Romans 9:7–33

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.”^c In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children,^d but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.^e For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^f

Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.^g Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad^h—in order that God’s purposeⁱ in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^j Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^k

What then shall we say?^l Is God unjust? Not at all!^m For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”ⁿ

It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^o For 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.”^p Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^q

One of you will say to me:^r “Then why does God still blame us?^s For who is able to resist his will?”^t But who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God?^u “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^v ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”^w Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for disposal of refuse?^x

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^y the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^z What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^a known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^b— even us, whom he also called,^c not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^d 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,”^e

and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,

‘You are not my people,’

they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”^f

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,^g

only the remnant will be saved.^h

For the Lord will carry out

his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”ⁱ

It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty^j

had left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah.”^k

Israel’s Unbelief

What then shall we say?^a That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^b but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^c have not attained their goal.^d Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^e As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall,

and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^f