Romans chapter 9

by Keith Simons. Free online Bible course and commentary from the Useful Bible Study Centre.

Paul's desperate prayer

(Romans 9:1-2)

Elsewhere, Paul urged Christians to be joyful at all times (Philippians 4:4). Here, however, he says that he is deeply sad in his heart; he feels like someone in constant pain. Clearly, we must examine Paul’s words carefully to understand his meaning.

Paul has just referred to a kind of deeply sad attitude, which is in fact a form of prayer (compare Romans 8:23 and 8:26). In this sense, Christ was deeply sad too (Isaiah 53:3); you can read a description of his prayers in Hebrews 5:7. God’s people have every reason to be joyful about what God is doing in their lives (Isaiah 55:12; Luke 15:7). However, at the same time, they are deeply sad about the troubles in our world; and that causes them to pray desperately (Psalm 13:1-2; Psalm 74:1-11).

Paul’s prayer here is completely unselfish (9:3). That fact helps us to recognise that Paul is not just expressing his personal desires and feelings to God. Rather, Paul is praying as God’s Holy Spirit has directed him to pray.

That prayer is for the Jewish people, in other words, the people who belong to Israel. Many of them were not serving God properly; a few of them were even actively opposing the first Christians.

Paul understood that there is a relationship between God’s plan for Israel, and his plans for people from every nation (11:11-12). Therefore, Paul’s subject is still, as in chapter 8, how God will complete his plans for his people (8:17-30).

The love that God gave Paul for the Jewish people

(Romans 9:3)

Paul’s prayers were not simply polite words that he spoke to God. Like Christ himself (Hebrews 5:7), Paul often expressed himself in a very desperate manner in front of God (2 Corinthians 11:28-29). In prayer, Paul would show God the true desires of his (Paul’s) heart (1:9-11).

Paul was born into a Jewish family (11:1). The Jewish people are the people who come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When Paul became a Christian, some of his Jewish friends decided to oppose him fiercely (2 Corinthians 11:24). Paul could have been bitter and angry, but instead God gave Paul the deepest love for them. Paul was ready to do anything if it would help them to know God better (1 Corinthians 9:19-20).

Paul was not trying to impress anyone; this was the sincere and true attitude of his heart. So of course Paul's love for the Jewish people expressed itself in his prayers. The way that Paul described this love in his prayers may give us a shock. However, it is very similar to the prayer that Moses prayed in Exodus 32:32.

Like Moses, Paul offered to God the most precious thing that he (Paul) possessed: his own relationship with God (Philippians 3:7-11). Paul would even accept the loss of that, if it would help the Jewish people to know God better.

Of course Paul knew that such a thing would never bring anyone into a right relationship with God. However, that prayer was the strongest way that he could possibly express his love for the Jewish people. Paul suffered much in his work for God. However, Paul would have willingly suffered much more, as this prayer shows.

God's relationship with Israel

(Romans 9:4)

God promised Abraham that a great nation would come from his family (Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:16-18). That nation is called Israel, or the Jewish people. However, their nation has hardly ever been great in the ways that people would normally recognise. It may not be especially great in its wealth or power. The area of land that God gave it is not particularly large.

The true greatness of Israel, therefore, exists only in its relationship with God. In the ancient world, every nation chose its own gods (which were all false gods). However, the real God chose Israel. He chose Israel in the same way that he chooses people from every nation to be Christians (8:23): he adopted Israel to be his son (Hosea 11:1).

As a son receives honour because of his father (compare Romans 8:17-19), so Israel shared the glory (honour and greatness) of God. His glory filled the tabernacle (tent) that stood in the middle of their camp in the desert (Exodus 40:34-35).

God’s covenant is his promises that establish a relationship between him and people. In Genesis 9:1-17, God made a covenant with Noah, which is for all the world’s people. However, his later covenants, with Abraham (Genesis 15:18), Isaac (Genesis 26:24) and Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15) were for Israel’s benefit.

At the time of Moses, God gave his law to Israel’s people, to show them his standards. God also provided a way by which they could worship (pray and give honour to) him at his temple (the house of God). He even made wonderful promises to them, if they would obey him (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).

Holy people in Jewish history

(Romans 9:5)

It may surprise us to realise that so many of the holy people in the Bible belonged to the same nation. It is very rare to find someone who is truly sincere, humble and holy (Ecclesiastes 7:27-29). However, our Bibles are full of accounts of such people in every part of Israel’s history. Such people even existed at times when the whole nation seemed to be against God (compare 1 Kings 19:10 and 19:18).

In many translations, Paul says that the ‘patriarchs’ belong to Israel. However, the word in the original language (Greek) is a more general word, which means the ‘fathers’. Paul could mean any of the great men who loyally served God in Israel’s history. The ‘patriarchs’ mean in particular Abraham (4:1), Isaac (9:10) and Jacob. It was from their family that the nation called Israel, or the Jewish people, came.

