ROM 9
9
Paul's Continual Sorrow for Israel
1 I am speaking the truth in union with Christ; I am not lying or exaggerating; my conscience, enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit, bears witness together with me and confirms this,
2 That I have great sorrow and continual pain in my heart for my unbelieving Jewish kinsmen.
3 For I could almost wish—if it were possible and beneficial—that I myself were cursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers and sisters, my own kinsmen according to physical descent and ethnic identity,
4 Who are Israelites, to whom belong the privilege of adoption as God's chosen son among the nations, and the glorious presence of God, and the covenants made with Abraham, Moses, and David, and the giving of the Mosaic Law, and the temple worship, and the divine promises of blessing and redemption;
5 To whom belong the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and from whose race came the Christ according to His human nature, who is God over all creation, blessed and worthy of praise forever. Amen.
The Sovereign Election of God
6 But it is not as though God's word and promise has failed or fallen to the ground without fulfilment. For not all who are physically descended from Israel are truly part of the spiritual Israel—the true people of God.
7 Nor are all who are Abraham's physical offspring automatically his true spiritual children, but rather, "In Isaac"—through the line of promise, not Ishmael—"your offspring will be named."*
8 That is, it is not the children born by natural descent—the children of the flesh—who are the true children of God, but rather the children born according to God's promise who are counted and reckoned as Abraham's true offspring.
9 For this is the word of promise that God spoke: "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”*
10 And not only was this principle of divine selection seen with Sarah, but also when Rebecca had conceived twin children by one man, Isaac our father.
11 For although the twin children had not yet been born, nor had done anything either good or evil—so that God's purpose and plan according to His sovereign election might stand firm and continue,
12 Not based on human works or merit but based on God's sovereign call and choice—it was said to her before their birth, "The older will serve the younger,” reversing natural expectations.
13 Just as it stands written in Scripture: "Jacob I loved and chose, but Esau I rejected"—demonstrating God's sovereign choice in election.
God's Sovereign Justice
14 What then shall we conclude? Is there injustice or unrighteousness with God in making such sovereign choices? May it never be! Absolutely not!
15 For God says to Moses, declaring His sovereign freedom:
"I will have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever I choose to have compassion."*
16 So then, salvation does not depend on human desire or the one who wills it, nor on human effort or the one who runs and strives, but on God who sovereignly shows mercy according to His own purposes.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "For this very purpose I have raised you up and placed you in your position of power, so that I might demonstrate and display My power through you, and so that My name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth."*
18 So then, God has mercy on whomever He sovereignly wills to have mercy, and He hardens and confirms in rebellion whomever He wills to harden.
The Potter and the Clay
19 You will object and say to me then, "Why does God still find fault? For who has successfully resisted or stood against His sovereign will?"
20 On the contrary, O mere human being, who are you to argue with your Creator? Will the thing that is moulded say to the One who formed it, "Why did You make me in this particular way?"
21 Or does not the potter have the right and authority over the clay, to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for honourable, noble use, and another vessel for common, dishonourable use?
22 But what if God, though willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make known His power, endured with much patience and longsuffering vessels of wrath—people fitted and prepared for destruction—
23 And He did this in order to make known the abundant riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy—people whom He prepared in advance for glory,
24 Even us whom He has called, drawn not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles?
25 As God also declares in the prophet Hosea:
"I will call that which was not My people, 'My people;'
and her who was not loved and cherished, I will call 'Beloved and Loved.'"*
26 "And it will come to pass that in the very place where it was declared to them,
'You are not My people,'
there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"*
27 And Isaiah cries out prophetically concerning Israel:
"Though the number of the sons of Israel be as countless as the sand of the sea,
only the remnant—a small surviving portion—will be saved and delivered;
28 For the Lord will execute His word of judgment upon the earth,
bringing it to completion and finality,
and accomplishing it swiftly and decisively."*
29 And just as Isaiah prophesied and foretold in another place:
"Unless the Lord of heavenly armies had left us a surviving remnant and offspring,
we would have become exactly like Sodom in total destruction,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah in complete annihilation."*
Gentile's Faith and Israel's Unbelief
30 What then shall we conclude from all this? That Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness or seeking after God, have attained and obtained righteousness—but specifically the righteousness that comes through faith alone.
31 But Israel, earnestly pursuing a law that would lead to righteousness, did not arrive at that righteousness.
32 For what reason did they fail? Because they pursued righteousness not by faith, but as if it could be obtained by performing works and human effort. They stumbled over the stumbling stone that God placed in their path—Christ Himself.
