Romans 9
Ro 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—
‘After showing that God’s redemptive action in and through Christ (Rom 1-4) has brought freedom from condemnation (Rom 5), sin (Rom 6), law (Rom 7) and death (Rom 8), Paul brings this part of his letter to a climax with a magnificent description of God’s love in Christ from which nothing can separate us. This glorious doxology is abruptly overshadowed in Ro 9:1-2 by an expression of Paul’s deep pain over the fact that Israel, the people of God, had rejected their Messiah.’ (HSB)
‘The lack of a word or phrase to connect ch. 8 with ch. 9 suggests that there is a pause in Paul’s argument at this point. With the celebration of God’s unchangeable love for Christians {Ro 8:31-39} the climax of his argument to this point has been reached. But it is just this assertion of the certain fulfilment of God’s promises to Christians that leads Paul now to raise the question of God’s promises to Israel. Vs 1-3 show that this question was an intensely emotional one for him. For Paul never lost his sense of identification with his fellow-Jews. He therefore experiences great sorrow and unceasing anguish over those who are from the standpoint of the flesh (kata sarka) his ‘kinsmen’ and brothers (2-3). Although Paul does not tell us why he feels so badly about his fellow-Jews, the parallel in 10:1 makes clear that it is because the great majority of Jews are not saved; for they have refused to believe in Jesus Christ (cf. 9:30-10:21). So strongly does Paul feel this, like Moses before him, {Ex 32:31-34} he is willing to sacrifice his own salvation for the sake of the salvation of his fellow-Jews. The strength of Paul’s assertion (cf. also v 1) suggests that he may have been aware of some Jews who doubted his concern for his ‘kinsmen according to the flesh’.’ (NBC)
Most scholars today believe that Rom 9-11 is not an excursus but rather is the discussion Paul had been preparing for since his argument that Jew and Gentile alike are under sin and condemnation (1:18-3:20).
‘In his discussion of the fate of the Jews in Romans 9-11 Paul quotes from Isaiah no fewer than eleven times (Ro 9:29 = Isa 1:9 Ro 9:27-28 = Isa 10:22-23 Ro 11:26-27 = Isa 27:9 Ro 11:8 = Isa 29:10 Ro 11:34 = Isa 40:13 Ro 10:15 = Isa 52:7 Ro 11:26-27 = Isa 59:20-21 Ro 10:20 = Isa 65:1 Ro 10:21 = Isa 65:2). These references point both to Israel’s propensity to sin and to God’s determination to deliver them.’ (NDBT)
‘C. H. Dodd long ago recognized the special nature of Romans 9-11, suggesting that it was an independent source, possibly a sermon which was inserted by Paul into the letter. Certainly the fact that it is possible to read from Ro 8:38 to 12:1 without a discernible break in thought lends weight to this suggestion. However, many Pauline interpreters feel that Romans 9-11 is an integral part of the overall argument of the letter and do not feel the interpolation approach is warranted. The problem of the fate of the Jewish nation lies at the heart of this section of the letter, but this is anticipated earlier in the letter (as in Ro 3:1-8 and the Abraham image in Ro 4:1-25). Insofar as the section is concerned with the future fate of the Jewish nation, in light of their rejection of Jesus Christ as Messiah, it deals with eschatological matters.’ (DPL)
In many cultures, including our own, we would be tempted to think that a person ‘protesteth too much’ with such an insistence that he is telling the truth. This is just one of the many issues that arise when translating from one culture to another, and illustrates one of the pitfalls of literal translation. A translation that paid attention to Paul’s meaning, rather than to his actual choice of words, might render this verse, ‘I am telling the truth.’
Rom 9:2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
Rom 9:3 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,
Ro 9:4 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.
‘Paul here recognizes and enumerates the great external privileges belonging to the Jews, which aggravated his profound sorrow, on account of their rejection of the Messiah, and their consequent deplorable condition.’ (Haldane)
The adoption as sons – the adoption of the nation as the people of God, Ex 4:22 De 7:6 14:1 Ho 11:1.
