Paul has shown that life in the Spirit brings transformation, sonship and hope even through suffering, but this raises a deeper covenant question: if God’s promises are being fulfilled in Messiah, what does that mean for Yisrael? Romans 9 turns to God’s faithfulness, election and mercy, showing that His covenant purposes have always unfolded according to His sovereign plan, not human effort.
9 The truth I speak in Messiah, not I am lying; my conscience is bearing witness in the Spirit Holy
2 that I have great grief and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I myself was wishing that I could be accursed – cut off from Messiah- for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh
4 Who [are] Yisraelites, whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, the giving of the Torah, and the service, and the promises.
5 Whose [are] the patriarchs, and from whom [is] Messiah, according to flesh being, over all God blessed to the ages Amen.
6 [It is] not as however that has failed the word of God. Not for all who [are] of Yisrael [are] these Yisrael
7 Nor because they are seed of Avraham [are] all children; rather,
“in Yitschaq (Issac) will be named to you offspring.”
(-Genesis 21:12)
8 That is not the children of the flesh that [are] children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as offspring.
Paul quotes Genesis 21:12 to show that blood lines alone never guaranteed covenant inheritance.
YHWH tells Avraham that although he has multiple sons (Yishmael and later sons by Keturah), the covenant line -the promised seed- will be reckoned specifically through Yitschaq.
Abraham had more than one son, yet God sovereignly designated Yitschaq as the child of promise. So from the very beginning, belonging to the covenant line involved God’s calling and promise, not just blood relation.
9 Of [the] promise for the word is this:
“At this time I will come and there will be to Sarah a son.”
(- Genesis 18:10)
He continues to reinforce his argument from verse 7. Yitschaq’s birth was not just about lineage- it was the result of a specific divine promise. Sarah was barren; Yitschaq existed because God intervened.
10 Not only then, but also when Ribqah (Rebekah) one conception having by our father Yitschaq,
Ribqah was barren (Genesis 25:21) and conceived when Yitschaq prayed for a child.
11 Not yet for having been born nor having done anything good or evil so that according to election the purpose of God might stand
12 not of works but of the One calling; it was said to her,
“The older will serve the younger”
(- Genesis 25:23)
13 As it is written,
“Ya’aqob (Jacob) I loved, but Esav I hated.”
(- Malachi 1:2-3)
Genesis 25, where YHVH speaks to Ribqah while she is pregnant:
And YHVH said to her, Two nations are in your womb; two peoples shall break from your body And one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
-Genesis 25:23
This prophecy concerns the two nations the brother will become Patriarch over- Edom and Yisrael. It establishes that God determined the covenant line before the twins were born. Malachi 1:2–3, contrasts their covenant favor and judgment.
Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, God already determined how the covenant line would proceed.
14 What shall we say then? There is injustice on God’s part? Never may it be!
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.”
(- Exodus 33:19)
This statement comes after the golden calf incident- covenant failure. Yisrael had broken the covenant, yet YHVH chose to continue His purposes with them. The declaration emphasizes that
Mercy is God’s sovereign prerogative – not something humans can demand or earn.
16 So then [it is] not of the willing nor of the running, but the showing mercy of God
17 For says the Scripture to Pharaoh,
“But indeed for this I have raised you up, so that I may show you My power that may be declared My name in all the earth.”
(- Exodus 9:16)
This is spoken to Pharaoh during the plague narrative. Mitsrayim (Egypt) had enslaved Yisrael, and Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart multiple times before the text says YHVH hardened it. The verse explains why Pharaoh was preserved through the plagues instead of being immediately destroyed
The point is not that that God can use even rebellious rulers within His sovereign plan. Pharaoh’s resistance became the beginning of Yisrael’s redemption and the revealing of YHVH’s power.
Just as He showed mercy to Yisrael and used Pharaoh’s hardness to magnify His name, so now His purposes in Messiah unfold according to His sovereign design- even when human resistance is involved.
18 So then to whom He desires, He shows mercy; whom now He desires, He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, Why then still does He find fault? Who can withstand His purpose?”
20 O man, indeed, you- who are you, the one answering back to God? Shall the thing formed say to the One who formed it, Why have you made me thus?
21 Or not has authority the potter over the clay out of the same lump to make one indeed unto (a) vessel (of) honor, one however unto dishonor?
