I’ve said this before and I will say it again, it is important to remember that the ‘book’ of Romans is a letter and that it is intended to be read in one sitting. The continuity is most evident when you read it all at once. If you just show up to Chapter 9 without knowing much about the author, the audience, or the culture, it’s a bit harder to see the logical flow and Chapters 9-11 will look like a sharp and unexpected detour.
Throughout Romans, Paul has used a question and answer (or rebuttal) framework for his teachings. In many instances, it’s very obvious. Here in Chapter 9, it may not be as obvious and if you miss it, you might derail the whole train. You might misinterpret what Paul is saying here.
That being said, there are about 100 different ways you can go with this passage but we’ve got to choose one path and walk down it. I prayed a ton about it and this is the road I feel led to take.
Two big things we need to be aware of before proceeding.
- Paul is speaking of the unbelieving Jews in this portion of his letter. Those who rejected Christ as the Messiah. That is why Paul states, point blank, that Jesus was and is God.
- The question or argument that is being raised in light of Point No. 1 is this: How can I be secure in God’s love and salvation for me when it seems that Israel was once loved and saved, but now seems to be rejected and cursed? Will God also reject and curse me one day? If God cannot bring His chosen people, His beloved people to salvation, how can the Gentiles know that He can save them?
The anticipated assertion by Paul’s opponents would be this. God’s plan regarding Israel has failed and the word of God has taken no effect. If ALL of Israel is not being saved, it’s because God failed. He didn’t fulfill His promise to Israel because they missed their Messiah and now they seem to be cursed.
In this chapter, Paul is going to assert that God has NOT failed His children of promise. Paul will say that it is NOT the case that the word of God has no effect.
Let’s start by looking at 4-6
Paul has a great love and respect for Israel. He himself is an Israelite. He says that the people of Israel have received adoption into God’s family and the glorious work and presence of God. The glory he is referring to here is known as Shekinah Glory. That is the visible ‘cloud of glory’ showing God’s presence among His people. The bible tells us that it was so radiant that it was nearly impossible to look at it.
I will quickly deal with a few more aspects of these verses.
Patriarchs – Their ancestry included Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons (he could also be referring to David and others found in the Old Testament).
Adoption – God adopted the nation of Israel as His son, the firstborn who would receive a promised reign and inheritance.
Here’s a little nerd study on the word adoption in the bible.
Greek word for child (or little child) is Teknion – generally used in the New Testament with reference to our birth into the family of God. It is the term that deals with our relationship as those who have been born of God, and therefore are a new creation.
The Greek word for son is huios – used in the New Testament with reference to our position as it relates to God. It is a term of position of rank, of privilege, of responsibility. This word is always used in combination with the word adoption.
The Greek word for adoption is huiothesia – it is a compound word using huios (meaning son) and tithemi which means to set, or put in place. An adopted person is one who has been put in place as a son. This word refers to the relationship that is put in place when a father invites a son into his family (this invitation is based on preference, the father chooses to prefer the adopted child over another).
What does Paul affirm about Jesus in verse 5? That He is God. This will be important later.
Look at verse 6. Paul says that they may all be descendants but not all of them belong to the promise given to Israel. They are all children of the flesh but not necessarily adopted children of the promise. The point here is that God’s promises were for those ADOPTED and chosen by HIM.
Quick little note: Israel is Jacob.
Here are two definitions of the word Israel. One is God prevails. Another is governed by God.
Let’s read it this way: They are not all governed by God who are of Israel. Paul is saying that not all of Israel is truly “governed by God.” Not everyone who is called ‘Israel’ is truly ‘Israel’.
Paul tells us that no one is truly Israel unless he is governed by God. We have a parallel situation with the word ‘Christian.’ Not everyone who is called a Christian is truly a follower of Christ.
So, God’s word did not fail because it still reaches His children of promise, which may or may not be the same as physical Israel. Paul demonstrates this by pointing out that merely being a descendant of Abraham saves no one. In Verse 7, Paul shows us that God’s promises for Abraham’s offspring would be through Isaac, not Ishmael, though Ishmael was also of his flesh.
