seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Romans 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised![a] Amen.
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[b] 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”[c]
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”[d] 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[e]
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f]
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For 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.”[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What 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— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As 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,”[i]
26 and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”[j]
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”[k]
29 It 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.”[l]
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[m]
a. Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
b. Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
c. Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
d. Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
e. Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
f. Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
g. Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
h. Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
i. Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
j. Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
k. Romans 9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)
l. Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
m. Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
This morning there were lots of footnotes.... which gave me a little refresher. Ishmael and Isaac...... Esau and Jacob..... brothers.... but these were also to become Gentile and Jew.
The commentary at the easy English site seemed to make sense after reading the footnotes. Like I said... Paul is quite an orator.... and he's talking right over my head.... I wonder.... will someone else fall out a window as he goes on and on and on?
Although they had all these special blessings, many Jews did not accept God’s son. But Paul knows that God’s plan for his people could not fail. Paul uses two examples from the Old Testament to explain this.
The Jews (or Israelites) were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God made a covenant with Abraham. But not all of Abraham’s descendants are Jews. That is because the covenant has a relationship with God’s promise. Abraham had several sons. But Isaac was the only son that God promised to Abraham.
God’s promise has a relationship with the work of God’s Spirit. Isaac was not born in a natural way. Sarah (Isaac’s mother) was too old to have children. So the real descendants of Abraham are people who receive God’s promise by means of his Spirit. And a person only becomes a child of God when that person receives God’s promise by means of his Spirit.
So, not everyone who has Jacob (Israel) as his ancestor is a true Israelite. A physical descendant of Abraham might not be a real Jew in the spiritual sense. Those who believe God’s promises are Abraham’s real descendants. Paul had explained this in chapter 4:13-16. God promised to give to Abraham a son, Isaac. Abraham had a son already, Ishmael, who was born to a slave called Hagar. But it was by means of Isaac that God would give Abraham descendants. Paul mentions the promise that Abraham’s wife Sarah would have a son. This promise is in Genesis 18:10.
Paul gives a second example of God’s choice. Isaac’s wife Rebecca gave birth to two babies at the same time, Jacob and Esau. Before they were born, God said that the older son would serve the younger son. Esau was born first, but God chose Jacob. His choice made no reference to their character. God made his choice before their birth. He chose before they could act in good or bad ways. Esau’s descendants were called the Edomites (or Edom). Jacob’s descendants were called Israel. The Edomites did serve Israel at times in their history (for example, 2 Samuel 8:13-14). However, the words from Malachi 1:1-3 which refer to Israel and Esau emphasise God’s choice. The original words ‘I hated Esau’ mean ‘I did not choose Esau’.
These events show that Jacob did not earn the benefit of the covenant. Jacob received the benefit because of God’s grace (kindness). Paul often emphasises that nobody can earn salvation by their own efforts. And he repeats this principle in verse 12. Our salvation depends completely on God’s kindness. It is a free gift. We can only accept or refuse that gift.
Paul uses words from the prophet Hosea. These words show that God intended this to happen. Hosea had a wife who was not loyal to him. Hosea thought that he was not the father of his wife’s second and third children. So he named the second child Lo-ruhamah. This name means that Hosea felt unable to show love to this child. Hosea named the third child Lo-ammi, which means ‘not my people’. These children were signs that Israel had not been loyal to God. But in the future, God would be able to call Israel ‘my people’. And at that time, God would show real love to them.
Hosea was speaking about Israel in his time. Paul saw Hosea’s words as a prophecy. The Gentiles would also be people whom God loved. And Paul could see that this was starting to happen by means of his own work among the Gentiles.
Paul contrasts Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles were not looking for a way to have a right relationship with God. But when they discovered the gospel, they accepted it by faith. But most Jews thought that they could earn their way to heaven. So they tried to obey the law. They thought that God would accept them because of their good deeds. But because they could never be perfect, they could never receive a right relationship with God. They ought to have accepted the gospel by faith, as the Gentiles were doing. The gospel is for everyone, both Jews and Gentiles. Nobody can earn salvation by means of their own efforts.