Jesus was also Jewish. So were Paul and all of the first Christians. However, Paul does not want to speak about himself here, but to give honour to Jesus. He refers to Jesus not by his name, but by his title of honour ‘the Christ’, which means simply ‘the king’. Here was the king whom God had long promised to Israel (Psalm 110). God himself had come to rescue his people (Malachi 3:1).

That is a wonderful reason to praise God. In some translations here, Paul declares that Christ is God; in others, he simply praises God. Both translations are correct, because Paul’s words can have either meaning. However, Paul and all the first Christians believed that Christ is God (John 1:1-4; John 1:14). He became a man, to die for us (8:3), but he has always been God (1:3-4; 8:9-10).

Each person must trust God for himself

(Romans 9:6)

Paul cared deeply about the Jewish people - the people who, like Paul himself, come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God had chosen them to be his holy nation, and he had made wonderful promises to them (for example, Genesis 22:15-18).

However, the reaction of the Jewish people to Christ was much like the reaction of any other group of people (John 1:10-12). Some of them accepted Christ, and some of them opposed him. However, most of them did neither of these things. They simply acted as if God’s message to them had no effect on their lives. They were behaving as if God’s promises to their nation had failed.

Paul explained that it is impossible for God’s word to fail. It always achieves God’s purpose (Isaiah 55:10-11). However, people can and do fail to receive the benefit of God’s promises. That happens whenever people do not come to God in faith (in other words, with active belief and trust in him) - Hebrews 11:6. Perhaps they refuse to believe God or his word. Perhaps they will not accept God’s kindness, but try to earn the benefit of his promises by their own efforts (4:1-8). Perhaps they will not come to God by his method, but only in their own way (9:32-33). When people do such things, God’s promise has no effect on their lives (compare Mark 4:15-20).

Nobody can depend on his family relations or the religion of his country to give him a right relationship with God. That is even true about the Jewish people, to whom God gave such wonderful promises. Each person needs to trust God for himself; each person must allow God to work in his life. Only then will they receive the benefit of God’s promises to them.

God chose Isaac's family to receive the benefit of his promises to Abraham

(Romans 9:7)

Here, Paul continues to teach his lesson about Abraham, which he began in Romans 4:1-22.

God had made promises to Abraham which were for the benefit of the future members of his family (Genesis 13:14-17). So it was clearly important, for the honour of God, that Abraham should have children. Otherwise, God’s promises would fail - however, it is not possible for God’s promises to fail (9:6).

Abraham cared deeply about the honour of God. However, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was unable to have children. Even in this situation, Abraham continued to believe in what God had said (Genesis 15:1-6).

As Abraham and Sarah became older, Sarah urged Abraham to accept her maid, Hagar, as his concubine (secondary wife). Hagar gave birth to Abraham’s first son, Ishmael. God made great and wonderful promises to Abraham about the future of Ishmael’s family. However, Ishmael was not the son that God had promised to Abraham (Genesis 17:19-21).

God’s promises were for the benefit of Abraham’s second son, Isaac (Genesis 21:12). Isaac was born to Sarah in extraordinary circumstances, when she was too old to have children. From Isaac’s family came the nation called Israel or the Jewish people. God chose Israel to be his special, holy nation. That was why he showed special kindness to them (9:4-5). God wanted the whole world to benefit from his kindness to them (Genesis 12:3; Romans 11:12-15).

Abraham also took another wife, Keturah, and by her he had 6 more sons (Genesis 25:1-2). Abraham provided for those sons, but he sent them to live abroad (Genesis 25:6). They could not have any share in the promises that God had given to him and to Isaac.

A lesson about how to become God's children

(Romans 9:8)

It would be easy to think that Paul has changed his subjects from those in chapter 8. However, as Paul explains his lesson about Abraham, he returns again to the same subjects. So, he writes not about the children of Abraham here, but the children of God as in Romans 8:15-17. Also, he writes again about the flesh (the soft parts of the body), which Paul uses as a word-picture for human nature and its weakness (8:12-13). In particular, we do wrong things when we allow our natural desires and feelings to control our lives.

The life of Abraham teaches us about these things in a very practical way. God had promised a son to Abraham, but his wife Sarah was unable to have children. They tried to work out a solution to their problem. There was a custom at the time for a man to take his wife’s maid as a second wife. Abraham did that, and Ishmael was born. He had found a natural answer to his desire to have a son. That solution did not depend upon trust in God; it depended on natural, human behaviour.

However, we remember Abraham mainly because of his trust in God, in other words, his faith. Even after Ishmael was born, Abraham believed God’s promise (4:18-22). So, although Sarah was much too old, she gave birth to Isaac. He, and not Ishmael, was the son whom God had promised to Abraham.

