9:1-3 What do we learn from this passage of scripture?

Paul expresses his heaviness of heart and continual sorrow for the Jewish nation being cut off from God here (cp Ro 10:1-3; 11:1-5). The very fact that Paul prays for the Jews to be saved reflects God's will for all mankind throughout scripture, and further refutes the teaching in the church that every human being's eternal destination, whether it be heaven or hell, is determined by God before they are born (cp Jer 13:17; Eze 18:30-32, 33:11; Mt 11:28-30; Ro 2:4; 2Pe 3:9).

See also comments on Mt 11:28-30, 13:10-11, 20:16; Jn 3:14-15, 3:36, 6:37, 12:37-40; Ac 2:37-38, 3:22-23, 13:48, 28:23-29; Ro 1:16-17, 3:24-26 (A), Ro 8:28-30, 9:7,9:10-13, 9:14-18, 9:19-21, 10:14-17, 11:2, 11:4, 11:7-10; Eph 1:3-6, 1:11-14, 2:8-10, 1Th 1:3, 2Ti 1:8-9; 1Pe 1:2

9:5 What profound biblical truth is Paul affirming here?

This is yet another proof of the deity of Jesus - that Jesus is God. Sadly though, few Bible scholars comment on this fact, although it is so important to highlight every scripture proving Christ's deity in the face of so much false teaching against it in the professing church. Also, most paraphrased versions of the Bible incorrectly interpret this verse as a doxology - a formula of praise to God - not a reference to the deity of Jesus. Yet the literal English rendering of V5 from the Textus Receptus, the original Greek manuscript from which the authorised King James Version of the Bible is translated, according to the Hendricksen Hebrew Greek, English, Interlinear Bible is: Whose are the Fathers; and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, He being God over all, blessed forever, Amen. Jesus was not eternally the Son of God, as so many Christians believe - He is an equal member of the Godhead from all eternity (cp Nu 21:4-9 with 1Cor 10:9(according to Paul here, God, who sent the fiery serpents in Nu 21:4-9, was Christ) Psa 45:6-7; Isa 6:1-5 with Jn 12:37-41 (according to John, the Lord Isaiah saw sitting upon the throne was Jesus), Mic 5:2; Jn 1:1-2; 3:13; 8:56-58; 17:5; Ac 20:28; Php 2:5-8; Col 2:8-10; 1Ti 3:16; Tit 2:13; He 1:8-12; 2Pe 1:1-2; 1Jn 1:1-2; 3:16; Rev 1:8, 11,17-18; 2:8; 3:14; 21:6; 22:13). Jesus became the Son of God at His incarnation - when He took on human form (cp Gen 49:10; Nu 24:17; Psa 2:7; Isa 7:14; 9:6-7; Mt 1:18-25; Lk 1:26-35; 2:11; Jn 1:14; Ga 4:4; Php 2:5-8; He 1:5-6; 5:5). See also comments on Lk 1:35B; Jn 12:41; Ac 20:28; 1Ti 3:16; 2Pe 2:1-2,

9:7 How is the phrase, "But in Isaac shall thy seed be called", to be understood?

In saying this Paul was repeating God's words to Abraham in Gen 17, that His plan of salvation would only be fulfilled through Isaac, not Ishmael, Abraham's son to Hagar (cp Gen 17:18-22). Ishmael was a child of Abraham's flesh, whereas Isaac was the child of God's promise to Abraham, through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed (cp Ro 16:1-16). Only Isaac's descendants were the true descendants of Abraham, and it is only in the line of Isaac that Abraham should have the future generations that would properly bear his name and inherit the promises made to him by God (cp Ro 9:8-9 with Ro 4:3-5, 10-25 and Ga 3:6-14, 29). It needs to be stated here that Ishmael's descendants were not rejected by God for any failings by Ishmael. Nor was Isaac chosen for any virtue. Both choices and their consequences lay in the sovereign will of God who had purposed that Messiah - Jesus - would come from Isaac's line. Seed in Ro 9:7b refers to Jesus (cp Gen 3:15; 22:18; Ga 3:16). See also comments on Mt 11:28-30, 13:10-11, 20:16; Jn 3:14-15, 3:36, 6:37, 12:37-40, Ac 2:37-38, 13:48, 28:23-29, Ro 3:24-26 (A), Ro 8:28-30, 9:10-13, 9:14-18, 9:19-21, 10:14-17, 11:2 11:4, Eph 1:3-6, 1:11-14, 2:8-10, 1Th 1:4; 2Ti 1:8-9; 1Pe 1:2,

9:10-13 Does this not prove that God arbitrarily chooses whom He will save and whom He will not?