Because Paul is dealing with the Jewish people, he cites the Old Testament – God’s word to Israel – frequently. We see a lot of ‘throwback’ verses in this chapter and the next.
There are a couple stories referenced here that you may already know but I will give a brief summary just so we can follow Paul’s logic.
Abraham and Sarah, Hagar (maidservant) and Ishmael.
Ishmael was a son of Abraham according to the flesh, but the promise was passed through Isaac (as God had foretold). One was the heir of God’s covenant of salvation and one was not.
Side note: Ishmael means God hears.
In Exodus we read “As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and greatly increase his numbers.” God did not reject Ishmael personally, we do not really know much about his personal salvation. God declared that Ishmael’s descendants would be Gentiles outside the chosen nation. This was not an act of cruelty for God’s ultimate goal in choosing Isaac was to bless the descendants of both men through Christ.
It goes on to say, “I will make him a great nation but my covenant I will establish with Isaac.” That was always God’s plan! We see that there was always a distinction between children of the flesh only and children of the promise.
Now, you could look at that and say, well, that’s because Abraham and Sarah went against God’s plan and Ishmael was the child of a servant so that’s why the covenant was not passed through him. So, in anticipation of that, Paul gives another example.
This time he uses Jacob and Esau. Read 10-13 This one is a little harder to understand. We see that God’s choice was not based on the performance of Jacob or Esau, the choice was made before they were born.
Let’s look at verse 13. I used to hear that or read that and think what in the world is going on there? The word for hated here is actually rejected. So that implies that God chose one and rejected the other.
He chose Jacob. He later changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
It’s not that God emotionally hated Esau.
All in all, we see that Esau was a blessed man (Genesis 33:8-16, Genesis 36). God hated or rejected Esau in regard to inheriting the covenant, not in regard to blessing in this life or the next.
A woman once said to Charles Spurgeon (a preacher and respected theologian), ‘I cannot understand why God should say that He hated Esau.’ ‘That,’ Spurgeon replied, ‘is not my difficulty, madam. My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob.'”
That’s a proper perspective!
Our greatest error in considering the choices of God is to think that God chooses for arbitrary reasons. We may not be able to fathom God’s reasons for choosing, and He does indeed have reasons that He alone knows and answers to, but God’s choices are not willy-nilly. He has a perfect plan and a reason in everything!
Looking at 14-16 –
Let’s not miss something here in verse 15 (another throwback verse). Notice that God didn’t say I will punish who I will punish and I will turn my wrath upon whom I turn my wrath. He shows us some of His heart and His character here. He is merciful and He is compassionate. We all deserve death, wrath and punishment. Paul has stated this several times up to this point. Chapters 1-3 are all about ‘you need a Savior and here’s why’. We also know that we are saved because of God’s love and grace. He is not choosing who He will condemn, He is choosing who He will save. He chooses who will receive His mercy.
I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy: Remember what mercy is. Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. God is never less than fair with anyone (He is perfectly just), but He fully reserves the right to be more than fair with individuals as He chooses.
We are in a dangerous place when we regard God’s mercy towards us as our right. If God is required to show mercy, then it is not mercy – it is obligation. By very definition, mercy cannot be obligated, therefore, God’s display and election in regards to mercy is His sovereign choice.
Read 17-18
We should not think that God persuaded an unwilling, kind-hearted Pharaoh to be hard towards God and His people. In hardening the heart of Pharaoh, God simply allowed his heart to pursue its natural inclination. Because we are naturally inclined toward sin. Remember, we are the fallen ones and God, in His mercy, saves and redeems. Also, Exodus 8:32 tells us that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.
Verses 19-21
It seems that Paul is suggesting that to ask such questions is like hardening your own heart just because you don’t understand something about God’s sovereignty or character.