So the lesson is that, in order to become children of God, we cannot simply behave in a natural, human way. We cannot simply allow our natural desires and feelings to control our lives. Instead, we must trust God, and we must believe his word. We must allow him to direct our lives by his Holy Spirit. People do not become the children of God by any act of human effort, but by the power of God’s Spirit (John 1:12-13).

God's people have their relationship with him because of his promises

(Romans 9:9)

The Jewish people are different from other nations because they exist only as the result of God’s promise to Abraham. The Jewish people are the people who come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham was the father of Isaac and the grandfather of Jacob - in Romans 9:6-13, Paul explains the history of this family. Here, Paul refers to the promise in Genesis 18:10 and to the birth of Isaac.

Paul has already discussed this part of Abraham’s life (4:16-22). In chapter 4, his subject was Abraham’s belief (or faith) in God’s promises; here, the subject is the promise itself. Our reaction to God’s promises can either be faith, or the opposite, which is unbelief (11:20). Faith comes from God (10:17), but unbelief comes from our own wrong attitudes (Hebrews 3:12-19; 1 Corinthians 10:1-10). Unbelief is when we refuse to believe God’s promises; with such wrong attitudes, we must not expect to receive anything from God (James 1:6-8).

God’s people should learn from this history that they must live by faith in the promises of God. God gives those promises so that they will not depend on themselves - on their feelings, their efforts or their successes. Instead, they must depend on God himself. It is only God who can carry out his promises to them.

Verse 8 calls God’s people: ‘the children of the promise’. In other words, their relationship with God exists because of God’s promise (John 1:12-13). In the life of Abraham, both Ishmael and Isaac were his sons - but only Isaac was born as a result of God’s promise. Therefore the Jewish people, God’s special people, came from the family of Isaac and not Ishmael.

God does not make his decisions by natural, human reasons

(Romans 9:10)

Paul is teaching that God’s decisions are very different from people’s decisions. When people choose someone for a special purpose, they consider that person’s importance, his character and his strength. They are trying to choose the person who can succeed by his own efforts.

On the other hand, the matters that God considers are very different. The Jewish people are God’s special people who come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We may ask how God chose Isaac and Jacob. It was the usual custom at that time for the first son in the family to receive special honour. However, Isaac was Abraham’s second son, and Jacob was Isaac’s second son.

Paul has just explained why God chose Isaac. It was because of God’s promise to Abraham. We might think, however, that there was a natural reason to choose Isaac. Isaac’s mother was Sarah, a free woman - but the mother of Ishmael, Abraham’s first son, was a slave. However, God does not make his decisions by natural, human reasons. He is not trying to find the person who will succeed by his (that person’s) own human efforts. Instead, God chooses the person who will allow God to work in and through him.

To prove this, Paul reminds us that there was no natural, human reason to choose Jacob instead of his older brother, Esau. They were both born to the same mother; in fact, they were twins (two babies born at the same time). However, even before they were born, God chose Jacob and not Esau (Genesis 25:21-23). God’s special nation, called Israel or the Jewish people, came not from Esau’s family, but from Jacob’s family.

God often chooses those whom other people would not choose

(Romans 9:11-12)

God made promises to Abraham which were for the benefit of his family in future centuries (Genesis 15:13-21). The benefit of those promises passed to his son, Isaac (Genesis 26:24) and then to Isaac’s younger son, Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15). After that, they passed to Jacob’s 12 sons, whose families became the nation called Israel or the Jewish people.

We are studying why God chose Jacob, rather than his older brother, Esau. The usual custom at that time was that the older brother would become the head of the family. Even Isaac wanted to give the benefit of those promises to Esau (Genesis chapter 27). However, God had already chosen Jacob (Genesis 25:23).

Paul has taught us that we cannot gain the benefit of God’s kindness by our own efforts (4:1-8). Now, Paul teaches that same lesson again from the life of Jacob. God did not choose Jacob because of something good that Jacob had done. In fact, God chose Jacob, and not his brother Esau, before either of them were born. In verse 12, Paul repeats the words that God spoke in Genesis 25:23.

So, we ask why God did that. Paul’s answer is that God was carrying out his plan. God chose Jacob for his (God’s) own honour. God can use all different kinds of people to do his work. It is very wonderful when a truly great person uses his many skills to do God’s work. However, if God chose only the most impressive and powerful people, that would bring little honour to God. So, God often chooses those people whom other people would not choose (1 Corinthians 1:26-29). Such people know that, by their own efforts, they can achieve little in life. Therefore, they gladly give honour to God for what he does in their lives. Their humble attitudes make it possible for God to work powerfully through them (Luke 1:50-52).

