Romans 9
(1) Paul grieves for the Israelites who don’t entrust Jesus
As someone in the Chosen One, I’m serious when I say that I’m extremely sorry and that my heart grieves relentlessly. My conscience and I both testify that I wish I could be cursed and separated from the Chosen One on behalf of my Israelite brothers. They are my blood relatives, and adoption belongs to them along with the splendor, the covenants, the law, the temple service, the promises, and the physical patriarchs who produced the Chosen One who is God over everything and forever blessed. This is true.
(6) Not all Israelites are God’s people
But just because Israelites reject Jesus doesn’t mean that God’s plan has failed. Not all of Israel’s descendants are true Israelites. They aren’t all God’s children just because they’re Abraham’s descendants.
“Through Isaac your descendants will be named.”
—Genesis 21:12
That means that God’s children aren’t defined by their physical ancestry. The descendants of the promise are God’s true children. And this is the promise:
“I’ll come at this time and Sarah will have a son.”
—Genesis 18:10
(10) God has a predetermined plan
And not only that, but there was also Rebekah who had conceived twins with our patriarch Isaac. God’s intentions had been fixed even before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad. God’s purposes were aligned with his choice. Since God is the One Who Calls, He made His choice based on His own purposes rather than their actions. Sarah was told:
“The older son will serve the younger one.”
—Genesis 25:23
Just like it was mapped out:
“I loved Jacob and hated Esau.”
—Malachi 1:2–3
(14) God shows mercy to whoever he wants
What should we make of that? Does that mean God is unjust? Of course not! Like He told Moses:
“I’ll have mercy on whoever I show mercy, and I’ll have compassion on whoever I show compassion.”
—Exodus 33:19
That means that it doesn’t depend on the person who wishes or exerts himself, because it only depends on God (the one showing the mercy). Just as the writings told Pharaoh:
“I’m raising you up for the purpose of demonstrating My power within you so that My name might be proclaimed throughout the entire world.”
—Exodus 9:16
So God has mercy on whoever He wants, and He also hardens whoever He wants.
(19) God was patient with the non-Israelites so they could become God’s people too
You might ask:
“Then why does God still find us at fault if we’re just operating in line with His purposes?”
On the contrary, who are you, oh human being, to answer back to God? The clay pot doesn’t ask the potter why it was created that way, does it? Doesn’t the potter have the authority to use the same batch of clay to make one pot that’s highly-esteemed and one pot that’s a disgrace? What if God took the pots of anger that were prepared for destruction and patiently held them even though He wanted to make His power known by unleashing His anger? He does that so that the pots of compassion would know the riches of his splendor. He prepared those pots of compassion beforehand for splendor (including those of us who He called from both the Israelites and non-Israelites). Just like He says in Hosea:
“Those who weren’t my people will be called ‘my people’, and those who weren’t loved will be called ‘loved’.”
—Hosea 2:23
“In that same place where they were told that they weren’t my people, they will now be called ‘sons of the living God’.”
—Hosea 1:10
(27) Only a few Israelites will be saved
Talking about Israel, Isaiah cried out:
“Even though Israel’s descendants will be as numerous as the sand in the ocean, only a few will be saved. The Commander will execute His narrative on earth thoroughly and quickly.”
—Isaiah 10:22–23
And just like Isaiah foretold:
“If the ruler of the Sabbath had left us to ourselves, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
—Isaiah 1:9
(30) Israel missed righteousness because they didn’t entrust Jesus
What should we make of that? Non-Israelites who weren’t pursuing righteousness ended up attaining it through dependence—while Israel was pursuing righteousness yet failed to get there. Why? Because instead of pursuing it by dependence, they pursued it as if it were through behavior. They tripped over the stumbling stone just like it says:
“See, I placed a stumbling stone in Israel, and whoever entrusts Him won’t be disappointed.”
—Isaiah 28:16
Notes:
*Paul wishes he could do anything for the Israelites to know Jesus, but he’s saying “that’s God’s job.”
**“Harden” is used 6 times, and many of the times are humans hardening their own hearts.