161

to us. But these things both happened and were said, so that those people might not have a shameless 60.587 pretext for having been overlooked, and on account of this not having believed. Therefore, indeed, Christ, though foreknowing all things, nevertheless came to them first. But if their trespass is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? Here he reasons with them graciously. For even if they stumbled ten thousand times, the Gentiles would not have been saved, if they had not shown faith; just as the Jews would not have perished, if they had not disbelieved and been contentious. But as I said, he comforts them as they lie fallen, from his abundance preparing them to be confident about their salvation, if they would change their minds. For if when they stumbled, he says, so many enjoyed salvation, and when they were cast out, so many were called, consider what will it be, when they turn back. For he did not say, how much more their turning back, nor their conversion, nor their right doing, but, How much more their fullness, that is, when all are about to enter. He said this, showing that even then there would be more of grace, and of the gift of God, and almost the whole. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and save some of them. Again he has made haste to free himself from evil suspicion; and he seems to be rebuking those from the Gentiles, and humbling their thoughts, but he gently provokes the Jew; and he goes about seeking to curtail and console their great loss, but finds nothing due to the nature of the facts. For from what he has said, they were worthy of greater accusation, when things prepared for them others greatly inferior to them have received. For this reason he transitions from the Jews to those from the Gentiles, and inserts in the middle the discourse about these, wishing to show that he says all these things in order to teach them to be moderate. For I praise you, he says, for these two reasons; for one, that I have a necessity, having been entrusted with your ministry; for the other, that through you I might save others. And he does not say, my brothers, my kinsmen, but, My flesh. Then, pointing out their contentiousness, he does not say, if by any means I may persuade, but, I will provoke to jealousy and save, and not even here all, but, Some of them; so hard were they. And in the rebuke itself he again shows the things of the Gentiles to be splendid; if indeed they become a cause of salvation for them, and not through the same means; for the former out of unbelief became for the latter, but the latter from faith became for the former, agents of good things. Whence the things of the Gentiles seem both to be equal and to have the advantage. 4. For what would you say, O Jew? If we had not been cast out, would you not have been called immediately? And the one from the Gentiles also says this: If I had not been saved, you would not have been jealous. And if you wish to learn also where we have the advantage, I, by believing, save you; but you, having stumbled, have given us a prior passage. Then again, perceiving that he had attacked them, he takes up his former point and says: For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what is their acceptance, if not life from the dead? But this too condemns them again, if indeed others profited from their sins, while they themselves were not even helped by the 60.588 right doings of others. And if he says that what happened of necessity is theirs, do not be surprised; for in order to both restrain these, as I have often said, and to encourage those, he shapes his discourse thus. For as I have already said, even if the Jews had been rejected ten thousand times, but the Gentiles had not shown faith, they would never have been saved. But he stands by the weakened part, and helps the one that has toiled. But see also in what he graciously says, comforting them through words only. For if their rejection, he says, is the reconciliation of the world. And what is this to the Jews? What is their acceptance, if not life from the dead? But neither is this anything to them, if they were not accepted. But what he says is this: If, being angry with them, he gave such great gifts to others, when he is reconciled to them, what will he not give? But just as the resurrection

