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 am speaking the truth in Christ, it is no lie. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have deep sorrow
2 how terribly sad I am, how I have never-ending pain in my heart,
and incessant anguish 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 was on the point of praying to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brothers, 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.
For they are Israelites; to them belong the sonship, the Shekinah glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law; the service of the temple, 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)
theirs are the patriarchs, and of them, as concerning the flesh, is Christ, who is over all, God, blessed forever, Amen. (aiōn g165)
6 It's not that God's promise has failed. For not every Israelite is a true Israelite,
It is not, however, as though God’s word had failed! For they are not all Israel who have sprung from 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,”
they are not all children of Abraham because they are Abraham’s descendants. The promise was, In Isaac shall thy posterity 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, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as his posterity.
9 This is what the promise was: “I will return next year and Sarah will have a son.”
For thus is the word of promise, According to this season I will come, and Sarah shall bear a son.
10 In addition Rebecca's twin sons had the same father, our forefather Isaac.
And not only so, but when Rebecca was pregnant by our forefather Isaac, though one man was the father of both children,
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),
and even though they were still unborn, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that the purpose of God might stand according to election, not of works, but of Him who called,
12 she was told, “The older brother will serve the younger one.”
it was said to 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? that there is injustice with God? No indeed.
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.”
His words to Moses are. I will have mercy on whom I choose to have mercy; I will have compassion on whom I choose to 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 a question of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has 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 to Pharaoh, It is for this very purpose that I have raised you up, To show in you my power, And to proclaim my name far and wide, in all the earth.
18 So God is merciful to those he wishes to be, and hardens the attitude of those he wants to.
So then he has mercy on whom he will, 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?”
Then you will say to me. "Why does he still go on finding fault? Who can withstand 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?”
"Nay, but who are you, O man, that replies to God? Shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it, "Why did you do me like this?"
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?
Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for noble, and another for ignoble uses?
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,”
But what if God, while intending to show forth his wrath, and to make known his power, yet endured, with much long-suffering, 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 what if he thus purposed to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory?
24 This is who we are—people he has called, not just from among the Jews, but from among the foreigners too...
Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among 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 also said in Hosea. Those who were not my people I will call "my people," And her "beloved" who 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 in that very spot where it was told them, "You are not my people," There they shall be called "Sons 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.
And in regard to Israel, Isaiah exclaims. Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea, it is but a remnant of those who shall be saved;
28 For the Lord is going to quickly and completely finish his work of judgment on the earth.”
for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short.
29 As Isaiah previously said, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become just like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Even as in an earlier passage, Isaiah says, Except the Lord of Sabbath had us some few descendants, we should have become like Sodom, and should have fared like Gomorrah.
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 then shall we say? That Gentiles who never pursed righteousness have overtaken it, even the righteousness of faith?
31 But the people of Israel, who looked to the law to make them right with God, never succeeded.
But that the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law?
32 Why not? Because they relied on what they did rather than trusting in God. They tripped on the stumbling-block,
And why? Because they sought it not by faith, but thought to gain it by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling;
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.”
even as it is written. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; but he that believes on Him shall not be put to shame.
