Romans 9
9
God’s Sovereign Choice
1 #
2 Cor. 11:10; 1 Tim. 2:7; [2 Cor. 12:19; Gal. 1:20]; See ch. 1:9 I 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. 3For #[Ex. 32:32] I could wish that I myself were #1 Cor. 12:3; 16:22; Gal. 1:8, 9 accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,#9:3 Or brothers and sisters my kinsmen #[ch. 11:14]according to the flesh. 4They are #[ver. 6; ch. 2:28, 29; Gal. 6:16] Israelites, and to them belong #[Ex. 4:22]; See ch. 8:15 the adoption, #Ex. 40:34; 1 Sam. 4:21; 1 Kgs. 8:11 the glory, #Gen. 17:2; Deut. 29:14; Gal. 4:24; Eph. 2:12 the covenants, #Deut. 4:14; [Ps. 147:19] the giving of the law, #Heb. 9:1 (Gk.); [ch. 12:1] the worship, and #[Eph. 2:12]; See John 4:22; Acts 13:32the promises. 5To them belong #ch. 11:28 the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, #[Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:16-19] who is God over all, #ch. 1:25; John 1:1; 2 Cor. 11:31; Heb. 1:8blessed forever. Amen.
6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7and not all are children of Abraham #[Gal. 4:23]; See John 8:33 because they are his offspring, but #Heb. 11:18; Cited from Gen. 21:12; [Gal. 3:29]“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but #Gal. 4:23, 28the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9For this is what the promise said: #Cited from Gen. 18:10, 14; [Gen. 17:21]“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10And not only so, but #Gen. 25:21also when Rebekah 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 #[ch. 4:17]; See ch. 8:28him who calls— 12she was told, #Cited from Gen. 25:23“The older will serve the younger.” 13As it is written, #Cited from Mal. 1:2, 3“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14What shall we say then? #Deut. 32:4; 2 Chr. 19:7; Job 8:3; 34:10; Ps. 92:15Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, #Cited from Ex. 33:19“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion,#9:16 Greek not of him who wills or runs but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, #Cited from Ex. 9:16“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For #2 Chr. 20:6; Job 9:12; Dan. 4:35who can resist his will?” 20But who are you, O man, #Job 33:13 to answer back to God? #Isa. 29:16; 45:9Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21#Isa. 64:8; Jer. 18:6 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump #2 Tim. 2:20one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience #[ver. 21, 23; Acts 9:15] vessels of wrath #[Prov. 16:4; 1 Pet. 2:8]prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known #Eph. 3:16; See ch. 2:4 the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he #[ch. 8:29]has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom he #See ch. 8:28 has called, #See ch. 3:29not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25As indeed he says in Hosea,
# Cited from Hos. 2:23; [1 Pet. 2:10] “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 # Cited from Hos. 1:10 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called #See ch. 8:14; Matt. 16:16‘sons of the living God.’”
27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: #Cited from Isa. 10:22, 23; [Hos. 1:10] “Though the number of the sons of Israel#9:27 Or children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, #ch. 11:5only a remnant of them will be saved, 28for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29And as Isaiah predicted,
# Cited from Isa. 1:9 #
James 5:4 “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
#
Deut. 29:23; Isa. 13:19; Jer. 49:18; 50:40; Amos 4:11 we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30What shall we say, then? #[ch. 10:20] That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, #ch. 1:17; 3:21, 22; 10:6; Gal. 2:16; 3:24; Phil. 3:9; Heb. 11:7a righteousness that is by faith; 31but that Israel #[ch. 10:2, 3; 11:7] who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness#9:31 Greek a law of righteousness #[Gal. 5:4]did not succeed in reaching that law. 32Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the #See 1 Pet. 2:8stumbling stone, 33as it is written,
#
1 Pet. 2:6, 7; Cited from Isa. 28:16; [Ps. 118:22] “Behold, I am laying in Zion #Isa. 8:14 a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
# ch. 10:11 and whoever believes in him will not be #Isa. 49:23; Joel 2:26, 27put to shame.”
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Romans 9
9
1 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh 4who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; 5of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel. 7Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.”#Genesis 21:12 8That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs. 9For this is a word of promise: “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”#Genesis 18:10,14 10Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. 11For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,#9:11 NU puts the phrase “not of works, but of him who calls” at the beginning of verse 12 instead of the end of verse 11. 12it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.”#Genesis 25:23 13Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”#Malachi 1:2-3
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! 15For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”#Exodus 33:19 16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”#Exodus 9:16 18So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
19 You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”#Isaiah 29:16; 45:9 21Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honour, and another for dishonour? 22What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory— 24us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says also in Hosea,
“I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people;
and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”#Hosea 2:23
26“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”#Hosea 1:10
27 Isaiah cries concerning Israel,
“If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea,
it is the remnant who will be saved;
28 for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”#Isaiah 10:22-23
29 As Isaiah has said before,
“Unless the Lord of Armies#9:29 Greek: Sabaoth (or Hebrew: Tze’va’ot) had left us a seed,
we would have become like Sodom,
and would have been made like Gomorrah.”#Isaiah 1:9
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; 31but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. 32Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33even as it is written,
“Behold,#9:33 “Behold”, from “ἰδοὺ”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection. I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offence;
and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”#Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
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