Theirs the divine glory – ‘The shekinah or kaboth occurs again and again in Israel’s history. It was the divine splendour of light which descended when God was visiting his people. {Ex 16:10 Ex 24:16-17 Ex 29:43 Ex 33:18-22} Israel had seen the glory of God and yet had rejected him. To us it has been given to see the glory of God’s love and mercy in the face of Jesus Christ; it is a terrible thing if we then choose the ways of earth.’ (DSB)
Ro 9:5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
From them is traced the human ancestry of Christ – This is the culmination. ‘All else had been a preparation for this; and yet when he came they rejected him. The biggest grief a man can have is to give his child every chance of success, to sacrifice and save and toil to give him the opportunity, and then to find that the child, through his disobedience or rebelliousness or self-indulgence, has failed to grasp it. Therein lies tragedy, for therein is the waste of love’s labour and the defeat of love’s dream. The tragedy of Israel was that God had prepared her for the day of the coming of his Son—and all the preparation was frustrated. It was not that God’s law had been broken; it was that God’s love had been spurned. It is not the anger, but the broken heart of God, which lies behind Paul’s words.’ (DSB)
Christ, who is God over all – This translation is, according to Moo (NBC) ‘probably correct’, and this passage is, accordingly, one of the few in the NT in which Christ is explicitly called ‘God’. In this case, Paul is in this verse paying dual attention both to the human and to the divine natures of Christ. The alternative translation would place a full stop of ‘Christ’, making a separate exclamation of praise of ‘God over all, forever praised! Amen.’ So RSV and, predictably, the New World Translation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Of course, the argument is not settled by reference to punctuation in the original, for there was none. What we can say is, (a) the majority of the early church Fathers understood the verse as is it translated in the NIV (and AV); (b) the word order is not such as we would expect to fnid in a doxology. In a doxology, eulogetes (blessed) would come at the very beginning of the sentence, as in Eph 1:3.
Ro 9:6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
It is not as though God’s word had failed – ‘Jewish unbelief at the present time does not mean, Paul asserts, that God’s promises to his people have failed because (i) God had never promised to save every single Jew (9:6b-29); (ii) the Jews are themselves responsible for failing to believe (9:30-10:21); (iii) God’s promises to Israel are even now being fulfilled in a remnant, of Jewish Christians (11:1-10); and (iv) God will yet save all Israel (11:12-32).’ (Moo, NBC)
‘The non-inclusion of part of Israel is attributed by Paul both to God’s predestination (see Election) and to Israel’s failure. {Ro 9:6-29} In Paul’s thought these elements are neither contradictory nor mutually exclusive. Israel’s fault is that most Israelites of Paul’s time did not put their faith in Jesus Christ. He had become a stumbling stone to them. {Ro 9:30-10:4} The reason for this failure to accept Christ has traditionally been regarded as “a self-righteous attitude on the part of Jews.” “They sought to establish their own righteousness” {Ro 10:3} has been understood to mean that Jews thought that righteousness could be achieved by their own effort, that is, by good works. Hence those who made that effort presumed they had succeeded and became self-righteous as a result. They had a zeal but a mistaken zeal. {Ro 10:2} E. P. Sanders in particular has written much to correct this general view of the fault of Israel. He argues that zeal as such is not wrong. They did not err in seeking righteousness but they sought the wrong kind of righteousness-righteousness “of their own” in the sense that it was a righteousness peculiar to Jews as a people and the righteousness of a former dispensation prior to the coming of faith (in Jesus Christ). The fault of this righteousness is its exclusivity and the “coming of faith” means that God’s salvation is open to everyone who has faith, whether Jew or Gentile; there is no distinction. {Ro 10:12} It seems therefore that Paul’s gospel was an offense to many Jews who failed to understand and/or acknowledge the new day that had dawned in Jesus Christ. They saw Paul’s work and message as an absolute threat to the future and well-being of Israel and they opposed it bitterly as a result. But Paul did not perceive it thus-he sees the coming of Christ as confirmation, {Ro 4:16} of the promises made to Abraham and as an extension of the covenant to include believing Gentiles along with the believing in Israel. He refuses to regard Israel as “rejected” but only as temporarily hardened by God until the full number of the Gentiles comes into the kingdom.’ (DPL)
Cf. Ro 2:28-29
Ro 9:7 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.”