'I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau'

(Romans 9:13)

In verse 12, Paul refers to the first words that God spoke about Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:23). In Romans 9:13, he repeats some of the last words about them in the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible). These words appear in Malachi 1:2-3.

God gave that message to Malachi more than 1000 years after both Jacob and Esau had died. Therefore, these words are not really about Jacob and Esau themselves, but about the nations that came from their families. The nation that came from Esau’s family was called the Edomites.

By that time, the true character of the Edomites had become very clear. They became very evil. In fact, they were glad when Jerusalem’s people suffered (Psalm 137:7; Obadiah 10-14). Because of their great cruelty, God had declared his judgement against them. In the passage in Malachi, God declared that he would hand over their land to the wild dogs. God was right to hate those people who had given themselves over to such wicked behaviour.

It is not so easy, however, for us to speak about Israel’s people, who came from Jacob’s family. God had shown great love to them (9:4-5). However, only a part of them were truly loyal to God (11:5-8); and that remains true even today.

However, we have not yet seen God’s final plan for Israel’s people; and that plan is very wonderful (11:25-29). At that time, we shall see that God was right to choose Israel as his special people. Of course that is so: all God’s judgements are right.

Could God act wrongly?

(Romans 9:14)

Here, Paul asks whether God could have acted wrongly. Of course such a thing could never happen. Paul has asked the question only to emphasise its answer. God is perfect in all that he does (Deuteronomy 32:4). As the judge of all people, everything that he does is right and proper (Genesis 18:25). His judgements are never wrong (3:4).

People’s decisions seem so weak when we try to compare them with God’s judgements. Often, people make the wrong decisions because of their selfish and evil attitudes (3:9-18). However, even the best decisions of the most sincere people cannot compare with the wisdom of God (Job 40:1-14; Isaiah 40:12-28).

That is because God has placed limits on people’s knowledge and wisdom. No person can know everything, no person has perfect wisdom. If people did have perfect knowledge, then they would always know the truth. If people had perfect wisdom, then they could always make the best decisions.

It is astonishing, therefore, when people protest against God’s judgements (9:19-20). They dare to speak as if their wisdom and knowledge are greater than God’s wisdom and knowledge.

God sees what we cannot see (Psalm 139:1-6). He has perfect knowledge even of what will happen in the future (Isaiah 48:3-7).

Paul has been explaining how God chose Jacob’s family, rather than Esau’s family, to be his special people. Even if that decision seems wrong to us at the present time, it cannot in reality be wrong. All God’s judgements are perfect. God’s plan for the future will prove his decision to be right, proper and good.

To whom does God show special kindness?

(Romans 9:15)

We cannot earn God’s kindness - not even by our best efforts (4:1-8). So we certainly cannot force him to show kindness to us. It is foolish and evil to imagine that we could demand his support. That is a very proud way to behave, and God will not accept it (compare 1 Samuel 15:17-23 and Micah 6:7-8).

Instead, God chooses those people to whom he will show special kindness (8:28-30). He works powerfully in their lives. He does not just want to help them with their present difficulties. Rather, he has chosen to adopt them as his own children (John 1:12-13). They will live with him always in heaven and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:3-7).

This subject astonished Paul. God had worked powerfully in Paul's life at a time when Paul was an enemy of the first Christians (1 Corinthians 15:9-10; Galatians 1:13-16; 1 Timothy 1:12-16). Paul saw that he did not deserve God’s great kindness to him - but Paul was very grateful to God for that kindness.

Paul’s words in Romans 9:15 come from Exodus 33:19. That verse is part of a very sacred Bible passage, Exodus 33:12 to 34:14, where God permits Moses to see him. In that passage, God describes to Moses his (God’s) true character (Exodus 34:6-7). God is kind and patient, and his love is great. Although, as our judge, he must punish guilty people, his character and his strongest desires are to forgive people. He can forgive every kind of evil deed; but people must turn from their evil behaviour and invite him into their lives (Ezekiel 18:27-32). Those people who do that, will receive a right relationship with God. It is God who made that possible. Long ago - even before God created the world - he chose those people to be his people (Ephesians 1:4-5).

God wants to help us, but we cannot control him

(Romans 9:16)

People like to think that they are in control of their own lives. By their actions, or by their own desires, they hope to achieve whatever they want.

Some people show those same attitudes even during prayer; and that is very wrong. We must never imagine that we can control God. We certainly cannot force him to do what we want.

However, God does very much want to help us. He is eager to forgive us, although we may have done many wrong and evil things (Ezekiel 18:31-32). It is his nature to show kindness (Exodus 34:6-7). It is his desire to save (rescue) even his enemies. That is why Christ died: to take upon himself the punishment for our evil deeds (Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 5:6-10).