No, the same teaching as in V7-9 concerning Isaac and Ishmael applies here. What God predetermined concerning Jacob and Esau had nothing whatever to do with salvation (cp also Gen 25:19-28; Mal 1:1-3). God chose Jacob over Esau in order for His eternal purpose to be fulfilled in the earth. That is what the phrase, "That the purpose of God according to election might stand" in Ro 9:11, means (cp V11). God purposed that Messiah - Jesus - would come from the nation of Israel to fulfil His redemptive plan (cp Gen 49:10; Mic 5:2; Mt 2:3-6; Lk 2:11). Israel was one of two nations in Rebecca's womb, and was represented by Jacob (cp Gen 32:22-30). Edom was the other nation, and was represented by Esau (cp Gen 36:1, 9, 40-43). God's rejection of Esau had nothing to do with Esau's eternal destiny. Esau chose his own destiny just as we all choose ours (cp Deut 30:15-20; Jn 3:16-18, 36; Ro 1:16).

The story of Jacob and Esau has nothing whatever to do with the personal salvation of individuals, as so many in the contemporary church believe. Paul told it simply to illustrate the fact that God chooses to save by grace and not by works, and that the purpose of God according to election will be on His terms alone. Works will have no part in it. (cp Ro 3:27-30; 4:1-5; 5:8-11, 17-21; 11:6; 2Cor 5:14-21; Eph 2:4-22; 1Pe 2:24). Ro 9:13 is quoted from Mal 1:1-3 (cp Mal 1:1-3). This does not mean however that God literally hated Esau and loved Jacob. Hated, as used here, is an idiom of preference, not a term expressing literal hatred toward someone. Jesus used it the same way in the New Testament (cp Lk 14:25-27 with Mt 10:37-38). God's prediction to Rebekah that Esau, the elder, would serve Jacob, the younger, was fulfilled in Edom's defeat by King David, who made the Edomites serve Israel (cp Ro 9:12 with 2Sam 8:14; Psa 60:7-12). See also comments on Mt 11:28-30, 13:10-11, 20:16; Jn 3:15-16, 3:36, 6:37, 12:37-40, Ac 2:37-38, 13:48, 28:23-29, Ro 3:24-26(A), Ro 8:28-30, 9:7, 9:14-18, 9:19-21, 10:14-17, 11:2, 11:4, Eph 1:3-6, 1:11-14, 2:8-10, 1Th 1:4;2Ti 1:8-9; 1Pe 1:2,

9:14-18 What exactly is the meaning of all that Paul says here?

Again, this does not mean as some in the church teach that salvation is prepared for those only on whom God is pleased to bestow His mercy, and that ruin and death await all whom He has not chosen. (This is one of the central doctrines of Calvinism and is called "Unconditional Election".) Paul does not have the personal salvation of individuals at all in mind here. His consideration in Ch 9-11 is the question of Israel's relationship to God (cp Ro 9:1-5; 10:1-3; 11:1-5). While Paul affirms in Ch 9 that God as a sovereign creator is free to order all things as He pleases, he is not teaching, as we saw in our previous study on Ro 9:10-13, that God is arbitrary or capricious in His dealings with men. The cause of Israel being rejected by God was not due to the fact of God's sovereignty without respect to anything in men, but to Israel's unbelief and disobedience (cp Jn 1:11; 3:19; 5:39-40; Ac 13:44-46; 28:23-28; Ro 9:30-33; 10:17-21; 11:13-24; 2Cor 3:12-16).

