Romans 9
Paul expresses his deep sorrow for the Israelites who have not accepted Christ, despite being the chosen people with a rich heritage of adoption, glory, and promises. However, he notes that not all Israelites are true Israelites, and that being a child of God is not based on physical descent but on the promise of faith. Paul argues that God's choice is not based on human merit or works, but on His sovereign will, citing examples from Scripture, including the stories of Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau. He also addresses the question of God's fairness, concluding that God is not unjust, but rather, He is the potter who has the right to shape His creation as He sees fit.
1I am speaking the truth in Christ; I am not lying. My conscience offers testimony to me in the Holy Spirit2because the sadness within me is great, and there is a continuous sorrow in my heart3For I was desiring that I myself might be anathemized from Christ, for the sake of my brothers, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh4These are the Israelites, to whom belongs adoption as sons, and the glory and the testament, and the giving and following of the law, and the promises5Theirs are the fathers, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all things, blessed God, for all eternity. Amen6But it is not that the Word of God has perished. For not all those who are Israelites are of Israel7And not all sons are the offspring of Abraham: "For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac.8In other words, those who are the sons of God are not those who are sons of the flesh, but those who are sons of the Promise; these are considered to be the offspring9For the word of promise is this: "I will return at the proper time. And there shall be a son for Sarah.10And she was not alone. For Rebecca also, having conceived by Isaac our father, from one act11when the children had not yet been born, and had not yet done anything good or bad (such that the purpose of God might be based on their choice)12and not because of deeds, but because of a calling, it was said to her: "The elder shall serve the younger.13So also it was written: "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.14What should we say next? Is there unfairness with God? Let it not be so15For to Moses he says: "I will pity whomever I pity. And I will offer mercy to whomever I will pity.16Therefore, it is not based on those who choose, nor on those who excel, but on God who takes pity17For Scripture says to the Pharaoh: "I have raised you up for this purpose, so that I may reveal my power by you, and so that my name may be announced to all the earth.18Therefore, he takes pity on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills19And so, you would say to me: "Then why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?20O man, who are you to question God? How can the thing that has been formed say to the One who formed him: "Why have you made me this way?21And does not the potter have the authority over the clay to make, from the same material, indeed, one vessel unto honor, yet truly another unto disgrace22What if God, wanting to reveal his wrath and to make his power known, endured, with much patience, vessels deserving wrath, fit to be destroyed23so that he might reveal the wealth of his glory, within these vessels of mercy, which he has prepared unto glory24And so it is with those of us whom he has also called, not only from among the Jews, but even from among the Gentiles25just as he says in Hosea: "I will call those who were not my people, ‘my people,’ and she who was not beloved, ‘beloved,’ and she who had not obtained mercy, ‘one who has obtained mercy.26And this shall be: in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called the sons of the living God.27And Isaiah cried out on behalf of Israel: "When the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved28For he shall complete his word, while abbreviating it out of equity. For the Lord shall accomplish a brief word upon the earth.29And it is just as Isaiah predicted: "Unless the Lord of hosts had bequeathed offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made similar to Gomorrah.30What should we say next? That the Gentiles who did not follow justice have attained justice, even the justice that is of faith31Yet truly, Israel, though following the law of justice, has not arrived at the law of justice32Why is this? Because they did not seek it from faith, but as if it were from works. For they stumbled over a stumbling block33just as it was written: "Behold, I am placing a stumbling block in Zion, and a rock of scandal. But whoever believes in him shall not be confounded.
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