Romans 9–11

God’s Free Choice

9I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My mind tells me that what I say is true. It is guided by the Holy Spirit. ²My heart is full of sorrow. My sadness never ends. ³I am so concerned about my people, who are members of my own race. I am ready to be cursed, if that would help them. I am even willing to be separated from Christ.

⁴They are the people of Israel. They have been adopted as God’s children. God’s glory belongs to them. So do the covenants. They received the law. They were taught to worship in the temple. They were given the promises. ⁵The founders of our nation belong to them. Christ comes from their family line. He is God over all. May he always be praised! Amen.

⁶Their condition does not mean that God’s word has failed. Not everyone in the family line of Israel really belongs to Israel. ⁷Not everyone in Abraham’s family line is really his child. Not at all! Scripture says, “Your family line will continue through Isaac.”

⁸In other words, God’s children are not just Abraham’s natural children. Instead, they are the children God promised to him. They are the ones considered to be Abraham’s children. ⁹God promised, “I will return at the appointed time. Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁰And that’s not all. Rebekah’s children had the same father. He was our father Isaac.

¹¹Here is what happened. Rebekah’s twins had not even been born. They hadn’t done anything good or bad yet. So they show that God’s purpose is based firmly on his free choice. ¹²It was not because of anything they did but because of God’s choice. So Rebekah was told, “The older son will serve the younger one.” ¹³It is written, “I chose Jacob instead of Esau.”

¹⁴What should we say then? Is God unfair? Not at all! ¹⁵He said to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.

I will show love to those I love.”

¹⁶So it doesn’t depend on what we want or do. It depends on God’s mercy.

¹⁷In Scripture, God says to Pharaoh, “I had a special reason for making you king. I decided to use you to show my power. I wanted my name to become known everywhere on earth.” ¹⁸So God does what he wants to do. He shows mercy to one person and makes another stubborn.

¹⁹One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still blame us? Who can oppose what he wants to do?” ²⁰But you are a mere man. So who are you to talk back to God? Scripture says, “Can what is made say to the one who made it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” ²¹Isn’t the potter free to make different kinds of pots out of the same lump of clay? Some are for special purposes. Others are for ordinary use.

²²What if God chose to show his great anger? What if he chose to make his power known? That is why he put up with people he was angry with. They had been made to be destroyed. ²³What if he did that to show the riches of his glory to others? Those are the people he shows his mercy to. He had prepared them to receive his glory. ²⁴We are those people. He has chosen us. We do not come only from the Jewish race. Many of us are not Jews. ²⁵God says in Hosea,

“I will call those who are not my people ‘my people.’

I will call the one who is not my loved one ‘my loved one.’ ”

²⁶He also says,

“Once it was said to them,

‘You are not my people.’

In that very place they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”

²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. He says,

“The number of people from Israel may be like the sand by the sea.

But only a few of them will be saved.

²⁸The Lord will carry out his sentence.

He will be quick to carry it out on earth, once and for all.”

²⁹Earlier Isaiah had said,

“The Lord who rules over all

left us children and grandchildren.

If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom.

We would have been like Gomorrah.”

Israel Does Not Believe

³⁰What should we say then? Those who aren’t Jews did not look for a way to be right with God. But they found it by having faith. ³¹Israel did look for a law that could make them right with God. But they didn’t find it.

³²Why not? Because they didn’t look for it by faith. They tried to get it by working for it. They tripped over the stone that causes people to trip and fall. ³³It is written,

“Look! In Zion I am laying a stone that causes people to trip.

It is a rock that makes them fall.

The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

10Brothers and sisters, with all my heart I long for the people of Israel to be saved. I pray to God for them. ²I can give witness about them that they really want to serve God. But how they are trying to do it is not based on what they know.

³They didn’t know how God makes people right with himself. They tried to get right with God in their own way. They didn’t do it in God’s way.

⁴Christ has completed the law. So now everyone who believes can be right with God.

⁵Moses explained how the law could help a person do what God requires. He said, “The one who does those things will live by them.”