‘He shows them, from their own writings, that the principle of election had existed in former times-in the case of Isaac, {Ro 9:7-13} in the writings of Moses, {Ro 9:15} in the case of Pharaoh, {Ro 9:17} and in the prophecies of Hosea and Isaiah,’ {Ro 9:25-29} (Barnes)
‘The Jewish people prided themselves in the fact that God had chosen Israel and had not chosen the Gentiles. Part of this theme is picked up in the argument in Ro 9:7-13. While Abraham had more than one son, God chose Isaac as the one through whom the promise would be passed down. Isaac also has more than one son, but God chose Jacob and not Esau. Any Jewish reader would nod affirmingly, especially if he or she had not read the opening verse: {Ro 9:6} “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (RSV). Paul’s reason for arguing this is not to prove that God could choose the Hebrew people for his purposes and reject others. All Jews knew this. Paul is pointing out that if this is the case, God can also choose some Jews and reject others. Paul is using the Jews’ own teaching against their national complacency.’ (HSB)
Rom 9:8 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.
Rom 9:9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
Rom 9:10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
Ro 9:11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:
‘The Jewish people also prided themselves on their adherence to the Mosaic law. Surely God would reward their careful observance with salvation; surely he would not select Gentiles for salvation when the Jews were so much more righteous. Paul argues that this is not the case. In the opening parts of the book he has argued that there is no one who is righteous, so no one has a claim on God’s salvation. Any salvation which people get is mercy and grace, not just deserts. Now in this chapter he goes out of his way to point out that God’s choice in the case of Isaac and Jacob was not based on their character. It was made before they developed their character. It does not help to argue that God knew what sort of people they would become, for that would be to deny what Paul is arguing. He is arguing that God simply chose.’ (HSB)
Rom 9:12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
Ro 9:13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
‘In a discussion of election and predestination, questions about Jacob and Esau {Ro 9:13} arise, as do questions about God “hardening Pharaoh’s heart.” {Ro 9:17-18} These verses could be interpreted to mean that God beforehand had planned things out without any regard for human response. The worst scenario would suggest that God had taken a nice young Egyptian prince and turned him into a monster. Ro 9:13 could mean that God really hated Esau and played favorites among his children. I do not believe this is the proper way to understand these passages. Paul, their human author, is looking back. Interpretations are easier after the fact. Whereas God is no respecter of persons whom he has created, he does not violate the free will he gave to humankind. God works with it. A better interpretation of these passages is to say that God used what Esau and Pharaoh had become. Esau, a compulsive man who sought instant gratification of his desires, would not be the kind of person who becomes a patriarch. Pharaoh, a ruthless man, God confirmed and judged as an oppressor; Pharaoh’s harsh and cruel acts were punished. In that punishment God received glory to himself, even out of Pharaoh’s disobedience.’ (Holman, art. ‘Predestination’)
Ro 9:14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
‘Paul’s emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation raises certain objections, as he well knew from many years of preaching. Paul deals with two of these in this section. Is not God unfair to choose some and reject others (v14)? And how can people be blamed for rejecting God if he himself determines that rejection (v19)? Such questions are our natural response to the biblical teaching about God’s sovereignty. It is significant that Paul here offers no ‘logical’ explanation for the compatibility of God’s sovereignty with the equally biblical teaching that God is scrupulously fair and that human beings are justifiably blameworthy for their actions. We would do well to follow his approach: to affirm the truth of these great biblical doctrines without eliminating or weakening one or the other through an insistence on an exhaustive explanation. This is a point at which, with Paul, {cf. Ro 11:33-36} we should be prepared to recognize a mystery beyond our comprehension.’ (Moo, NBC)
Ro 9:15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
He says to Moses – Ex 33:19.
‘Paul’s way of defending God’s justice is to proclaim his mercy. It sounds like a complete non sequitur. But it is not. It simply indicates that the question itself is misconceived, because the basis on which God deals savingly with sinners is not justice but mercy v16.’ (Stott)
Samuel Davies: “The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the great and only remedy for a ruined country- the only effectual preventative of national calamities and desolation, and the only sure cause of a lasting and well established peace.”
Ro 9:16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
‘If justice be thy plea, remember this: that, in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation.’ (The Merchant of Venice, Act 4 scene 1)
‘Sinners have no claim upon God. He does not owe us anything; or if he does, it is only punishment for our sins. Therefore, those whom God passes by are condemned by his strict justice. The real mystery of salvation is not that God rejects some, which is perfectly just, but that he chooses any at all, which is sheer mercy.’ (Ryken, The Message of Salvation, 71)
Ro 9:17 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.”
