^9:24 Even us, whom he also has called, not only of the Jews but also of the gentiles. [n. 796]
^9:25 As in Hosea he says: I will call those who were not my people, my people; and her who was not beloved, beloved; and her who had not obtained mercy, one who has obtained mercy. [n. 798]
^9:26 And it shall be in the place where it was said unto them: you are not my people; there they shall be called the sons of the living God. [n. 800]
^9:27 And Isaiah cried out concerning Israel: if the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. [n. 801]
^9:28 For he shall finish his word and cut it short in equity: because a short word shall the Lord make upon the earth. [n. 803]
^9:29 And as Isaiah foretold: unless the Lord of the Sabbath had left us a seed, we would have been made as Sodom and been made like Gomorrha. [n. 806]
^9:30 What then shall we say? That the gentiles who did not follow after justice have attained to justice, even the justice that is of faith. [n. 807]
^9:31 But Israel, by following after the law of justice, is not come unto the law of justice. [n. 809]
^9:32 Why so? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were of works. For they stumbled at the stumbling stone. [n. 810]
^9:33 As it is written: behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of scandal. And whosoever believes in him shall not be confounded. [n. 812]

796. After showing that God’s grace is given to men as a result of God’s election through which men are called to grace, the Apostle shows that such election or calling applies not only to the Jews—as if they could boast on account of what is said in Deuteronomy: he loved your fathers (Deut 4:37)—but also to the gentiles.

First, he states the intended proposition;

second, he proves it, at as in Hosea he says;

third, he draws the conclusion, at what then shall we say?

797. First, therefore, he says: we have stated that God prepared the saints for glory, whom he also has called, namely, by his grace, not only of the Jews but also of the gentiles: is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles also? (Rom 3:29); they shall adore him, every man from his own place, all the islands of the gentiles (Zeph 2:11).

798. Then he proves the proposition, when he says as in Hosea he says:

first, with respect to the gentiles;

second, the Jews, at and Isaiah cried out.

In regard to the first he cites two texts from Hosea speaking for the gentiles: the first of these promises them God’s gifts;

the second, divine sonship, at and it shall be in the place where it was said unto them.

799. First, therefore, he says: as the Lord says in Hosea, because it was he who spoke in the prophets: the Spirit of the Lord spoke through me, his word is upon my tongue (2 Sam 23:2). Hence, too, it says in Hosea: when the Lord first spoke through Hosea (Hos 1:2).

Here it should be noted that the gentiles were cut off from three blessings for which the Jews were famous: first, divine sonship, by reason of which they were called the people of God, as though serving him and obeying his precepts: we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his herd (Ps 95:7). But the gentiles were alienated from the society of this people, as it says in Ephesians: alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise (Eph 2:12). However, through Christ they have become God’s people: he gave himself for us to purify for himself a people of his own (Titus 2:14). And that is what he says: I will call those who were not my people, i.e., the gentiles, my people, i.e., that they be my people.

The second is the privilege of divine love: the Lord loves the people of Israel (Hos 3:1), because he offered them many benefits leading to special graces. From this love the gentiles had formerly been excluded: alienated from God’s truth because of the ignorance that is in them (Eph 3:18). Hence, he says: and her who was not beloved, i.e., the gentile races, I will call my beloved. You who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13); while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son (Rom 5:10).

The third is deliverance from original sin through circumcision: the Lord will have compassion on Jacob (Isa 14:1). But the gentiles had no share in this compassion: on the day you were born your navel string was not out and no eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you (Exod 16:5). But later through Christ they obtained compassion. Similarly it follows: and her who had not obtained mercy, one who has obtained mercy. He saved us in virtue of his own mercy (Titus 3:5).

He cites this text from Hosea according to the Septuagint, in the place where our text has: I will have mercy on her who was without mercy, and I will say to not my people: you are my people (Hos 2:23).

800. Then, when he says and it shall be in the place, he cites another text from Hosea in which they are promised the dignity of being sons of God (Hos 1:10), about which the Jews boasted because, as it says in Isaiah: sons have I reared and brought up (Isa 1:2) and in Deuteronomy: is he not your father? (Deut 32:6).

For the gentiles not only were not called sons, which applies to those who serve God out of love and are led by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:14); they were not even worthy to be called the people of God, which could apply at least to those who had received the spirit of servitude in fear.

