I say then, Have they stumbled in order that they might fall? Far be the thought but by their fall [there is] salvation to the nations to provoke them to jealousy.
Paul asks whether Israel's stumbling over Christ was meant to end in ruin. His answer is no. Their failure became the moment salvation went out to the nations, and God aims that salvation back at Israel.
Paul is not asking whether Israel tripped — that much is agreed. He is asking what the trip was for, and "fall" here carries the weight of a final, unrecoverable end.
The second question must now be answered: "Did they stumble in order that they might fall?" They have indeed stumbled at the stumbling stone, the stone laid in Zion. Was it for their everlasting ruin? That is the sense in which "to fall" seems to be used here. Their ruin, we learn, is not God's purpose. His purpose is the blessing of Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy. God has cast Israel off only for a time. The nation will be saved, and saved as a nation.
Commentators press the difference between a slip and a crash. That distinction carries the whole argument.
Had Israel then stumbled that they might fall? By no means! By their slip, salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. God had merciful thoughts in store for Israel. He judged their sin and used it as the occasion to call the Gentiles. He did not do this as if He had abandoned the Jews for ever as His people. He did it to stir them up to holy longing. Israel had slipped, not finally fallen.
You cannot make a stranger jealous. The very method God chose to reach Israel gives away His intentions toward them.
They stumbled over Him in whom they saw no beauty and whom they did not desire. They did not receive Him, though He had come to His own. But this did not result in their complete fall. In His infinite wisdom and all-wise purpose, God used their fall to bring salvation to the Gentiles and to provoke them to jealousy. In this statement we see again that God has not cast away His people Israel. If He had cast them away, why should He wish to provoke them to jealousy? And He provokes them to jealousy so that some of them may be saved.
The word "jealousy" is not Paul's invention. He is quoting a much older warning.
Paul points back to the words of Deuteronomy 32. Their bearing on the question is clear, and to a Jew their authority could not be disputed. It was not Paul but Moses who said the Jew provoked the LORD to jealousy and forgot the Rock who gave him birth... "They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." This is God's sure and solemn threat of displeasure. He turns from Israel to the Gentiles, just as surely as Israel used to turn from the LORD to false gods. But the threat itself contains the no less sure hint of restoring mercy in the end.
If jealousy is the goal, then God has not written the nation off. He is waiting for something from them — though only He can produce it.
They had stumbled, but not in order to fall for good. We see this clearly: the salvation of the Gentiles was meant to provoke them to jealousy. God still then was expecting from them what His own grace alone could produce. But if such blessings came from their fall, will not their fulness, when it comes, bring even greater blessing to people at large?
Gentiles gained from Israel's fall. But that gain comes with a condition and a warning.
As a people, the Jews have stumbled at the stumbling stone of Messiah's humiliation. But they did not stumble in order to fall. Through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy — not to cast Israel off. Again, the figure of the olive tree teaches the same lesson... the Gentile is only a wild olive. God grafted him in after breaking off some of the branches. He is called not to be proud but to fear. If he does not remain in God's goodness, he too will be cut off.
- Stumble — Israel tripped over Christ, the stone laid in Zion. But the trip was never aimed at a final fall. A slip, not a collapse.
- Occasion — God did not cause their sin. He judged it, then used it as the opening for salvation to reach the nations.
- Jealousy — The stated goal of Gentile blessing is to stir Israel. The method itself proves God still counts them as His.
- Moses — The jealousy language comes from Deuteronomy 32. It warns that God will turn away, and it carries the promise of His return.
- Fulness — If Israel's stumbling brought the world this much, their restoration promises far more. Meanwhile the grafted-in Gentile must fear, not boast.
But if their fall [be the] world's wealth, and their loss [the] wealth of [the] nations, how much rather their fulness?
Paul has just asked whether Israel stumbled so as to fall, and answered with a flat denial. Now he reasons forward. If the nation's failure already poured wealth into the world, what will their recovery bring?
Where the ESV says "trespass" and "failure", older translations say "fall". One writer shows that this one English word covers two different Greek words:
The word "fall" is used three times here as though it were the same word in the original each time. The second and third are the same word, but not the first... To fall down after a stumble is the meaning! The stumble in this chapter was the rejection of Christ. In the wilderness they fell, never to rise again. Here, though, we learn that Israel has stumbled but has not fallen for good. They will yet rise again. The other word, translated twice as "fall", is paraptomati = transgression... Israel has stumbled and offended, but they have not fallen. As branches they will once more be grafted in.
The proof that God has not finished with them is buried in His own stated motive — He means to make them jealous.
They stumbled over Him in whom they saw no beauty and whom they did not desire. He had come to His own, and they did not receive Him. But this did not result in their complete fall. In His infinite wisdom and all-wise purpose, God used their fall to bring salvation to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. In this statement we see again that God has not cast away His people Israel. If He had cast them away, why should He wish to provoke them to jealousy?
The "riches" are not vague. One writer names what the world received, and at whose expense:
The ministry of reconciliation, with all the blessings that come with it and flow from it, has come to us through the cutting off of the natural branches.
And the effect has spread far beyond those who believe:
The nations hardly realize how much they owe to the gospel. Yet everywhere Christianity has spread its blessed influence, it has lifted civilization to a higher, more honourable and sensible level. Only blindness can ignore this.
The force of Paul's argument comes from a fact easy to miss:
The transgression of Israel has opened the treasures of divine mercy to the world. The shrinking of Abraham's now disowned descendants has made the Gentiles rich. But if so, he argues, how much more will these blessings flow from their restoration... The apostle argues from the lesser to the greater. His argument draws its force from this: the present time of grace to the Gentiles has limited effects, and it could end at any time.
So the blessing Christianity has brought, real as it is, is not the ceiling:
The believer's portion is so magnificent that, left to our own thoughts, we might well suppose these blessings fulfil all God's purposes of grace. But Scripture teaches otherwise... Only the "fulness" of Israel, then, brings in the world's complete measure of blessing.
Their "fulness" — what the ESV calls their "full inclusion" — is their restoration as a nation. With it comes a complete reversal of character:
God will restore His ancient people and use them as the very means of blessing to the nations in the millennium. How much more blessing will earth see then than it has ever seen before! Israel will then be a fit representative of God. Under the law they grabbed every blessing for themselves; then they will hand blessing out to the nations with all their heart.
This verse settles an argument about the phrase "the fulness of the Gentiles" a few verses later:
The coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles cannot mean the conversion of all the Gentiles. The earlier part of the chapter itself speaks of fuller blessing to the Gentiles — to the world — through the receiving of Israel than through its fall. Suppose God has brought all the Gentiles into blessing before He restores Israel. How then could the apostle speak this way about Israel's restoration and its effects on the Gentiles — and in this very chapter?
- Stumble — the English wording hides a distinction. Israel stumbled and transgressed, but did not fall beyond recovery. They will rise, and be grafted in again.
- Riches — because God set Israel aside, the ministry of reconciliation reached the nations. Whole civilizations rose without knowing whom to thank.
- How much more — Paul argues from lesser to greater. The present flow of grace to the nations has limits, and it could end at any time. It is not God's final measure.
- Fulness — Israel restored stops hoarding blessing and starts distributing it. The nation once disowned becomes the channel that carries God's full blessing to the earth.
- Therefore — the world's best days lie ahead of Israel's recovery, not behind the gospel's spread. That is why "the fulness of the Gentiles" cannot mean every Gentile converted first.