Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

An overview of chapter 9 before we go into the verse by verse study.

What does Romans chapter 9 mean?

Romans 9 tackles challenging and hard-to-follow issues. These involve both Israel’s place in God’s plans and God’s own character.

Paul begins by declaring how heartbroken he is about the state of his people Israel. Paul was both Jewish and a Roman citizen. He and his father both served as Pharisees. Paul was truly a child of Israel. He was in such anguish for his people because they had, as a nation, rejected Christ. A few had believed, but Paul knew the majority of Jewish people were trusting the law to save them from God’s wrath. Paul has gone to great lengths in Romans to show that the law cannot save. Shockingly, Paul says that he could wish that he would be cut off from Christ if, presumably, his people would come to Him (Romans 9:1–3).

Paul finds Israel’s rejection of the Messiah all the more sad because God has given to her so many privileges as His chosen people. These include national adoption, showing them His glory, the covenants, the law of Moses, the worship at the temple, the promises, the patriarchs, and the ancestry of Christ. Paul insists that God will keep all His promises to Israel, but that not everyone physically born an Israelite will be saved from God’s wrath (Romans 9:4–7).

To show that God can give His mercy to whomever He likes, Paul gives three examples from Israel’s history in Scripture. In Paul’s first example, God chose to give His promises to Abraham’s son by Sarah and not by any of his other wives. Second, God chose to give the promises to one of Rebekah’s twin sons and not the other before they were even born. Third, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart while He was raining down plagues upon Egypt in order to increase His own glory (Romans 9:8–18).

Is that fair of God? Paul imagines his readers asking this question and fires back at us: “Who are you to answer back, mere mortal?” He compares God to a potter and asks if the potter cannot make items out of the same lump of clay pots for both honorable and dishonorable purposes. Paul takes it further, asking if God could not make vessels of wrath prepared for the purpose of destruction. What if, though, God patiently dealt with those vessels of wrath even though He was willing to show His anger and power against them for another purpose? Somehow, Paul seems to suggest, God’s patience with the vessels of wrath is tied to revealing His glory to “vessels of mercy” that have been prepared for glory (Romans 9:19–24).

Finally, Paul quotes from Scriptures in Hosea and Isaiah to show that God has called out some Gentiles to be His people, while also calling out a remnant—but not all—of Israel. He has called all of these out through faith in Christ. The Jewish people have stumbled over the stumbling block of Christ because they have sought to reach righteousness by their works instead of faith (Romans 9:25–33).

Verse 1:I am speaking the truth in Christ — I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit —

Paul turns suddenly from the previous topic and begins to focus on the people of Israel. He has just finished making the case that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, all who come to God by faith in Christ will be loved by God forever. In fact, nothing in all of creation will be able to separate anyone who is in Christ from God’s love (Romans 8:38–39).

Perhaps that led Paul to think of his own people Israel. Some Jewish people had come to faith in Christ, but the vast majority had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Paul shows here how deeply that breaks his heart in this and the following verse.

He starts out by insisting passionately that he sincerely means what he is about to say. Perhaps he was concerned that some readers would not believe him. After all, wasn’t he in grave conflict with the Jewish religious leaders? Hadn’t they tried to kill him? They had done just that repeatedly to try to stop Paul from preaching the good news about Jesus. Still, Paul declares that his conscience vouches for him in the Holy Spirit that what he is about to say in the following verse is true. He is heartbroken for his Jewish brothers and sisters.

Verse 2: that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

This continues a sudden change in Paul’s topic. At the end of chapter 8, he was discussing the way Christ’s love cannot be severed from those who are saved (Romans 8:38–39). Here, he has begun a new topic, starting by insisting on his own sincerity (Romans 9:1).

Paul has famously conflicted with Jewish religious leaders over the issue of Jesus Christ. His mission in life is to preach that everyone can come into God’s family, through faith in Christ alone, by God’s grace alone (Galatians 3:27–29). In particular, he has taught that this salvation cannot be accomplished by following the law (Galatians 3:10–13). The Jewish religious leaders have repeatedly tried to kill Paul to suppress this teaching (Acts 14:19).

That’s why Paul insisted so boldly in the previous verse that he was not lying in what he is about to say about the Jewish people: He is heartbroken for them. In fact, Paul writes that he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish. He is deeply and continually saddened about his people, the Jews.

Verse 3: For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

With great declarations about his honesty and sincerity, Paul has stated that he is deeply and continually heartbroken about his people, the Jews. Though Paul was a Roman citizen, he was born to Jewish parents, studied the law, and became a Pharisee, as his father had been (Acts 23:6), before being converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).

