Romans 9

Chapter 9

God’s Selection of Israel

1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.t I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children.t 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.

5 Abraham, 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.t
6 Well 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!7 Being 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,”t though Abraham had other children, too.8 This 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.

9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”t
10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.t11 But 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;12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”t

13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”t
14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!

15 For God said to Moses,
“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,
and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”t

16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
17 For 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.”t

18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”
20 No, 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?”21 When 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?22 In 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.23 He 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.

24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

25 Concerning 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.”t

26 And,
“Then, at the place where they were told,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called
‘children of the living God.’”t

27 And 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.28 For the LORD will carry out his sentence upon the earth
quickly and with finality.”t

29 And 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.”t

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What 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.31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the lawt instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said,
“I am placing a stone in Jerusalemt that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
But anyone who trusts in him
will never be disgraced.”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