Romans Chapter 9 (NIV)
undefined
God’s Sovereign ChoiceI speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—
undefined
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
undefined
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,
undefined
the 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.
undefined
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
undefined
It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
undefined
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.”
undefined
In 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.
undefined
For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
undefined
Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
undefined
Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:
undefined
not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
undefined
Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
undefined
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
undefined
For he says to Moses,“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
undefined
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
undefined
For 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.”
undefined
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
undefined
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?”
undefined
But 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?’”
undefined
Does 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?
undefined
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?
undefined
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—
undefined
even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
undefined
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,”
undefined
and,“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.’”
undefined
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,only the remnant will be saved.
undefined
For the Lord will carry outhis sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
undefined
It is just as Isaiah said previously:“Unless the Lord Almightyhad left us descendants,we would have become like Sodom,we would have been like Gomorrah.”
undefined
Israel’s UnbeliefWhat then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
undefined
but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
undefined
Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.”
undefined
As it is written:“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumbleand a rock that makes them fall,and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Deepen Your Study
Use AI-powered tools to understand this passage better
Ask AI About This Chapter Search Related Verses