Paul is so heartbroken about the Jews’ rejection of Christ that he makes what sounds like a rash statement. It is certainly a bold one. He could wish that he himself could be accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his Jewish brothers by birth. Paul does not appear to be actually asking God to make this happen. After all, as one who is in Christ, not even a prayer like that could separate him from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

Rather, Paul seems to be saying he would wish for such a thing if it was permissible. He feels so strongly that he would trade his own eternal place in God’s family through faith in Christ to have his Israelite kinsmen believe in Jesus. Paul is not only referring to his immediate family, though he may be thinking of some of them, as well. He is speaking of all God’s chosen people Israel. His heart breaks for all of them to trust in Christ and be permanently justified before God.

Verse 4:They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

Paul has declared his great heartbreak that his people by birth, the Jews, have rejected Christ. He has even said he would trade his own place in Christ—if such a thing made sense—in order for them all to come to Christ.

Now Paul begins to list many of the things the Israelites have been given by God, describing why they are so special as a people. He first mentions Israel’s adoption as God’s children. This appears to be a different adoption than Paul described for Christians in Romans 8. Israel was adopted in a national sense. God described them as his firstborn son in Exodus 4:22.

Also belonging to Israel was “the glory,” probably meaning that God had favored Israel by revealing His glory to them, especially during the time of Moses (Exodus 16:10; 24:17). Next, Paul lists the covenants. This would include God’s covenant agreements with Abraham (Genesis 15:18) and David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). Then Paul lists the giving of the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 5:1–22), something Paul has written about extensively in Romans.

Next, Paul lists “the worship,” meaning God’s appointment to Israel of the task of worshiping Him in the temple and through the sacrificial system. This verse concludes with the statement that the promises belong to Israel, as well. These promises include all the things promised to Israel throughout the Old Testament, including the coming of the Messiah.

Verse 5: To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Paul is heartbroken that the vast majority of his people, the Jews, have rejected Christ as the Messiah and the way to salvation. In the previous verse, he began listing the privileges the Israelites have enjoyed as the chosen people of God. The list so far includes national adoption as the children of God, being witnesses to God’s glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law of Moses, the worship in the temple, and the promises of God.

Now Paul adds two more privileges Israel has enjoyed. The first is the patriarchs, meaning the founding fathers of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God gave many great promises to the patriarchs and all of their descendants.

The final privilege Paul lists is that through the line of the patriarchs came Christ Himself, the promised Messiah. Paul writes that Christ is, in fact, God over all and blessed forever. The fact that Christ is God is the very truth that Israel as a nation had rejected. They had missed the Messiah, though many individual Jewish people had come to faith in Christ through the teaching of Paul and the other apostles.

Paul insists that God honored the Israelites by sending His own Son to earth as a Jewish man, a descendant of Abraham and of David. However, Paul does not describe Christ Himself as one of the gifts given to the Jewish people, since they rejected Him.

Verse 6:But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,

Paul has expressed his broken heart over the fact that the majority of Jewish people had rejected Christ as the Messiah and the way to salvation. He has listed many of the privileges God has given to Israel as His chosen people.

Paul now begins to deal with an enormous question, one that will dominate the next three chapters of Romans. If God gave to Israel all of those covenants and promises and privileges, what happens to His relationship with Israel now that they have rejected His Son?

Paul’s first answer here is to defend the character of God. His Word has not failed. He will still keep His promises to Israel. God does not go back on His word. Then Paul begins to make a distinction between the physical descendants of Israel and what we might call “true Israel.” He says something similar to what he wrote at the beginning of this letter in Romans 2:28–29: “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter…”

Here Paul puts it more simply in saying that not everyone who is descended from Israel, ethnically, belongs to “true Israel.” This matches similar statements made by Jesus during His earthly ministry (John 8:36–39).

Verse 7: and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

Not everyone physically descended from Israel actually belongs to Israel. That’s what Paul wrote in the previous verse. He seems to have meant something similar to what he wrote in Romans 2:28 that “no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly.” The spiritual aspect of our relationship with God is far more important than our ethnicity, heritage, or biology.

Now Paul begins to give examples from Israel’s history to clarify his point. To begin with, not all of Abraham’s offspring were counted as the “children of Abraham.” Some of them were not included in God’s promises to Abraham’s descendants. Both Abraham’s son Ishmael, born before Isaac (Genesis 16), and his sons with Keturah, born long after Isaac (Genesis 25:1–4) were excluded from Israel.

Paul quotes from Genesis 21:12 where God said to Abraham that it is through Isaac that his offspring will be named. Jesus made similar remarks to His critics, as recorded in the gospel of John (John 8:36–39).

Verse 8:This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

No Israelite would have disagreed with Paul’s example in the previous verse. He pointed out that not all of Abraham’s children were included in the line of God’s promises to Israel. Only those who came through Isaac were included. So, while the promise was certainly given to Abraham’s offspring, it was not promised to absolutely all his descendants.

Now, though, Paul gets to the point of his illustration: It’s not enough to simply be born “of the flesh” into Israel. It is the children of the promise who count as offspring. They are the ones who are truly Israel and will inherit God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Paul will build from this argument to describe the difference between these two groups.

