Romans 9

¹I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in bearing me witness[#2 Cor 11:31; 1 Tm 2:7.]

²that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.

³For I could wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kin according to the flesh.[#Ex 32:32.]

⁴They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;[#3:2; Ex 4:22; Dt 7:6; 14:1–2.]

⁵theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is over all be blessed forever. Amen.[#Some editors punctuate this verse differently and prefer the translation, “Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all.” However, Paul’s point is that God aimed to use Israel, which had been entrusted with every privilege, in outreach to the entire world through the Messiah.; #Mt 1:1–16; Lk 3:23–38 / Rom 1:25; Ps 41:14.]

God’s Free Choice.

⁶But it is not that the word of God has failed. For not all who are of Israel are Israel,[#Nm 23:19 / Mt 3:9.]

⁷nor are they all children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “It is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.”[#Gn 21:12; Gal 3:29.]

⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.[#Gal 4:23, 28.]

⁹For this is the wording of the promise, “About this time I shall return and Sarah will have a son.”[#Gn 18:10, 14.]

¹⁰And not only that, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one husband, our father Isaac—[#Gn 25:21.; #: Abraham had two children, Ishmael and Isaac, by two wives, Hagar and Sarah, respectively. In that instance Isaac, although born later than Ishmael, became the bearer of the messianic promise. In the case of twins born to Rebecca, God’s elective procedure is seen even more dramatically, and again the younger, contrary to Semitic custom, is given the preference.]

¹¹before they had yet been born or had done anything, good or bad, in order that God’s elective plan might continue,

¹²not by works but by his call—she was told, “The older shall serve the younger.”[#11:5–6 / Gn 25:23–24.]

¹³As it is written:[#Mal 1:3.]

“I loved Jacob

but hated Esau.”

¹⁴What then are we to say? Is there injustice on the part of God? Of course not![#The principle of divine election does not invite Christians to theoretical inquiry concerning the nonelected, nor does this principle mean that God is unfair in his dealings with humanity. The instruction concerning divine election is a part of the gospel and reveals that the gift of faith is the enactment of God’s mercy (Rom 9:16). God raised up Moses to display that mercy, and Pharaoh to display divine severity in punishing those who obstinately oppose their Creator.; #Dt 32:4.]

¹⁵For he says to Moses:

“I will show mercy to whom I will,

I will take pity on whom I will.”

¹⁶So it depends not upon a person’s will or exertion, but upon God, who shows mercy.[#Eph 2:8; Ti 3:5.]

¹⁷For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “This is why I have raised you up, to show my power through you that my name may be proclaimed throughout the earth.”[#Ex 9:16.]

¹⁸Consequently, he has mercy upon whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills.[#11:30–32; Ex 4:21; 7:3.; #The basic biblical principle is: those who will not see or hear shall not see or hear. On the other hand, the same God who thus makes stubborn or hardens the heart can reconstruct it through the work of the holy Spirit.]

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why [then] does he still find fault? For who can oppose his will?”[#The apostle responds to the objection that if God rules over faith through the principle of divine election, God cannot then accuse unbelievers of sin (Rom 9:19). For Paul, this objection is in the last analysis a manifestation of human insolence, and his “answer” is less an explanation of God’s ways than the rejection of an argument that places humanity on a level with God. At the same time, Paul shows that God is far less arbitrary than appearances suggest, for God endures (Rom 9:22) a person like the Pharaoh of the Exodus.; #3:7; Wis 12:12.]

²⁰But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is made say to its maker, “Why have you created me so?”[#Wis 15:7; Is 29:16; 45:9; Jer 18:6.]

²¹Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one?

²²What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction?[#2:4; Wis 12:20–21; Jer 50:25.]

²³This was to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared previously for glory,

²⁴namely, us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.

Witness of the Prophets.

²⁵As indeed he says in Hosea:

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’

²⁶And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they shall be called children of the living God.”

²⁷And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the Israelites were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved;[#Is 10:22–23; Hos 2:1 / Rom 11:5 / Is 28:22.]

²⁸for decisively and quickly will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth.”

²⁹And as Isaiah predicted:

“Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom

and have been made like Gomorrah.”

Righteousness Based on Faith.

³⁰What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith;[#10:4, 20.]

³¹but that Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law?[#10:3.]

³²Why not? Because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes stumbling,[#Is 8:14.; #Paul discusses Israel as a whole from the perspective of contemporary Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah. The Old Testament and much of Jewish noncanonical literature in fact reflect a fervent faith in divine mercy.]

³³as it is written:

“Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion

that will make people stumble

and a rock that will make them fall,

and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame.”