Commentary on Romans 9:30-33

THE CULPABILITY OF THE JEWS
A Summary of Romans 9:30-33

The Jews are responsible for their rejection by failing to believe in Christ. They were scandalized at the very object of their salvation.

Having shown, therefore, that God is not unfaithful to His promises, and having considered God's part in the rejection of the Jews, the Apostle passes on now (Rom 9:30-10:21) to a consideration of the responsibility and culpability of the Jews relative to their own rejection. In the remaining verses of the present chapter he points out the fundamental mistake of the Jews, which was to misunderstand the divine plan, and consequently to stumble at Christ and seek salvation where God had not ordained it to be found.
 
Rom 9:30. What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who followed not after justice, have attained to justice, even the justice that is of faith.

What then, etc. (τι ουν). This is at once a conclusion to the preceding section, that the Jews as a whole have been rejected, and an introduction to a new aspect of the question, namely, the responsibility of Israel (Lagrange). Having shown that God has been faithful and just in His dealings with Israel, what shall we say about the rejection of the Jews and the call of the Gentiles, the Apostle asks.
 
That (οτι) introduces the answer to the question proposed; hence the meaning is: We say "that Gentiles" who did not exert themselves to seek after good, have attained to justice, i.e., to justification through faith, a gratuitous gift of God (Rom 3:28; 6:4).
 
Gentiles should be read without the article (εθνη, not τα εθνη), because (a) some of the pagans did seek after virtue (Rom 2:14), and (b) there were many who never attained to justification through faith; only some Gentiles are therefore meant.
 
Rom 9:31. But Israel, by following after the law of justice, is not come unto the law of justice.

This verse, according to the best MSS., should read as follows: "But Israel, seeking after the law, is not come to the law of justice." The word δικαιοσυνης, of justice, in the first clause, was perhaps added by a copyist; but, with or without this term, the sense of this passage is that Israel, for the most part, living under a law which led to justice, or pointed the way to it, failed to attain to the rule of veritable justice (St. Thomas, Cornely). Israel as a whole pursued the justice which it was obliged to follow, but erred in the manner of seeking it (verse 32).
 
The law means the Law of Moses. The law of justice means sanctifying grace, that internal observance of the Law which, through faith in Christ to come, produced internal sanctity of soul and real supernatural justice. The Jews sought true justice in the external observance of the precepts of the Law and were content with an external holiness, instead of seeking the internal sanctity of the heart.
 
In the Vulgate the first justitiae should be omitted, and sectans is preferable to sectando.
 
Rom 9:32. Why so? because they sought it not by faith, but as it were of works. For they stumbled at the stumbling stone.
 
Why so? i.e., what is the reason why the Jews, while seeking after justice, have not, for the most part, attained to the justification of Christ? Because, as has been shown in the first part of the Epistle, true justice is obtained only through faith, and the Jews have sought it, or pretended (ως) to seek it, through works, mere natural works, performed without faith and the help of grace (iv. 4-6). Thus, by rejecting faith, the Jews have failed to attain that which the Gentiles through faith have acquired.
 
They stumbled, i.e., they were scandalized at the lowly, suffering life of Christ (1 Cor. 1:23), who, as Messiah, did not conform to their erroneous ideas. Jesus was, therefore, a "stumbling-block" to the Jews (Luke 2:34).
 
For (Vulg., enim) is not authentic.
 
Rom 9:33. As it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and a rock of scandal; and whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded.

That the Jews were scandalized and stumbled at the suffering and crucified Christ ought not to cause surprise, because it was foretold by the Prophet Isaias that they would commit this appalling error. The Apostle has blended two texts of Isaiah 8:14 and Isaiah 28:16; the latter according to the Septuagint, the former according to the Hebrew. It is certain that there is question of the Messiah in the second text; and while the first one speaks of Jehovah, it must also be understood of the Messiah, as we are assured by St. Paul here, by St. Peter (1 Pet 2:6-8), and by the context of Isaiah, which is treating of the Emmanuel to come.
 
Whosoever should be "he that," and omnis of the Vulgate ought to be omitted.