This parallels similar statements made by Jesus, who pointed out that being a true “child,” spiritually, is not a matter of biology. It’s a question of one’s spiritual state, and their relationship with God (John 8:36–39).

Verse 9: For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Paul is pulling examples from Israel’s history to show what distinguished a “true” Israelite from one who is merely born into the nation. He wants to show, in the end, that God will keep His promises to Israel through those who are truly children of the promise. Mere biology is not the key; what ultimately matters is whether or not a person has the right relationship with God. Paul will use this line of thought to explain why Gentiles, and not only Jews, can be part of God’s plan of salvation.

He points here to one of the promises given by God to Abraham. After many years of promising that Abraham and Sarah would have a son, God now promises that Sarah will give birth in one year’s time (Genesis 17:21; 18:10, 14). Only that child, Isaac, was the child of a promise. Abraham’s other children, born before and after Isaac, were not born as the result of a promise of God.

Verse 10: And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,

Paul is building an argument that there exists a difference in Israel: between those who are truly Israelites and will receive the promises of God, versus those who are merely born into the nation. He is pulling examples from Israel’s history to make his case. His first example was that not all of Abraham’s offspring were included in the line of promise, only Isaac.

Now Paul points to Isaac’s sons to show that God even picked one twin and not another to receive His covenant promises. Not every single one of Abraham’s descendants was made part of the promise of God. There was still an element of God’s sovereignty and choice in deciding whom to bless. Paul is emphasizing this point to show that a saving relationship with God is never as simple as merely being born from the right parents.

Isaac’s wife Rebekah conceived two children by one man, meaning that she was carrying twins. Only one would carry the promise that was given through Abraham.

Verse 11: though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God ‘s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls —

Paul is building an argument that not everyone born into Israel is truly a child of the promises of God. He is using illustrations from the very beginning of Israel’s history to make his case. His first example was that only one of Abraham’s children, born to one woman and not the others, was included in the line of promises from God.

Now he takes his argument up a notch by pointing to the twins born to Isaac and Rebekah. Before they were even born, God made a choice about the two boys to serve His own purpose of election. That is, God elected one of the two, through which His line of promise to His chosen people would continue.

Paul wants us to understand that God’s choice was not based on behavior, good or bad, since the boys were still unborn. He repeats that it was not because of their works. Clearly, God’s choice was not because one was born to one woman and not another. And as the following verse will show, God did not make the choice based on their birth order.

Paul used the word elect in the previous chapter (Romans 8:33) to refer to all of us in Christ chosen by God to be included in His family through faith in Christ. Now he uses the word election to describe God’s action in choosing one son of Isaac over another to include in His covenant promises.

Verse 12: she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

This verse completes the long sentence begun in verse 10. Paul wants us to see that God’s choice about which of Rebekah’s twin boys would receive the covenant promises had nothing to do with their merits or their attributes. It was not about their works, since God declared His decision before they were born. It was not about their parents, since they came from the same two people.

And, now, Paul quotes what God said to Rebekah before the twins were born (Genesis 25:23): “The older will serve the younger.” That means that God’s choice to give the covenant promises to Jacob was also not about birth order. God simply chose to serve His own purposes before any human factors came into play.

Paul is building toward the argument that God decides who will receive His promises and who will not. His election, as mentioned in the prior verse, is something subject only to God’s own sovereignty. Paul will use this concept to explain not only that God has the right to choose whom to save, but that He has the right and ability to save those who are not ethnically part of Israel: the Gentiles.

Verse 13:As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

This quote from Malachi 1:2–3 contains a startling statement. Paul has just established that God chose between Jacob and Esau which of them would receive the covenant promises and which would serve the other. God made this choice before they were born based on nothing other, apparently, than His own will and purpose.

The quote from the lips of God seems contrary to our usual understanding of Him. We easily understand that He would love an unborn child, but why and how could He have hated Esau, let alone before birth? That’s not the God we think we know. We have to keep in mind that cultures differ in how they speak, which involves more than just the specific words they use. Different societies use different forms and figures of speech, as well. In that era, the love-hate phrasing is meant to show a contrast, not to imply that one side is looked at in some insulting way.

It helps to look at another example of the word “hate” in the New Testament. Jesus said this to those who were deciding about whether to follow Him or not: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Clearly, Jesus doesn’t want us to carry bitter, angry feelings toward our fathers, mothers, wives, and children. After all, we are commanded in Scripture to honor our parents, love our wives, and to raise our children wisely. In this case, the word “hate” is about comparison. Jesus wanted disciples who were so deeply committed to Him that their love for their family members looked like hate by comparison.

The same idea is at work in God’s use of these contrasting words in Malachi and quoted by Paul here. God’s act of love for Jacob, in choosing to give to him the covenant promises, was well beyond His actions towards Esau, in declaring that Esau would serve Jacob. There is a strong contrast there: one is clearly being given the preferred treatment, the other is not. Using dramatic, contrast-enhancing language, it can be said that one was “loved” and the other “hated.”