God offers his kindness to us as a free gift (Isaiah 55:1-7; Matthew 11:28-30). Therefore, it is impossible for us to earn God’s kindness by our own efforts (4:4-6). He offers to forgive us, although as sinners (people who do wrong things) we do not deserve it (3:23; 6:23). He offers us a right relationship with him, although we were his enemies (5:6-10). He offers us a life without end, although we deserve only death because of our evil deeds (6:23). We can earn none of these good things; but we can receive them all as a free gift, because of Christ’s death.

In Luke 18:9-14, two men went to pray. However, only one man was ready to ask God humbly to change his life. In John 1:10-13, Christ came to the world that he made. However, only some of the people were willing to invite him into their lives. When we pray to God, we must allow him to work in our lives. God does not answer our prayers because of our strong desires, our hard effort or our good works. He does it because of his great kindness.

God can use even our wrong attitudes for his honour

(Romans 9:17)

This Pharaoh was the king of Egypt at the time of Moses, and he was a very wicked man. At that time God’s people, called the Israelites, lived as slaves in Egypt. However, it was God’s plan to make them free, and to bring them to the country that he had promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-21).

So, God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, to ask him to free the Israelites. However, Pharaoh did not want to obey God’s message to him, so he refused. Then God permitted a series of judgements to begin against Egypt, to urge Pharaoh to change his mind. However, Pharaoh would not change his mind.

The Bible calls the kind of attitudes that Pharaoh had: ‘a hard heart’. In Exodus 8:15 and 8:32, we read that Pharaoh made his own heart hard. In Exodus 9:12, however, God made Pharaoh’s heart hard. In other words, Pharaoh’s wrong attitudes had become so bad that God allowed those attitudes to take control of Pharaoh’s life.

Paul repeats from Exodus 9:16 the words that God used to explain his decision against Pharaoh. Of course God could have ended Pharaoh’s rule, or permitted him to die, at once. However, God knew that it would bring greater honour to him (to God) to act differently on this occasion. He would let Pharaoh continue in his own wrong attitudes, so that the judgements against Egypt would also continue. Then people everywhere would hear about the power of the true and living God. They would hear how he acted against that great and powerful country and its false gods. So, they would learn to respect the only real God, who made both heaven and earth. God would use Pharaoh’s wrong attitudes to help people in many different countries to know him (God).

God's mercy and people's hard hearts

(Romans 9:18)

‘To have mercy’ means to show kindness towards someone, and therefore to help that person. In the Bible, it refers especially to God’s kindness when he forgives someone. That person had offended against God’s law, and he deserved only God’s judgement against him. However, God, in his great love, sent Christ to suffer the punishment for that person’s evil deeds (5:6-10). In addition, God has placed his Spirit in that person’s life (8:9); and he is adopting that person as his child (8:14-19). That person will always live with God, in heaven and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-7).

God does all this for a person because, in his great kindness, he desires to do it. He wants to save (rescue) even wicked people (Ezekiel 18:27-32). However, God cannot save a person who refuses to repent. To ‘repent’ means to turn from evil deeds and to invite God into your life.

The Bible calls the attitude of someone who is completely unwilling to obey God: ‘a hard heart’. Usually, a person makes their own heart hard, by their evil thoughts. However, sometimes God allows such attitudes to take control of a person’s life, as an act of judgement. It is as if that person has become a slave to their own wrong attitudes. Unless God shows great mercy to that person, the person will be completely unable to turn to God.

God’s plan in this world is to save his people, to defeat every evil power, and to establish his rule. It is very sad that, in their efforts to oppose God or his people, some people become completely wicked. However, their evil schemes cannot defeat God. He can even bring about good things from such circumstances (8:28). That was what happened to Pharaoh (9:17). God permitted Pharaoh’s heart to become hard so that God could show his power.

Paul's reply to someone who complains about God's judgements

(Romans 9:19-20)

Here, Paul discusses a conversation with a man who was arguing with him. There are similar passages in chapters 2 and 3. In each place, the man is complaining about God’s judgements.

In this passage, the man argues that nobody could oppose God’s decision about him. Therefore, the man says that God is behaving wrongly. In the man’s opinion, God is causing people to suffer punishment for a decision that God himself has made.

The man has accused God of very evil behaviour, so Paul answers severely. Paul uses words from the Bible, but not from a single passage. Instead, in his answer he seems to refer to a few different passages in the Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. He reminds the man that God made all people. Therefore, it is very wrong when people oppose God. When they do that, God is right to make his judgement against them.

These are the passages that Paul is referring to:

(1) Firstly, Paul refers to Isaiah 29:15-16. That passage is about people who only pretend to obey God. In their hearts (minds), they make plans against him. However, God, as their maker, knows their secret thoughts (Psalm 139:4). His judgement is rightly against them.

