Romans 9:1-29
God's Sovereign Choice
1I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
6It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
10Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."[
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says in Hosea:
"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people;
and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"[i] 26and,
"It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
'You are not my people,'
they will be called 'sons of the living God.' "[j]
27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
"Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality."
29It is just as Isaiah said previously:
"Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah."
St. Paul teaches us that God is sovereign...In verse fourteen he asks if God is unjust...God in the book of Exodus 33:19 tells us He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and will have compassion on those whom He has compassion...This verse is similar to God telling us, I AM WHAT I AM, or I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE...By saying His name, He is sovereign, He is Almighty...He is the absolute supremacy...He is infinity, the first and the last...He is the Truth...Since God is what He is and is supreme, if we have faith in Him, we have a slight understanding that He will have mercy and compassion on those He deems...Since He is the infinity, the final truth, this is the way it is, but also the way it should be...
This is hard to understand...Man has only a limited perspective of God...But we are created in His image...We at times will get to feel His presence through the Holy Spirit...We get to read the book, He inspired man to write...He sent His Son to earth...We get to learn about Him from these things...
It is written in Malachi 1:2-3 that "Jacob, I loved, and Esau I hated"...Malachi uses the word hate to contrast Esau with Jacob...Jacob would have a covenant with God...God predetermined that Jacob would be the third patriarch and was chosen to carry His message to the people...
St. Paul in verse sixteen and seventeen that we cannot depend on our desire or man's desire for salvation or the truth...God raised Pharaoh for the very purpose to show God's glory through the miracles, release and Passover of His people from Egypt to the promised land...
Does and did God favor the nation of Israel and others to whom He has mercy and to others to whom He shows compassion?...God and the bible teach us that He wants everyone to repent, be saved, and believe in Him...But St. Paul teaches us and emphasizes that God is in control and He is sovereign...St. Paul lets us know that no matter what our desire or what our efforts on earth are to get close to God to reach salvation, God is in control, it is by His grace we are...
Man is a sinner...This sin of man does not predisposition us to seek Him and find Him throughout our lives, even though we should...Man's life, because of sin, gets busy, gets hectic, gets focused on our earthly life and not always on Him...Jesus teaches us that our focus should be on the Father...St. Paul teaches us that God is sovereign and uses certain times in our lives when He is disciplining us and molding us to get closer to Him...