Romans 11:33 - Meaning and Application

After spending much of this chapter showing how Israel’s rejection fits with God’s goodness, the apostle ends in awe. He stops to praise God’s wisdom and rule over all things. He looks with reverence at the mystery of God’s ways, especially in how God has dealt with Jews and Gentiles.

“O the depth!” he says. He is amazed at the hidden depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge in carrying out redemption through Christ. This is a depth even angels long to look into (1 Peter 1:12). If angelic beings cannot fully trace it, human minds should expect even less. Paul knew more about God’s kingdom than almost any mere man, yet he still admitted that he could not reach the bottom of it.

Those who know the most in this life also feel their own weakness most deeply. No matter how much they study, they still cannot fully put God’s ways into words. “Praise is silent to you” (Psalm 65:1). God’s riches are not shallow like human riches. His judgments go down into a great deep (Psalm 36:6). His wisdom and knowledge are both rich and deep, full and complete beyond our measuring.

God’s knowledge means that he sees all things in one clear, certain, and unfailing view. Nothing that is, was, or will be is hidden from him. His wisdom means that he orders all things well and directs them to his own glory. His knowledge and wisdom are both so vast that we can lose ourselves just trying to think about them. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me” (Psalm 139:6).

“How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.” His judgments are his purposes and plans, and his ways are how he carries them out. We often do not know what he is planning, even when his providence is already at work. This truth shuts down both our confident guesses and our curious questions. “Secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29). His way is often hidden, like a path in the sea (Psalm 77:19). What he does, we do not always understand now (John 13:7).

We cannot explain God’s actions or by searching discover all his reasons. Yet the commands of his mouth, and the path of duty, are clear enough. The works of his hands, and the ways of his providence, are often dark and mysterious. So we should not pry into them, but quietly worship and accept them. Paul speaks especially with the strange turning of events in view, the setting aside of the Jews and the welcome given to the Gentiles, with the promise that the Jews would be taken in again in due time. These are hard to explain by human judgment. We can only say, “O the depth!”

“Who has known the mind of the Lord?” No creature sits in God’s inner council, or rests in the Father’s bosom as Christ does. No one can fully know God’s thoughts by watching what he does. The gap between God and man is so great that such closeness is impossible by nature. Paul asks the same question in 1 Corinthians 2:16, and then adds, “But we have the mind of Christ.” That means believers, through Christ and his Spirit, know enough of God’s mind for their salvation and joy. Christ, who knows the Father, has made him known (John 1:18). So while we do not know all God’s mind, we know enough if we have the mind of Christ. “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him” (Psalm 25:14). God also said of Abraham, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (John 15:15).

“Or who has been his counselor?” God needs no counselor, because he is perfectly wise. No creature could truly advise him anyway. That would be like lighting a candle to the sun. This matches Isaiah 40:13-14, where God asks who has directed his Spirit or taught him. It also reflects God’s challenge to Job about creation (Job 38). The same is true for all his providence. It is foolish for any person to tell God how to govern the world.

The apostle next turns to God’s sovereignty, meaning his free right to do what he pleases, because he is God. He does what he wills, because he wills it, and he does not owe an account to anyone (Job 23:13; Job 33:13). Yet there is no injustice in him. To make that clear, Paul asks, “Who has first given to him?” No creature can prove that God owes him anything. Whatever we give to God must be given with this confession: “Of your own we have given you” (1 Chronicles 29:14). Our duties toward God are not payments for what he owes us, but returns of what was already his.

If anyone could prove that God was in his debt, Paul says he would stand ready to answer for God’s payment. “It shall be repaid to him” means God would not fail to repay what was due. But no one can make such a claim. God will never let anyone lose by serving him. Still, no one can truly demand payment from him. Paul says this to quiet the complaints of the Jews. When God took away their visible church privileges, he was only taking what belonged to him already. He may give or withhold his grace as he pleases. Paul also says it to silence the boasting of the Gentiles.

When God sent the gospel among them and gave so many of them grace and wisdom to accept it, it was not because he owed them such favor or because they could claim it as a debt. It was entirely from his own good pleasure.

Paul then brings everything back to the sovereign rule of God, as in Romans 11:36: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.” In other words, God is all in all. Everything in heaven and on earth, especially the things that concern our salvation and the things that lead to our peace, comes from him as Creator, passes through him by his guiding care, and is meant for him in its final purpose and result. God is the source of all things, Christ, God and man, is the means by which they come to us, and God is the final goal.

These three phrases cover all of God’s dealings with his creatures. He is the first cause, the one who begins all things. He is the supreme guiding cause, the one who directs all things. He is also the final cause, the one for whom all things exist. “The LORD has made all things for himself” (Revelation 4:11). If all things are from him and through him, then it makes perfect sense that all things should be for him and to him.

This is a necessary cycle. If rivers receive their water from the sea, they return to the sea again (Ecclesiastes 1:7). So to do all to the glory of God is to do what will certainly be true in the end. All things will belong to him in the end, whether we agree or not. That is why Paul ends with a short song of praise: “To whom be glory forever. Amen.”

God’s universal power as first cause, sovereign ruler, and last end should lead us to worship him. All his works praise him by showing his greatness, but his saints praise him actively. They give back to God the praise that all creatures only help make known (Psalm 145:10). Paul had been speaking at length about God’s purposes for humanity and had examined the matter carefully, yet he ends by acknowledging God’s sovereignty, because that is where all such things must finally rest. That is, if not the scholarly way, at least the Christian way of arguing.

Whatever the starting points may be, let God’s glory be the conclusion. Especially when we speak about God’s plans and actions, it is best to turn our arguments into reverent worship. The glorified saints, who understand these mysteries most fully, do not keep debating forever. They praise forever.