(Verse 6.) But the word of God hath not fallen away. The word of God has not fallen away, who said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called (Genesis 21:12): that is, what God said would be has come about; so that those should not be called the seed of Abraham who were his sons according to the flesh, but those who received the faith through which Isaac was born — faith renewed in the time of Christ, no longer particular but general; so that what Abraham believed concerning Isaac, these should believe concerning God and Christ: that the Son of God was born to redeem the salvation of the human race.

(Verse 7.) For they are not all Israelites which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. What he wishes to be understood is this: that not all are worthy for this reason, that they are sons of Abraham; but that they are worthy who are sons of the promise, that is, those whom God foreknew would receive His promise, whether from the Jews or from the Gentiles. For these are worthy to be called Israelites, that is, “seeing God”: those who believe. For certainly all these sons of Abraham come from Isaac, since every offshoot of the Jewish race is from Abraham through Isaac. But, as I have said, those are truly sons of Abraham who follow the promise which was made in Isaac; and for this reason the rest are not to be called sons of Abraham. For Abraham, believing, received Isaac because of his faith, since he believed God. In this the mystery of the faith to come was marked out: that those should be brothers of Isaac who had the same faith in which Isaac was born. For Isaac was born of promise as a type of the Saviour, so that whoever has believed that Christ Jesus was promised to Abraham is a son of Abraham and a brother of Isaac. It was said, then, to Abraham: In thy seed shall all nations be blessed (Genesis 22:18); which was certainly not fulfilled in Isaac, but in Him who was promised to Abraham in Isaac, that is, Christ, in whom all the nations that believe are blessed. The rest of the Jews, then, are sons of the flesh, since they are deprived of the promise; nor can those be reckoned to Abraham’s merit who do not follow the faith through which Abraham was found worthy.

(Verse 8.) That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. It is plain that the children of the flesh cannot be called children of God: for these were born of the desire of the flesh, but those spiritually of faith, according to what was promised to Abraham; so that those who believed should be counted the seed.

(Verse 9.) For this is the word of promise: At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. This is found in Genesis, and it was a prefiguring in Christ: that Christ, who was to come, should be promised as the son of Abraham, in whom the word of the promise should be fulfilled, that in Christ all the nations of the earth should be blessed. For when the promise was made to Abraham, and he heard, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, it was certainly Christ who was promised him, from the stock of Isaac, in whom we see this fulfilled.

(Verse 10.) And not only this, that is, Sara, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. He says, then, that not only Sara bore Isaac as a type, but also Rebecca, Isaac’s wife. But the case of Isaac is one thing, and that of Jacob and Esau another: for Isaac was born in the figure of the Saviour, while Jacob and Esau bear the type of two peoples, that is, of believers and unbelievers; so that, though they are from one, yet they are different. For in each one a kind is also signified, so that those are said to be of one race who are one in the matter of faith, or of faithlessness. For one is signified in many, not through descent of the flesh but through a common cause: so that sons of Jacob are to be called sons of Esau, and sons of Esau to be reckoned sons of Jacob. For it is not the case that, because Jacob is praised, all who were born of him are deservedly to be called his sons; or that, because Esau is displeasing, all who spring from him are reprobate: for we see that many of Jacob’s stock have become faithless, and that some of Esau’s have been faithful and dear to God. That many of Jacob’s line are faithless is not in doubt; for all the Jews, unbelieving or believing, have their origin from him. And that there are good and faithful men from Esau is proved by Job, who is of the sons of Esau, the fifth from Abraham, that is, the grandson of Esau.

