Romans 9:26

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 quotes from Hosea 2:23; Hosea 2:10 :

1. Here is proof from the very Scriptures that the Jewish people possessed which had said,. 'not my people', would become 'sons of God', i.e. the people of God.

By the way this is. great passage against predestination. For if God has from eternity already selected and known the specific individuals that He wanted saved, then the 'sons of God', have never been. 'no people'. (See also 1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 2:12. i.e. predestinated people never would of been in. 'no-hope' condition).

2. Some commentators argue that these verses in Hosea actually applied to the Jews. The Jews of the northern kingdom had forfeited their status as the people of God by their ungodliness. That Paul's argument here is that the O.T. even taught that the Jews were in need of mercy too! 'The ten tribes, by their lapse into idolatry had put themselves upon the same footing with the Gentiles' (Vincent p. 109) Paul agreed with such. principle- Romans 2:25.

I think the above view has some merit when considering the following points:

a. Paul didn't have to prove that Gentiles needed mercy, everyone conceded that point.

b. The real issue that Paul is dealing with, is the point that every descendant of Abraham isn't. real Jew. (Romans 9:6) The verses in Romans 9:25-29, certainly prove this point. (1) Hosea had actually called descendants of Abraham to be 'not God's people' (2) Isaiah taught that only. remnant of the vast Jewish nation would actually be saved (Romans 9:27).