Romans 9
God and the Jewish People
1 I am in Christ, and I am telling you the truth; I do not lie. My conscience is ruled by the Holy Spirit, and it tells me I am not lying.2 I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness.3 I wish I could help my Jewish brothers and sisters, my people. I would even wish that I were cursed and cut off from Christ if that would help them.4 They are the people of Israel, God’s chosen children. They have seen the glory of God, and they have the agreements that God made between himself and his people. God gave them the law of Moses and the right way of worship and his promises.5 They are the descendants of our great ancestors, and they are the earthly family into which Christ was born, who is God over all. Praise him forever! 6 It is not that God failed to keep his promise to them. But only some of the people of Israel are truly God’s people, 7 and only some of Abraham’s 8 This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those who become God’s children because of the promise God made to Abraham.9 God’s promise to Abraham was this: “At the right time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” 10 And that is not all. Rebekah’s sons had the same father, our father Isaac.11-12 But before the two boys were born, God told Rebekah, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As the Scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” 14 So what should we say about this? Is God unfair? In no way.15 God said to Moses, “I will show kindness to anyone to whom I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone to whom I want to show mercy.” 16 So God will choose the one to whom he decides to show mercy; his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do.17 The Scripture says to the king of Egypt: “I made you king for this reason: to show my power in you so that my name will be talked about in all the earth.”
18 So God shows mercy where he wants to show mercy, and he makes stubborn the people he wants to make stubborn.
19 So one of you will ask me: “Then why does God blame us for our sins? Who can fight his will?”20 You are only human, and human beings have no right to question God. An object should not ask the person who made it, “Why did you make me like this?”
21 The potter can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use.
22 It is the same way with God. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently stayed with those people he was angry with—people who were made ready to be destroyed.23 He waited with patience so that he could make known his rich glory to the people who receive his mercy. He has prepared these people to have his glory,24 and we are those people whom God called. He called us not from the Jews only but also from those who are not Jews.
25 As the Scripture says in Hosea:
“I will say, ‘You are my people’ to those I had called ‘not my people.’
And I will show my love to those people I did not love.” t, t
26 “They were called, ‘You are not my people,’
but later they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ” t
27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel:
“The people of Israel are many, like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be saved,
28 because the Lord will quickly and completely punish the
people on the earth.” t
29 It is as Isaiah said:
“The Lord All-Powerful allowed a few of our descendants to live.
Otherwise we would have been completely destroyed like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” 30 So what does all this mean? Those who are not Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God, but they were made right with God because of their faith.31 The people of Israel tried to follow a law to make themselves right with God. But they did not succeed,32 because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did instead of trusting in God to make them right. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble.
33 As it is written in the Scripture:
“I will put in Jerusalem a stone that causes people to stumble, a rock that makes them fall.
Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.” t; t
Romans 9
Israel’s Rejection Considered
1 s I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures met in the Holy Spirit –2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.t3 For I could wisht that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people,t my fellow countrymen,t4 who are Israelites. To them belongt the adoption as sons,t the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship,t and the promises.
5 To them belong the patriarchs,t and from them,t by human descent,t came the Christ,t who is God over all, blessed forever!t Amen.
6 It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,t7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”ts8 This meanst it is not the children of the fleshts who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.9 For this is what the promise declared:t “About a year from nowtI will return and Sarah will have a son.”s10 Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man,t our ancestor Isaac –11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in electiont would stand, not by works but byt his calling)ts –12 s it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”s
13 just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”s
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”s16 So then,s it does not depend on human desire or exertion,t but on God who shows mercy.17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh:s “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”s
18 So then,s Godt has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.t
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?”20 But who indeed are you – a mere human beingt – to talk back to God?tDoes what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”s21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clayt one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?t22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objectst of wratht prepared for destruction?t23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objectst of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory –24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
25 As he also says in Hosea:
“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved,t ‘My beloved.’”s
26 “And in the very placetwhere it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”s
27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the childrentof Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved,28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.”sts
29 Justt as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of armiesthad not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”s
Israel’s Rejection Culpable
30 What shall we say then? – that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith,31 but Israel even though pursuingt a law of righteousnesst did not attain it.t32 Why not? Because they pursuedt it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works.st They stumbled over the stumbling stone,t
33 just as it is written,
“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble
and a rock that will make them fall,t
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”s