(Verses 11–13.) For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. This is in Malachi. In these matters he appeals to the foreknowledge of God: for nothing can come about other than what God knows will be. For, knowing what each of them would be, He said: “This one, the younger, will be worthy; and the elder will be unworthy.” By foreknowledge He chose the one and rejected the other. And in him whom He chose the purpose of God stands, because nothing else can come about than what He knew and purposed in him, that he should be worthy of salvation; and in him whom He rejected the purpose He purposed concerning him stands in like manner, because he will be unworthy. This He does as one who foreknows, not as a respecter of persons: for He condemns no one before he sins, and crowns no one before he conquers. This bears on the case of the Jews, who claim a prerogative for themselves because they are sons of Abraham. But the Apostle consoles himself. For he had said that he had continual sorrow of heart because of the unbelief of those to whom belonged the adoption of sons, and the ordinance of the Law, and from whom came Christ the Saviour, as He Himself says: For salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22). Having searched the Law, he finds that not all who are of Israel are going to believe; and that not all who are called sons of Abraham are to be called sons of Abraham, as I mentioned above. So he lessens his grief, finding that it was foretold long ago that not all would believe; so that he grieves only for those who labour in unbelief out of envy. Yet they are able to believe, as he makes plain from what follows. For the unbelievers who were foretold, however, there is no great need to grieve, because they are not predestined to life; for the foreknowledge of God long ago decreed that these would not be saved. For who would mourn one who has long been held dead? But when the Gentiles, who were before without God, come in, and receive the salvation which those others lost, the grief is roused again; but because they themselves are the cause of their own perdition, it is lulled once more. God, then, foreknowing that they would be of evil will, did not count them among the good; although the Saviour said to those seventy-two disciples whom He had chosen as a second rank, and who afterwards fell away from Him: Your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). But this was on account of justice, because this is just: that each should be answered according to his desert. For since they were good, they were chosen for the ministry, and their names were written in heaven on account of justice, as I have said; but according to foreknowledge they were in the number of the wicked. For God judges according to justice, not according to foreknowledge. Hence He said also to Moses: Whosoever hath sinned before me, him will I blot out of my book (Exodus 32:33); so that according to the justice of the judge a man is seen to be blotted out at the time when he sins, but according to foreknowledge he was never in the book of life. Hence the apostle John too says of such men: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us (1 John 2:19). There is no respect of persons in the foreknowledge of God: for foreknowledge is that by which He holds settled what each one’s will is going to be, in which he will remain, and through which he will either be condemned or crowned. Thus those whom He knows will remain in good are often evil beforehand, and those whom He knows will persist in evil are sometimes good at first. So complaint ceases, since God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). For Saul too, and Judas Iscariot, were good at first, Scripture saying of Saul: He was a goodly man, and there was not among the children of Israel a better than he (1 Samuel 9:2); and of Judas Iscariot the apostle Peter says: Who obtained the lot of this ministry (Acts 1:17), that is, of the apostleship, in the working of signs and wonders. How then would he have obtained a saving ministry unless he were good? For in the lot was the judgment of God that he was worthy at the time when he was chosen, like those seventy-two whom I mentioned above. Hence it is that Judas too, after committing the crime of all evil, was moved by repentance and ended his life with a halter (Matthew 27:5). For not every good can be utterly blotted out in anyone, since nature cannot be changed, but the will can — yet not in every respect; for there remains in nature something to bear witness to the Creator.

(Verse 14.) What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Because He loves the one and hates the other, he goes on: Is there unrighteousness with God? (Exodus 33:19). Certainly not; but God is just, for He knows what He does, and His judgment is not to be called in question. This is found in the prophet Malachi: Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (Malachi 1:2–3). This he now says of judgment; for earlier he spoke of foreknowledge, that the elder shall serve the younger (Genesis 25:23); just as by foreknowledge too He condemned Pharaoh, knowing that he would not amend, but chose the apostle Paul while he was persecuting (Acts 9:5), foreknowing, of course, that he would be good. This man, then, He took hold of before the time, because he was needed; and Pharaoh He condemned before the judgment to come, so that it might be believed that He will judge.

(Verse 15.) For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have had mercy, and I will shew compassion on whom I have shewn compassion. “I will have mercy,” He says, “on him on whom I have had mercy”: that is, “I will have mercy on him to whom I foreknew that I would give mercy, knowing that he would turn and remain with me.” And I will shew compassion to him to whom I have shewn compassion: that is, “I will give compassion to him whom I foreknew would return to me with an upright heart after his wandering.” This is to give to him to whom it should be given, and not to give to him to whom it should not be given; so that He calls him whom He knows will obey, but does not call him whom He knows will not obey at all. And to call is not to force, but to prick the heart to receive the faith.

