"Those are saved by the tongue by falling. These are not only Paul's words, on the contrary, and the parables in the Gospels have the same meaning. He who had made a wedding feast for his son had already begun to call from the crossroads, when those who were invited did not want to go (cf. Matt. 22:9). And he who planted the vineyard then decided to give it to other tenants, when the first had killed the heir (cf. Matt. 21:38). And Paul said to the Jews who were arming themselves against him: "It would be foolish for you to speak the word of God first: but since you are unworthy, do yourselves, behold, we turn to tongues" (cf. Acts ί3:46). From all this it is evident that in order the Jews should have come first, and then the Gentiles; but since the Jews were found to be unbelievers, the order was changed. The unbelief and fall of the Jews caused the Gentiles to enter first. For this reason the Apostle says: "Such are the salvation of the tongue by falling, wherein they are provoked." The meaning of his words is this: The Lord Jesus came to the Jews; but they, in spite of the great multitude of miracles performed by Him, did not accept Him and crucified Him. After this, He began to draw the Gentiles to Himself, in order to wound the insensitive Jews by the honor shown to them, and to persuade them to come to Him by mutual competition. For it was necessary to receive the Jews first, and then us. For this reason the Apostle said: "For the power of God is for the salvation of everyone who believes, and of the Jews first and of the Greek" (1:16). And because the Jews split off, we, the second, became the first. And so, you see what honors he deduces for them from this. First, the one that we were called when they did not want to; secondly, that we are called not for our sole salvation, but that they also may become better by being zealous for our salvation. What, someone will say, would we not have been called and saved, if it had not become necessary for the Jews? They would have been called and saved, but in the proper order, that is, not before, but after the Jews. For this reason, Christ the Lord, sending His disciples to preach, did not simply say: "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," but: "Go rather than that" (cf. Matt. 10:6), showing that after the Jews we must go also to the Gentiles. Yet all this is done and said, so that the Jews may not have recourse to the shameless excuse that they have been neglected, and therefore have not believed. For this reason, although Christ foresaw everything, nevertheless came to them first."

Verse 12. And if their sin is the riches of the world, and their falling away is the riches of tongues: how much more is their fulfillment.

St. Chrysostom says to this: "Here the Apostle says things that are pleasing to the Jews. He encourages the fallen among them, proving in abundance that they can hope for salvation if they change. If, he says, so many were saved when they stumbled, and so many were called while they were rejected, then consider what will happen when they are converted? For he did not say, "How much more is their conversion, or their change, or their correction," but, "How much more is their fulfillment," that is, when all come to Christ. And by this he gives us to understand that then there will be a greater or full measure of God's grace."

In the words: their falling away, the richness of languages — falling away in Greek: ήττημα — which means, among other things, smallness, a small number; and in the words: how much more is their fulfillment — the fulfillment in Greek: πλήρωμα, — which means completeness, a full number.

For it would be more convenient for all to believe, if they did not reproach, but preached the truth with us."

Affirming that the fulfillment of them will bring riches, the Apostle prophesies that this will happen in time, that is, that the Jews will convert, enter the fold of faith, and give the fullness of the assembly of believers. When this comes to pass, he explains it below; here he only hints at it.

Verse 13, 1st half. For I speak to you with the tongue (and so on until the 17th verse).

I say to you with my tongue, "You, believers from the Gentiles, I mean, when I say this, to teach you, I want to give you a warning. What he intends to impress upon them will begin later in verse 17. But in order to better adapt himself to this suggestion and make it more acceptable and impressionable, he repeats beforehand what he has previously said about the significance of current events in the conversion of some and the obstinacy of others (verses 13-16). The course of his speech is as follows: As an Apostle of the Gentiles, I place your conversion so highly; but at the same time I do not dwell on you alone, but I also have in mind my relatives, so that through your conversion I may also convert them, which I very much desire, not only because I love them as my own flesh, but especially because, as soon as they are converted, there will be a universal resurrection, and the radiant Kingdom of God will come. And that it will be so, that in fact all the Jews will be converted, there can be no doubt; for if the root is holy, that is, their progenitors, then the branches, that is, their descendants, these same unbelieving Jews, will also become holy. But since this cannot come to pass otherwise than by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord, then there can be no doubt that they will finally turn to the Lord with faith. Having come to this: "If the root is holy, then the branches will also be holy," the Apostle then builds on this his intended suggestion to the Gentile believers (verse 17 ff.). St. Chrysostom speaks of this separation (verses 13-16): "The Apostle goes over to the pagans and places an introductory speech about them, wishing to show that all this is said in order to teach them modesty."

Verse 13, 2nd half. Since I am an Apostle with my tongue, I glorify my service.

I glorify the service means that he cares in every way about the conversion of the Gentiles, or that he places such a high value on this conversion and attaches so great importance to it, that the conversion of the Jews, and then the transformation of the whole world, depends on him. The first is expressed by Blessed Theodoret: "Since God has appointed me to be a preacher for the Gentiles, then of necessity I seek the salvation of the Gentiles, and for them I speak and prove that the divine Prophets have foretold this from of old." The second is St. Chrysostom: "I praise (your conversion and) you (those who have converted), says the Apostle, for two reasons: first, because I have need of it, as one who was sent to serve you; secondly, that through you I may save others."

Verse 14. If I provoke my flesh and save some from them.

By increasing the number of Gentile believers and exalting the significance of their conversion, the Apostle indirectly intends "at least to stir up the Jews to emulation and to make some of them partakers of salvation" (Blessed Theodoret).

The Apostle called the Jews his flesh because, although they were stagnant in unbelief and disliked him, he did not cease to love them as they love their own flesh. Blessed Theophylact writes: "By the word, flesh, he showed his tender love for the Jews." And perhaps because he called them so, because since they differed from him in convictions, in the rules of life and feelings, he remained close to them only in the flesh. St. Chrysostom says: "The Apostle did not say, 'My brethren, my kinsmen,' but, 'Flesh.'" Explaining this, Blessed Theodoret adds: "He calls the Jews his flesh, as alien to him in their way of thinking, but having communion with him by carnal affinity alone."

"Then, revealing their obstinacy, he does not say, 'Shall I not be persuaded by them?' but, 'If I provoke them and save them; And again he does not say, "All," but, "Some of them." So hard-hearted were the Jews!" (St. Chrysostom). "What obstinacy the Jews have! It was impossible to hope to attract them to the faith except by an excessive pressure, and then not all, but only some" (Ecumenios).