Romans 9
9
What about the people of Israel?
God's choice of Israel
1I am a follower of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a witness to my conscience. So I tell the truth and I am not lying when I say 2my heart is broken and I am in great sorrow. 3I would gladly be placed under God's curse and be separated from Christ for the good of my own people. 4They are the descendants of Israel, and they are also God's chosen people. God showed them his glory. He made agreements with them and gave them his Law. The temple is theirs and so are the promises that God made to them.#Ex 4.22. 5They have those famous ancestors, who were also the ancestors of Jesus Christ. I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised for ever!#9.5 Christ. I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised for ever: Or “Christ, who rules over all. I pray that God will be praised for ever” or “Christ. And I pray that Christ, who is God and rules over all, will be praised for ever.” Amen.
6It cannot be said that God broke his promise. After all, not all the people of Israel are the true people of God. 7-8In fact, when God made the promise to Abraham, he meant only Abraham's descendants by his son Isaac. God was talking only about Isaac when he promised#Gn 21.12. 9Sarah, “At this time next year I will return, and you will already have a son.”#Gn 18.10.
10Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. 11-12Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her elder son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn't because of anything either of them had done.#Gn 25.23. 13That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.#Ml 1.2,3.
14Are we saying that God is unfair? Certainly not! 15The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to.#Ex 33.19. 16Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do. 17In the Scriptures the Lord says to Pharaoh#9.17 Pharaoh: A Hebrew word sometimes used for the title of the King of Egypt. of Egypt, “I let you become king, so that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth.”#Ex 9.16 (LXX). 18Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.
God's anger and mercy
19Someone may ask, “How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the way he wants us to?” 20But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?#Is 29.16; 45.9. 21Doesn't a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?”
22God wanted to show his anger and reveal his power against everyone who deserved to be destroyed. But instead, he patiently put up with them. 23He did this by showing how glorious he is when he has pity on the people he has chosen to share in his glory. 24Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are those chosen ones, 25just as the Lord says in the book of Hosea,#Ho 2.23.
“Although they are not
my people,
I will make them my people.
I will treat with love
those nations
that have never been loved.
26“Once they were told,#Ho 1.10.
‘You are not my people.’
But in that very place
they will be called
children of the living God.”
27And this is what the prophet Isaiah said about the people of Israel,#Is 10.22,23 (LXX).
“The people of Israel
are as many
as the grains of sand
along the beach.
But only a few who are left
will be saved.
28The Lord will be quick
and sure to do on earth
what he has warned
he will do.”
29Isaiah also said,#Is 1.9 (LXX).
“If the Lord All-Powerful
had not spared some
of our descendants,
we would have been destroyed
like the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah.”#9.29 Sodom and Gomorrah: During the time of Abraham the Lord destroyed these two cities because their people were so sinful.
Israel and the good news
30What does all this mean? It means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that he would accept them if they had faith. 31-32It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying#9.31 because they were trying: Or “while they were trying” or “even though they were trying”. to be acceptable by obeying the Law instead of by having faith in God. The people of Israel fell over the stone that makes people stumble, 33just as God says in the Scriptures,#Is 28.16 (LXX).
“Look! I am placing in Zion
a stone to make people
stumble and fall.
But those who have faith
in that one will never
be disappointed.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
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).
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