; Second, Not finally. First, Israel is not wholly cast away.

for I also am an Israelite-See Php 3:5, and so a living witness to the contrary.

of the seed of Abraham-of pure descent from the father of the faithful.

of the tribe of Benjamin-(Php 3:5), that tribe which, on the revolt of the ten tribes, constituted, with Judah, the one faithful kingdom of God (1Ki 12:21), and after the captivity was, along with Judah, the kernel of the Jewish nation (Ezr 4:1; 10:9).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-10 There was a chosen remnant of believing Jews, who had righteousness and life by faith in Jesus Christ. These were kept according to the election of grace. If then this election was of grace, it could not be of works, either performed or foreseen. Every truly good disposition in a fallen creature must be the effect, therefore it cannot be the cause, of the grace of God bestowed on him. Salvation from the first to the last must be either of grace or of debt. These things are so directly contrary to each other that they cannot be blended together. God glorifies his grace by changing the hearts and tempers of the rebellious. How then should they wonder and praise him! The Jewish nation were as in a deep sleep, without knowledge of their danger, or concern about it; having no sense of their need of the Saviour, or of their being upon the borders of eternal ruin. David, having by the Spirit foretold the sufferings of Christ from his own people, the Jews, foretells the dreadful judgments of God upon them for it, Ps 69. This teaches us how to understand other prayers of David against his enemies; they are prophecies of the judgments of God, not expressions of his own anger. Divine curses will work long; and we have our eyes darkened, if we are bowed down in worldly-mindedness.