Romans 9

Romans 9:1-2

Romans 9:1-2 : I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. In chapter 9, Paul enters on a new train of thought, which he continues to the close of the eleventh chapter. He has developed his theme that the gospel is God’s power for saving men, and has shown that only through obedience to the gospel can men be saved, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. This would naturally lead to certain questions concerning the Jewish nation.

 

“The theme of Rom 1:16-17 has been worked out; it has been shown that the gospel is a power of God unto salvation for them that believe, a power needed by Gentile and Jew alike, guaranteed on condition of faith and in response to faith by the love of God, and adequate to man’s needs as shown in history and in individual experience; and a brief description has been given of the actual state of the Christian in Christ and of the certainty and splendor of his hope, resting upon the love of God. Naturally at this point the question of the Jews arises they were the typical instance of a people brought into close and peculiar relation to God, and they therefore afford a crucial case of God’s dealings with such. How then did it come to pass that they rejected the gospel? What is their present state? their future destiny? and how does this affect Christians? The answer is found in the conditions under which God selects men for the executing of his purposes. It is important to bear in mind that the selection through-out is regarded as having reference not to the final salvation of persons, but to the execution of the purpose of God. Underlying the whole section is the special object of Saint Paul to justify himself in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.” (Cambridge Greek Testament).

 

Romans 9:1-2 : I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. There seems to me no just reason for saying, as some commentators do, that Paul was making oath that he was telling the truth. He was solemnly assert—ing that, as a man in Christ–that is, as a Christian he was saying the truth. This use of the word con-science seems to be purely classical. Liddell and Scott define the Greek word thus: “A knowing with one’s-self , consciousness; conscience.” Of conscience Schaff-Herzog say: “The word comes to us from the Latin conscius, conscientia (‘conscious,’ consciousness’); but neither Greek nor Roman used it in our sense. It had no religious bearing.

It is unknown in the Old Testa-ment, never used by our Lord, nor by the New Testa-ment writers, except Paul (and those directly inspired by him) and Peter.” Hence, all that Paul knew of himself, as enlightened by the Holy Spirit, bore wit-ness that he was speaking the truth when he said that he had great sorrow and unceasing pain in his heart. He was conscious that he was telling the truth. Paul did frequently use the word conscience in a moral and religious sense, but not here. Bear in mind that where we have two words–“consciousness” and “conscience”–the Greeks had the one word.

Romans 9:3

Romans 9:3 : For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Ever since Paul became a Chris-tian the Jews had shamefully and cruelly persecuted him. Even the Judaizing Christians had been bitter toward him yet he had the tenderest of feelings toward his kinsmen according to the flesh. He did not actually wish himself to be anathema from Christ for his brethren’s sake, for had he given up Christ it would not have brought his kinsmen to Christ; but he could so wish, if it would do any good, if it would save his kinsmen.

Romans 9:4-5

Romans 9:4-5 : Who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Paul’s brethren were descendants of Jacob, whom God named Israel. They had been adopted as God’s special and chosen people. The glory perhaps includes all the manifestations of God’s care for them, including also the Shekinah, the emblem of his presence in the Holy of Holies. From Abraham onward God had made covenants with no other people, nor had he given laws to any other people. As the laws were God-given, they were perfectly suited to their needs.

And their great-est glory and distinction: “of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh.” With all these blessings and distinctions, they murdered the Christ, whom they gave the world, and still continued, and do still continue, to reject him, “who is over all, God blessed forever.” The careful reader will not fail to notice that Christ is now over all. Nowhere does Paul give any hint that Christ is yet to be exalted to that high state.

Romans 9:6

Romans 9:6 : But it is not as though the word of God bath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel. The condition of fleshly Israel, though not clearly stated in Romans 9:1-5, was, nevertheless, im-plied. But the fact that fleshly Israel had rejected Christ, and were therefore anathema from Christ, did not show that the word of God–the promise to Abraham had come to nought. Romans 9:7 shows that the promise made to Abraham is the word of God that Paul had in mind. Even though fleshly Israel had rejected Christ, there was yet a spiritual Israel, and the promise was fulfilled in them.

Paul’s language in these verses shows that the promise made to Abraham terminated in spiritual Israel. They do greatly err who think the promise to Abraham is yet to be fulfilled in fleshly Israel. Blood descent from Abraham does not entitle one to share in the promise.

Romans 9:7

Romans 9:7 : Neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. In Romans 9:6-7, Paul begins to show the Jews that they had no right to complain, even if God did reject them for another people. In working out his plans, God had rejected the other sons of Abraham and selected Isaac through whom the promised seed should come. Other illustrations Paul gives later.

