Romans 9
1 I am in Christ, and what I say is true. I'm not lying! My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, (pneuma)
2 how terribly sad I am, how I have never-ending pain in my heart,
That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 for my own people, my brothers and sisters. I would rather be cursed myself, separated from Christ, if that would help them.
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 They are my fellow-Israelites, God's chosen people. God revealed to them his glory and made agreements with them, giving them the law, true worship, and his promises.
Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 They are our forefathers—ancestors of Christ, humanly-speaking, the one who rules over everything, the eternally-blessed God. Amen. (aiōn g165)
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (aiōn g165)
6 It's not that God's promise has failed. For not every Israelite is a true Israelite,
Not as though the word (logos) of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 and all those who are descended from Abraham are not his true children. For Scripture says, “Your descendants will be counted through Isaac,”
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall your seed be called.
8 so it's not Abraham's actual children who are counted as God's children, but only those children of God's promise who are considered his true descendants.
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 This is what the promise was: “I will return next year and Sarah will have a son.”
For this is the word (logos) of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
10 In addition Rebecca's twin sons had the same father, our forefather Isaac.
And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 But even before the children were born, and before they'd done anything right or wrong, (so that God's purpose could continue, proving God's calling of people is not based on human performance),
(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls; )
12 she was told, “The older brother will serve the younger one.”
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As Scripture says, “I chose Jacob, but rejected Esau.”
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14 So what should we conclude? That God was unjust? Certainly not!
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 As he said to Moses, “I will be merciful to whoever I should show mercy, and I will have compassion on whoever I should show compassion.”
For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So it does not depend on what we want, or our own efforts, but the merciful nature of God.
So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
17 Scripture records God saying to Pharaoh: “I put you here for a reason—so that through you I could demonstrate my power, and so that my name could be made known throughout the earth.”
For the scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 So God is merciful to those he wishes to be, and hardens the attitude of those he wants to.
Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
19 Now you'll argue with me and ask, “So why does he still blame us then? Who can resist the will of God?”
You will say then unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will?
20 That's no way to speak, for who are you—a mere mortal—to contradict God? Can something that is created say to its creator, “Why did you make me like this?”
On the contrary; , O man, who are you that reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
21 Doesn't a potter have the right to use the same batch of clay to make both a decorative bowl and an everyday pot?
Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 It's as if God, wanting to demonstrate his opposition to sin and to reveal his power, bears patiently with these “pots destined for destruction,”
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 so that he might reveal the greatness of his glory through these “pots of mercy” which he has prepared in advance for glory.
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared unto glory,
24 This is who we are—people he has called, not just from among the Jews, but from among the foreigners too...
Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As God said in the book of Hosea, “Those who are not my people I will call my people, and those who are not loved I will call the ones I love,”
As he says also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 and, “It will happen that at the place where they were told, ‘You're not my people,’ there they will be called the children of the living God.”
And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, All of you are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Isaiah cries out regarding Israel: “Even if the children of Israel have become as numerous as the sands of the sea, only a small number will be saved.
Isaiah also cries concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 For the Lord is going to quickly and completely finish his work of judgment on the earth.”
For he will finish the work, (logos) and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work (logos) will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 As Isaiah previously said, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become just like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
30 What shall we conclude, then? That even though the foreigners were not even looking to do right, they did grasp what is right, and through their trust in God did what was morally right.
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But the people of Israel, who looked to the law to make them right with God, never succeeded.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Why not? Because they relied on what they did rather than trusting in God. They tripped on the stumbling-block,
Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone;
33 just as Scripture predicted: “Look, I'm placing in Zion a stumbling-block, a rock that will offend people. But those who trust in him won't be disappointed.”
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.