The bigger issue for Paul’s argument is that God made this decision based on nothing more than the fact that God has the right to decide. Is that fair? Paul will address that in the following verses.

Verse 14: What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God ‘s part? By no means!

“What shall we say then?” That’s the phrase Paul often uses to address an objection his readers might be having in response to what he has just written. Then he will phrase the imagined objection in the form of a question, as he does here. As is his custom in the book of Romans, Paul follows up by rejecting the idea with the Greek phrase mē genoito, translated as “by no means” or “may it never be!”

In this case the question is about God’s fairness or justice. Paul has just described how God chose to whom His covenant promises to Israel would be given—and to whom they would not be given. In the case of Rebekah’s twins, God made this decision before they were even born. God’s judgment was in no way based on either Jacob’s or Esau’s actions or birth order or parents. It was entirely a matter of His omniscience and sovereignty.

In the previous verse, Paul quoted the Old Testament prophet Malachi, who recorded God’s words saying that He “loved Jacob” and “hated Esau” even before they were born. This was not a reference to the emotion we describe using the English word “hate” today. “Love” in Scripture is usually a reference to how one acts, and “hate” here is meant as a contrast to it. Exaggerated parallels were common in speech of ancient times (Luke 14:26). God simply chose to give extreme blessings to Jacob, and—relatively speaking—none to Esau.

Now Paul puts the question in the mouth of his readers, “Is that injustice on God’s part?” By no means! But this naturally leads one to ask howis it just, then? Paul will address that in the following verses.

Verse 15: For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

Paul has rejected the idea that God was being unjust in choosing Jacob and not Esau to receive His covenant promises before the twin boys were even born (Romans 9:12–14).

Now Paul quotes God’s words to Moses from Exodus 33:19. God was providing reassurance that He would be with Moses while leading the children of Israel. In fact, God was preparing to reveal Himself to Moses by passing by and allowing Moses to see a glimpse of his glory. He had agreed to show Moses a physical manifestation of His true nature (Exodus 33:21–23).

In that context, God said that He would show mercy and compassion on whomever He so chose. The right to decide who received benefits from God was a decision left to exactly one being: God Himself. Paul offers this quote to show that God retains the right choose for Himself, based only on Himself, to whom He will give His favor. God is under no obligation, whatsoever, to rely on other criteria or some “higher” standard to make such a choice.

Perhaps that’s not a very convincing argument against the idea that God is “unfair” in choosing one over another. However, this already eliminates the suggestion that God is being “unjust.” And, as this passage shows, Paul is not yet done making his case.

Verse 16: So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Paul is making the case that God deciding who will receive His favor, or His mercy—and who will not—is not unjust. In the previous verse, Paul quoted God’s words to Moses: that He would show mercy and compassion on whomever He chose to, or not, accordingly only to His own will. Another way of putting it might be that God retains the right to give His mercy to whomever He wants. He’s not obliged to do anything for anyone, so God choosing some for mercy and not others cannot be unfair in the negative sense that word most often means. In fact, the most “fair” thing to do would be to withhold mercy from all people; mercy is a benevolent form of “unfair” treatment.

Now Paul makes it clear that receiving God’s mercy, or not, has nothing to do with human will or work. God is not being unfair, in choosing only some for mercy. No person can ever earn His mercy, so nobody has more of a claim to deserve it than any other. God owes His mercy to absolutely, positively no one. By definition, “mercy” is something given to those who do not deserve it or have not earned it. If it’s earned or deserved, it’s not an issue of grace or mercy, an idea Paul frequently uses in this letter (Romans 4:2–5; 11:6).

In the following verse, Paul will offer one additional Old Testament example, about a time God chose to particularly withhold mercy for His own purposes.

Verse 17: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Paul continues to make the case that God is not unjust or “unfair” for choosing to give His mercy to one person and not another. He has offered two examples from Scripture so far. In the first case, God chose to give the covenant promises only to Abraham’s son by Sarah and not the children of his other wives. Next, Paul showed that God chose Jacob over Esau while the twin boys were still in their mother’s womb, having done nothing right or wrong to earn God’s favor or rejection.

Those examples involve an “active” sense of God’s mercy. He is not obligated to be merciful to anyone, so there is nothing unjust about God selecting only some to benefit from His grace. If grace was earned, it would not be grace (Romans 4:2–5; 11:6).

Now Paul references the Pharaoh of Israel’s liberation from Egypt, with a quote from Exodus 9:16. This comes from God’s words to Moses about what to say to Pharaoh before sending another plague. God wanted Pharaoh to know that He had raised Pharaoh—or Egypt—to power and prominence so that God could show His own, much greater, power in bringing Egypt to her knees. God’s stated reason for doing this was that His own name would be proclaimed in all the earth.

In other words, God raised up Pharaoh and brought Pharaoh down for the sake of His own glory. This is meant to be understood in the context of Paul’s upcoming remarks about a potter having the right to mold clay for his own purposes (Romans 9:20).