Hence, he says, and it shall be in the place, i.e., in Judea, where it was said unto them, i.e., to the gentiles by the Jews speaking as though in God’s person: you are not my people, because they did not consider them God’s people, there, i.e., even among the believing Jews, they shall be called the sons of the living God.

Or in the place, i.e., in the entire world where they will be converted to the faith. This would indicate that they would not be converted in the same way as proselytes, who would leave their native land and journey to Judea. That this would not happen in the case of those converted to Christ is shown in Zephaniah: to him they shall bow down, each in his own place (Zeph 2:11). Therefore, to each one living in his own place, where it was said to them in former times, you are not my people, there they shall be called the sons of the living God by divine adoption: to all who believed in his name, he gave them power to become children of God (John 1:12).

801. Then, when he says Isaiah cried out, he proves his proposition with respect to the Jews and presents two texts from Isaiah.

The first of these seems to pertain to all the Jews who came to believe;

the second particularly to the apostles, at and Isaiah foretold.

802. First, therefore, he says: we have indicated what Hosea said about the gentiles, but Isaiah cried out, i.e., clearly speaks about the conversion of Israel: cry, cease not, lift up your voice like a trumpet (Isa 58:1).

In this first citation he first shows how few will be converted from Israel, saying: if the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, i.e., innumerable in light of the multitude of nations: I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore (Gen 22:17); Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea (1 Sam 4:20), a remnant shall be saved, i.e., not all, not the majority, but a certain few who will be left after the pruning: I am become as one who gleans in autumn the grapes of the vintage (Mic 7:1); at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace (Rom 11:5).

803. Second, at for he shall finish his word, he cites the cause of salvation: first, the efficacy of the word of the Gospel, saying: for he shall finish his word and cut it short in equity.

Note here a twofold efficacy of the evangelical word. The first is that the word is fulfilling, i.e., perfective: the law made nothing perfect (Heb 7:19); but the Lord says, I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill (Matt 5:17), because he applied the truth to the figures of the law, explained the moral precepts of the law properly, removed occasions for transgressing them and even added counsels of perfection. Thus he said to the young man who had kept all the precepts of the law: one thing is lacking to you. If you would be perfect, go and sell what you possess and give to the poor (Matt 19:21). For this reason he said to his disciples: you must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48).

The second efficacy is that the word is cut short. This is suitably joined to the first efficacy, because the more perfect a word is the more profound it is and, as a consequence, simpler and briefer. Now the word of the Gospel shortens the words of the law, because it included all the figurative sacrifices of the law in one true sacrifice, in which Christ offered himself as a victim for us (Eph 5:2). Furthermore, it includes all the moral precepts of the law in the two precepts of charity: on these two precepts depend the law and the prophets (Matt 22:40).

Hence he says cut short in equity, either because nothing is omitted of the multitude of figures and precepts of the law, but all are included in the brevity of the Gospel; or because nothing remains of them to be observed but what is equitable according to the dictates of natural reason: all your commands are equitable (Ps 118:72). This should be understood so that the sense is: the word of the Gospel will shorten and perfect in equity.

804. Second, when he says because a short word, he gives the reason for this efficacy, saying, for the Lord upon the earth, i.e., when he lives on earth as man: afterwards he was seen upon earth and conversed with men (Bar 3:38), will make a short word.

For the word which the Lord himself spoke in the flesh should be more perfect and powerful than the words he spoke through the prophets, as it says in Hebrews: God, who, at sundry time and in diverse manners, spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son (Heb 1:1).

805. Or, in another way: for the Lord, i.e., God the Father, will make a short word, i.e., incarnate, because the Son of God emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. He is called brief, not because anything was subtracted from the fullness or greatness of his divinity, but because he underwent our exile and smallness.

This decree is considered, however, in Isaiah, where according to our account it is thus said: for if your people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted. The abridged consumption shall overflow with justice. For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an abridgment in the midst of all the land (Isa 10:22–23).

806. Then, when he says and as Isaiah foretold, he cites the texts pertaining specifically to the apostles, saying: and as Isaiah foretold: unless the Lord of the Sabbaoth, that is, of armies or power, had left us, namely, in his mercy, a seed, i.e., the word of the Gospel: the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11); or a seed, i.e., Christ; and to your seed which is Christ (Gal 3:16); or a seed, i.e., the apostles: that which shall stand therein shall be a holy seed (Isa 6:13), we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.

