I say then, Has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the descendants of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Since Paul has shown that the people of Israel did not believe, now, in order that it should not be thought that he has said that they were all unbelievers, he shows that God has not rejected the inheritance which he promised to the descendants of Abraham. For he would not have promised them a kingdom if he knew that none of them would believe…. By using himself as an example, he shows that the part of Israel which God foreknew would be saved had in fact been saved and that the part which had been consigned to perdition because of its constant unbelief might yet be saved. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
Wisely, Paul does not make the plight of Israel appear worse than it is. Even though he says that the nation is struggling in its blindness, he manages to say something positive at this point. .
Fearing once again that exaggerating the rejection of the Jews might lead to a choice of disobedience, Paul turns to the small remnant of the election—the apostles and their fellow believers. .
St. Paul in this chapter endeavours to comfort the Jews, though the greatest part of them were rejected for their blindness; and to admonish the Gentiles, not to boast for being called and converted, but to persevere with humility, and the fear of God.
God hath not cast away his people. That is, not all of them, nor hath he cast off those whom he foreknew, and decreed to save.
The Scripture saith of Elias. He brings the example of Elias living among the ten tribes of Israel, when all the people were forbidden to go and adore in the temple of Jerusalem, when the altars of the true God were destroyed, and almost all in these tribes were fallen into idolatry, and worshipped Baal: he complains as if he were left alone in the worship of the true God. But the divine answer showed him his mistake. I have reserved to myself seven thousand man Some take notice that seven is divers times put for a great number, as three and a half for a small number: however, besides these seven thousand, all ...
God has not rejected his people, because Paul himself was one of them. If God had cast them off, he would not have chosen one of them as the one to whom he entrusted all his preaching, the affairs of the world, all the mysteries and the whole message of salvation.
After showing that the fall of the Jews is deplorable, though not entirely excusable [n. 813], the Apostle now shows that it is not universal. First, he raises a question; secondly, he answer it [v. 1b; n. 861]; thirdly, he draws a conclusion [v. 7; n. 872]. 860. First, therefore, he says: I ask then, has God rejected his people? i.e., the Jews, because he calls them unbelieving and contrary. Even the Psalmist asks: "O God, why dost thou cast us for ever?" (Ps 74:1; "The Lord has scorned his altar" (Lam 2:7). 861. Then when he says, By no means, he answers the question and shows that God has not totally rejected the Jewish people. And this is what he says: By no means has the Jewish people been rejected in its entirety. He proves this, first of all, with respect to himself, saying: I myself, living in the faith of Christ, am an Israelite by race: "are they Israelites? So am I" (2 Cor 11:22). And because there were among the people of Israel some proselytes not descended in the flesh fr...
