Israel’s Rejection

¹ I am telling the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit—

² that my grief is great and there is constant distress in my heart.

³ For I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my fellow countrymen according to the flesh,

⁴ who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises,

⁵ to whom belong the patriarchs, and from whom is the Christ according to human descent, who is God over all, blessed ⌞forever⌟¹! Amen.

1. Literally “for eternity”

⁶ But it is not as if the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,

⁷ nor are they all children because they are descendants of Abraham, but “In Isaac will your descendants be named.”¹

1. A quotation from Gen 21:12

⁸ That is, it is not the children ⌞by human descent⌟¹ who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.

1. Literally “of the flesh”

⁹ For the statement of the promise is this: “At this time I will return and ⌞Sarah will have⌟¹ a son.”²

1. Literally “there will be to Sarah”
2. A quotation from Gen 18:10, 14

¹⁰ And not only this, but also when¹ Rebecca conceived children by one man,² Isaac our father—

1. *Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“having conception” = “conceived”) which is understood as temporal
2. Or perhaps “by one act of sexual intercourse”

¹¹ for although they¹ had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God according to election might remain,

1. *Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“been born”) which is understood as concessive

¹² not by works but by the one who calls—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”¹

1. A quotation from Gen 25:23

¹³ just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”¹

1. A quotation from Mal 1:2–3

God’s Sovereign Choice to Show Mercy

¹⁴ What then shall we say? There is no injustice with God, is there?¹ May it never be!

1. *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here

¹⁵ For to Moses he says, “I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.”¹

1. A quotation from Exod 33:19

¹⁶ Consequently therefore, ⌞it does not depend on the⌟¹ one who wills or on the one who runs, but on God who shows mercy.

1. Literally “not of the”

¹⁷ For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very reason I have raised you up, so that I may demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”¹

1. A quotation from Exod 9:16

¹⁸ Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes.

¹⁹ Therefore you will say to me, “Why then does he still find fault? For who has resisted¹ his will?

1. Or “who resists”

²⁰ On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this”?¹

1. A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9

²¹ Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that is for ⌞honorable use⌟¹ and one that is for ⌞ordinary use⌟²?

1. Literally “honor”
2. Literally “dishonor”

²² And what if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

²³ And he did so¹ in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory,

1. *The words “he did so” are not in the Greek text, but are an understood repetition from the previous clause

²⁴ us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

²⁵ As he also says in Hosea, “I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and those who were not loved, ‘Loved.’¹

1. A quotation from Hos 2:23

²⁶ And it will be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”¹

1. A quotation from Hos 1:10

²⁷ And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Even if the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved,

²⁸ ⌞for the Lord will execute his sentence thoroughly and decisively⌟¹ upon the earth.”²

1. Literally “for the Lord will act, closing the account and cutting short”
2. A paraphrased quotation from Isa 10:22–23

²⁹ And just as Isaiah foretold, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah.”¹

1. A quotation from Isa 1:9

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness—even the righteousness that is by faith.

³¹ But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law.

³² Why that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if by works. They stumbled over the ⌞stone that causes people to stumble⌟¹,

1. Literally “stone of stumbling”

³³ just as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion ⌞a stone that causes people to stumble⌟¹, and ⌞a rock that causes them to fall⌟², and the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”³

1. Literally “a stone of stumbling”
2. Literally “a rock of offense”
3. A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14