For the sin of the Jews was greater than that of the men of Sodom: the iniquity of my people has been greater than the sin of Sodom (Lam 4:6) and your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done (Ezek 16:48).

Consequently, it was an act of divine mercy that the Jews were not totally exterminated as were the Sodomites: the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed (Lam 3:22).

807. Then he draws the conclusion from the above, when he says what then shall we say?

First, with respect to the gentiles;

second, with respect to the Jews, at but Israel.

808. In regard to the first he does two things.

First, he draws his conclusion, saying: what then shall we say, in the light of the foregoing? I say it is this, namely, that the gentiles have attained it, i.e., justice, by which they are called sons: and such were some of you. But you were washed, you were justified (1 Cor 6:11). And this, indeed, from God’s calling and not from any merits, because he says, the gentiles who did not follow justice. At that time you were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:12).

Second, he explains what he calls justice that is of faith, i.e., not that which consists in works. For the gentiles were not converted in order to observe the justice of the law, but to be justified through faith in Christ: the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ upon all who believe (Rom 3:22).

809. Then when he says but Israel, he draws his conclusion as regards the Jews.

And first he concludes what he intends, saying: but Israel, i.e., the people of the Jews, by following after the law of justice, is not come unto the law of justice.

The law of justice is the law of the spirit of life through which men are made just and which the Jewish people did not attain, although they pursued it by observing the shadow of this spiritual law: the law has but a shadow of the good things to come (Heb 10:1). Or by following after the law of justice, i.e., the law of Moses, which is the law of justice, if it is well understood, because it teaches justice.

Or it is called the law of justice, because it does not make men truly, but only outwardly, righteous, as long as sins are avoided not from love but from fear of the punishment that the law inflicted: hearken to me, you who pursue that which is just and you who seek the Lord (Isa 51:1); hearken to me, you who know what is just, my people, who have my law in your heart (Isa 51:7).

810. Second, he assigns the cause, saying, why is it that although they observed the law, they did not fulfill the law? Because they did not observe the law in the proper way.

And this is what he says: because they sought it not by faith, i.e., they sought to be made just not through faith in Christ but as it were of works. For they followed the figure and repudiated the truth: for by the works of the law no human being shall be justified before him (Rom 3:20).

811. Third, he explains the cause assigned: first, he presents the explanation, saying, they have stumbled at the stumbling-stone, i.e., Christ, who is likened to a stumbling-stone; for just as a stone against which a man stumbles is not guarded against because it is small, so the Jews, seeing Christ clothed with our weakness, did not guard against stumbling over him: his look was as it were hidden and despised. Whereupon we esteemed him not (Isa 53:3); before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains (Jer 13:16), i.e., upon Christ and his apostles who are called dark mountains, because their great dignity is hidden.

812. Second, he cites an authority for this, saying: as it is written, namely, in Isaiah. Here the Apostle gathers together the words of Isaiah found in various places. For it says in Isaiah: behold, I will lay a stone in the foundations of Zion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation (Isa 28:16). From this he takes the first part of his quotation: behold, I lay in Zion a stone, i.e., as a foundation, by which is meant that by divine command Christ was established as the foundation of the Church: for no other foundation can anyone lay that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11).

Again it says in Isaiah: he shall be for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the two houses of Israel (Isa 8:14). He uses this in the middle of the quotation where he says: a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall. Here the stumbling refers to their ignorance, because it says in 1 Corinthians: if they had known this, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8); but the falling refers to their unbelief by reason of which they persecuted Christ and his apostles: we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews (1 Cor 1:23); behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel (Luke 2:34).

The end of the quotation is taken from Isaiah: he who believes, let him not hasten (Isa 28:16). In place of this he says, and whosoever believes in him shall not be confounded, namely, because he will receive a reward from him: you who fears the Lord, hope in him: and your reward shall not be made void (Sir 2:8).

The Apostle takes these words according to the Septuagint. Its sense pertains to what is in our text: he who believes, let him not hasten, for he seems to hasten, who considers himself deceived, because he does not quickly get what he hoped.