Most Jews did not accept God’s offer to forgive them, although Christ died for them. Paul says that the message about the cross was like a stone. A large stone can be useful. It can become a strong base for a building. But that stone is not useful to a person who does not recognise its value. That stone may cause trouble. Someone may trip over it. And so the person who believes the message about the cross benefits from that message. But the same message causes trouble for the person who refuses to believe it.
I think this short outtake form bibletrack.org puts in simpler terms.....These are NATIONAL attributes, NOT SPIRITUAL attributes. You cannot understand this chapter without understanding the difference. Nationally, God has promised to physically prosper Israel and its people. Yet, that promise DOES NOT invalidate the personal need for every Jew or Gentile to establish a personal, spiritual relationship with God through Jesus Christ. DO NOT GET NATIONAL PHYSICAL BLESSINGS CONFUSED WITH PERSONAL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS! They are different in outcome.
My grandmother use to say I was "blessed" with freckles. Meanwhile my aunt [on the other side of the family] wanted me to use make up and whiteners to get rid of those same freckles. Now I didn't take either of them seriously..... but I did try to count all the freckles on my face once.... with a magic marker.... but it was too fat and I lost count.... and ajax on raw skin is painful... especially when the person applying the pressure is angry with her "stupid" daughter. [adding a giggle here.... childhood memory you know].The point is..... God gave me freckles.... no I didn't know why God gave me freckles when I was a kid. I just knew I was different from my friends that didn't have freckles. I was the odd duck. I should add here.... that I never met a person of color until I was in the third grade. So when I say I was the odd duck.... I was the one they made fun of for the color of my skin..... but I didn't do anything to give myself those freckles..... God "blessed" me with them.
The Jews were "blessed"...... God was watching over them with particular interest. By the time Abraham [who was once known as Abram] was born.... Noah had already survived the flood. Three sons were born to Noah..... and through one of those sons [Seth] Abraham and then Jacob [who became Israel] were born. God picked Seth's kids to work with.... God gave them something that made them odd..... like my freckles. They were "blessed" so they thought they could do no wrong..... and to make sure they didn't do anything wrong... they made up all kinds of little rules to keep them from doing anything wrong..... they thought that just following the rules made them "blessed". They thought they controlled the "blessing".
Now the rest of the kids.... remember Noah had three sons..... who survived that horrible flood.... they weren't left to drown..... they survived for a reason....
The other two sons of Noah.... and all the descendants of Ishmael and Esau..... they just lived life. No one gave them rules to live by.... they became the Egyptians.... and the Persians... the Romans and the Greeks......
When Jesus was here..... He made sure He talked to everyone.... not just the descendants of Jacob [Israel]. Gentiles longed to hear His message. They didn't ask Him to give them anything.... they didn't pay Him to give them anything..... He didn't ignore His earthly family..... He just loved everyone.....
So Paul said the Jews were "blessed"...... but they took it for granted.... and they missed their chance..... oh they could still choose.... see it's a gift....
Now let me shift gears here a little and note this one more little thought that has been haunting me lately. A dog somehow got tied up in an awning that was hanging down near a building. The more it struggled the tighter the snag. The dog was panicked..... A police officer saw the dog and tried to help.... the dog... confused and in pain now.... was snapping at the police officer as he worked to cut away the awning..... the dog kept snapping and turning against the police officer..... until he was freed..... then.... that big old dog jumped up, putting both front paws on the officer's shoulders.... and started licking in gratitude.
When I saw this on the news [yep kind cop helps poor dog] I thought of Jesus and Salvation.
No not all the dogs in the world are pure bred...... Some dogs are just big dogs in trouble.... and Jesus is offering to cut them loose..... Jesus knows our character.... He used a human body for a while.... He knows human fear, rage, and lust..... and He offers to cut us loose anyway.....
