Romans 9
9
1I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3#Ex 32.32. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. 4#Rom 3.2; 8.15. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever.#9.5 Or Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever Amen.
6 #
Rom 2.28-29. But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7#Gen 21.12; Heb 11.18. and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.” 8#Gal 3.29; 4.28. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants. 9#Gen 18.10. For this is what the promise said, “About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” 10#Gen 25.21. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call, 12#Gen 25.23. she was told, “The elder will serve the younger.” 13#Mal 1.2-3. As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 #
2 Chron 19.7. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15#Ex 33.19. For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy. 17#Ex 9.16. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18#Rom 11.7. So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills.
19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20#Is 29.16; 45.9. But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me thus?” 21#2 Tim 2.20. Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? 22#Prov 16.4. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, 23#Rom 8.29. in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, 24#Rom 3.29. even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25#Hos 2.23; 1 Pet 2.10. As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people
I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved
I will call ‘my beloved.’ ”
26 #
Hos 1.10. “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
27 #
Is 10.22-23; Gen 22.17; Hos 1.10; Rom 11.5; 2 Kings 19.4; Is 11.11. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28for the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch.” 29#Is 1.9. And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us children,
we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.”
30 #
Rom 3.22; 10.6,20; Gal 2.16; 3.24; Phil 3.9; Heb 11.7. What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31#Is 51.1; Rom 10.2-3; 11.7. but that Israel who pursued the righteousness which is based on law did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32#1 Pet 2.8. Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33#Is 28.16; Rom 10.11. as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble,
a rock that will make them fall;
and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Currently Selected:
Romans 9: RSV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Romans 9
9
God’s Selection of Israel
1With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.#9:3 Greek my brothers. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 4They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.#9:4 Greek chosen for sonship. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 5Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.#9:5 Or May God, the one who rules over everything, be praised forever. Amen.
6Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”#9:7 Gen 21:12. though Abraham had other children, too. 8This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”#9:9 Gen 18:10, 14.
10This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.#9:10 Greek she conceived children through this one man. 11But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”#9:12 Gen 25:23. 13In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”#9:13 Mal 1:2-3.
14Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15For God said to Moses,
“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,
and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”#9:15 Exod 33:19.
16So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
17For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”#9:17 Exod 9:16 (Greek version). 18So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
19Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”
20No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.
25Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,
“Those who were not my people,
I will now call my people.
And I will love those
whom I did not love before.”#9:25 Hos 2:23.
26And,
“Then, at the place where they were told,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called
‘children of the living God.’”#9:26 Greek sons of the living God. Hos 1:10.
27And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out,
“Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore,
only a remnant will be saved.
28For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth
quickly and with finality.”#9:27-28 Isa 10:22-23 (Greek version).
29And Isaiah said the same thing in another place:
“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
had not spared a few of our children,
we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
destroyed like Gomorrah.”#9:29 Isa 1:9 (Greek version).
Israel’s Unbelief
30What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law#9:32 Greek by works. instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said,
“I am placing a stone in Jerusalem#9:33a Greek in Zion. that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
But anyone who trusts in him
will never be disgraced.”#9:33b Isa 8:14; 28:16 (Greek version).
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
For more information about the NLT: