I
am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness
in the Holy Spirit 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing
anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed
and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to
the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the
adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and
the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from
their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed
forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not
all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not
all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac
shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not
the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the
promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the
promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a
son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived
children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they
were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s
purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him
who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the
younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I
hated.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part?
By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on
whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you
up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in
all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills,
and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For
who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to
answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made
me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to
make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for
dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath
and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared
for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his
glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24
even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the
Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will
call ‘beloved.’ ”
26 “And
in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of
the living God.’ ”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number
of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will
be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon
the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah
predicted,
“If
the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue
righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31
but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did
not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did
not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled
over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and
whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
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