Romans 11:1

Say then. These words mark the beginning of a new stage in Paul’s argument concerning the condition of the Jews. “Then,” or “therefore” (oun), may refer back to Isaiah’s description of Israel’s disobedience (ch. 10:21), or perhaps to the entire previous discussion of Israel’s rejection. So far, in chs. 9 and 10, Paul has explained that God, as sovereign Creator, is free to reject Israel from their position as the chosen people, and that, since the Jews have refused to follow God’s way of righteousness, they deserve to be thus rejected. The rejection, however, is of the nation of Israel from its privileged position (see Vol. IV, pp. 30-35), not of the faithful remnant.

Castaway. Gr. apothed, literally, “to repel,” “to push away from oneself” (cf. Acts 7:27). The form of the question in the Greek implies a negative answer. “God has not disowned His people, has He?” This question is one that might naturally arise from what has been already said about Israel’s faithlessness and disobedience. But Paul raises the question in order to answer it emphatically in the negative.

His people. Paul may have had in mind the OT passage, “For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance” (Ps. 94:14; cf. 1 Sam. 12:22), and thus have anticipated the emphatic denial he was about to make.

God forbid. See on ch. 3:4.

For I also. Paul sets forth evidence that not all the Jews had been rejected. He himself is an Israelite, and has been accepted by God. He knows from experience that the promised blessings belong to him and that therefore, even though he is a Jew, he has not been rejected. Many other Jewish Christians could testify to the same experience of which Paul here speaks.

Seed of Abraham. See on Matt. 3:9.

Tribe of Benjamin. By this reference Paul affirms that he came from the very core of the Jewish nation. The tribes of Benjamin and Judah were closely connected at the time of the revolt of the ten northern tribes (1 Kings 12:21), and they maintained the theocratic continuity of the Jewish race after the Babylonian exile (Ezra 4:1; 10:9). Thus a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin was indeed a “Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5; cf. 2 Cor. 11:22).