(2) Isaiah 45:9 describes how God would use a foreign king, Cyrus, to carry out his (God’s) plan (Isaiah 45:1-13). Cyrus would do this although he did not know the real God (Isaiah 45:4-5). In fact, God carries out his plans even through the lives of people who oppose him (8:28; 9:17-18).

(3) In Jeremiah 18:1-10, God told Jeremiah to watch a man who was making pots. The man shaped and reshaped his pots in the same way that God works in people’s lives. God explained the lesson to Jeremiah. When God decides to punish people he often gives those people an opportunity to turn back to him first. If they do that, he will forgive them. However, if they suffer that punishment, they should not blame God. He acted rightly but they were evil.

God acts for his own honour, even in the lives of evil people

(Romans 9:21)

We do not consider it strange that a person makes different kinds of pots from the same material. He needs pots in which to store beautiful things - but he also needs pots to carry unclean substances away. He designs each pot for its proper purpose.

There does not need to be evil people in the world - there will be none in the future world (Revelation 22:14-15). However, they are here now, and God must decide what to do with them.

He could decide to carry out his judgement against them all immediately. However, he has chosen not to, because his patience is great. 2 Peter 3:9 explains the reason for that patience. God is giving people the opportunity to turn to him. There are not just a few evil people in the world. We all are guilty of many wrong and evil things (3:23). However, if we turn from our evil deeds to invite Christ into our lives, God will forgive us.

However, some people become so evil that they are completely unwilling to let God change their lives. They ruin their own lives, but they cannot destroy God’s plan to save (rescue) his people (8:35-39). Instead, God can work through the life of an evil person to carry out his (God's) own plans (8:28). So, our wrong deeds bring God’s judgement against ourselves - but they give God an opportunity to act for his own honour (3:5-7). Because Pharaoh opposed God’s people so cruelly, that gave God the opportunity to rescue them in great power (9:17). God carries out his work in the lives of both good and evil people - but always, he acts to save his people, and to bring honour to himself.

God's patience with the people who oppose his plans

(Romans 9:22-23)

In Romans 9:14-24, Paul is teaching the same lesson that he taught in Romans 8:28. The lesson is that God is working in this world, to save (rescue) his people, and to bring all things under his rule. Some people, including many powerful people, oppose him; but they cannot defeat his plan. The weakness of their efforts only shows more clearly the greatness of God’s power (Psalm 2). The result is that God receives honour (9:17).

In this passage, Paul is teaching that lesson from events in the life of Moses. Pharaoh tried to prevent God’s plan to free God’s people from Egypt. However, God was working in that situation; he even told Pharaoh what he (God) was doing (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:17).

When Pharaoh refused to obey God, God used that wrong attitude to show his power more clearly. He did not cause Pharaoh to die at once, but dealt with him in a patient manner (9:22). He caused Pharaoh’s heart to become hard (Exodus 10:1) - in other words, God permitted Pharaoh’s wrong attitudes to control his life. Pharaoh became unwilling to change his mind as God showed his power.

God’s purpose then was to free his people, who were slaves in Egypt. Now, God’s purpose is to bring his people into their full rights as children of God (8:18-23). When that happens fully, that will free the whole world from its present state of pain and trouble (8:21). To bring that about, God is working in our world - even in the lives of people who oppose his plans.

People from other nations benefit from God's kindness to the Jews

(Romans 9:24)

When God rescues his people, some people from other nations have always benefited. God’s special people are the Jews (also called the Israelites) (9:3-5), but God wants to help the people from every nation (Genesis 12:3). So when people from other nations join with the Jews, those people benefit from God’s kindness to the Jews (see Romans 11:17).

For example, when Israel’s people left Egypt, many people from other nations left with them (Exodus 12:38). Those people received their freedom because God had freed the Jews. Several centuries later, when David established peace in Israel, many of his most loyal soldiers came from other nations (2 Samuel 15:18-22, also, the soldiers called Ammonites, Hittites and Moabites in 1 Chronicles 11:39-46).

In the same way, God sent Jesus to Israel’s people - but people from other nations benefited too (Mark 7:24-30). All the first Christians were Jews - but soon Gentiles (people from other nations) started to become Christians too (Acts chapter 10; Acts 15:1-29). Paul was ‘the apostle (a church leader whom God sent) to the Gentiles’ (11:13) - but in every place, he began his work among the Jews (Acts 13:42-48; Romans 1:16).

God unites his people, both Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:11-16). When Gentiles trust in Christ, they join God’s holy nation - they even become his royal priests (1 Peter 2:9), with the right to have the closest possible relationship with God (Hebrews 10:19-22).

