Romans 9
The apostle Paul writing (God speaking via scripture...The
Word), being a discourse about God sovereignly choosing to do whatever to
whomever He pleases.
NIV Bible 1973-78:
God's Sovereign Choice
1I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my
conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-- 2I have great sorrow and
unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were
cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own
race, 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs
the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship
and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced
the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
6It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are
descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his
descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is
through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."8In other
words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the
children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9For
this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return,
and Sarah will have a son."
10Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father,
our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done
anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12not
by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the
younger." 13Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau
I hated."
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For
he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I
have compassion." 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's
desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to
Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my
power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18Therefore
God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to
harden.
19One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us?
For who resists his will?" 20But who are you, O man, to talk
back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you
make me like this?' " 21Does not the potter have the right to
make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for
common use?
22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known,
bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? 23What
if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his
mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- 24even us, whom he
also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As
he says in Hosea:
"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people;
and I will call her 'my loved one' who
is not my loved one," 26and,
"It will happen that in the very place where it was said
to them,
'You are not my people,'
they will be called 'sons of the living God.' "
27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
"Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by
the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and
finality."
29It is just as Isaiah said previously:
"Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like
Gomorrah."
Israel's Unbelief
30What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue
righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but
Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why
not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They
stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33As it is written:
"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to
shame."
King James Bible of 1611: (see here)
NAS Bible of 1960: (see here)
(posted 4 January 2004)