Romans 9:8-9

Romans 9:8-9 : That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. If it had been the children of the flesh, then all Abraham’s sons would have been included in the promise. But Isaac was a child of prom-ise. Christians are now children of promise as much as was Isaac. How Isaac was. a child of promise is told in Romans 9:9.

Romans 9:10-12

Romans 9:10-12 : And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac–for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. In working out his plan to bless the world through the seed of Abraham, God selected Isaac to be heir of the promise, and rejected the other sons of Abraham. The Jew might say that as Isaac was the only son of Abraham’s real wife, his selection was natural and right. But it was different with his selection of Jacob over Esau. Jacob and Esau were full brothers; and though they were twins, Esau the first-born was the natural heir of the promise. Yet of the two, God selected Jacob, even before they were born, and therefore before they had done anything good or bad, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand.” The purpose inhered in the promise. God was selecting his own instruments to work out his own plans.

 

In choosing Jacob, God chose his descendants; and every Jew gloried in that choice. But the selection of Jacob and the rejection of Esau had nothing to do with their salvation. If it had pertained to their salvation, there would have been no point in mentioning the fact that the younger was selected instead of the older; for even the most dogmatic predestinarian would not say that the oldest son is the natural heir of salvation and all the other sons reprobates. The fact is that the selection of Jacob was the selection of a people rather than an individual. Had it been the election to salvation, then the nations descending from Jacob were all elected to salvation, and Esau’s descendants were all lost. Jehovah’s language to Rebekah shows plainly that he was speaking of the descendants of Jacob and Esau rather than of them as individuals: “Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels: and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23).

Nor does the statement that the elder shall serve the younger apply to Jacob and Esau as individuals, for as individuals Jacob came nearer serving Esau. However, it did come to pass that the descendants of Esau served the descend-ants of Jacob (1 Chronicles 18:12-13).

Romans 9:13

Romans 9:13 : Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Some think this also was said before Jacob and Esau were born, but not so. No such language is found in what Jehovah said to Rebekah. The language quoted was written several hundred years after the days of Jacob and Esau. That the language refers to the two peoples instead of to Jacob and Esau as individuals is clearly seen by reading the connection from which the quotation was taken:

 

“The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi. -I have loved you, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith Jehovah: yet I loved Jacob; but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, we are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places; thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall build but I will throw down and men shall call them The border of wickedness, and The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever” (Malachi 1:1-4).

Romans 9:14

Romans 9:14 : What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. There was no un-righteousness with God in the selection he had made. If God selected Isaac and Jacob because they would be the best instruments through which to work out his plans, and the Jews gloried in these selections, why should they think that it would be out of harmony with God’s nature to reject the Jews because of unbelief and accept the Gentiles who believed in him? Even though God had rejected the Jewish nation as such, they had the same opportunity as did the Gen-tiles to become children of God.

Romans 9:15

Romans 9:15 : For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It seems that Moses had grown somewhat discouraged on account of the waywardness of the children of Israel, and showed a reluctance to go on, unless God would show him some special favors. Was this a gentle reminder to Moses? God had shown mercy to his people in spite of all that Pharaoh could do, and he could, and would, continue to show them mercy even should Moses become discouraged. No one can keep God from showing mercy to whom he will. But to whom will he show mercy? “He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). And all the objections and efforts of the Jews would not keep him from having mercy on the Gentiles who turned to him. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).

Romans 9:16

Romans 9:16 : So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath, mercy. This is a conclusion, not so much from what is said in Romans 9:15 as from the whole scope of Paul’s argument. In bringing to maturity his plans to bless all nations through Abraham’s seed, God had followed the counsel of his own will. The promised seed was Christ, and not the Jewish nation, as the Jews thought. These blessings would be bestowed according to God’s good pleasure, and not according to any racial dinstinctions. The Jews willed that it should be otherwise.

They would have no Gentile blessed unless he became circumcised and kept the law of Moses. Their striving earnestly, for so the word run implies, could not defeat the purpose of God, any more than Isaac and Esau could defeat God’s purpose to bless Jacob. The working out of God’s plan through the men Paul mentioned had nothing to do with their personal salvation. Someone had to be selected through whose seed the world would be blessed. God selected Abraham. Of Abraham’s– sons, one had to be an heir of the promise as the progenitor of the Messiah, the promised seed God selected Isaac; and so also with reference to Isaac’s sons, Jacob and Esau Jacob was selected.

However, since the way of salvation through Christ has been opened, a man’s own will is the deciding factor in his salvation. “And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely.”

Romans 9:17-18

Romans 9:17-18 : For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. The “for” shows a close connection with what had just been said. When the time came for God to show mercy to his oppressed people in Egypt, Pharaoh determined not to let Israel go. Through Moses and Aaron, Jehovah said to Pharaoh: “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” Pharaoh replied: “Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.” In so saying, Pharaoh openly defied Jehovah. He arrogated to himself supreme authority.

