CHAPTER 9
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,
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.
Theirs are
the
patriarchs,
and
from
them proceeds
the human descent
of Christ,
who
is
God
over
all,
forever
worthy of praise!
Amen.
Nor
because
they are
Abraham’s
descendants
are they all
his children.
On the contrary,
“Through
Isaac
your
offspring
will be reckoned.”
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.
For
this is
what
the promise
stated:
“At
the
appointed time
I will return,
and
Sarah
will have
a son.”
Yet
before the twins
were born
or
had done
anything
good
or
bad,
in order that
God’s
plan
of
election
might stand,
For
He says
to
Moses:
“I will have mercy on
whom
I have mercy,
and
I will have compassion on
whom
I have compassion.”
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."
Therefore
God has mercy
on whom
He wants to have mercy ,
and
He hardens
whom
He wants to harden .
But
who
are you,
O
man,
to talk back
to God?
Shall
what
is formed
say
to Him who
formed it,
“Why
have you made
me
like this?”
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?
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?
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—
As
He says
in
Hosea:
“I will call them
My
people
who are
not
My
people,
and I will call her
My beloved
who is
not
My beloved,”
and,
“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.’”
Isaiah
cries out
concerning
Israel:
“Though
the
number
of the
Israelites
is
like
the
sand
of the
sea,
only the
remnant
will be saved.
It is just as
Isaiah
predicted:
“Unless
the Lord
of Hosts
had left
us
descendants,
we would have become
like
Sodom,
we would have resembled
Gomorrah.”
What
then
will we say?
That
the Gentiles,
who
did not pursue
righteousness,
have obtained
it,
a righteousness
that is
by
faith;
Why not?
Because their pursuit was
not
by
faith,
but
as if it were
by
works.
They stumbled
over the
stumbling
stone,
as
it is written:
“See,
I lay
in
Zion
a stone
of stumbling,
and
a rock
of offense;
and
the one who
believes
in
Him
will never be put to shame.”