Verse 18: So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Paul is making the argument that God retains the right, as an absolutely sovereign Creator, to give His mercy to one person and not to another, accordingly only to His own purposes. Paul has shown that God’s choice to give or withhold mercy is not based on either person’s behavior. He is not obligated to be merciful to anyone, or obliged to bless some more than others. Nobody “deserves” mercy, so there is nothing unjust or inappropriate about God’s choice. That applies as much to moments when God pointedly withholds mercy as it does to those times when He grants it.

In fact, in the previous verse, Paul cited the example of God’s words to Pharaoh before delivering one of the plagues on Egypt. Through Moses, God told Pharaoh that God had raised him up to show His own power over Egypt and to make His own name proclaimed in the earth. In other words, God raised Pharaoh up in order to rain down plagues upon Egypt for the sake of His own glory.

Paul states again that God will have mercy on anyone He wants to. Now, though, Paul adds a new statement: God will harden whomever He wishes to, as well. This, too, is a reference to Pharaoh. This ruler had made a clear choice to reject God’s will (Exodus 7:13; 8:15). Exodus 10:1 quotes God telling Moses that He had hardened Pharaoh’s heart to keep Pharaoh from letting the Israelites go. This was so God could continue showing Himself through the signs of the plagues. God does the same thing to Pharaoh’s heart at least four more times after this.

Pharaoh, then, is the one God held responsible for saying no to Moses’ request from God to let the Israelites go. In particular, his refusal of the initial request set up the rest of Egypt’s troubles. After that, God clearly intervened to make Pharaoh continue in his hard-heartedness towards Israel.

Paul is insisting that God has every right to do this because He is God. He owes no one anything. The fact that He gives mercy to some of us—any of us—is a gift, not an obligation (Romans 4:2–5; 11:6). He is God.

Verse 19: You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

Paul imagines his readers raising another objection about God’s fairness. The previous verse referred to the time in Israel’s history when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, despite the plagues God sent against Egypt (Exodus 10:1). Pharaoh is the one who said no at first, but God is the one who made sure Pharaoh’s heart did not soften in surrender or repentance, so that Pharaoh would keep on saying “no” to Moses and Israel.

Is that “fair” of God? That’s what Paul’s imagined readers are asking. How can God find fault with Pharaoh when God is the one who caused the hard heart? After all, how could Pharaoh, or anyone else, resist God’s will? Isn’t God treating Pharaoh as a puppet, punishing him for actions he cannot actually avoid?

It’s a sensible question, from a human perspective. If any person was able to do to Pharaoh as God did, we would universally agree: it is not “fair” to hold someone responsible for a decision which some other person irresistibly forced them to make. What do we make of this, when it comes to God? We might debate whether God really forced Pharaoh to say no, or whether He just unbalanced Pharaoh’s emotions. We might point out—validly—that Pharaoh hardened his own heart repeatedly (Exodus 7:13; 8:15) before God stepped in to make that hardening permanent.

For the sake of Paul’s current point, however, none of that matters. Paul will respond to the questions of this verse by insisting that human terms don’t apply to God. He can do as He wishes. He is God. Not only is His perspective more complete than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9), He is in the position of Creator; we are not.

God did as He liked in Pharaoh’s heart because He is God and He has an absolute and sovereign right to do so. That is the first, foremost, and main answer to any charge that God treated Pharaoh in an “unfair” or “unjust” way. This, again, falls under the realization that nobody deserves mercy (Romans 3:10; 3:23), so the fact that God withholds it from certain people is not unfair to those particular persons.

Verse 20:But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Paul now asks his readers, all of us, some hard questions. He has imagined that we are responding to the example of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, yet still holding Pharaoh at fault, with questions about God’s fairness. This is a normal human reaction; if a person somehow “forced” another into something, we’d consider it outrageous to hold the coerced person responsible.

But Paul turns the question back on mankind: Who are we, as mortal human beings, to answer back to God? God is the One who molded Adam from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7) and who puts all of us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). Can the one who is molded talk back to the One who molded him and demand he ought to have been made in some other way?

The assumed answer, of course, is no. Created things don’t talk back to their maker. Neither do human beings have the right to moralize to their Creator about His choices. He is God. We are not. As crippling as it might be to our own sense of pride, we must start with the realization that God has no obligation to us. He owes us nothing: not mercy, not love, not grace. That, in fact, is one reason the gospel is so incredible. The love and mercy God shows to us, in providing for our salvation, is something absolutely and completely unearned and undeserved.

We can’t appreciate the depths of that kind of love until we accept the fact that it’s entirely unnecessary on God’s part.

Verse 21: Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

Paul is responding to imagined questions from readers of his letter. He has been making the case that God can and does give mercy to whomever He wishes. He does this based on nothing more than His own purposes and glory (Romans 9:15–16). Nobody “deserves” grace and mercy, by definition (Romans 3:10; 3:23). So there’s nothing unfair or unjust about God granting mercy to some, and none to others. Nor is there anything wrong with God purposefully using His creations to demonstrate His glory (Romans 9:17–18).