⁶But the way to do what God requires must begin by having faith in him. Scripture says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’ ” That means to go up into heaven and bring Christ down. ⁷“And do not say, ‘Who will go down into the grave?’ ” That means to bring Christ up from the dead.

⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart.” That means the word we are preaching. You must put your faith in it.

⁹Say with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved. ¹⁰With your heart you believe and are made right with God. With your mouth you say that Jesus is Lord. And so you are saved. ¹¹Scripture says, “The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

¹²There is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is Lord of all. He richly blesses everyone who calls on him. ¹³Scripture says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴How can they call on him unless they believe in him? How can they believe in him unless they hear about him? How can they hear about him unless someone preaches to them? ¹⁵And how can anyone preach without being sent? It is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

¹⁶But not all the people of Israel accepted the good news. Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷So faith comes from hearing the message. And the message that is heard is the word of Christ.

¹⁸But I ask, “Didn’t the people of Israel hear?” Of course they did. It is written,

“Their voice has gone out into the whole earth.

Their words have gone out from one end of the world to the other.”

¹⁹Again I ask, “Didn’t Israel understand?” First, Moses says,

“I will use people who are not a nation to make you jealous.

I will use a nation that has no understanding to make you angry.”

²⁰Then Isaiah boldly speaks about what God says. God said,

“I was found by those who were not trying to find me.

I made myself known to those who were not asking for me.”

²¹But Isaiah also speaks about what God says concerning Israel. God said,

“All day long I have held out my hands.

I have held them out to a stubborn people who do not obey me.”

God’s Faithful People in Israel

11So here is what I ask. Did God turn his back on his people? Not at all! I myself belong to Israel. I am one of Abraham’s children. I am from the tribe of Benjamin. ²God didn’t turn his back on his people. After all, he chose them.

Don’t you know what Scripture says about Elijah? He complained to God about Israel. ³He said, “Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have torn down your altars. I’m the only one left. And they are trying to kill me.”

⁴How did God answer him? God said, “I have kept 7,000 people for myself. They have not bowed down to Baal.”

⁵Some are also faithful today. They have been chosen by God’s grace. ⁶And if they are chosen by grace, it is no longer a matter of working for it. If it were, grace wouldn’t be grace anymore.

⁷What should we say then? Israel did not receive what they wanted so badly. But those who were chosen did. God made the rest of them stubborn.

⁸It is written,

“God made it hard for them to understand.

He gave them eyes that could not see.

He gave them ears that could not hear.

And they are still like that today.”

⁹David says,

“Let their feast be a trap and a snare.

Let it make Israel trip and fall. Let Israel get what’s coming to them.

¹⁰Let their eyes grow dark so they can’t see.

Let their backs be bent forever.”

Two Kinds of Olive Branches

¹¹Again, here is what I ask. They didn’t trip and fall once and for all time, did they? Not at all! Because Israel sinned, those who aren’t Jews can be saved. That will make Israel jealous of them. ¹²Israel’s sin brought riches to the world. Their loss brought riches to the non-Jews. What greater riches will come when all Israel turns to God!

¹³I am talking to you who are not Jews. I am the apostle to the non-Jews. So I think the work I do for God and others is very important.

¹⁴I hope somehow to stir up my own people to want what you have. Perhaps I can save some of them. ¹⁵When they were not accepted, it became possible for the whole world to be brought back to God. So what will happen when they are accepted? It will be like life from the dead.

¹⁶The first handful of dough that is offered is holy. This makes all of the dough holy.

If the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷Some of the natural branches have been broken off. You are a wild olive branch. But you have been joined to the tree with the other branches. Now you enjoy the life-giving sap of the olive tree root. ¹⁸So don’t think you are better than the other branches. Remember, you don’t give life to the root. The root gives life to you.

¹⁹You will say, “Some branches were broken off so that I could be joined to the tree.” ²⁰That’s true. But they were broken off because they didn’t believe. You stand only because you do believe. So don’t be proud. Be afraid. ²¹God didn’t spare the natural branches. He won’t spare you either.

²²Think about how kind God is!…