That doesn’t fly with a lot of people in this modern day and age. We tend to believe that we should have, to a degree, control over all decisions and access to all information which affects. We are naturally suspicious of authority figures who refuse to answer our questions, especially in the church. But, when we respond like that we are reacting according to worldly principles. God created us and therefore He has every right to deal with us a He chooses. If you need help dealing with that truth, ask God for help through prayer, seek truth and peace in scripture, ask someone to talk through it with you.
22-24
- What if God: Again, the same principle from God’s dealing with Pharaoh is repeated. If God chooses to glorify Himself through letting people go their own way and letting them righteously receive His wrath so as to make His power known, who can oppose Him?
- He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy: As well, if God desires to be more than fair with others, showing them His mercy, who can oppose Him?
- But also of the Gentiles: And if God wants to show mercy to the Gentiles as well as the Jews (of course, never being less than fair to either), who can oppose Him?
Remember that we were all objects of God’s wrath and destined for destruction because of our deeds and nature. He has been treating the objects of His wrath with great kindness, tolerance and patience. Why? To make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy. As believers, we have been both. That makes the wonder of the Gospel that much more beautiful. I was under His wrath, now through the cross I am reconciled. My God is merciful!
When Paul says that there are vessels prepared for destruction, we should not think that God has prepared them so. Those vessels do a pretty good job on their own.
25-26
Paul is supporting his point that the Gentiles, who formerly had not been part of the people of God, could be adopted into God’s covenant family, by virtue of God’s sovereign choice and call. That’s good news for us Gentiles!!
Quick note on Hosea.
As Hosea had prophesied (throwback verse), the 10 northern tribes of Israel (there are 12 total) were conquered and dispersed among the Gentiles (those who were not His people). However, God promised to bring them back from exile and restore them as His chosen people.
That’s what Paul is highlighting.
Here’s another nerd note. God told the prophet Hosea to name one of his children Lo-Ammi, which means ‘not my people’. Yet, God also promised that this judgment would not last forever. One day Israel would be restored and once again be called the sons of the living God.
27-29
Sodom and Gomorrah were completely destroyed in judgment. This quotation of Isaiah 1:9 shows us that as bad as Judah’s state was because of their sin, it could have been worse. It was only by the mercy of God that they survived at all. Sodom and Gomorrah were both totally destroyed, with not even a very small remnant to carry on. Even in the midst of judgment, God showed His mercy to Judah.
The merciful promise is clear: “But if only a remnant will survive, at least a remnant will survive.
Israel’s unbelief
Why Israel is in its present condition from man’s perspective: Israel missed the Messiah because they refuse to come by faith.
What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
- Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness: By all present appearance, the Gentiles found righteousness even though it did not seem that they really looked for it.
- But Israel … has not attained to the law of righteousness: By all present appearance, Israel seemed to work for the righteousness of God with everything it had, but did not find it.
- What was the difference? Why did the unlikely Gentiles find righteousness, when the likely Jews did not? Because the Gentiles pursued the righteousness of faith, and the Jews pursued the law of righteousness. The Gentiles who were saved came to God through faith, receiving His righteousness. The Jews who seem to be cast off from God tried to justify themselves before God by performing works according to the law of righteousness.
- (32-33) Paul emphasizes the reason why Israel seems cast off from God’s goodness and righteousness: Because they did not seek it by faith.
Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
- Because they did not seek it by faith: We might expect Paul to answer the question “Why?” again from God’s perspective, and simply throw the matter back on the sovereign choosing of God. Instead, he places the responsibility with Israel: Because they did not seek it by faith … they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
- Paul has already shown in Romans that the only possible way to be saved is through faith, not the works of the law; and that this salvation comes only through the work of a crucified Savior – which was a stumbling block to Israel (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).
b. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone: So, Paul shows that Israel is responsible for their present condition.
In summary, it was unbelief that separated some of Israel from the promises of God. Those who rejected the Messiah, even after they had received the prophecies regarding His birth, death, and resurrection. I believe Paul includes this section to provide further security for the Gentiles. He wanted them to know without a doubt that NOTHING would separate them from God’s love, salvation and promises. This is the same assertion he made in Chapters 7 and 8. Hopefully that helps you see the continuity a bit more.
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