CHAPTER 9

(A.D. 60)

REJECTION

¹I say the Truth in Christ, I lie not (Paul refutes the accusation in preaching to the Gentiles; he is not animated by hostility to the Jews), my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit (his own spirit is exactly in tune with the Holy Spirit),

²That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart (grieving over the plight of the Israel of his day; they were in this state because they rejected Christ and the Cross; regrettably, the Church, with some exceptions, is doing the same).

³For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my Brethren (presents a moot point, for such is impossible), my kinsmen according to the flesh (Jews):

⁴Who are Israelites (Gods chosen People, yet who rejected the Lord); to whom pertains the Adoption (refers to the selection of Israel to be Gods peculiar People [Ex. 19:5]), and the glory (refers to the Divine Presence which was always with them, at least until they rejected God [Ex. 16:7, 10; 24:16-17; Lev. 9:6; Num. 14:10, 21; Deut. 5:24]), and the Covenants (various Covenants God made with Israel, such as the Abrahamic, first of all promising Salvation by Faith [Gen. 15:6]), and the giving of the Law (the Mosaic Law), and the service of God(Tabernacle, offerings, Priesthood, etc.), and the Promises (the Messianic Promises);

⁵Whose are the fathers (refers basically to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came(through the Jews), Who is over all (the very purpose of Israel was to bring the Redeemer into the world), God blessed forever (Jesus is the Redeemer, Who is God). Amen (Truth).

⁶Not as though the Word of God has taken none effect (even though Israel failed, the Word of God didnt fail; the Redeemer came). For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel (is meant to denounce national Salvation; in other words, one is not saved just because he is an Israelite):

⁷Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children (further debunks the nationalistic Salvation theory): but, In Isaac shall your seed be called (Ishmael was not included, even though a son of Abraham; this means that all works of the flesh are rejected).

THE DISTINCTION

⁸That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the Children of God (are not Children of God merely because they are Jews): but the Children of the Promise are counted for the seed (those who believe in the Promise, Who is Christ).

⁹For this is the Word of Promise (pertains to Faith, not works), At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son (Abraham is not the principle figure, neither is Sarah or Isaac for that matter; only the Promise, which would ultimately figure into Christ).

¹⁰And not only this(he will now give another example); but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac (Paul further shoots down the idea of nationalistic Salvation, as we shall see);

¹¹(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil (refers to Esau and Jacob, who were twins), that the purpose of God according to election might stand (speaks of Gods foreknowledge), not of works, but of Him Who calls;) (This pronounces the entire basis of Gods dealings with men and His manner of operation.)

¹²It was said unto her (refers to the Lord speaking to Rebecca, found in Gen. 25:23), The elder shall serve the younger (in the spiritual analysis, the Sin Nature, which is the oldest in the Believer because the Believer is born with such, will serve the Divine Nature, which is younger; that is, if the Believer properly follows Christ).

¹³As it is written (Mal. 1:2-3), Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (was not done capriciously; God did not indiscriminately love Jacob, nor did He indiscriminately hate Esau; both passions, love and hate, were based on the attitudes of both men toward God).

¹⁴What shall we say then? (This is meant to counter the claim that God was unfair in His Disposition toward Jacob and Esau.)Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid (there is no unrighteousness with God, Who, through foreknowledge, sees the attitude of both these boys and judges accordingly).

¹⁵For He said to Moses, I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy, and I will have Compassion on whom I will have Compassion ([Ex. 33:19] God has Mercy and Compassion on those who meet His Conditions).

¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs (Mercy and Compassion cannot be earned or merited by the sinner; consequently, this completely rules out a works Salvation), but of God Who shows Mercy (God shows Mercy on the basis of mans acceptance of Christ and the Cross; otherwise, there is no Mercy).

¹⁷For the Scripture said unto Pharaoh (Ex. 9:16), Even for this same purpose have I raised you up (presents the Lord using what is available, but not forcing the issue; in other words, God did not predestine Pharaoh to take a position of rebellion, leaving him having no choice in the matter), that I might show My Power in you, and that My Name might be declared throughout all the earth (as stated, God used the stubbornness of Pharaoh, which was Pharaohs own choice, to glorify His Name Gods Name).

