Romans 11:34

My Notes

What Does Romans 11:34 Mean?

Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 to close his doxology about God's wisdom: "Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" The questions are rhetorical — the answer to both is no one. No human has accessed God's thought process. No human has advised God on his decisions. The divine mind operates at a level that no created intellect can penetrate or influence.

The doxology (verses 33-36) erupts after Paul's extended, complex argument about Israel's election, Gentile inclusion, and God's ultimate plan for both. After exhausting human logic in trying to explain God's ways, Paul throws his hands up and worships: the depth! the riches! the wisdom! Nobody can know it. Nobody can counsel it.

The two questions address two different forms of intellectual hubris: the claim to understand God ("who has known his mind?") and the claim to advise God ("who has been his counsellor?"). Paul eliminates both. You can't comprehend God's thinking, and you can't improve it.

Reflection Questions

• 1.How does arriving at worship through intellectual exhaustion (Paul's model) differ from worship through simplicity?
• 2.Where has your attempt to understand God's plan led you to the honest conclusion: 'I can't reach the bottom'?
• 3.What's the difference between humility born of ignorance and humility born of studying deeply and still finding God deeper?
• 4.How do these questions challenge both the temptation to fully understand God and the temptation to advise him?

Devotional

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Nobody. Who has been his counselor? Nobody. Paul exhausts his theological argument and arrives at the only honest conclusion: I can't explain this. Nobody can. The mind behind the plan is beyond the mind trying to understand the plan.

This doxology erupts at the end of the hardest three chapters in the Bible (Romans 9-11). Paul has wrestled with election, free will, Israel's rejection, Gentile inclusion, and God's ultimate purpose. He's constructed the most sophisticated theological argument in the New Testament. And at the end of it, he says: I can't reach the bottom. The depth is beyond me.

The two questions address two temptations. The first — "who has known his mind?" — targets the temptation to think you understand God fully. You don't. Your best theology is a sketch of the surface. The depths remain inaccessible. The second — "who has been his counselor?" — targets the temptation to think you could improve God's plan. You can't. His decisions don't need your input. His wisdom doesn't benefit from your suggestions.

This should produce a very specific kind of humility: the humility of someone who has studied deeply and still can't reach the bottom. Not the ignorant humility of someone who hasn't tried. The informed humility of someone who has pushed their understanding as far as it goes and discovered there's infinitely more beyond it.

Paul doesn't arrive at worship through simplicity. He arrives through complexity that exceeds his capacity. The worship at the end of Romans 11 isn't the worship of someone who gave up thinking. It's the worship of someone who thought as deeply as humanly possible and found God deeper still.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture