The Epistles · Chapter 9 of 16

Romans 9

Paul opens his heart in anguish over his unbelieving kinsmen, willing to be cursed for their sake. He defends God's word by showing that God's promise always ran through election, not mere physical descent. Using Isaac, Jacob, and Pharaoh, he asserts God's freedom to show mercy and to harden. The potter has power over the clay, and God calls both Jews and Gentiles, yet Israel stumbled at the stone of faith.

What happens in Romans 9

Paul testifies with deep sorrow that he would wish himself accursed from Christ for his fellow Israelites, to whom belong the covenants, the law, and the promises, and from whom Christ came. He insists God's word has not failed, because not all descended from Israel are truly Israel. God's choice fell on Isaac, not Ishmael, and on Jacob over Esau before either had done good or evil, so that election would rest on God's call, not works. Paul faces the charge of injustice head on, quoting God's word to Moses about having mercy on whom He wills, and His purpose in raising up Pharaoh.

He answers the objector with the image of the potter and the clay, and the vessels of wrath and of mercy. God calls His people from both Jews and Gentiles. Israel, pursuing righteousness by works rather than faith, stumbled over the stone God laid in Zion, of whom Scripture says whoever believes will not be ashamed.

Romans 9 in context

After the triumphant assurance of chapter eight, Paul faces a painful question: if God's promises are sure, why have so many of God's own people rejected the Messiah? Chapters nine through eleven form a sustained answer.

Chapter nine grounds Israel's situation in God's sovereign purpose of election, defending God's faithfulness while preparing to show that Israel's fall is neither total nor final.

Main themes of Romans 9

Romans 9 (KJV)

1I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. 6Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 9For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. 10And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 25As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 26And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. 27Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: 28For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. 29And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. 30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 31But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 33As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Verses to carry from Romans 9

“Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”Romans 9:5

“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”Romans 9:16

“As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”Romans 9:33

Reflection

This chapter humbles anyone who imagines they have earned a place with God. Mercy is God's to give, and the safest posture before Him is not argument but trust. If you have stumbled over Christ by trying to justify yourself, the same stone offers itself to you now as a foundation on which no one is ashamed.

A prayer from Romans 9