(Verse 16.) So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Rightly: for what is asked ought to lie not in the will of the one who asks, but in the decision of the one who gives. For whether it is to be given must be weighed by the judgment of the giver. For Saul, when he had sinned and asked for pardon, did not receive it (1 Samuel 15:24); whereas David, when he sinned and begged to be forgiven, obtained pardon (2 Samuel 12:13). From this, certainly, the judgment of God, who gives and who does not give, is to be followed: for He does not judge unjustly who wills all men to be saved, justice remaining; for, as the searcher of the heart, He knows of the one who asks whether he asks with such a mind as to deserve to receive. And although it is dangerous to sift the judgment of God, yet for the sake of the doubtful, that their minds may obtain a cure — lest they think the judgment of God unjust, saying, “He calls one and passes over the other,” and so suppose that those who are to be condemned can be excused — let us prove this by deeds rather than by words. For where there are examples of things done, no one dares to complain or to put forward any excuse. There were two, David and Saul. Let us search the histories, to see what each of them is found to have been after the judgment of God: so that, if Saul is proved to have acted well after he did not receive mercy, we may think the judgment of God unjust — which God forbid; or if David, having received mercy, is found to have despised God, or whether he remained in that state in which he obtained mercy. And, to be brief, each of them suffered distress in his kingdom. And how great was David’s distress, when his son wished to rob him of his kingdom! In that distress he went on his way weeping and barefoot, so that the king and leader of God’s people fled, humbled to such a degree that he made no answer even to his own servant cursing him to his face; so that by patience he might make God favourable to him, by whom he believed his kingdom would be kept for him (2 Samuel 15:16). But Saul was not found in any such distress — for civil war is a greater evil than foreign war; and besides, taking it ill that he was not heard once and again, when he was unworthy, he did not persevere in prayer, so as to earn a merit by which he might become worthy; but, impatient and indignant at the judgment of God, he sought help from the idols which he had earlier condemned as of no account. See, the judgment of God’s foreknowledge is shown to be just, even to the unwilling.

(Verse 17.) For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I preserved thee, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth (Exodus 9:16). Other codices have it thus: For this have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee. Whether “preserved” or “raised up”, the sense is one. For this is what he says: Pharaoh — which was the name of kings among the Egyptians, as among the Romans kings are called Augusti — this Pharaoh, then, since he was guilty of such great evils as to be unworthy of life, persisted so in his evils and would not amend himself, thinking either that he lived deservedly, or that God, whom he held could often be deceived, was powerless to take vengeance, heard from God: For this have I preserved thee, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth; so that by this the other nations might learn that there is no other God but this one, who was the God of the Jews and has become the God of the Christians. Although they too were Christians, and we are now Jews on account of Judah, from whom Christ is according to the flesh; for the Jews of old, by hoping for the Christ who was to come as redeemer, were Christians. For Rahab the harlot says to the spies sent by Jesus son of Nave, who was earlier called Auses: The mighty works and the plagues which were done in Egypt by your God have been heard of here, and they are sore afraid; for they fear before your face (Joshua 2:9). For this, then, Pharaoh was preserved: that many signs and plagues might be shown upon him, as on one already dead. And he is said to have been raised up because, though he was dead before God, he received a little time so as to seem to live; so that there might be one in whose punishment, and in whose various kinds of torment even unto death, all who were without God, struck with fear, might confess with the greatest wonder that He alone is God by whom these vengeances are wrought. In this way too the physicians of old, with men deserving of death or under sentence of death, inquired how the things hidden within a man, once laid open, might profit the living; so that by them they might learn the causes of sickness, and the punishment of the dying might serve the health of the living.

(Verse 18.) Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me. He speaks in the person of one who objects, as though he thought that God, setting justice aside, shows favour to someone, so as to accept one of two equals and reject the other: that is, to prick the heart of one so that he believes, and to harden the other so that he does not believe. To him he answered with authority, yet keeping justice, on the ground of the foreknowledge mentioned above, saying:

(Verse 19.) Why doth he yet find fault? For who resisteth his will? First he says that He cannot be resisted, for He is mightier beyond all. Next, that God is the Father of all, and therefore wishes ill to none; for what He has made He wishes to remain unharmed. Nor is it fitting that He should be unjust whose kindness appears so great that He not only made things to be which were not, but even gave them eternal life and glory, so that His work might have something like His majesty. He, then, who is so provident and so good, ought not to be doubted to be just.

(Verse 20.) Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? It is a great unworthiness and presumption, he says, for man to answer back to God in adversity — the unjust to the just, the bad to the good, the unskilled to the perfect, the weak to the mightiest, the corruptible to the incorrupt, the mortal to the immortal, the wicked servant to his master, the creature to the Creator. Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (Isaiah 45:9). This is from the prophet Isaiah, and he sets it down here as though it were his own, to show that a work cannot complain against its maker; for it lies in the maker’s power what kind of creature he wishes to make.

