1I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— (羅1:9; 林后11:10; 林后12:19; 加1:20; 提前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. (出32:32; 羅11:14; 林前12:3; 林前16:22; 加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. (创17:2; 出4:22; 出40:34; 申4:14; 申29:14; 撒上4:21; 王上8:11; 诗147:19; 约4:22; 徒13:32; 羅2:28; 羅8:15; 羅9:6; 羅12:1; 加4:24; 加6:16; 弗2:12; 來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. (约1:1; 羅1:25; 羅11:28; 林后11:31; 弗4:6; 西1:16; 來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.” (创21:12; 约8:33; 加3:29; 加4:23; 來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. (加4:23; 加4:28)9For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” (创17:21; 创18:10; 创18:14)10And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, (创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— (羅4:17; 羅8:28)12she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” (创25:23)13As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (玛1:2)14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! (申32:4; 代下19:7; 伯8:3; 伯34:10; 诗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.” (出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.” (出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?” (代下20:6; 伯9:12; 但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?” (伯33:13; 赛29:16; 赛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? (赛64:8; 耶18:6; 提后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, (箴16:4; 徒9:15; 羅9:21; 羅9:23; 彼前2:8)23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— (羅2:4; 羅8:29; 弗3:16)24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (羅3:29; 羅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.’” (何2:23; 彼前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.’” (何1:10; 太16:16; 羅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, (赛10:22; 何1:10; 羅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.” (申29:23; 赛1:9; 赛13:19; 耶49:18; 耶50:40; 摩4:11; 雅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; (羅1:17; 羅3:21; 羅10:6; 羅10:20; 加2:16; 加3:24; 腓3:9; 來11:7)31but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness[4] did not succeed in reaching that law. (羅10:2; 羅11:7; 加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, (彼前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.” (诗118:22; 赛8:14; 赛28:16; 赛49:23; 珥2:26; 羅10:11; 彼前2:6)