In his estimation, Jehovah did not have the power to dictate to him what he should do, or not do; hence, the demand that he let Israel go stirred in him a full determination to do as he pleased with Israel, no matter what Jehovah said or did. Instead of producing in Pharaoh willing obedience, the demand of Jehovah stirred up in him a great determination to defeat Jehovah’s purpose to show mercy to Israel.

He felt that Israel belonged to him–they were the property of his kingdom. Yes, he would pit his strength against Jehovah, and see that they did not go from him. Hence, every demand of Jehovah to let them go aroused his determination to keep them. These demands and his attitude toward them served to harden his heart. This shows how Jehovah hardened his heart, and also how he hardened his own heart. Hence, it is said that Jehovah hardened his heart, and it is said a number of times that he hardened his own heart.

This contest continued a sufficient length of time to attract attention through all Egypt, and the nations round about Egypt; and when Jehovah, in his own time and in his own way, triumphed over Pharaoh and all his gods, his power was shown, and his name was “published abroad in all the earth.” If Pharaoh had immediately let Israel go, there would have been no contest and God’s power would not have been displayed before the world. Pharaoh would have been credited with being good and kind to Israel.

 

The language quoted by Paul was spoken to Pharaoh after miracles had been wrought before Pharaoh, and after six of the ten plagues had been visited upon him and the Egyptians. Each plague further hardened his heart and stirred him to greater determination to hold Israel in bondage. The term raise up is from a Greek word which Liddell and Scott define as follows “To raise from the dead; to arouse, stir up; to kindle, as fire.” To arouse, stir up, is the only definition given here that will fit the case. God’s demands stirred Pharaoh’s antagonism toward God. No others ever had so much evidence that God’s hand was in a matter as did Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God was long-suffering toward him, and that long-suffering contributed much to the hardening of his heart. “So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth.” The whole circumstance shows that it is not necessary to conclude that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart by any direct operation of the Spirit.

Romans 9:19

Romans 9:19 : Thou wilt say then unto me, Why cloth, he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will? These questions would arise in the mind of some of the Jews. If God had mercy on the Israelites, no matter who tried to hinder him from doing so, why is he now finding fault with them? Or if he hardens some people, why does he then find fault with them? Paul does not in-timate that the questions logically grow out of what he had said, but they are questions that quibblers would likely raise.

Romans 9:20

Romans 9:20 : Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? The questions of Rom 9:19 do not imply any objections to Paul’s statements concerning God’s dealings with certain men in working out his plans, but rather to the methods of God himself. Verse 20 is not an answer to the questions, but rather a rebuke to those who raise such questions. Such questioners show a lack of reverence and respect for God. Such questions really charge God with being unfair and capricious.

Who is man that he should find fault with God? Who is man that he should talk back at God? Man makes his own character, either according to God’s directions and with his help, or else he makes a character against God’s teaching and God’s willingness to help. God then uses him as an agent of mercy, or else an instrument upon which to display his wrath. Pharaoh’s character was bad he made it so. God, therefore, made him an object upon which to display his wrath and to make his power known.

He, therefore, had no grounds for complaint against God because of the plagues.

Romans 9:21

Romans 9:21 : Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel un-to honor, and another unto dishonor? Let us not put such a strained construction on Paul’s language as to make him teach that man has no freedom of will and of action, and, therefore, no personal responsibility. Paul is speaking of the use God makes of men and of nations; and whether God makes of a man or a nation a vessel unto honor or unto dishonor depends on the man or the nation. “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work” (2 Timothy 2:20-21). Hence, as to whether a man is a vessel unto hon-or or unto dishonor, he alone is responsible. The same is true of nations, as the following lengthy quotation from Jeremiah clearly shows:

 

“The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels. And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 0 house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would bene-fit them. Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. But they say, It is in vain for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart” (Jeremiah 18:1-12).

 

Isaiah had said: “Woe unto him that striveth with his maker! a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?” (Isaiah 45:9). Concerning the quotations from Isaiah and Jeremiah, Albert Barnes says: “The passage in Isaiah proves that God has the right of sovereign over guilty individuals; that in Jeremiah, that he has the same right over nations; thus meeting the whole case as it was in the mind of the apostle. These passages, however, assert only the right of God to do it, without affirming anything about the manner in which it is done. In fact, God bestows his favors in a mode very different from that in which a potter molds his clay. God does not create holiness by a mere act of power, but he produces it in a manner consistent with the moral agency of man; and bestows his favors not to compel men, but to incline them to be willing to receive them.” God does not by any direct power make people either good or bad. God “would have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Romans 9:22

Romans 9:22 : What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction? This is another point in Paul’s reply to the questions of verse 19. If God wills to show his wrath against sin and his power to punish sin, why should anyone object? To say that God is not willing to do so is to accuse him of being indifferent to sin. His wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18). Yet the Lord does not wish “that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Because he is not willing that any should perish, he is longsuffering, giving all sinners a full opportunity to repent. He endured with long-suffering the highhanded rebellion of Pharaoh, and also the sins of ungrateful Israel. This longsuffering is a manifestation of God’s mercy and goodness to man, though many take advantage of it to indulge in more sin; but the day of wrath will come. “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:4-6). “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things” (2 Peter 3:14-16). This comment of Peter shows the purpose of the longsuffering of which Paul speaks–its purpose is to lead to salvation.