¹⁸Therefore has He Mercy on whom He will have Mercy(God will always have Mercy on those who meet His Conditions), and whom He will He hardens (stubbornness towards God will be met with God forcing the issue by providing the setting which will make the heart even harder; in other words, if one wants hardness, one will get hardness).

JUSTICE AND MERCY

¹⁹You will say then unto me (Paul knows the argument of the Jews), Why does He yet find fault? (Why does God find fault with man?) For who has resisted His Will? (Untold numbers have resisted His Will, but never with success!)

²⁰No but, O man, who are you who replies against God? (Man finds fault with God!) Shall the thing formed say to Him Who formed it, Why have you made me thus? (Man wants to blame God for his predicament!)

²¹Has not the potter power over the clay (God is likened to a Potter), of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? (He has the power to make it possible for man to choose honor or dishonor. The fault is never with God, but always with man. God is not to blame simply because He gives man the power of choice, and man chooses the way of dishonor!)

²²What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make His power known (in effect, is saying, inasmuch as there are vessels of dishonor; there is a Divine necessity that God should demonstrate the Power of His Wrath, as well as the riches of His Mercy), endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (those who choose dishonor will ultimately be destroyed, but God in His longsuffering will bear long with them, even though He knows beforehand their fate):

²³And that He might make known the riches of His Glory on the Vessels of Mercy (pertains to those, whether Jews or Gentiles, who accept the riches of His Glory unto Salvation), which He had afore prepared unto Glory (doesnt mean that God predestined these for Salvation, but does mean that those who accepted His Mercy and Grace would be prepared unto Glory),

²⁴Even us, whom He has called (God initiates the Call, but regrettably many, if not most, refuse), not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (The Lord had always intended that the Gentiles be included as well.)

²⁵As He said also in Hosea (Hos. 2:23), I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved (is used by Paul in the context of the Gentiles, even though it was originally meant for the Jews).

²⁶And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them (Hos. 1:9-10), You are not My people; there shall they be called the Children of the Living God (once again, the Apostle is taking a Passage that was given exclusively to Israel, and broadening it in order that it cover the Gentiles).

²⁷Isaiah also cried concerning Israel (Isa. 10:22), Though the number of the Children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved (despite the vast number of Israelites down through the many centuries, only a small number were actually saved; it is the same in the modern Church):

²⁸For He will finish the work (whichHe did at the Cross), and cut it short in Righteousness (Gods Righteousness demands such! however, what is short to Him is not necessarily short to mankind): because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth (by comparison to Eternity, the six thousand years we have now seen constitute a short time).

²⁹And as Isaiah said before (Isa. 1:9), Except the Lord of Sabaoth (the Lord of Hosts) had left us a seed (the Remnant), we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrha (completely destroyed).

³⁰What shall we say then? (Paul wants to say something good about the spiritual condition of the Jews, but finds there is nothing good to say.) That the Gentiles, which followed not after Righteousness (has reference to the fact that these Pagans did not pursue after God or Righteousness, of which their history is replete; they were idol worshippers), have attained to Righteousness (because they accepted Christ), even the Righteousness which is of Faith (Faith in Christ and what He did at the Cross, which Israel rejected).

³¹But Israel, which followed after the Law of Righteousness (presents Israel following in the wrong way, by works), has not attained to the Law of Righteousness (couldnt attain to Righteousness by works; it can only be attained by trusting in Christ and the Cross).

³²Wherefore? (Why?) Because they soughtit not by faith (proper Faith can only be exercised by accepting Christ and the Cross, which Israel rejected), but as it were by the works of the Law (by their performance, which can never measure up). For they stumbled at that stumblingstone (presents the necessity of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Whom all the Sacrifices had symbolized);

³³As it is written (Isa. 8:14), Behold, I lay in Sion (Israel) a stumblingstone and rock of offence (refers to Jesus Christ; He was not the type of Saviour they wanted; they needed Salvation from sin, but they wanted something else): and whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed (portrays that Salvation is open to all, not a select predestined few, as many teach).