Romans 9–11

God’s Election of Israel

⁹I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit^*—²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.^{* 4}They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;^{* 5}to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.^c Amen.^*

⁶It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those descended from Israel are Israelites,^{* 7}and not all of Abraham’s children are his descendants, but “it is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.”^{* 8}This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. ⁹For the word of the promise is this: “About this time I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”^{* 10}Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac:^{* 11}even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, ¹²not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger.”^{* 13}As it is written,

“I have loved Jacob,

but I have hated Esau.”^*

¹⁴What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!^{* 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.”^*

¹⁶So it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who shows mercy. ¹⁷For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I may show my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{* 18}So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.

God’s Wrath and Mercy

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”^{* 20}But who indeed are you, a human, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, “Why have you made me like this?”^{* 21}Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use?^{* 22}What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction,^{* 23}and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—²⁴including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the gentiles? ²⁵As he also says in Hosea,

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

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

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

there they shall be called children of the living God.”^*

²⁷And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,^{* 28}for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.”^{d 29}And as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of hosts had not left descendants to us,

we would have fared like Sodom

and been made like Gomorrah.”^*

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith,^{* 31}but Israel, who did strive for the law of righteousness, did not attain that law.^{* 32}Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,^{* 33}as it is written,

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall,

and whoever trusts in him^e will not be put to shame.”^*

¹⁰Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. ²For I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not based on knowledge.^{* 3}Not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.^{* 4}For Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.^*

Salvation Is for All

⁵Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.”^{* 6}But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say?

“The word is near you,

in your mouth and in your heart”

(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim),^{* 9}because^f if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe^g in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.^{* 10}For one believes^h with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation. ¹¹The scripture says, “No one who believesⁱ in him will be put to shame.”^{* 12}For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.^{* 13}For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”^*

¹⁴But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?^j And how are they to believe^k in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? ¹⁵And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”^{* 16}But not all have obeyed the good news,^l for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed^m our message?”^{* 17}So faithⁿ comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.^o

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

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth

and their words to the ends of the world.”^*

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

“I will use those who are not a nation to make you jealous;

with a foolish nation I will provoke you.”^*

²⁰Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

“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, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”^*

Israel’s Rejection Is Not Final

¹¹I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.^{* 2}God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?^{* 3}“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴But what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^{* 5}So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.^p*

⁷What then? Israel has not achieved what it was pursuing. The elect have achieved it, but the rest were hardened,^{* 8}as it is written,

“God gave them a sluggish spirit,

eyes that would not see

and ears that would not hear,

down to this very day.”^*

⁹And David says,

“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 keep their backs forever bent.”

The Salvation of the Gentiles

¹¹So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling^q salvation has come to the gentiles, so as to make Israel^r jealous.^{* 12}Now if their stumbling^s means riches for the world and if their loss means riches for gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

¹³Now I am speaking to you gentiles. Inasmuch as I am an apostle to the gentiles, I celebrate my ministry^{* 14}in order to make my own people^t jealous and thus save some of them.^{* 15}For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy.

¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted among the others to share the rich root^u of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰That is true. They were broken off on account of unbelief,^v but you stand on account of belief.^w So do not become arrogant, but be afraid.^{* 21}For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.^{x 22}Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.^{* 23}And even those of Israel,^y if they do not continue in unbelief,^z will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.^{* 24}For if you have been 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 natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.

All Israel Will Be Saved

²⁵I want you to understand this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not claim to be wiser than you are: a hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the gentiles has come in.^{* 26}And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“Out of Zion will come the Deliverer;

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.”^*

²⁷“And this is my covenant with them,

when I…