Paul’s last example was that of Pharaoh, in the Exodus, who experienced a God-hardened heart which contributed to God raining more plagues down on Egypt. Paul imagines his readers asking, in essence, “How could God blame Pharaoh for being resistant if Pharaoh had no choice in the matter?”

In the prior verse, Paul turned the tables: Who are we, as mere humans, to question God? More to the point, how can we, as created things, question our Maker?

Following that idea, Paul asks if a potter has the right to make whatever he wants from the clay. Is he allowed to make from the same lump one pot for “honorable” things, such as holding flowers or valuables, and another pot for “dishonorable” things, such as a toilet or waste bin? Of course, the potter has an absolute right to do whatever he wants with the clay. And God has an absolute right to do whatever He wants with man.

Paul’s case that God can do as He likes corrects our usual thinking about God and us. The Maker gets to decide what He will make and what He will do with it. The thing which has been made has no say in that, morally or otherwise, no matter how loudly we might complain.

Paul’s response is harsh, but it’s absolutely beyond argument. That combination of truth and humility is why his point is hard for us to take. Paul will modify this point slightly in the verses to follow, emphasizing God’s love and mercy to some, but not to all. His larger point will be that though God is loving, kind, and just, He does not owe anything to any human person. Everything He gives to us is a gift of grace.

This, in fact, is a key point in appreciating the gospel. If God owed some people, or any people His mercy, then it would remove the element of grace (Romans 4:2–5; 11:6). The reason Scripture speaks of God’s love in such amazing terms (John 3:16) is because that love is unearned and undeserved. These are two inseparable sides of the same coin: God has the sovereign right to do anything He wants with His own creation, and yet He chooses to show some of us profound mercy through salvation.

Verse 22: What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

This is a difficult verse both in its subject matter and because it forces translation choices for scholars trying to adapt the text into English. In the previous verse, Paul made the case that God can do as He wishes with any human being. He pointed out that a potter could take the same lump of clay and make either containers for “honorable” purposes or ones for “dishonorable” purposes. The implication was that God has every right to do the same with people, whom He created with even more authority than a potter who molds clay.

Now Paul asks a question about God’s actions towards vessels prepared for destruction. What if God desires to show His wrath and power towards them, but has instead patiently endured these vessels—the reason being described in the following verse?

Paul seems to mean by these “vessels” all those who will not receive God’s mercy. These are those who will instead be separated from Him forever in hell. These vessels—these people—are objects of God’s anger. This is one area where theology and doctrine begin to take different views of Paul’s meaning. Is God patiently enduring these persons until the time comes for them to be destroyed? Or, is God patiently enduring to make time for some to repent and be revealed as the “vessels of mercy” described in the following verse? Bible teachers disagree based both on translation and doctrinal beliefs.

It interesting to note that, in Ephesians 2, Paul refers to himself as having previously been a child of wrath: We “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:3–5). Some take that, along with verses such as 2 Peter 3:9, as evidence for the idea that God’s “patience” is aimed at mercifully giving some of these unsaved persons more time to repent.

In either case, Paul seems to be making two larger points. First, God is the Maker, and he has the right to make people to serve His own purposes. Secondly, God endures with great patience even those people who are destined for destruction. In the following verses, Paul explains how God mercifully makes known the riches of His glory to all of those whom He calls to be in Christ.

Verse 23: in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory —

Paul, making the case that God has and exercises the right to show mercy or not to humans as He pleases, has compared God to a potter. What if God, the potter, purposefully made some to be vessels of wrath, explicitly prepared for destruction? However, what if He endured with much patience those vessels even though He desired to show His wrath and power?

More specifically, Paul asks, now completing the thought, what if God endures those vessels of wrath with patience, not yet destroying them, in order to make known the riches of His glory for the vessels of mercy? He finished by stating that the vessels of mercy have been prepared beforehand for glory. That last thought fits with what Paul wrote in the previous chapter about all of those who are in Christ (Romans 8:31–39). God predestined, called, justified, and will glorify all who come to Him by faith in Christ.

Paul’s main idea here, though, seems to be this: God’s relationship to “vessels of wrath” somehow serves His purpose to reveal His glory to the “vessels created for mercy.” He will use the destruction of the dishonorable vessels to accomplish His purpose of mercy for those in Christ.

Theological difference aside, we can take certain universal points away from this. Some vessels—some people—are destined for destruction and will suffer God’s wrath, which all people deserve because of sin (Romans 3:10; 3:23). Other vessels—other persons—will be shown mercy, even though they also deserve wrath because of God’s merciful work through Christ. However the choice is made, or how the details might work, God will call people to faith in Christ—He will elect, or predestine—anyone He wants to. He will hold all others responsible for not trusting in Christ. Not only is this just, it’s also merciful, and entirely within His rights as the Creator. He is God.

