Paul's Grief for Israel
Study note
Paul expresses profound sorrow over Israel's failure to embrace the Messiah, even saying he would be willing to be cursed himself if it would save his people. He honors Israel's rich heritage: the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, and the promises. Most importantly, from Israel the Christ came according to his human nature, he who is God over all, blessed forever.
1 What I am about to say is the honest truth -- I belong to Christ and I am not making this up. The Holy Spirit and my own conscience back me up. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 My heart is full of deep sadness that never goes away. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 I would even be willing to be cut off from Christ forever if it would help my own people, my fellow Jews. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 They are Israelites. God adopted them as his children. He showed them his glory. He made agreements with them. He gave them his law. He taught them how to worship. He gave them amazing promises. Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 The great ancestors of the faith belong to them, and Christ himself came from their family line as a human being. He is God over everything, and he deserves praise forever. Amen. Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
God's Sovereign Choice
Study note
Paul explains that God's word has not failed because not all physical descendants of Israel are truly Israel. God's promise works through chosen lines: Isaac rather than Ishmael, Jacob rather than Esau -- chosen before they were born or had done anything. Paul quotes God's words to Moses about showing mercy to whom he chooses and his purpose in raising up Pharaoh. God's sovereign right to show mercy does not depend on human desire or effort.
6 I am not saying God's promises fell apart. The thing is, not everyone born into Israel truly belongs to Israel. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 And being Abraham's descendants does not automatically make them his true children. God told Abraham, "Your true family line will come through Isaac." Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 It is not the children born the normal way who are God's children. The children born because of God's promise are the ones who count as Abraham's real offspring. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 Here is how the promise went: "I will come back at the right time, and Sarah will have a son." For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
10 And it does not stop there. Rebecca had twin sons by one father, our ancestor Isaac. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 Before the twins were even born, before either one had done anything good or bad, God's purpose in choosing was already set. It did not depend on what they would do but on God who calls people. (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 God told Rebecca, "The older one will end up serving the younger one." It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 The scriptures put it this way: "I chose Jacob, but I did not choose Esau." As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14 What do we say to that? Is God being unfair? Not at all! What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 God told Moses, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose. I will be kind to anyone I choose to be kind to." For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So it does not come down to how badly someone wants it or how hard they try. It depends on God, who shows mercy. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 The scriptures say God told Pharaoh, "I put you in power for this exact reason: to show my power through what happened to you. That way my name would be known all over the earth." For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 So God shows mercy to whoever he wants, and he makes stubborn whoever he wants. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
The Potter and the Clay
Study note
Anticipating the objection that God is unfair, Paul invokes the potter and clay imagery. The potter has the right to make from the same lump vessels for different purposes. God patiently endured vessels of wrath to display the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, called from both Jews and Gentiles. Paul supports this with quotations from Hosea about God calling 'not my people' his people, and from Isaiah about a remnant being saved from Israel.
19 You might say, "Then how can God blame anyone? Nobody can fight against what God decides!" Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 But seriously, who do you think you are to talk back to God? Does a clay pot say to the person who shaped it, "Why did you make me this way?" Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 A potter can take one lump of clay and make one pot for a fancy dinner. He can make another pot for everyday use. He has every right to do that. Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 What if God wanted to show his anger and his power? But instead, he was very patient with people who were headed for destruction. What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 What if he did this so he could pour out his amazing glory on people he chose to receive his mercy? These were people he got ready ahead of time for glory. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 We are those people! He called us -- not just from the Jewish people, but from every nation. Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 God said through the prophet Hosea, "I will call 'my people' those who were not my people before. I will call 'loved' the one who was not loved before." As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 "In the very spot where they were told, 'You do not belong to me,' they will be called children of the living God." And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Isaiah said this about Israel. "Israel's people may be like grains of sand on the beach. But only a small number will be saved." Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 "The Lord will carry out his plan on earth quickly and completely." For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 Isaiah also said, "The Lord of Armies saved some of us. If not, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah." And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
Israel Stumbles Over the Stone
Study note
Paul presents the paradox: Gentiles who were not pursuing righteousness obtained it through faith, while Israel, pursuing righteousness through the law, did not attain it. The reason is that they pursued it by works rather than by faith, stumbling over the stumbling stone. Paul quotes Isaiah's prophecy about a stone laid in Zion that causes stumbling, yet whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
30 So what is the takeaway? Non-Jewish people were not even trying to get right with God, but they found it -- through faith. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 Meanwhile, the people of Israel chased hard after a law that would make them right with God, but they never reached the goal. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Why not? Because they tried to get there by doing good works instead of by trusting God. They tripped over the stumbling stone. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
33 The scriptures predicted it: "Look, I am placing in Zion a stone that makes people trip, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who puts their trust in him will never be let down." As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.