Romans 9:1-33
v. 10-13 Paul gives another example of God's promised inheritance being given to some but not to all. Isaac (son of Abraham) was the father of twin boys (Esau and Jacob). Their mother was Rebekah. Paul says that before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, their mother was told that the older one (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob). Paul says this happened so that "God's purpose in election might stand." This was "not by works but by Him who calls." When the boys grew up, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup. Paul quotes Malachi 1:2-3 where God says, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
v. 14-16 Naturally, some of Paul's readers might think that God is unjust. It doesn't seem like God was being fair with those boys. But Paul says God is not unjust to do this. He quotes Exodus 33:19 saying God will have mercy on whomever He wants. His decision to extend mercy "does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
v. 17-18 Paul gives an example of a time when God raised up a leader and then destroyed him in order to show His great power to His chosen people. Paul quotes Exodus 9:16 which says God raised up Pharaoh so He could display His power and so His name would be proclaimed in all the earth. Remember the story of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Pharaoh was raised up to become a powerful ruler but God ultimately ruined the land of Egypt and killed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. Paul has no problem saying that "God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy and He hardens whom He wants to harden."
v. 19-21 Paul anticipates that some of his readers might think this is not fair. But he has little patience with such objections and simply tells his readers, "Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" He quotes Isaiah 29:16 to tell them that the potter clearly has the right to do whatever he wants with his clay. The metaphor is about God being the Potter and people being made of His clay. God has the authority to do whatever He wants with people because He made them and they are His.
v. 22-23 Paul phrases this next part as a hypothetical question. What if God wanted to show His wrath and make His power known? What if He bore with great patience the "objects of His wrath"? What if God did this to show the riches of His glory to the "objects of His mercy"? We see here that Paul views people as being either objects of God's wrath or objects of God's mercy. The objects of wrath are prepared for destruction and the objects of mercy are prepared for glory.
v. 24 Paul calls the believers (Jews and Gentiles who have faith in Jesus) objects of God's mercy prepared in advance for glory. Then he emphasizes that God's people who are chosen for glory are not just Jews, but also Gentiles. He goes through a series of quotes from the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Hosea to make his point that God always intended to do this.
v. 25 In Hosea 2:23, God says, "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people."
v. 26 In Hosea 1:10, God says, "in the very place where it was said to them 'you are not my people' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"
v. 27-28 In Isaiah 10:22-23, Isaiah says, "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved."
v. 29 In Isaiah 1:9, the prophet says, "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom" and Gomorrah (that is, completely destroyed.)
v. 30-33 Here's the conclusion of Paul's argument. Gentiles have obtained righteousness even though they were not pursuing it. But Israel has not obtained righteousness even though they were pursuing it. Why didn't Israel obtain the righteousness they were so earnestly pursuing? "Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works." They stumbled over a stone that God put in their path. Paul quotes Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 which says God laid a stone in Zion (Jerusalem) that causes men to stumble and fall. "But the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame."
--Sandy Blank
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