Romans · chapter 9 of 16
Updated on
Romans 9 begins with Paul's sorrow for his own people, Israel, who had every privilege but for the most part did not receive Christ. Paul maintains that God's word has not failed, because not all who descend from Israel are the true Israel, and that God acts by his sovereign choice and mercy. The chapter closes with Israel's stumbling, because they pursued righteousness by works, and with the Gentiles, who attained it by faith.
Romans 8 ended with the assurance that nothing can separate believers from the love of God. That raises a question: can God's promises be trusted if Israel, the people to whom he gave them, has for the most part rejected Jesus? Chapters 9 to 11 answer that question, and chapter 9 is one of the most difficult and most debated texts in the letter.
Paul declares, with an oath in Christ, that he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart for his brothers, so much that he could wish himself accursed and cut off from Christ for their sake. To the Israelites belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, the promises and the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.
Although most of Israel did not believe, God's word has not failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. The children of the promise are counted as offspring: God chose Isaac and not Ishmael, and before Jacob and Esau were born or had done anything good or bad, he said that the older would serve the younger, so that God's purpose of election might stand, not because of works but because of him who calls.
Paul asks whether there is injustice on God's part and answers no. God has mercy on whom he has mercy, and hardens whom he wills, as in the case of Pharaoh. To the objection of why God still finds fault, Paul recalls that the potter has the right over the clay. God endured with patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction and made known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, whom he has called not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles, as Hosea and Isaiah announced, and only a remnant of Israel will be saved.
Paul concludes that the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained it by faith, while Israel, who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness, did not reach it, because they did not pursue it by faith but as if it were based on works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, but whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Paul says he could wish to be cut off from Christ for the sake of his fellow Israelites. He is not asking for that to happen, but it shows how deeply he suffers for his people, and his pastoral grief keeps us from reading the chapter as cold theory.
God's word has not failed, because not all who descend from Israel truly belong to Israel. From the beginning, God's promise was fulfilled in offspring chosen by his calling, not by lineage alone.
Salvation depends not on human will or exertion but on God, who has mercy. Paul places the final cause of salvation in God's mercy and leaves no room for human boasting.
Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah: God lays in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Christ is that stone: a stumbling block to those who trust in their works, and a sure foundation to those who believe.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart for his fellow Israelites. — Romans 9:1-3
Answer: The adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, the promises and the patriarchs, and from them came the Christ according to the flesh. — Romans 9:4-5
Answer: Because not all who descend from Israel are truly Israel. — Romans 9:6
Answer: Jacob, for he said that the older would serve the younger. — Romans 9:10-13
Answer: That of the potter, who has the right over the clay. — Romans 9:20-21
Answer: Because they pursued it by works and not by faith, and stumbled over the stumbling stone. — Romans 9:31-33
Romans 9 asks to be read with humility and with a pastor's heart. Paul does not speak of election coldly but with tears. In a class it can help to remember that the doctrine of God's sovereign mercy should lead us to worship and to pray for those who do not yet believe, not to pride or indifference.
It also makes us ask how much confidence we place in our religious effort. Israel had enormous privileges and stumbled by seeking righteousness through works. We, who have received so much, need to return every day to the stone who is Christ and trust in him.
Romans 9 shows that God is sovereign and faithful and that salvation depends on his mercy. But Paul does not set human responsibility aside: in Romans 10 he explains that Israel stumbled by not believing and that salvation is within reach of everyone who calls on the Lord.
Paul quotes Malachi, where love and hate are used in the language of election and covenant: it means that God chose Jacob for the line of promise and not Esau. Christians debate whether the passage speaks of the individuals or of the nations descended from them, but agree that it does not teach an arbitrary hatred toward a person.
The book of Exodus says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart and also that God hardened it. Paul uses this to show that God is sovereign even in judgment and that this judgment served to make his power and name known. Some stress the justice of that hardening after Pharaoh's persistent rebellion.
No. Paul holds two truths that are not always fully explained: God is sovereign in election, and people are responsible to believe. The same chapter says Israel stumbled by not seeking righteousness by faith, and chapter 10 insists that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.