(Verse 21.) Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? It is plain that some vessels are made for honour, being needed for honourable uses, and others for dishonour, being implements of the kitchen; yet they are of one substance, but differ in honour by the will of the craftsman. So too God, since we are all of one and the same lump in substance, and all sinners, has mercy on one and passes over another, not without justice. For in the potter there is will alone, but in God will together with justice; for He knows on whom He ought to have mercy, as I mentioned above.

(Verse 22.) What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. The sense is this: that by the will and long-suffering of God, which is patience, the unbelieving are made ready for punishment; for, though long waited for, they would not be converted. They were waited for, then, for this reason: that they might perish without excuse. For God knew that these would not believe.

(Verse 23.) And that he might shew the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared unto glory. It is the same patience and long-suffering of God which, as it prepares the wicked for destruction, so prepares the good for the crown; for those are good in whom is the hope of faith. For He bears with all, knowing the end of each; and so it is by patience that He prepares for glory those who are corrected from evil, or who persevere in good. And the riches of glory are the manifold dignity prepared for believers. But those who from good become evil, and hold fast in the evil they have begun, He prepares for destruction. And this is to make known His power in much patience: for He is reckoned not about to punish, because He long overlooks; when He begins to punish, His power will appear; because, though He could punish at once, He bore with them long, so that the faithless cannot complain when they are condemned. And to prepare each one is to foreknow what will be.

(Verse 24.) Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Those whom He has called He has prepared for glory, whether those who were near or those who were far off, knowing that they would remain in the faith.

(Verses 25–26.) As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. It is plain that this was foretold of the Gentiles, who before were not the people of God, but afterwards, receiving mercy to the reproach of the Jews, were called the people of God; and those who before were not beloved, when the Jews were disowned, were adopted as sons and beloved; so that in the place where they were not called the people of God, there they should be called the sons of the living God. For before, they were nowhere called sons of God except in Judaea, that is, in Jerusalem, where the house of God was, as he says in the seventy-fifth Psalm: In Judah is God known (Psalm 76:1). But afterwards, in the prophecy of Zechariah: I will set Jerusalem, He says, in all nations (Zechariah 12:2); because there were to be sons of God everywhere, and the house of God, which is the Church, in every place. Hence the Lord says to the Jews: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matthew 21:43).

(Verse 27.) But Esaias crieth concerning Israel. He says this because Isaiah cries out on behalf of those who believe in Christ (Isaiah 10:22). For they are truly Israelites, as the Lord says to Nathanael: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile (John 1:47). Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. When the Jews fall away from the merit and the promise of the fathers, by not receiving it, these are the remnant who, by believing, persist in the faith of the promise made to the fathers, having become faithful. For they depart from the Law who do not believe in Him whom the Law promised as alone sufficient for salvation. They must therefore be held apostates who, by not receiving Christ, are guilty of violating the Law. So out of a very great multitude he says that only the believers are saved, whom God foreknew.

(Verse 28.) For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. He promises that those whom he calls the remnant shall be saved through the word which the Lord, defining it justly, cut short upon the earth. For it is fitting that the creature should obtain salvation in the name of the Lord the Creator alone, that is, through faith: because, with all the new moons and the sabbath, circumcision, the law of foods and the offerings of cattle taken away, faith alone has been appointed for salvation. This has been cut short out of the Law; for what lies in faith is contained in the Law as the chief thing of the Law, as the Saviour says: For he wrote of me (John 5:46). The Law, then, being cut short, the remnant of the Jews are saved; but the rest cannot be saved, because they spurn the decree of God by which He determined to save the human race.