 

The phrase “fitted for destruction” does not mean that God made them so. It could not be said that God endured with much longsuffering any character or thing that he, by his own direct power, had made. All people and things that God made by his own direct power were exactly as he wanted them. Certainly it could not be said that he endured with much longsuffering people or things that were exactly as he wanted them to be. Hence, God did not make these characters fit for destruction; they made themselves so, and God had endured them with much longsuffering. His power would be manifested in their destruction.

Romans 9:23-24

Romans 9:23-24 : And that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. The Jewish nation had long been fitted for destruction. Besides their general corruption and their arrogant self-righteousness, they had murdered the Son of God. This was a national crime, a national murder. The authorities hunted down Christians, and thus became guilty of wholesale murder. Death was and is the pen-alty for murder; and the nation was soon to suffer that penalty.

God had endured them with much longsuffering, not for their sake, but “that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.” Though the Jewish nation had for many years been ripe for destruction, God endured them with much long-suffering–spared them–till the gospel could be preached to the Gentiles and churches established among them. Think what would have been the fate of the churches when Jerusalem and the Jewish nation were destroyed, if that awful event had occurred before there were churches outside Judea. The riches of God’s glory were the blessings of the gospel upon all, both of the Jews and of the Gentiles, who were called by the gospel into the service of God.

 

The Jews were upset because Paul, a Jew, was going among the Gentiles and preaching to them and teaching that God now put no difference between Jew and Gentile. Even in the churches there were Jews who contended that Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law–that is, they must become as Jews–or they could not be saved.

Romans 9:25-26

Romans 9:25-26 : As he saith also in Hosea, I will call that my people, which was not my people; And her beloved, that was not beloved. And it shall be, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, There shall they be called sons of the living God. Paul had shown that God dealt with men and nations according to their attitude toward him. He now quotes Hosea to show that it had been God’s purpose to call faithful Gentiles his people, though Gentiles had not been his chosen people–they had not been his beloved people. Those who had not been his people were to become sons of the living God. Paul was showing that these prophecies concerning the Gentiles were being fulfilled in the gospel of Christ. Paul then devotes considerable space to a discussion of the condition of Israel under the gospel.

Romans 9:27-28

Romans 9:27-28 : And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved: for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short. Jews boasted, “We are Abraham’s seed”; because of this they thought they had a right to all of God’s richest blessings. But they had not believed their own prophets. They should have learned from Isaiah that only a remnant–a small portion–of Israel would be saved. The rest would be lost. To that end his word had gone forth, and that word would be executed, “finishing it and cutting it short."(See Isaiah 10:22-23). Yet it was hard for a Jew to see himself as a sinner.

Romans 9:29

Romans 9:29 : And, as Isaiah hath said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We had become as Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrah. Because a few righteous people were not found in Sodom and Gomorrah, Jehovah utterly destroyed them. Even so the whole nation of Israel would have been destroyed in captivity had not there been some righteous people in the nation; these few righteous people in the nation were the seed mentioned in this quotation from Isaiah.

Romans 9:30

Romans 9:30 : What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. When a man is forgiven, when his sins are blotted out, he is righteous. Men attain to that righteousness when they through faith become obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. While the Gentiles did not seek righteousness according to the law, they became righteous by their obedience to the gospel. “But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye be-came servants of righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18).

Romans 9:31

Romans 9:31 : But Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Israel professed adherence to the law of Moses, but they did not keep that law. Instead, therefore, of being righteous, they were sinners–transgressors of the law they professed to follow.

Romans 9:32-33

Romans 9:32-33 : Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling; even as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense: and he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. The law could not make righteous the one who had transgressed it. The only hope, therefore, of the Jew, as well as of the Gentile, is to attain righteousness through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; but because he was not what they expected in the Messiah, the Jews rejected him–to them he was a stone of stumbling. “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block” (1 Corinthians 1:23). But those who did believe in Christ were not put to shame, as men are when they find that they have been deceived into following a false leader. “And blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me” (Matthew 11:6). Jesus fails no one who puts his trust in him; he is not slack concerning his promises.