Romans 9
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.* 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.* 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.*
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,"* 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."*
10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.*11 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."*13 In the words of the Scriptures, "I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau."*
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."*
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."*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."*
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.'"*
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."*
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."*
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 law* 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 Jerusalem* that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
But anyone who trusts in him
will never be disgraced."*
God's Promise-
To open up this Chapter Paul discusses the promises that God has made to Israel. He goes on and on about the covenant that God the Father made with a certain group of people. To understand this passage, we must understand that God makes promises. God always keeps His promises. God does not waver. God does not un-commit. God doesn't leave us when we need Him most. Everything that God says is true, and if He says He will do something, He does it.
We must understand that God is always in order. God is never like a broken drink machine that won't spit out a coke. God is not like the out-of-order bathroom that keeps you from doing what you need to do. But, God does what He promises. He fulfills his word and His promises.
Israel's Sin-
Paul also writes that his heart is filled with bitterness and sorrow. Why? Because Israel did not keep their promise to God. Some of those who were thought to be God's, turned their very face from Him. Paul's heart was hurting. because He knew of their sin. He knew of their unfaithfulness to a faithful God.
Choice of Man-
Our sins exist because we chose them. We chose sin. This passage speaks an awful lot about choice, and Romans 3:23 says that we all have made the wrong one. Though God is fair and faithful, we are not. We have all wandered out into the wilderness looking for the answers to our desires. As God turned to us, we turned away from Him.
Choice of God-
God chose us. God knows our choices and desires. God knows our heart. Yet, He still chose us. Though we chose to break our promises, He chose to keep His. Because of our choice, he made one. God knew that we would choose wrong, so He chose right by choosing Jesus. In John 3:16, we learn that God kept every promise ever given by sending restoration and redemption through His Son Jesus.
God is a promise keeper. This is His nature. He cannot defy His nature.
So what now?
This has a deep effect on us. In verse 30, Paul begins to explain what all this means. The way to be saved is not by heritage. The way to be saved is not by works. But, the way to be saved is by having faith in Jesus Christ. Jew, Gentile, or Jewtile, the only way to salvation is through Jesus.
Thank God, He chose to give us such a glorious way!
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