God's love for the nation that lost his love

(Romans 9:25)

Paul has been teaching us lessons from Israel’s history. First, from the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he taught us how God chose that nation to be his special people (9:6-13). Then, from the life of Moses, he showed how God saved them. God rescued his people when they were slaves in Egypt (9:14-24)

Now Paul discusses a time, centuries later, when few of Israel’s people were loyal to God. In fact, several of their kings hated the true God so much that they tried to destroy his religion. By their evil behaviour, those kings brought about the ruin of their country - but they could not destroy God’s plans for his people.

From that period of history, Paul selects two passages from Hosea, and two from Isaiah, that show God’s plan for Israel.

This first passage comes from Hosea 2:23. That chapter uses the wrong behaviour of Hosea’s wife as a word-picture for Israel’s wrong behaviour. She had not been loyal to Hosea, her husband, even as Israel’s people had not been loyal to God (Hosea 2:2-5). So, God would punish Israel (Hosea 2:9-13). However, his intention was not to destroy Israel, but to bring Israel back into a right relationship with him.

So, God declared that he would again, in the future, show his love to Israel (Hosea 2:14-20). This nation, that had lost his love, would know his love again. Israel’s people had chosen not to live as the people of God. However, in the future, Israel’s people would return to God (Hosea 3:5). Then, they would be truly the people of God (Hosea 2:23), God’s special people.

God brings his people back to himself

(Romans 9:26)

Paul repeats the words of Hosea 1:10. God is able to bring people back into a right relationship with him. That act shows God’s honour, his kindness and his greatness in a very special way. He is working in the lives of people who very clearly do not deserve his love. He forgives people who are guilty of many evil deeds (Exodus 34:6-7).

Christ spoke much about how God brings people back to himself (for example, Luke chapter 15). However, Hosea’s subject is not just a few people, but a whole nation (Hosea 1:10-11). Hosea shows how God will bring Israel’s people back to himself. Paul will return to that subject in Romans 11:11-32.

Hosea’s difficult personal circumstances help us to understand the message that he brought from God. Hosea’s wife was not loyal to him, and she had children from a relationship with another man. God told Hosea to give her children unusual names. Those names described God’s relationship with Israel, which had also not been loyal to him (to God).

So Hosea called his wife’s second son Lo-Ammi, which means ‘not my people’. As that child was not Hosea’s son, so Israel’s people could no longer consider themselves the people of God (9:6). However, it was God’s honour to bring them back to himself.

God’s love astonishes us as we read his promises to Israel in Hosea 1:10-11. God repeats his promise in Genesis 22:17, to show that he will carry out his former promises to them. Then (as in Jeremiah 31:31-37 or Zechariah 14:9-21) God promises them a better future than anything that they have known in the past.

The people in Israel who are loyal to God

(Romans 9:27-28)

Isaiah chapter 10 is an exciting chapter to read. It describes a fierce attack against Israel by the powerful army of Assyria. They have defeated the northern part of Israel; now they enter the southern part, called Judah. They confidently expect to destroy Jerusalem. However, God himself will soon act in anger against them, because of their great pride.

In the middle of this chapter (Isaiah 10:22-23) appear the words that Paul repeats. Israel may be such a vast nation that it cannot count its people. However, God does not act on their behalf because of their great numbers (compare 1 Samuel 14:6). Rather, God acts on behalf of the people in the nation who remain loyal to him. They may be very few, but God cares very much about them. He would save a whole city if just a few good people remain there (Genesis 18:23-32). God may permit a terrible judgement against a city or nation - but even in such situations, he defends his loyal people.

Paul repeated these words long after the nation called Assyria had disappeared. He wanted to show a principle by which God acts on behalf of his people, called Israel or the Jewish people. God is making them into a nation where all the people are loyal to him (11:26). That will happen at the time of Christ’s return, when the whole world will begin to serve God (Zechariah 14:9).

At the present time, all of Israel’s people are not loyal to God. However, some people are loyal to God and because of them, God protects the Jewish people. They are the beginning of God’s work among the Jewish people (Romans 11:16; Revelation 7:1-8; Revelation 14:1-5). Because of their sincere belief and trust in God, God will one day act to save (rescue) their whole nation.

Why Israel did not become like Sodom

(Romans 9:29)

Sodom and Gomorrah were two towns that became especially wicked at the time of Abraham. In fact, they were so bad that God made an immediate judgement against them. Burning chemicals poured like rain upon the towns, and killed everyone in them. The only people who escaped were a good man called Lot, his wife and two daughters. However, Lot’s wife died as she looked back at Sodom (Genesis 19:1-29).

Centuries later, Isaiah saw that many people in his own country, Israel, had also become very wicked (Isaiah 1:21-23). They had no more right to expect any help from God than Sodom and Gomorrah did. It was only by God’s kindness that their nation and their families continued to exist. God had shown that kindness to Israel because of those people who had remained loyal to God. However, it was also an act of God’s kindness that such people were in their nation. In his kindness, God had made it possible for those people to know him and to trust him.

