Romans 9:1–11:36

God’s Sovereign Choice

9^aI am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— ²that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For ^bI could wish that I myself were ^caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,¹ my kinsmen ^daccording to the flesh. ⁴They are ^eIsraelites, and to them belong ^fthe adoption, ^gthe glory, ^hthe covenants, ⁱthe giving of the law, ^jthe worship, and ^kthe promises. ⁵To them belong ^lthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, ^mwho is God over all, ⁿblessed forever. Amen.

⁶But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷and not all are children of Abraham ^obecause they are his offspring, but ^p“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but ^qthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. ⁹For this is what the promise said: ^r“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰And not only so, but ^salso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of ^thim who calls— ¹²she was told, ^u“The older will serve the younger.” ¹³As it is written, ^v“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴What shall we say then? ^wIs there injustice on God’s part? By no means! ¹⁵For he says to Moses, ^x“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion,² but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ^y“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For ^zwho can resist his will?” ²⁰But who are you, O man, ^ato answer back to God? ^bWill what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ^21cHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump ^done vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²²What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience ^evessels of wrath ^fprepared for destruction, ²³in order to make known ^gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he ^hhas prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴even us whom he ⁱhas called, ^jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As indeed he says in Hosea,

^k“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”

^26l“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ^m‘sons of the living God.’ ”

²⁷And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ⁿ“Though the number of the sons of Israel³ be as the sand of the sea, ^oonly a remnant of them will be saved, ²⁸for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” ²⁹And as Isaiah predicted,

^pq“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,

^rwe would have been like Sodom

and become like Gomorrah.”

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰What shall we say, then? ^sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ^ta righteousness that is by faith; ³¹but that Israel ^uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness^{4 v}did not succeed in reaching that law. ³²Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the ^wstumbling stone, ³³as it is written,

^x“Behold, I am laying in Zion ^ya stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;

^zand whoever believes in him will not be ^aput to shame.”

10Brothers,¹ my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. ²For I bear them witness that ^bthey have a zeal for God, ^cbut not according to knowledge. ³For, being ignorant of ^dthe righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴For ^eChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.²

The Message of Salvation to All

⁵For ^fMoses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^gthe person who does the commandments shall live by them. ⁶But ^hthe righteousness based on faith says, ⁱ“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the ^jabyss?’ ” (that is, ^kto bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say? ^l“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹because, if ^myou confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and ⁿbelieve in your heart ^othat God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹For the Scripture says, ^p“Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ^12qFor there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; ^rfor the same Lord is Lord of all, ^sbestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³For ^t“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him ^uof whom they have never heard?³ And how are they to hear ^vwithout someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ^w“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶But ^xthey have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ^y“Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷So ^zfaith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

¹⁸But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

^a“Their voice has gone out ^bto all the earth,

and their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁹But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

^c“I will ^dmake you jealous of those who are not a nation;

with a ^efoolish nation I will make you angry.”

²⁰Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

^f“I have been found by those who did not seek me;

I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

²¹But of Israel he says, ^g“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

The Remnant of Israel

11I ask, then, ^hhas God rejected his people? By no means! For ⁱI myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,¹ a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ^2jGod has not rejected his people whom he ^kforeknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? ^3l“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” ⁴But what is God’s reply to him? ^m“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵So too at the present time there is ⁿa remnant, chosen by grace. ^6oBut if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? ^pIsrael failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest ^qwere hardened, ⁸as it is written,

^r“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

^seyes that would not see

and ears that would not hear,

down to this very day.”

⁹And David says,

^t“Let their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

¹⁰let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,

and bend their backs forever.”

Gentiles Grafted In

¹¹So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass ^usalvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. ¹²Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion² mean!

¹³Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as ^vI am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and ^wthus save some of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection means ^xthe reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? ^16yIf the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷But if ^zsome of the branches were broken off, and you, ^aalthough a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root³ of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you ^bstand fast through faith. So ^cdo not become proud, but ^dfear. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²²Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, ^eprovided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise ^fyou too will be cut off. ²³And ^geven they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation

^25hLest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:^{4 i}a partial hardening has come upon Israel, ^juntil the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

^k“The Deliverer will come ^lfrom Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

²⁷“and this will be my ^mcovenant with them

ⁿwhen I take away their sins.”

²⁸As regards the gospel, they are enemies…