See Ex 9:16. ‘Paul knew that the OT spoke not only of God’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart {Ex 4:21 7:3,4,13 9:12,15-17,34-35 10:1,20,27 11:9,10} but also of Pharaoh hardening his own heart, {Ex 8:15,32 9:34 1Sa 6:6} thus making him responsible for the sins he committed. That God could work his will in and through the acts of humans in such a way that his will was done and yet the human will was not violated, coerced or ignored is fundamental to biblical thinking. (See, e.g., Pr 16:1,4,9,33.’ (EDBT)
‘Pharaoh did not arise by chance or by his own power, but God had raised him up. Why would God raise up such an obstinate ruler? So that God’s power could be clearly seen when he brought about the exodus. Pharaoh’s hardening was part of God’s plan for God’s own purposes.’ (HSB)
‘This passage is designed to illustrate the doctrine that God shows mercy according to his sovereign pleasure by a reference to one of the most extraordinary cases of hardness of heart which has ever occurred. The design is to show that God has a right to pass by those to whom he does not choose to show mercy; and to place them in circumstances where they shall develop their true character, and where in fact they shall become more hardened and be destroyed, Ro 9:18.’ (Barnes)
‘The meaning of the word and the truth of the case may be expressed in the following particulars:
1. God meant to accomplish some great purposes by his existence and conduct.
2. He kept him, or sustained him, with reference to that.
3. He had control over the haughty and wicked monarch. He could take his life, or he could continue him on earth. As he had control over all things that could affect the pride, the feelings, and the happiness of the monarch, so he had control over the monarch himself.
4. He placed him in circumstances just fitted to develop his character. He kept him amidst those circumstances until his character was fully developed.
5. He did not exert a positive influence on the mind of Pharaoh; for,
6. in all this the monarch acted freely. He did that which he chose to do. He pursued his own course. He was voluntary in his schemes of oppressing the Israelites. He was voluntary in his opposition to God. He was voluntary when he pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea. In all his doings he acted as he chose to do, and with a determined choice of evil, from which neither warning nor judgment would turn him away. Thus he is said to have hardened his own heart, Ex 8:15.
7. Neither Pharaoh nor any sinner can justly blame God for placing them in circumstances where they shall develop their own character, and show what they are. It is not the fault of God, but their own fault. The sinner is not compelled to sin; nor is God under obligation to save him contrary to the prevalent desires and wishes of the sinner himself.’ (Barnes)
Ro 9:18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
He hardens whom he wants to harden – ‘Neither here not anywhere else is God said to harden anyone who had not first hardened himself.’ (Morris) Stott adds, ‘So God’s hardening of him was a judicial act, abandoning him to his own stubbornness, much as God’s wrath against the ungodly is expressed by “giving them over” to their own depravity, Ro 1:24,26,28. The same combination of human obstinacy and divine judgement in the hardening of the heart is seen in God’s word to Isaiah (“Make the heart of this people calloused” Isa 6:9f), which Jesus applied to his own teaching ministry, Mt 13:13 ff Mr 4:11-12 Joh 12:39-40, and Paul to his, Ac 28:25 ff.’
‘Neither the bestowal of God’s mercy nor his hardening are based on human actions (although it should be remembered that God acts on people who are already lost in sin and that his exclusion of some from salvation is in some sense simply a confirmation of the choice they have already made). It should also be remembered that God’s decisions on these matters are not disclosed to us and that they are not meant in any way to cause despair. The Scriptures make plain that God will never refuse to accept, or cast away, those who diligently seek him.’ (Moo, NBC)
Ro 9:19 one of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?”
“Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?” {Ro 9:19} This objection surely proves beyond any doubt whatsoever that the Apostle has been teaching that salvation is entirely the result of the sovereign will and election of God and nothing to do with us at all. There is nothing new in this objection to this doctrine. People were objecting to it in the first century and they have been objecting to it ever since. It has nothing to do with modern learning, modern knowledge, modern science—nothing at all. People have always done it. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Rom 9:20 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?’”
Rom 9:21 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?
Ro 9:22 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?
Rom 9:23 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—
Rom 9:24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
Rom 9:25 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,”
Rom 9:26 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.’”
Rom 9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
Rom 9:28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
Rom 9:29 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.”
Rom 9:30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
Rom 9:31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
Rom 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.”
Ro 9:33 As 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.”
As it is written – Cf. Isa 28:16
A stone that cause men to stumble – 1Pe 2:8