161

ἡμῖν. Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ ἐγίνετο καὶ ἐλέγετο, ἵνα μηδὲ ἀναίσχυν 60.587 τον ἔχωσιν ἐκεῖνοι πρόφασιν ὡς παροφθέντες, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ πιστεύσαντες. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ πάντα προειδὼς ὁ Χριστὸς, ὅμως πρὸς αὐτοὺς παρεγένετο πρώτους. Εἰ δὲ τὸ παράπτωμα αὐτῶν πλοῦτος κόσμου, καὶ τὸ ἥττημα αὐτῶν πλοῦτος ἐθνῶν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῶν; Ἐνταῦθα πρὸς χάριν αὐτοῖς διαλέγεται. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ μυριάκις παρέπεσον οὗτοι, οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη τὰ ἔθνη, εἰ μὴ πίστιν ἐπεδείξατο· ὥσπερ οὖν οὐδ' ἂν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἀπώλοντο, εἰ μὴ ἠπίστησαν καὶ ἐφιλονείκησαν. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔφην, παραμυθεῖται αὐτοὺς κειμένους, ἐκ περιουσίας παρασκευάζων θαῤῥεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῶν, εἰ μετάθοιντο Εἰ γὰρ ὅτε, φησὶ, προσέκρουσαν, τοσοῦτοι σωτηρίας ἀπήλαυσαν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐκβληθῆναι ἐκείνους, τοσοῦτοι ἐκλήθησαν, ἐννόησον, τί ἔσται, ὅταν ἐπιστρέψωσιν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡ ἐπιστροφὴ αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ ἡ μεταβολὴ αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ τὸ κατόρθωμα αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ, Πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῶν, τουτέστιν, ὅτε πάντες εἰσιέναι μέλλουσι. Τοῦτο δὲ εἶπε, δεικνὺς καὶ τότε τὸ πλέον τῆς χάριτος ἐσόμενον, καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ σχεδὸν τὸ πᾶν. Ὑμῖν γὰρ λέγω τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἐφ' ὅσον μέν εἰμι ἐγὼ ἐθνῶν ἀπόστολος, τὴν διακονίαν μου δοξάζω, εἴ πως παραζηλώσω μου τὴν σάρκα, καὶ σώσω τινὰς ἐξ αὐτῶν. Πάλιν ὑποψίας πονηρᾶς ἑαυτὸν ἀπαλλάξαι ἐσπούδακε· καὶ δοκεῖ μὲν ἐπιπλήττειν τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν, καὶ ταπεινοῦν αὐτῶν τὰ φρονήματα, ἠρέμα δὲ παρακνίζει τὸν Ἰουδαῖον· καὶ περιέρχεται μὲν ζητῶν περιστεῖλαι καὶ παραμυθήσασθαι τὴν τοσαύτην αὐτῶν ἀπώλειαν, οὐδὲν δὲ εὑρίσκει διὰ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων φύσιν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐξ ὧν εἴρηκε, μείζονος ἦσαν κατηγορίας ἄξιοι, ὅταν τὰ αὐτοῖς εὐτρεπισμένα ἕτεροι σφόδρα αὐτῶν ἀποδέοντες εἰληφότες ὦσι. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν μεταβαίνει, καὶ μέσον παρεντίθησι τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον, ἐνδείξασθαι βουλόμενος, ὅτι ταῦτα πάντα λέγει, ἵνα αὐτοὺς μετριάζειν παιδεύσῃ. Ἐπαινῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς, φησὶ, διὰ δύο ταῦτα· δι' ἓν μὲν, ὅτι ἀνάγκην ἔχω τὴν διακονίαν ὑμῶν ἐγκεχειρισμένος· δι' ἕτερον δὲ, ἵνα δι' ὑμῶν ἑτέρους σώσω. Καὶ οὐ λέγει, τοὺς ἀδελφούς μου, τοὺς συγγενεῖς μου, ἀλλὰ, Τὴν σάρκα. Εἶτα τὴν φιλονεικίαν αὐτῶν ἐνδεικνύμενος, οὐ λέγει, εἴ πως πείσω, ἀλλὰ, Παραζηλώσω καὶ σώσω, καὶ οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα ἅπαντας, ἀλλὰ, Τινὰς ἐξ αὐτῶν· οὕτως ἦσαν σκληροί. Καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἐπιτιμήσει δὲ λαμπρὰ δείκνυσι πάλιν τὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν· εἴ γε καὶ αἴτιοι γίνονται σωτηρίας αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐ διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν· ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ τούτοις ἐξ ἀπιστίας, οὗτοι δὲ ἐκείνοις ἀπὸ πίστεως πρόξενοι γίνονται τῶν ἀγαθῶν. Ὅθεν δοκεῖ καὶ ἰσάζειν, καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν τὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν. δʹ. Τί γὰρ ἂν εἴποις, ὦ Ἰουδαῖε; Εἰ μὴ ἐξεβλήθημεν ἡμεῖς, οὐκ ἂν ἐκλήθητε εὐθέως ὑμεῖς; Τοῦτο δὲ λέγει καὶ ὁ ἐξ ἐθνῶν· Εἰ μὴ ἐσώθην ἐγὼ, οὐκ ἂν ἐζήλωσας σύ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὃ πλεονεκτοῦμεν βούλει μαθεῖν, ἐγὼ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ πιστεῦσαι, σὲ σώζω· σὺ δὲ προσκεκρουκὼς, πάροδον ἡμῖν δέδωκάς σου προτέραν. Εἶτα πάλιν αἰσθόμενος, ὅτι καθήψατο αὐτῶν, τὸ πρότερον ἀναλαμβάνει καί φησιν· Εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀποβολὴ αὐτῶν καταλλαγὴ κόσμου, τίς ἡ πρόσληψις, εἰ μὴ ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν; Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο αὐτοὺς καταδικάζει πάλιν, εἴ γε ἄλλοι μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτῶν ἐκέρδανον, οὗτοι δὲ οὐδὲ ἐκ τῶν 60.588 ἑτέρων κατορθωμάτων ὠφελήθησαν. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ἐξ ἀνάγκης συμβὰν, τοῦτο ἐκείνων εἶναί φησι, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· ἵνα γὰρ καὶ τούτους, ὃ πολλάκις εἶπον, καταστείλῃ κἀκείνους προτρέψῃ, οὕτω σχηματίζει τὸν λόγον. Ὅπερ γὰρ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, κἂν μυριάκις ἀπεβλήθησαν Ἰουδαῖοι, πίστιν δὲ μὴ ἐπεδείξαντο τὰ ἔθνη, οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθησάν ποτε. Ἀλλὰ τῷ ἠσθενηκότι παρίσταται μέρει, καὶ βοηθεῖ τῷ πεπονηκότι. Ὅρα δὲ καὶ ἐν οἷς χαρίζεται διὰ ῥημάτων αὐτοὺς παραμυθούμενος μόνον. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀποβολὴ αὐτῶν, φησὶ, καταλλαγὴ κόσμου. Καὶ τί τοῦτο πρὸς Ἰουδαίους; Τίς ἡ πρόσληψις, εἰ μὴ ζωὴ ἐκ νεκρῶν; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτό τι πρὸς ἐκείνους, εἰ μὴ προσελήφθησαν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Εἰ ὀργιζόμενος αὐτοῖς, τοσαῦτα ἐχαρίσατο ἑτέροις, ὅταν αὐτοῖς καταλλαγῇ, τί οὐ χαριεῖται; Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἡ ἀνάστασις