New Testament · Letters

Romans chapter 9

I’m speaking the absolute truth as someone united with —I am not lying. My , which directs, what I’m saying.I carry deep and constant in my .I could actually wish that I myself were and cut off from The One if it meant my own people—my —could be saved.They’re —God chose them as His , showed them His , made with them, gave them His , set up for them, and made to them.The belong to them, and from their family line, in terms of , came The One—who is God over everything, forever. Amen.This doesn’t mean has . Not everyone descended from is truly part of Israel.Not everyone from Abraham counts as his . God told Abraham: ‘Your line will continue through Isaac.’In other words, being born into Abraham’s doesn’t automatically make someone God’s child. Rather, it’s those who belong to the who are as his true .Because this is what the said: ‘About next year I’ll return, and Sarah will have a son.’And not only that, but Rebecca by just one man—our Isaac.Before the twins were even born or had done anything good or bad, God told Rebecca what would happen. This shows that God’s plan depends entirely on His choice, not on what people do.She was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’Just as the Scriptures say: ‘I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.’So what does this mean? Is God being unfair? Absolutely not!God told Moses, ‘I will show to whoever I choose to show kindness, and I will have compassion on whoever I choose to have compassion.’So then, it doesn’t depend on what anyone wants or how hard they try—it depends entirely on God showing kindness.The Scriptures say to : ‘I put you in power for this very reason—so I could demonstrate My power through you, and so My reputation would be known everywhere on earth.’So God shows kindness to whoever He chooses, and He whoever He chooses.You might be thinking, ‘Then why does God still hold people accountable? After all, who can resist what He has decided to do?’But seriously—who are you to talk back to God? Does what’s been made ever say to its maker, ‘Why did you make me this way?’Doesn’t the have the to take the same lump of clay and shape one container for something valuable and honored, and another for everyday, ordinary use?What if God, though wanting to demonstrate His and make His power known, those who were headed for destruction—people who deserved His judgment?He also wanted to reveal the incredible richness of His glory to those who receive His mercy—people He prepared ahead of time to experience that glory.We are among those He —not only from the Jewish people, but from every nation.As God says through Hosea: ‘I will call those who weren’t My people “My people,” and I will call her who wasn’t loved “My beloved.”’And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called children of the .Isaiah about Israel: ‘Even though the Israelites might be as numerous as sand on the seashore, only a will be .’For the Lord will carry out His on the earth completely and swiftly.Isaiah saw this coming when he wrote: ‘If the hadn’t preserved a few of our , we would have been completely wiped out like Sodom—totally destroyed like Gomorrah.’So what are we saying? who weren’t trying to be ended up being made right with Him—and they achieved this through .But the Israelites, who worked hard to follow the law so they could be right with God, never reached that goal.Why didn’t they reach it? Because they pursued it not by trusting God but by trying to earn it through their own efforts. They stumbled over the stone that trips people up.This is exactly what the Scriptures foretold: ‘Look—I’m placing in a stone that makes people trip and a rock that causes them to fall. But anyone who trusts in Him will never be .’