33 Just as it stands written in Scripture:
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that causes stumbling,
and a rock that brings offence and scandal;
yet the one who believes and trusts in Him will not be put to shame."*
Notes
7 Quoted from Gen. 21:12
9 Quoted from Gen. 18:10
12 Quoted from Gen. 25:23
13 Quoted from Mal. 1:2-3
15 Quoted from Ex. 33:19
17 Quoted from Ex. 9:16
25 Quoted from Hos. 2:23
26 Quoted from Hos. 1:10
27-28 Quoted from Is. 10:22-23
29 Quoted from Is. 1:9
33 Quoted from Is. 28:16
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ROM 9: AFINT
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
ROM 9
9
Paul's Continual Sorrow for Israel
1 I am speaking the truth in union with Christ; I am not lying or exaggerating; my conscience, enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit, bears witness together with me and confirms this,
2 That I have great sorrow and continual pain in my heart for my unbelieving Jewish kinsmen.
3 For I could almost wish—if it were possible and beneficial—that I myself were cursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers and sisters, my own kinsmen according to physical descent and ethnic identity,
4 Who are Israelites, to whom belong the privilege of adoption as God's chosen son among the nations, and the glorious presence of God, and the covenants made with Abraham, Moses, and David, and the giving of the Mosaic Law, and the temple worship, and the divine promises of blessing and redemption;
5 To whom belong the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and from whose race came the Christ according to His human nature, who is God over all creation, blessed and worthy of praise forever. Amen.
The Sovereign Election of God
6 But it is not as though God's word and promise has failed or fallen to the ground without fulfilment. For not all who are physically descended from Israel are truly part of the spiritual Israel—the true people of God.
7 Nor are all who are Abraham's physical offspring automatically his true spiritual children, but rather, "In Isaac"—through the line of promise, not Ishmael—"your offspring will be named."*
8 That is, it is not the children born by natural descent—the children of the flesh—who are the true children of God, but rather the children born according to God's promise who are counted and reckoned as Abraham's true offspring.
9 For this is the word of promise that God spoke: "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”*
10 And not only was this principle of divine selection seen with Sarah, but also when Rebecca had conceived twin children by one man, Isaac our father.
11 For although the twin children had not yet been born, nor had done anything either good or evil—so that God's purpose and plan according to His sovereign election might stand firm and continue,
12 Not based on human works or merit but based on God's sovereign call and choice—it was said to her before their birth, "The older will serve the younger,” reversing natural expectations.
13 Just as it stands written in Scripture: "Jacob I loved and chose, but Esau I rejected"—demonstrating God's sovereign choice in election.
God's Sovereign Justice
14 What then shall we conclude? Is there injustice or unrighteousness with God in making such sovereign choices? May it never be! Absolutely not!
15 For God says to Moses, declaring His sovereign freedom:
"I will have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever I choose to have compassion."*
16 So then, salvation does not depend on human desire or the one who wills it, nor on human effort or the one who runs and strives, but on God who sovereignly shows mercy according to His own purposes.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "For this very purpose I have raised you up and placed you in your position of power, so that I might demonstrate and display My power through you, and so that My name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth."*
18 So then, God has mercy on whomever He sovereignly wills to have mercy, and He hardens and confirms in rebellion whomever He wills to harden.
The Potter and the Clay
19 You will object and say to me then, "Why does God still find fault? For who has successfully resisted or stood against His sovereign will?"
20 On the contrary, O mere human being, who are you to argue with your Creator? Will the thing that is moulded say to the One who formed it, "Why did You make me in this particular way?"
21 Or does not the potter have the right and authority over the clay, to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for honourable, noble use, and another vessel for common, dishonourable use?
22 But what if God, though willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make known His power, endured with much patience and longsuffering vessels of wrath—people fitted and prepared for destruction—
23 And He did this in order to make known the abundant riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy—people whom He prepared in advance for glory,
24 Even us whom He has called, drawn not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles?
25 As God also declares in the prophet Hosea:
"I will call that which was not My people, 'My people;'
and her who was not loved and cherished, I will call 'Beloved and Loved.'"*
26 "And it will come to pass that in the very place where it was declared to them,
'You are not My people,'
there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"*
27 And Isaiah cries out prophetically concerning Israel:
"Though the number of the sons of Israel be as countless as the sand of the sea,
only the remnant—a small surviving portion—will be saved and delivered;
28 For the Lord will execute His word of judgment upon the earth,
bringing it to completion and finality,
and accomplishing it swiftly and decisively."*
29 And just as Isaiah prophesied and foretold in another place:
"Unless the Lord of heavenly armies had left us a surviving remnant and offspring,
we would have become exactly like Sodom in total destruction,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah in complete annihilation."*
Gentile's Faith and Israel's Unbelief
30 What then shall we conclude from all this? That Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness or seeking after God, have attained and obtained righteousness—but specifically the righteousness that comes through faith alone.
31 But Israel, earnestly pursuing a law that would lead to righteousness, did not arrive at that righteousness.
32 For what reason did they fail? Because they pursued righteousness not by faith, but as if it could be obtained by performing works and human effort. They stumbled over the stumbling stone that God placed in their path—Christ Himself.
33 Just as it stands written in Scripture:
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that causes stumbling,
and a rock that brings offence and scandal;
yet the one who believes and trusts in Him will not be put to shame."*
Notes
7 Quoted from Gen. 21:12
9 Quoted from Gen. 18:10
12 Quoted from Gen. 25:23
13 Quoted from Mal. 1:2-3
15 Quoted from Ex. 33:19
17 Quoted from Ex. 9:16
25 Quoted from Hos. 2:23
26 Quoted from Hos. 1:10
27-28 Quoted from Is. 10:22-23
29 Quoted from Is. 1:9
33 Quoted from Is. 28:16
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:
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).