Verse 24: even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Paul has been making the point that God, as the sovereign Creator (Romans 9:20–21), can show mercy to whomever He wishes based only on His own purposes. He does not owe us, His creatures, anything at all. We have universally earned His wrath with our sinfulness (Romans 3:10; 3:23). If He chooses to show mercy, it is not unfair of Him to grant that grace only to some of us. Nobody deserves it; not one person has the right to say, “you ought to have been merciful to me, too.”

The previous verse described those to whom God will make known the riches of His glory—in Christ—as “vessels of mercy” which He has prepared beforehand for glory. Now Paul begins to bring his point home and to return to the subject with which he began this chapter.

He writes that these vessels of mercy are “us.” In this context, that means all those God has called out, in Christ, from both the Jewish people and from the Gentiles. What does it mean that we are “called out?” It means we’re one of these whom God prepared for mercy. It means our national identities are not the most important thing God considers about us. When we are saved, regardless of our heritage, we become God’s people, as Paul will write in the following verse.

Verse 25: As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

Once again, Paul reaches back into the history of Israel, preserved in the Scriptures, to support his argument. He has been showing that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6), in addition to insisting that God has chosen to show His mercy to some who are not Israel: to Gentiles.

Here he quotes from a passage (Hosea 2:23) originally written about God’s commitment to one day restore the exiled northern ten tribes of Israel. Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul applies Hosea’s text to Gentiles, as well as Jews. Peter appears to have more loosely done a similar thing in 1 Peter 2:10.

In Paul’s context, to those who were once not God’s people and were not “beloved” by Him, He has now declared to be His people. He calls them “beloved.” In this way, God has exercised His right to show mercy on whom He will show mercy, including the Gentiles.

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

The Old Testament prophet Hosea wrote about God’s commitment to restore the northern ten tribes of Israel that had been cut off. Paul, quoting Hosea in this and the previous verse, appears to apply Hosea 2:23 and now Hosea 1:10 to the Gentiles.

Paul’s larger point in this passage is that God retains His right to show mercy to whomever He wants and to withhold mercy from whomever He wants. God exercises His privilege as Creator by showing mercy to all who come to Him through faith in Christ. Israel’s pride might have insisted that only they—the original “chosen people”—could legitimately be redeemed by God. Paul argues the opposite; that nobody anywhere deserves mercy (Romans 3:10; 3:23) and that a sovereign Creator has the right to use His creations as He sees fit (Romans 9:20–21).

Paul shows that this includes God’s right to save those “called out” from the Gentiles, as well as from the Jewish people. Israel had always been known as God’s people. Now Gentiles, too, through faith in Christ, will be called the sons of the living God (Romans 8:16–17).

Verse 27: And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

Paul is showing that God shows mercy to whomever He will, including some Jews and not others, as well as to some Gentiles. God has declared that the deciding factor about who will be spared from His wrath and receive His mercy is by faith in Christ, not human action (Romans 6:23). God’s choice in how, when, or if that happens for any particular person is a decision He can make according to His own sovereign purposes (Romans 9:20–21).

In the previous verse, Paul used Hosea’s words to describe how some Gentiles have now been called by God and included as His beloved children. Now Paul quotes from Isaiah 10:22–23, regarding the Jewish people.

First, God has kept His promise to Abraham. The sons of Israel have become as the sands of the sea (Genesis 22:17). That promise did not obligate God, however, to eternally save every son and daughter of Israel. In fact, Isaiah writes that only a remnant will be saved.

This and the following verses bring us back around to where Paul began this chapter. God does and will continue to keep His promises to His chosen nation Israel. However, He will not show the same mercy to every descendant of Abraham, as many of the Jews assumed. They must come to Him through faith in Christ to be saved from the penalty of their sin, and a remnant of Israelites will do just that.

Verse 28: for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”

Paul is in the middle of a quote from Isaiah 10:22–23 about the sons of Israel. He is showing that even in the Old Testament era, God was clear that only a remnant of the Israelites would be saved, not the entire offspring of that nation. In verse 24, Paul wrote that God has called out His people from both the Jews and the Gentiles. He has called them to faith in Christ and to receive His mercy.

Why do we need mercy from God that is only available in Christ? That is answered here in the quote from Isaiah: judgment is coming. The Lord will carry out his sentence on the earth for the sins of humanity. It will come quickly and without delay, in terms of God’s timing. In other words, when the moment for judgment comes, God will not hesitate.

This is a startling thing to some who have grown up Jewish and under the law. As Paul showed in Romans chapter 2, many Jews of his era believed they would not face God’s judgment simply because they were born Jewish. Paul, though, makes clear that all who are not in Christ—including those who have not been called out from among the Jewish nation to be a remnant of the Jewish people—will receive God’s wrathful justice.

Verse 29: And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,we would have been like Sodomand become like Gomorrah.”

