forms a great part of that mystery , which is confirmed in Rev. x. 7. Furthermore, since it is a mystery, they ought to be treated with patient forbearance who do not recognise it so quickly, and we should hope for the time, when it will be recognised by all. — l<pp6vifioiy wise ) dreaming , that the church at Rome cannot fail. Cluverus. The very term, mystery , checks the reader’s pride. Hence the admonition is repeated at. ch. xii. 16, which is already to be found at ver. 20, note. — a*ro p'tpovg, in 'part) He speaks in a way softening the unwelcome truth ; for oi rtupwQe vreg, those , who were hardened , were as u the sand of the sea,” ver. 7 ; comp, with ch. ix. 27. Therefore, in the following verse, the conversion, which will not be in part [as their hardening was, which yet comprised as many as the sand], but will include all Israel (see foil, verse), will be by far the most abundant. And in the mean time also, there are always some being con- verted, and for this desirable object it becomes believers to be always on the watch. — nX/ipu/ia, fulness ) a most abundant sup- ply ; the antithesis is in part . No nation shall remain, to which the Gospel shall not have been preached in the whole world ; although a great part of mankind will still continue to be wicked. — shall come in) John x. 9, 16. For many ages, now, many obstacles retard [put a drag on the wheels of] this coming in, obstacles which will be broken through at the prpper time, so that the fulness of the Gentiles, who have been long since called, may entirely come in ; and then the hardening of Israel will terminate, Ps. cxxvi. 2, 3. Paul provokes the Israel- ites to Christian jealousy ; and this presupposes the conversion of the Gentiles before that of Israel, and yet the remaining abundance of the Gentiles may afterwards be gained by the full conversion of Israel, ver. 11, 12, 15, 31 ; Ez. xxxix. 7, 21—27.
26. ytai ovruy and so) he does not say and then , but with greater force, and so , in which very expression the then is included : to wit, the blindness of Israel will be terminated by the very coming in of the Gentiles. — rrrag ’i cpariX, all Israel) Israel contradistinguished from the Gentiles, of which ver. 25 treats. The words, a remnant , and deliverance , are
1 We should never consider a mystery for the sake of curiosity : we should always seek to be humbled before it. — V. g.