In Romans 9:29, Paul repeats Isaiah 1:9, but not to warn about God’s judgement. Rather, Paul’s purpose is to show the place of Israel in God’s plan. In particular, Paul wants to emphasise God’s plan for those people from Israel who are loyal to God. They may not be many people, but from them God can and will make Israel into a truly great nation. That is, a nation where the people love and obey God with their whole hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-36; Mark 12:28-34; Romans 11:23-27).

We can only receive a right relationship with God by faith

(Romans 9:30-31)

Paul is eager to tell us God’s plan for the future of Israel and the nations (11:11-16; 11:25-32). However, first he must describe the present situation. It is very strange. Israel’s people had received God’s perfect law, but they are still not perfect. However, many people from other nations, who did not know or care about God’s law, have received a right relationship with God.

Paul does not of course mean that none of Israel’s people have a right relationship with God. He himself belonged to Israel (11:1). Nor does he mean that all of Israel’s people cannot ever have a right relationship with God. In fact, in the future, God will save (rescue) the whole of Israel (11:25-26).

The people from different nations who have a right relationship with God, are the Christians. Before they became Christians, many of them did not know God’s law. Some of them were trying to live in a right and proper manner (2:14-15); and some were not (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). However, their right relationship with God did not come from any efforts to obey God’s law (3:27-30). They received it by faith (trust in God) because of Christ’s death (5:6-10).

That is the only way that anyone can receive a right relationship with God. Some of Israel’s people tried to please God by their efforts to obey his law, but they were not truly trusting God. Paul himself was in that situation before he became a Christian. Then Christ himself met with Paul (Acts 9:1-6) and everything in Paul’s life changed. Paul did not still depend on his own efforts to please God. Instead, he learned to depend on God by faith. Without faith (trust in God), it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

Why we cannot gain a right relationship with God by our own efforts

(Romans 9:32)

Some people want God to approve of their actions. They are proud of their good works. They think that God should be grateful to them for those good deeds. For them, faith (trust in God) may seem a strange idea.

They are not trusting in God, but in their own efforts. They imagine that, by those efforts, they can earn a right relationship with God.

In the Book of Romans, Paul argues strongly against this idea. We must not complain about other people’s evil deeds, as if we are completely innocent (2:1-5). All people have done wrong and evil things that are against God’s law (3:9-20). We cannot earn a right relationship with God; we must depend on God’s kindness (4:1-8). God showed that kindness when Christ died for us (5:6-8). So, we need to believe and trust in Christ - and that is faith.

Christ described himself as the true and living way to God the Father (John 14:6). It is by means of faith (trust) in him that we can know God. We may ask why anyone would ever want to try to find another way. The answer is that, often, people are not ready to accept God’s rule over their lives. Perhaps they will accept some kind of religion if they can choose the nature of that religion. Perhaps they are willing to obey God’s law, but not to love God truly (see Mark 12:29-31). People are desperate to have some kind of control over their own lives.

Paul compares them to people who trip over a rock. The rock is strong; if people depend on it (for example, as the base of their houses), it would make their lives stronger and better (Matthew 7:24-25). So, the Bible compares God to a strong rock (Psalm 62:1-2). However, if we will not trust him, we will only hurt ourselves.

We must trust Christ

(Romans 9:33)

For a builder, the rock is valuable. It can provide the strong base on which his building can stand. He can depend upon the rock; but he certainly could not depend upon sand as the base of his building (Matthew 7:24-27). For that reason, the Bible often compares God to a rock (for example, Psalm 18:2). God provides the strength and security that his people need for their lives. They can depend on him; in other words, they should trust him.

However, a builder cannot benefit from the strength of the rock if he refuses to depend upon it. In fact, the rock’s strength can then be a cause of pain and trouble to him. It is so easy to fall upon the rock, especially in bad weather. That is what Isaiah 8:14 describes. People who refuse to trust in God are in great danger, especially during severe troubles.

In the same way, a strong, large stone gives strength to a building. The builders of Jerusalem used magnificent stones (Mark 13:1). In 1 Peter 2:4-8, Peter compares Christ to such a stone. Like Peter, Paul here repeats some words from Isaiah 28:16.

Many people refuse to trust Christ (Psalm 118:22; John 1:10-11); they consider him only to be a cause of trouble. However, God has chosen to give Christ the place of greatest honour (Psalm 110:1; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:2-4). Therefore, all people should trust Christ. He offers to help them in their troubles (Psalm 91:15) and to give them strength in their weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). God will not disappoint the person who trusts Christ.

Links: Romans verse-by-verse index - Homepage - Buy our books