In the previous verses, Paul quoted from Isaiah 10 to prove several points. First, God has kept His promises to Israel. Second, God never promised to eternally save everyone physically born into Israel. Third, God has called out a remnant from among the Jews to be saved through faith in Christ.

Now Paul emphasizes this idea that a remnant will be saved; highlighting the fact that God has not and will not wipe out Israel completely no matter how faithless she has been, by quoting from Isaiah 1:9. Sodom and Gomorrah were judged by God so severely that they were utterly removed from the earth (Genesis 19:24–25). With Israel, though, the Lord of hosts has always spared some from the next generation to carry on as Israel, no matter how severe God’s judgment became.

Paul is making the significant claim that God will continue to spare a remnant, now by calling some of the Jewish people out from among the rest through faith in Christ.

Verse 30: What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

Paul’s entire argument that God will show His mercy to some Jews and not others has been based on what he has written earlier in Romans. God will show His mercy exclusively and only to those who come to Him by faith in Christ. Up to this point in chapter 9, however, Paul has not anchored this argument to Jesus Himself. He begins to do so now.

First Paul asks his standard question after making a profound and difficult point: What shall we say then? It’s another way of saying, “What are the implications of this?” A Jewish person reading or hearing this might ask Paul, “are you saying that Gentiles who didn’t even try to become righteous before God have received righteousness from God, anyway, because of their faith?” Paul will ask the second part of his question in the following verse, but the answer to this one is an unequivocal “yes.”

Non-Jewish Gentile peoples, for the most part, have never attempted to live under the law of Moses. They may have participated in a variety of religious practices over the generations, but they did not attempt to demonstrate their own righteousness to God by following the law. That law was never given to them, anyway.

Still, a declaration of righteousness is exactly the “stamp” God has given to Gentiles who come to Him by faith in Christ. In His mercy and grace, God has given to them credit for Jesus’ righteousness and has accepted Jesus’ death as payment for their sin. This means a Gentile’s salvation is exactly the same as that of a Jewish person: by grace through faith.

In the following verse, Paul will ask the next shocking question for those Jews who had grown up living under the law.

Verse 31: but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

Paul is using a question-and-answer approach to sum up what he has written in this chapter. In fact, he’s tying together concepts used throughout the book of Romans. He imagines an incredulous Jewish person asking the question posed in the previous verse and in this one. That person might have asked, “are you saying, Paul, that even though the Gentiles never pursued the righteousness of God by attempting to follow the law of Moses, that those who have faith in Christ have been given God’s righteousness, anyway? Are you also saying, Paul, that Israel, who has pursued God’s righteousness by attempting to live under the law for generations, has not succeeded in keeping the law and has not been declared righteous by God?”

Paul’s answer to both questions is a simple “yes.” He has taught throughout this book that being declared righteous before God comes only through faith in Christ. That status cannot be reached by following the law. In the following verse he will answer the next question: Why?

Verse 32: Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

In the previous two verses, Paul has stated his bottom-line truth about Gentiles and Jews in the form of a long question. Although the Gentiles never lived under the law of Moses and never pursued God’s righteousness in that way, they have received righteousness, and God’s mercy with it, through faith in Christ. And, although the Jewish people have endeavored to follow the law for generations, seeking to be made right before God, they have not succeeded in keeping the law nor being made righteous.

Now Paul answers the simple question “why?” with an equally simple answer. He writes that the Jewish people did not seek to be made righteous by faith. They wanted God to declare them righteous based on their works, on their ability to keep the law. As Paul has shown throughout Romans, nobody can keep the law (Romans 3:10; 3:23), so nobody can demonstrate their righteousness to God in that way.

In seeking to be justified by their own works, by their own behavior, Paul writes that most Israelites have “stumbled over the stumbling stone.” Paul will make clear in the following verse that this stumbling stone is Jesus Christ.

Verse 33: as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Why did the people of Israel not become righteous and acceptable before God by following the law of Moses? That’s the question Paul is answering. He has said that the Israelites sought to be made righteous, and earn God’s mercy, by their works. They approached God through a work-and-earn approach, rather than by faith. Paul concluded the previous verse by writing that they—Israel—have stumbled over the stumbling stone.

The idea of a “stumbling stone,” as mentioned here is an odd thing. Who would deliberately place a rock for people to trip over? Paul’s quotes from Isaiah in this verse shows that the stone is tripped over because it is rejected, rather than being received by faith.

First Paul quotes from Isaiah 8:14, where the prophet describes the Lord as a rock of offense and a stone of stumbling to all of Israel. Paul is insisting that this is not a new idea—that the Jewish people would struggle to accept the idea that righteousness is found only through faith in Christ.

Next, Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:16, where that stone, Christ, is described as the sure foundation, the precious cornerstone of God’s work on earth. The part Paul quotes directly is that whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. In more literal terms, such people will not be shown to be foolish for believing in Christ. This, symbolically, is the stone that the Israelites have tripped over, Paul writes, because they refused to believe in Christ, wishing instead to prove their righteousness by their own works.