WHAT I SAY IS TRUE. Paul implied in Romans 3:3 that God would reject the Jewish Nation because they disbelieved Christ. Some Jews then said: "If this is true, then God has broken his own promise and repudiated his own chosen people." To answer this, Paul shows: (1) the promise was not to all of the... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW GREAT IS MY SORROW! Because many of his nation were without the blessing of Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEIR SAKE. What he says is that he would be willing to be under God's curse himself and lost ETERNALLY, if it would help to bring his nation to Christ!!! This shows how much he loved his Jewish race!... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE. In Romans 9:4-5, Paul speaks about the honor which God gave Israel. "Israel" means "a Prince with God." _He made them his sons._ (Deuteronomy 7:6). This is not Christian sonship, but the sonship mentioned in Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1 in which every Israelite was a son (Ho... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE PATRIARCHS. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The sons of such fathers were forfeiting everything for which their ancestors had been chosen! AND CHRIST. As a human being, Jesus belonged to their race, the tribe of Judah, a descendant of David the king. MAY GOD. [The best Greek texts make this refe... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM NOT SAYING. The Jew might say: "If Israel had such honor from God, why is the nation rejected? If Jesus really is the Messiah, has God canceled his promises?" Paul uses the rest of this chapter to answer this. BECAUSE NOT ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. God's promise will not fail, even if the Jewish... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER ARE ALL ABRAHAM'S DESCENDANTS. Ishmael and others were Abraham's children (1 Chronicles 1:28; 1 Chronicles 1:32). THE DESCENDANTS OF ISAAC. The promise did not come through the children of Ishmael or the sons of Keturah.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MEANS. This illustrates the contrast between the natural family-line of race, and the spiritual family-line of_ faith._ This destroys the claim of the Jews: "Abraham is our ancestor" (Matthew 3:9_ and note)._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD'S PROMISE. This promise made the birth of Isaac _supernormal._ Isaac is called: "his only son" (Hebrews 11:17); even though Abraham had other sons; because Isaac was the son of promise. Only the children by God's promise are the "chosen people." Christians are children by God's promise (Gala... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS IS NOT ALL. The Jew might say: "Ishmael was illegitimate and had no rights. We are legitimate descendants of the patriarch and have Chosen People' status." Paul now shows that God has the right to reject any nation, including the Jews, and to choose other people, if it suits his purpose. IS... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IN ORDER THAT. The only possible basis of choice would seem to be on the "priority of birth," yet God ignored this to choose Jacob. It may be said that God chose between them because of what they would do (see note on Romans 8:29). Yet Paul uses this to show that God's choice was not based on ei... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE SCRIPTURE SAYS. [Malachi 1:2 Septuagint.] _The Expositor's Greek Testament_ says: "Yet it would not be right to say that Paul is here considering merely the parts assigned by God to nations in the drama of providence; He is obviously thinking of Jacob and Esau as individuals, whose own relati... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT GOD IS UNJUST? God treats all men on the same basis (Acts 10:34-35). The Jew would say that God was being unjust, if he did not choose on the basis of family-line or actions. Paul shows now that the Jewish Scriptures [the Old Testament] declare God's right to do this. NOT AT ALL. It is not poss... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SAID TO MOSES. [Exodus 33:19 Septuagint.] He said this in answer to Moses' prayer. The point is that in _having mercy,_ God is influenced by nothing outside of _his mercy_ itself.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEN. This repeats the reasoning of Romans 9:11-13. Esau was Isaac's favorite son and the one firstborn, Esau acted to receive his _birthright._ Yet God was influenced by none of this, and blessed Jacob.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SCRIPTURE SAYS TO PHARAOH. It does not say Pharaoh was _born_ for this purpose, but that he was made king. [Compare Christ's choice of Judas (John 6:64; John 6:70-71; 2 Timothy 2:19-21).]... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD HAS MERCY ON WHOM HE WISHES. God's mercy and wrath are not influenced by human claims. The "making stubborn" of Pharaoh is explained by 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12_. Godet_ says that Paul is not writing theology here, but answering the proud claims of Jewish _pharisaism,_ showing that no human can p... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF YOU, THEN. "If the character of Moses and Pharaoh are ENTIRELY the result of God's will, doesn't the difference between them disappear? Doesn't this make men the helpless tools of God? How can he find fault with them?" Paul does not answer this objection, but says in effect: "Even if that is... [ Continue Reading ]
TO TALK BACK TO GOD? He has the right to decree the terms of his own mercy.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER ALL. Not the quality of the clay, but the will of the man who makes the pots, decides what use will be made of each part of the lump. _The Expositor's Greek Testament_ says: "True, the objector might say, but irrelevant. For man is not clay, and the relation of God to man is not that of the po... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WANTED TO SHOW. "God's will in relation to man is difficult to understand, but if his actual treatment of them is "patient in enduring," what can you say against that?" [Destroyed = condemned to hell.] God's long history of patience with the Jewish Nation is probably in Paul's mind at this point.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WANTED ALSO TO REVEAL. This completes the thought in Romans 9:22. God: (1) shows his wrath and power; (2) reveals his rich glory. But in both of these, God acts in such a way that not only can man _not complain,_ but must stand in _amazement_ and _worship_!!!... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE ARE THE ONES. This explains the _"on us"_ of Romans 9:23. The fact that those called are from among both Jews and Gentiles shows that no one can claim God's mercy as a right of his racial heritage! _Johnson_ sees in this a restraining of the destruction of the Jewish Nation until the entire w... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS WHAT HE SAYS. [Romans 9:25 quotes Hosea 2:23; Romans 9:26; Hosea 1:10; both from the Septuagint.] God's action in calling people from among both Jews and Gentiles, agrees with what he has already said in the Scripture. When God calls Gentiles, he is doing what he already said he would do.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ISAIAH EXCLAIMS ABOUT ISRAEL. [A paraphrase of Isaiah 10:22-23.] Paul shows that God had already said that only _part_ of Israel would be called. The Jews dare not complain about their dilemma, since it is exactly what the Word of God says. See note on Romans 9:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD. The meaning is: "God fulfills his promise, but also limits it [to those who have faith]." This is why only part of Israel will be saved. [_Compare note on_ Romans 11:26.]... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS AS ISAIAH HAD SAID BEFORE. [Isaiah 1:9 Septuagint.] The "descendants" are the same as the _"only a few"_ of Romans 9:27. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for their sins, and no trace of them was to be found. A few of Israel will be saved. GOD ALMIGHTY. SABAOTH. _Ainsworth_ says the Rabbins te... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL WE SAY, THEN? Up to this point in chapter 9, Paul has looked at the problem of Jewish unbelief, and shown us that no one has any _claim_ on God to PUT him under obligation. Now in these last few verses, he shows it was their own guilt which cut them off from God. THAT THE GENTILES. They k... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHY NOT? How do you explain the paradox of Jew and Gentile? Scripture has not failed (Romans 9:6), because it predicted all that has happened. BECAUSE WHAT THEY DID. We immediately think of their relationship to the Law. What they did in obeying the Law, they thought of as placing an obligation... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE SCRIPTURE SPEAKS OF. Paul blends and paraphrases Isaiah 28:16 and _Isa. 18:14_ as proof that this very thing would happen. BUT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM. See Romans 5:1. One who has _peace_ will not be _disappointed_ at the Judgment.... [ Continue Reading ]