St. Paul's Eleventh Chapter to the Romans

Extract

St. Paul states the problem in all its poignancy : Hath God cast away His people? Are the Jews, the chosen ones, no longer the People of God? Paul himself was an Israelite of the seed of Abraham; this he could neither forget nor ever wish to repudiate; though he had ‘put on Christ,’ or rather perhaps because of that very fact, a ‘Hebrew of the Hebrews ‘he would always remain. No one could be more acutely aware than he that the coming to birth of the Christian Church appears a refutation by the facts of all the prophecies and the denial of the divine promises. ‘Jehovah had proclaimed himself a hundred times the liberator and saviour of his people : the Messiah was to be first of all the redeemer of the Jews; Sion was designated in advance as the centre of the Messianic theocracy and a bond of union with the unbelieving nations. But now, not only are the gentiles esntering the Church without first passing through the Synagogue, but they are almost the only ones who are entering, while the) Jews, whose rights seem preponderant, if not exclusive, find themselves shut out from it.’

In chapters ix and x St. Paul has been occupied with various aspects of the problem, first vindicating the justice and faithfulness of God (ix), than (x) touching on the concrete human situation which has given rise to it; in chapter xi he shows the providential reason for it and points the way to its solution.