(Verses 29–30.) And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha (Isaiah 1:9). This seed, which alone of all was left and kept for the renewing of the human race, is Christ and His teaching, as He Himself says: The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). This, then, promised to us long ago, He left us for redemption, when the burdensome things of the Law were taken away; so that, forgiveness of sins being given, we should not be punished by the Law, as Sodom perished. He says, then, that the Saviour was left to us as a support of life, which the Law could not provide: He whom God decreed from the beginning should be born, so that, because He alone would be found without sin, He might conquer the enemy of the human race and blot out the sins of all. This is found in the Apocalypse of John too: For no one, he says, was found worthy, either in heaven or on earth, to open the book and the seals thereof, except the Saviour, who conquered death (Revelation 5:3). This, then, is the seed which, promised long ago, God kept back, that it might bear fruit at the time when the sins of all, Jews as well as Gentiles, had come to the full. And its fruit is the pardon of sins. For had not Christ been kept back — whom he calls the seed for this reason, that through Him the human race was restored — the offspring of Abraham would have perished, because they were overwhelmed by sins and the Law could not profit them. Therefore he teaches that He is to be followed who has brought the protection of life. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. Since there is righteousness in the Law, which was entrusted to the world and which forbids sinning, he says that the Gentiles attained not this righteousness, which is discerned with nature as teacher, but the righteousness which is of the faith of Christ; for this is true righteousness with God, and abiding, if it is acknowledged. For what is so just as to know God the Father, of whom are all things, and Christ His Son, by whom are all things (1 Corinthians 8:6)? This, then, is the first righteousness: to acknowledge the Creator; and next, to keep what He has commanded. So the Gentiles, who before did not seek righteousness, that is, the Law which bore witness to the Creator, at the coming of Christ found a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. For those who then did not follow what is less afterwards attained what is greater; but the Jews, placed in the Law, who ought rather to have advanced, grew worse.

(Verse 31.) But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. The perfection of the Law is faith; and the Gentiles, laying hold of it, are seen to fulfil the whole Law. But the Jews, refusing out of envy to believe the Saviour, and claiming the righteousness that is commanded in the Law — that is, the sabbath, circumcision, and the rest — did not attain to the Law, that is, they did not bring the Law to completion; and those who do not bring the Law to completion are guilty according to the Law. For he fulfils the Law who passes from the law of Moses to the faith of Christ.

(Verse 32.) Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. For, spurning faith, which, as I have said, is the perfection of the Law, they said they were justified by the works of the Law, that is, by the sabbath, the new moons, circumcision, and the rest; unmindful of the Scripture which says, The just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). It is called the righteousness of the Law for this reason: that these things were given to the Jews by the just judgment of God because of the hardness of their heart; so that if anyone happened to tread on a dead weasel, or touched any carcass, or if a mouse fell into a vessel, it was called unclean (Leviticus 11:29). Observing this with great anxiety, they incurred uncleanness from one cause or another. And if the blood of a weasel had stained the floor, it had to be purged with no light care, and better foods had to be abstained from. The sabbath and circumcision, however, had a righteousness of their own in their time, since they were given as a figure. This the Lord showed through the prophet Ezekiel, saying among other things: Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good (Ezekiel 20:25); because they were irreverent and faithless. But at the coming of Christ, since He was to give a saving gift, He proclaims through Jeremiah, saying: I will give them a new testament, not like the one which I gave to their fathers (Jeremiah 31:32). This testament he calls the Law, to which they did not attain, as I mentioned above. For when the Jews who believed wished to lay this burden of observance on the Gentiles who had believed, the apostle Peter then said: Why put ye a yoke upon the neck of the brethren, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? (Acts 15:10). For from the time of Christ the pardon promised in the Law has been given; for the prophet Isaiah says: There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Isaiah 59:20): that is, the new testament promised by God in Christ.

(Verse 33.) They stumbled at that stumblingstone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be confounded. This is found in Isaiah (Isaiah 8:14; 28:16). It has been established by the testimony of many that Christ is signified by the rock or stone. For the prophet Daniel speaks of this stone, which was cut out of the mountain without hands and smote and broke in pieces all the kingdoms, and filled the whole earth, which was plainly said of Christ (Daniel 2:34). And in the Law the rock from which the waters flowed is called Christ: And that rock, he says, was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). And the apostle Peter, among other things, says to the Jews: This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders (Acts 4:11). The stumbling-block set in Sion, then, is Christ. And Sion is “height”, or the very city of Jerusalem, which because of the knowledge of God was not without reason called lofty; in which the Saviour, set there by God His Father as a preacher, became a stumbling-block to the Jews, when He proclaimed Himself the Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit from a woman. And by His body they were offended, and said: Are not his mother and his brethren with us? How then does he say, I came down from heaven? (John 6:42). For they would not compare His words with His deeds, so as thereby to recognise that it was not absurd when He said He had come down from heaven: as though the body were working, and not God hidden within, yet showing Himself by His works in the body. This rock, then, is a stumbling-block and an offence to the Jews: a rock which is without doubt understood as the body of the Saviour. It was cut out without hands, because it was made of the Holy Spirit from a virgin, without a man.