Romans 9

Paul’s Concern for the Jews

¹I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. ²I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, ⁴the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice// Genesis 25:19–28; Malachi 1:1–5

⁶It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” ⁸So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring. ⁹For this is what the promise stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

• ROM 9:7[FULFILLS]Abraham's promised offspring would come through Isaac ← GEN 21:12
• ROM 9:9[FULFILLS]Sarah would have a son at this time next year ← GEN 18:10

¹⁰Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac. ¹¹Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, ¹²not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

• ROM 9:12[QUOTES]Direct ← GEN 25:23
• ROM 9:13[QUOTES]Direct ← MAL 1:2-3
• ROM 9:13[NOTE]TWO VIEWS. Reformed or Calvinist: God chooses who will be saved before they are born, based on His mercy, not on anything they do, 9:11 and 9:16. Arminian or free will: Paul is quoting Malachi 1:2 to 3 about two nations, Israel and Edom, so God is choosing who carries the promise, not who goes to heaven, and anyone who believes is welcome, 10:13. Many on both sides read hated as a Hebrew way to say loved less, like Luke 14:26.

¹⁴What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! ¹⁵For He says to Moses:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

• ROM 9:15[QUOTES]Direct ← EX 33:19

¹⁶So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.

• ROM 9:17[QUOTES]Direct ← EX 9:16

¹⁹One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” ²⁰But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” ²¹Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?

• ROM 9:20[QUOTES]Quotes ← IS 29:16; 45:9

²²What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? ²³What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As He says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people,

and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”

• ROM 9:25[FULFILLS]God would say to Not My People, You are My people ← HOS 2:23

²⁶and,

“It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,

‘You are not My people,’

they will be called

‘sons of the living God.’”

• ROM 9:26[FULFILLS]Those called Not My People would be called sons of the living God ← HOS 1:10

²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea,

only the remnant will be saved.

• ROM 9:27[FULFILLS]Only a remnant of Israel would return ← IS 10:21-22
• ROM 9:27[QUOTES]Direct ← IS 10:22-23

²⁸For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth

thoroughly and decisively.”

²⁹It is just as Isaiah foretold:

“Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have resembled Gomorrah.”

• ROM 9:29[QUOTES]Direct ← IS 1:9

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. ³²Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³³as it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling

and a rock of offense;

and the one who believes in Him

will never be put to shame.”

• ROM 9:33[QUOTES]Direct ← IS 8:14; 28:16