Paul is referencing Scripture here- likely Isaiah:
You have turned things around surely! Shall the Potter be regarded as the clay, that shall say the thing made to Him who made it, “not He did make me” Or the thing formed shall say to Him who formed it, “Not He has understanding”
– Isaiah 29:16
But now YHVH our Father You [are], we the clay, and You our potter, and the work of Your hands we all are.
– Isaiah 64:8
22 What if now desiring God to show His wrath and to make known His power, bore with much patience vessels of wrath having been fitted for destruction,
23 Also that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory?
24 Whom even He has called us, not only out from [the] Jews, but also out from [the] Gentiles?
Paul anticipates the question: “Why does God still find fault? Who can resist His will?” He responds sharply:
Humans have no authority to question the Creator.
He explains that God, as the Creator, has the right to shape His creation according to His covenant purposes – preparing some for mercy and blessing, and others to reveal His justice and glory.
This is not arbitrary favoritism; rather, God sovereignly arranges roles in history, guiding and shaping circumstances, so that faith and obedience can bear fruit for those He has called. He does not force obedience or make some people innately better, and human response still matters: Trust, obedience, and Spirit-led faith are required.
In this way, His mercy and justice are displayed together, showing that even resistance, trials and challenges fit into His redemptive plan.
25 As also He says in Hosea,
“I will say to not My people, My people you are.”
(- Hosea 2:23)
And her not having been loved, being loved.
26 “And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there it shall be said to them ’[you are] sons of the living God.’”
(- Hosea 1:10)
Many use these verse to claim God abandoned Yisrael and Paul is saying the gentiles, who were not His people, have replaced them.
However, Paul is quoting from the Prophet Hosea, who prophesied to the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim) before their Assyrian exile;
- In Hosea 1, YHVH says Judah will be spared (Judah, Levi and Benjamin)
- In Hosea 2:2, YHVH says the sons of Yisrael (Ephraim) and the sons of Judah will be set together
Hosea 2:23 God promises restoration for Yisrael (Ephraim) despite their unfaithfulness. He will call them, the formerly unfaithful people, “My people” and restore them.
Hosea 1:10 – Speaks of Yisrael’s (Ephraim) future after judgment; because the 10 tribes of Yisrael were lost and “scattered” to the nations, their restoration comes through Messiah who comes for the “Lost sheep of Yisrael” (Matthew 15:24).
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Yisrael:
“Though the number of the sons of Yisrael be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,”
28 “for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”
(- Isaiah 10:22-23)
Isaiah 10:22–23 -the promise of restoration for the whole of Yisrael is paired with the warning that only a faithful remnant will remain. Most will reject or stumble due to unbelief and disobedience.
29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“Unless YHVH of hosts had left to us a small remnant, we would have come to be like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”
(- Isaiah 1:9)
Isaiah is lamenting Yisrael’s persistent rebellion.
God’s mercy preserves a faithful remnant (“a seed”) despite widespread unfaithfulness.
Without that preserved remnant, judgment would have wiped out Yisrael entirely, like Sodom and Gomorrah.
30 What then shall we say? That Gentiles not pursuring righteousness have attained righteousness now, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 Yisrael however pursing Torah of righteousness did not attain it.
32 Because of why? Since [it was] not by faith but as by works. They stumbled over the stone of stumbling.
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.”
(Paraphrase of Isaiah 28:16)
Therefore thus says Adonai YHVH, “behold I lay a foundation in Zion a stone, a stone of testing, a cornerstone precious, a sure foundation; that whoever believes (trusts) not will act in haste.
– Isaiah 28:16
Yisrael was being warned not to panic, scramble, or seek false refuge when judgment comes. Those who trust in YHVH’s cornerstone will not need to rush into alliances, idols or self-saving schemes.
In Hebrew thought, haste and shame are connected:
- Acting in panic leads to public failure
- Scrambling for false security leads to exposure and disgrace
- Trusting wrongly results in being shown wrong
Torah points beyond human effort to faith in Messiah: obedience without trust in God’s promise leads to stumbling; but trust in Him establishes righteousness.
Paul is showing that the problem was never Torah itself, but Yisrael’s reliance on Torah as self justification, rather than the covenant trust that God had always intended.
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