1I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My mind tells me that what I say is true. It is guided by the Holy Spirit.2My heart is full of sorrow. My sadness never ends.3I am so concerned about my people, who are members of my own race. I am ready to be cursed, if that would help them. I am even willing to be separated from Christ.4They are the people of Israel. They have been adopted as God’s children. God’s glory belongs to them. So do the covenants. They received the law. They were taught to worship in the temple. They were given the promises.5The founders of our nation belong to them. The Messiah comes from their family line. He is God over all. May he always be praised! Amen.
God’s free choice
6I do not mean that God’s word has failed. Not everyone in the family line of Israel really belongs to Israel.7Not everyone in Abraham’s family line is really his child. Not at all! Scripture says, ‘Your family line will continue through Isaac.’ (Ge 21:12)8In other words, God’s children are not just in the family line of Abraham. Instead, they are the children God promised to him. They are the ones considered to be Abraham’s children.9God promised, ‘I will return at the appointed time. Sarah will have a son.’ (Ge 18:10; Ge 18:14)10And that’s not all. Rebekah’s children were born at the same time by the same father. He was our father Isaac.11Here is what happened. Rebekah’s twins had not even been born. They hadn’t done anything good or bad yet. So they show that God’s purpose is based firmly on his free choice.12It was not because of anything they did but because of God’s choice. So Rebekah was told, ‘The elder son will serve the younger one.’ (Ge 25:23)13It is written, ‘I chose Jacob instead of Esau.’ (Mal 1:2; Mal 1:3)14What should we say then? Is God unfair? Not at all!15He said to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will show love to those I love.’ (Ex 33:19)16So it doesn’t depend on what people want or what they do. It depends on God’s mercy.17In Scripture, God says to Pharaoh, ‘I had a special reason for making you king. I decided to use you to show my power. I wanted my name to become known everywhere on earth.’ (Ex 9:16)18So God does what he wants to do. He shows mercy to one person and makes another stubborn.19One of you will say to me, ‘Then why does God still blame us? Who can oppose what he wants to do?’20But you are a mere human being. So who are you to talk back to God? Scripture says, ‘Can what is made say to the one who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” ’ (Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9)21Isn’t the potter free to make different kinds of pots out of the same lump of clay? Some are for special purposes. Others are for ordinary use.22What if God chose to show his great anger? What if he chose to make his power known? But he put up with the people he was angry with. They were made to be destroyed.23What if he put up with them to show the riches of his glory to other people? Those other people are the ones he shows his mercy to. He made them to receive his glory.24We are those people. He has chosen us. We do not come only from the Jewish race. Many of us are not Jews.25God says in Hosea, ‘I will call those who are not my people “my people.” I will call the one who is not my loved one “my loved one.” ’ (Ho 2:23)26He also says, ‘Once it was said to them, “You are not my people.” In that very place they will be called “children of the living God.” ’ (Ho 1:10)27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. He says, ‘The number of people from Israel may be like the sand by the sea. But only a few of them will be saved.28The Lord will carry out his sentence. He will be quick to carry it out on earth, once and for all.’ (Isa 10:22; Isa 10:23)29Earlier Isaiah had said, ‘The Lord who rules over all left us children and grandchildren. If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah.’ (Isa 1:9)
Israel does not believe
30What should we say then? Gentiles did not look for a way to be right with God. But they found it by having faith.31The people of Israel tried to obey the law to make themselves right with God. But they didn’t reach their goal of being right with God.32Why not? Because they tried to do it without faith. They tried to be right with God by what they did. They tripped over the stone that causes people to trip and fall.33It is written, ‘Look! In Zion I am laying a stone that causes people to trip. It is a rock that makes them fall. The one who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ (Isa 8:14; Isa 28:16)
Romans 9
English Standard Version
God’s Sovereign Choice
1I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— (Ro 1:9; 2Co 11:10; 2Co 12:19; Ga 1:20; 1Ti 2:7)2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.3For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,[1] my kinsmen according to the flesh. (Ex 32:32; Ro 11:14; 1Co 12:3; 1Co 16:22; Ga 1:8)4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. (Ge 17:2; Ex 4:22; Ex 40:34; De 4:14; De 29:14; 1Sa 4:21; 1Ki 8:11; Ps 147:19; Joh 4:22; Ac 13:32; Ro 2:28; Ro 8:15; Ro 9:6; Ro 12:1; Ga 4:24; Ga 6:16; Eph 2:12; Heb 9:1)5To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. (Joh 1:1; Ro 1:25; Ro 11:28; 2Co 11:31; Eph 4:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:8)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 because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” (Ge 21:12; Joh 8:33; Ga 3:29; Ga 4:23; Heb 11:18)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 offspring. (Ga 4:23; Ga 4:28)9For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Ge 17:21; Ge 18:10; Ge 18:14)10And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, (Ge 25:21)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 him who calls— (Ro 4:17; Ro 8:28)12she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” (Ge 25:23)13As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Mal 1:2)14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! (De 32:4; 2Ch 19:7; Job 8:3; Job 34:10; Ps 92:15)15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Ex 33:19)16So then it depends not on human will or exertion,[2] but on God, who has mercy.17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “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.” (Ex 9:16)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 who can resist his will?” (2Ch 20:6; Job 9:12; Da 4:35)20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” (Job 33:13; Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9)21Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? (Isa 64:8; Jer 18:6; 2Ti 2:20)22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, (Pr 16:4; Ac 9:15; Ro 9:21; Ro 9:23; 1Pe 2:8)23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— (Ro 2:4; Ro 8:29; Eph 3:16)24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Ro 3:29; Ro 8:28)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.’” (Ho 2:23; 1Pe 2:10)26“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” (Ho 1:10; Mt 16:16; Ro 8:14)27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel[3] be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, (Isa 10:22; Ho 1:10; Ro 11:5)28for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”29And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.” (De 29:23; Isa 1:9; Isa 13:19; Jer 49:18; Jer 50:40; Am 4:11; Jas 5:4)
Israel’s Unbelief
30What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; (Ro 1:17; Ro 3:21; Ro 10:6; Ro 10:20; Ga 2:16; Ga 3:24; Php 3:9; Heb 11:7)31but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness[4] did not succeed in reaching that law. (Ro 10:2; Ro 11:7; Ga 5:4)32Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, (1Pe 2:8)33as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Ps 118:22; Isa 8:14; Isa 28:16; Isa 49:23; Joe 2:26; Ro 10:11; 1Pe 2:6)