In Ro 9:16 Paul is simply saying that salvation is not a matter of human desire or effort - working to be found worthy of it is futile. God justifies persons by grace through faith while they are still sinners (cp V16 with Ro 5:8-11). If God were to be merciful only to those who earn these benefits no one would ever receive anything (cp Eph 2:8-9). The terminology of Ro 9:17-18 derives from the hardening of Pharaoh's heart in Exodus (cp V17-18 with Ex 4:21; 7:3, 13-14; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8). We see in all these scriptures that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is attributed to God. However, elsewhere in Exodus it is attributed to Pharaoh himself (cp Ex 7:22-23; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34-35; 13:15). When God said He would harden Pharaoh's heart that does not mean that He caused Pharaoh's heart to harden, but rather, He permitted it. Many times in scripture God is said to do the things He permits to be done (cp Isa 6:9-10 with Mt 13:10-15; Mk 4:11-12; Lk 8:9-10; Jn 12:37-40; Rom 11:7-8). These scriptures have all been used to teach that God made it impossible for the Jews to believe because He had already determined not to save them, but that is not correct. As we saw earlier, scriptures clearly teach that the Jews rejected the gospel of their own volition and it is for this reason alone that God rejected them. And the same thing applied to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh's stubborn resistance to God was the same as the Jews was to Jesus, yet a divine purpose was fulfilled in his life through God's sovereign power. God used Pharaoh's hardness in order to demonstrate His power for all humanity to see, which is what Ro 9:17 teaches (cp V17). Through Pharaoh's hardness, God's power and name is proclaimed throughout the earth whenever the book of Exodus is read. God has to use severe measures to serve gracious ends in scripture (cp Ro 11:32; Ga 3:22). This is the best example in the Bible: God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all (see also comments on Mt 11:28-30,13:10-11, 20:16; Jn 3:15-16, 3:36, 6:37, 12:37-40, Ac 2:37-38, 13:48, 28:23-29, Ro 3:24-26 (A), Ro 8:28-30, 9:7, 9:10-13, 9:19-21, 10:14-17, 11:2, 11:4, Eph 1:3-6, 1:11-14, 2:8-10, 1Th 1:4; 2Ti 1:8-9; 1Pe 1:2,

9:19-21 What do we learn from what Paul says here?

Once again this has nothing to do with the personal salvation of individuals as some in the church would have us believe. V19 echoes Ro 3:7 and is another of Paul's rhetorical questions that demands no answer (cp V19 with Ro 3:5-8). Paul presents the viewpoint in Ro 3:5-8 as futile human reasoning that if sin was necessary to magnify His righteousness then God could never condemn sinners. Ro 9:19 is also futile human reasoning on the basis that if God causes it all to happen the way He wants it to happen, then how can He judge sinners. Many people use this argument as a justification for not responding affirmatively to the gospel. In V20 Paul rebuked the reckless impiety of those who would argue with God for their own ulterior motives (cp V20 with Isa 29:15-16). In V21 Paul compares a potter who makes pots for various purposes, and determines their use, to God's sovereign use of people like Pharaoh for the purposes of demonstrating His power against evil (cp Ro 9:17). A vessel unto honour and a vessel unto dishonour in V21 in no way relates to salvation, nor to importance or morality, but to function. The vessels referred to here are inanimate (cp V21 with 2Ti 2:20). See also comments on Ro 3:5 and 2Ti 2:19-21.

9:22-24 Who do the vessels of wrath and the vessels of mercy refer to here?

The word vessels here means objects. The term fitted to destruction means ready, or ripe for destruction, denoting that the objects of destruction had brought it upon themselves. Pharaoh, who stubbornly and repeatedly resisted God, was a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction. God eventually destroyed him (cp Ro 9:14-18 with Ex 7:22-23; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34-35; 14:5-10, 13-16, 21-28). Jews were also vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. They too stubbornly resisted God, first killing His prophets, and then His Son Jesus, making themselves the objects of God's wrath (cp Ro 9:22 with Mt 23:37-38; Ac 7:51-53; Ro 2:5-9; 1Th 2:14-16). Anyone who stubbornly and repeatedly resists God and rejects Jesus are vessels fitted to destruction. The vessels of mercy are believers - not only Gentiles, but Jews too, because the New Testament church is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles (cp Ro 9:23-26 with Eph 2:11-22 and Ga 3:28). It was the church, comprising all who believe on Jesus that God had "afore prepared unto glory" (cp Gen 3:15; Amos 9:11-12; Ac 15:13-18; Ro 16:25-26; Eph 1:3-7; 2:4-18; 3:9-11; Col 1:15-18; 2Ti 1:9; 1Pe 1:2-5).

None of this is teaching that God will utterly destroy Israel - scriptures abound with God's promises of its eventual restoration - but at present it is "hardened", as Pharaoh was. It has hardened itself against the gospel of Christ. But the hardening is only temporary in order to permit Gentiles access to the gospel (cp Ac 13:44-47;28:23-28; Ro 9:22-33; 10:17-21; 11:25-29). As we saw in Ro 9:24 the church is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles so whoever comes to God through Christ, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, will be spared from the wrath to come (cp Ro 1:16-18; 2:10-11). See also comments on Ro 1:16-17, 3:19-23, 3:24-26 (A) and Eph 2:8-10

9:25-29 What is the meaning of what Paul says here?

