Paul’s Concern for the Jews
I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. 1Ti 2:7Rom 1:9Gal 1:202Co 11:10Php 1:81Th 2:51Ti 1:52Co 1:12 I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Php 3:18Jer 13:17Lam 3:51Psa 119:136Rom 10:1Luk 19:41-44Ezk 9:4Jer 9:1 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, Exo 32:32Est 8:6Rom 11:14Gal 3:101Co 16:221Co 12:31Sa 14:241Sa 14:44 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. Eph 2:12Psa 147:19Gen 17:2Rom 9:6Act 2:39Deu 7:6Exo 4:22Heb 9:1 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! 1 Amen. Jhn 10:30Col 1:16-19Jhn 1:1-3Rom 1:251Jn 5:20Rom 1:31Ti 3:16Php 2:6-11
God’s Sovereign Choice
(Genesis 25:19–28; Malachi 1:1–5)
It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Gal 6:16Rom 2:28-29Rom 11:1-2Rom 3:3Rom 4:12-16Jhn 1:47Isa 55:11Mat 24:35 Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” 2 Gen 21:12Heb 11:18Jhn 8:37-39Gal 4:23Luk 3:8Php 3:3Jhn 8:33Luk 16:24-25 So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring. Jhn 1:13Rom 4:11-16Gal 3:26-29Rom 8:14Gal 4:22-311Jn 3:1-2Psa 87:6Gen 31:15 For this is what the promise stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” 3 Gen 18:10Gen 18:14Gen 17:21Gen 21:2Heb 11:11-12Heb 11:17
Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac. Gen 25:21-23Luk 16:26Rom 5:11Rom 5:3 Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, 2Ti 1:9Eph 1:4-52Pe 1:10Eph 1:9-11Rom 8:28-30Tit 3:51Pe 5:102Th 2:13-14 not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 4 Gen 25:22-231Ki 22:472Sa 8:14 So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 5 Mal 1:2-3Deu 21:15Gen 29:31Gen 29:33Luk 14:26Mat 10:37Pro 13:24Jhn 12:25
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! 2Ch 19:7Psa 145:17Deu 32:4Job 34:10-12Psa 92:15Rev 16:7Job 8:3Gen 18:25 For He says to Moses: Exo 33:19Rom 9:16Mic 7:18Rom 9:18-19Exo 34:6-7Isa 27:11
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 6
So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. Eph 2:8Mat 11:25-26Php 2:131Pe 2:9-10Eph 2:4-5Tit 3:3-51Co 1:26-31Rom 9:11 For 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.” 7 Exo 9:16Pro 16:4Exo 10:1-2Exo 14:17-181Sa 2:7-8Est 4:14Exo 15:14-15Isa 37:20 Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. Exo 4:21Jos 11:20Rom 9:15-162Th 2:10-12Rom 11:7-8Deu 2:30Rom 5:20-21Act 28:26-28
One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” Dan 4:352Ch 20:61Co 15:121Co 15:35Gen 50:20Isa 10:6-7Isa 46:10-11Job 23:13-14 But 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?” 8 Isa 29:16Isa 45:9-11Isa 64:8Job 33:13Job 36:23Job 40:2Mat 20:151Ti 6:5 Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use? Isa 64:82Ti 2:20-21Pro 16:4Jer 18:3-6Act 9:15Rom 9:22-23Rom 9:11Rom 9:18
What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? Pro 16:4Jud 1:41Pe 2:8Rom 9:212Ti 2:20Exo 9:161Th 2:16Rom 9:17 What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory— Rom 2:41Pe 1:2-5Col 1:27Eph 2:10Eph 3:16Rom 5:20-211Ch 29:182Ti 2:21 including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? Col 3:111Co 1:91Pe 5:10Act 13:47-48Act 15:14Act 21:17-20Eph 2:11-13Eph 3:6-8 As He says in Hosea: Hos 2:231Pe 2:10Ezk 16:8Jhn 16:27Rom 1:7Hos 1:1-2
“I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people,
and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,” 9
and, Hos 1:9-101Jn 3:1-3Gal 3:26Isa 43:6Rom 8:162Co 6:18Jhn 11:52Mat 16:16
“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.’” 10
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: Isa 10:20-23Rom 11:4-6Isa 1:9Hos 1:10Ezk 6:8Jer 5:10Isa 11:11Gen 22:17
“Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth Isa 10:23Act 17:31Isa 30:12-14Psa 9:8Rev 19:11Dan 9:26-27Isa 28:22Isa 5:16
thoroughly and decisively.” 11
It is just as Isaiah foretold: Isa 1:9Isa 13:19Amo 4:11Jas 5:4Jer 49:18Jer 50:402Pe 2:6Deu 29:23
“Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have resembled Gomorrah.” 12
Israel’s Unbelief
What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; Php 3:9Heb 11:7Gal 2:16Rom 4:11Gal 5:5Rom 10:20Eph 2:12Isa 51:1 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Rom 11:7Jas 2:10-11Rom 3:20Gal 5:3-4Rom 10:2-4Gal 3:10-11Gal 3:21Isa 51:1 Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 1Co 1:23Luk 7:231Pe 2:8Rom 11:11Rom 4:16Act 16:30-34Jhn 6:27-29Luk 2:34 as it is written: Isa 28:16Isa 8:14-15Rom 10:11Jol 2:26-271Pe 2:6-8Psa 118:22Psa 25:2-3Rom 5:5
“See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense; 13
and the one who believes in Him
will never be put to shame.” 14