In V25 Paul is referring to both Jews and Gentiles - not just Gentiles only - for this is Hosea's prophecy of the New Testament church (cp V25 with Hos 2:23 and 1Pe 2:7-10). In V26 Paul quoted Hosea again to reinforce his teaching in Romans that between the rejection of the Jews and their subsequent restoration to fellowship with God, the church would be God's witness in the world (cp V26 with Hos 1:10 and Mt 21:42-44; Ro 9:22-23; 10:17-21; 11:7-11). Paul goes on to say in Ro 9:27-29 quoting Isaiah this time, however, that not all the Jews will be restored to fellowship with God - only a remnant, which God in His mercy will restore to fellowship with Himself at the second advent of Jesus (cp Ro 9:27-29 with Isa 10:20-22; 11:10-14 and Ro 11:12, 23, 26-29). Consumption in Isa 10:23 (KJV), means to end, to cease. It refers to the end of this age, at Jesus' second advent, when the remnant of the Jews will be eternally restored to fellowship with God under Messiah (cp Isa 11:10-12, 16; 27:12-13, 29:22-24; Jer 23:3; 31:7, 31-34; Eze 6:8-10; 37:12-14; Joel 2:32; Mic 2:12; 4:6-8; 5:3-8; Zeph 2:7-9; 3:13; Zech 8:6-12; Rev 12:7, 17). Ro 9:29 teaches that had God not saved a remnant of the Jews, the entire apostate nation would have been wiped out like Sodom and Gomorrah (cp Ro 9:29 with Isa 1:9 and Gen 19:24-25). See also comments on Ro 9:30-33, 10:4, 10:6-11, 10:12-13, 10:18-21, 11:1-10, 11:2, 11:4, 11:7-10, 11:16, 11:17-24, 11:29, 11:32, 11:33-36; Rev 12:1-5, and 12:6

9:30-33 What do we learn from Paul's summing up here of Israel's rejection by God?

This is the conclusion to Paul's teaching on election in Ch 9 in which he explains why Israel was set aside by God, and Gentiles obtained the "righteousness which is of faith". This was not arbitrarily or capriciously decreed by God but was a result of the Jew's own making (cp Ro 9:31-32 with Ro 10:1-4 and Ac 13:44-47). In the Greek construction of Ro 10:3 the phrase being ignorant of, actually means that the Jew's lack of knowledge was due to wilful disobedience (cp Isa 65:1-2; Ro 10:21). The Jews wilfully ignored God's righteousness manifest in Christ and tried to establish their own righteousness by works of the law. Yet right throughout scripture God had made it clear that His righteousness could only be obtained by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. The Levitical blood sacrifices, the law, and the Old Testament prophets all pointed to the supreme sacrifice, Jesus, who could deliver them from the sin the law revealed (cp Ro 3:19-26; Ga 3:19-26; He 9:6-10; 10:1-10).

In Ro 3:21 we learn that the righteousness of God is apart from the law, and yet it is testified to by the law and the prophets. By exposing sin, the law pointed the Jews to their need of a Saviour who has been foretold by the law and the prophets; but the law is not the Saviour - Jesus is (cp Isa 7:14; 9:6-7; Mic 5:1-3; Zech 12:8 - 13:1; Mt 2:5-6; Ro 11:26). Jesus is both the completion, and the fulfilment of the law. The law was only there to lead people to Jesus that they might be justified by faith (cp Ro 10:4; Ga 3:23-26; Eph 2:14-18; Col 2:14-17; He 8:1-6; 10:1). God's righteousness can only be obtained through faith in Christ (cp Ro 1:16-17; 3:20-26; 4:4-8; 5:1-2, 8-11,15-21; 10:4; 1Cor 1:30; 2Cor 5:18-21; Php 3:9). Many of the Jews believed in Jesus but most did not and Jesus became an offence, a stumbling stone, to them. God predicted this through Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet (cp Ro 9:33 with Isa 8:13-15; 53:3; Jn 1:11; 1Cor 1:18-25). While Christ was a rock of offence and a stumbling stone to the Jews, He was a cornerstone of faith for the Gentiles (cp Isa 28:16 with Ac 4:10-12; 13:44-49; 1Pe 2:6-8). See also comments on Ro 9:30-33, 10:4, 10:6-11,10:12-13, 10:18-21, 11:1-10, 11:2, 11:4, 11:7-10, 11:16, 11:17-24, 11:29, 11:32, 11:33-36; Rev 12:1-5, and 12:6

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