Romans 9:25-33 Bible Teaching

Final Thoughts on Romans 9

Welcome Prayer Song Silence

Congratulations! This is the final part on Romans nine. Next week we will embark on chapter ten which is a joy to teach and a lot easier information.

Romans 9.end September 26th 2021 Open Water Baptism 2021

We left off last week talking at length about God and His election. In this, Paul pulled from the Old Testament illustration of the potter and the clay . . . which we examined. Paul appears to have been anticipating arguments from the Jews about God having once chosen or elected them but had now chose or elected Gentiles. We ended with Paul summarizing his thought on the whole thing by saying:

Romans 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

So let’s read on through to the end of the chapter and see if we can wrap chapter nine up. I’m excited about wrapping nine up only because ten and eleven help explain the context and meaning of nine.

Paul's Arguments and References

Okay, verse 25.

25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 26 And 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. 27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: 28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. 29 And 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. 30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Alright back to verse 25 where Paul now adds

25 As he saith also in Hosea, “I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”

So, Paul has been saying the Lord was, according to His good will, going to reach out and call another nation His own and he supports this teaching by quoting from the very writings of Jews. Again, what Paul had been teaching was:

1. that God intended to call his people from the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

2. That he was bound by no promise and no principle of obligation to bestow salvation on all the Jews.

3. That therefore it was right for him to reject any or all of the Jews, if he chose, and cut them off from their privileges as a people, and from salvation, if they were not a people who chose faith.

Quotation from Hosea

So he quotes from a passage in Hosea (or Osea as the King James says, which is the Greek form of writing the Hebrew word Hosea). And the passage he quotes is found in Hosea 2:23 which says:

(Hosea 2:23) “And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.”

We immediately notice that how this passage is quoted in Romans 9 is not a word for word recitation of Hosea 2:23. But the general meaning is the same.

We can attribute this to Paul reading and quoting from the Greek Septuagint but the direct reading in Hosea being from the Hebrew. Or . . . we might assume it was in a “paraphrase” that Paul gives us the general meaning.

I find it refreshing that it is not word perfect and that the passage is referenced by Paul to prove a point – hat God would bring those into a covenant relation to himself, who were before deemed outcasts and strangers. This redemption of strangers and outcasts is pictured all through the scripture.

Quoting this passage

God's Choice and The Concept of the Remnant

Paul is supporting his stance that God would choose his people from among the Gentiles (as well as the Jews) and would exercise His right to bestow and/or withhold His blessings upon whomever He pleases based on His will and wisdom… and not ours. I need to pause a minute here and bring in some application to this concept. Some of us – most of us – have people we love who have not received what God is offering the world by and through His Son – regeneration of soul and spirit.

26 And 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.”

Verse 26 is a continuation of the quotation from the prophet Hosea and Paul is using it to confirm the doctrine which he has been trying to establish. In Hosea these passages did not refer to the calling of the Gentiles, but to the recalling of rejected Jews. Here God is saying that after the Jews had been rejected and scattered for their idolatry, and after they had forfeited his favor upon them and been cast off as if “they were not his people,” He would recall them and bestow them again.

That’s the setting of the Hosea passages Paul presents here. And he uses this principle to show how God will do the same thing with the gentiles. And we know this because the gentile nation was never in his favor and that we only got lost, so to speak, at the fall!

The Principle of Recalling

Paul seems to be saying that if God would recall to Himself a people whom He had rejected… if He bestowed favor on his own people after they had forfeited his love and devotion, the same thing was possible with all the Gentiles, who – LISTEN – who are also a part of his original great family–the family of man. From this perspective we are able to see how God first looked at the whole of the human race, how He chose the Nation of Israel (out of His own will) to play a special role in the panorama of the human condition, and how this would evolve into His coming back to humanity (prior to there being any nation of Israel) and redeeming them (or us) too! Praise God!

Isaiah's Prophecy

Lending more evidence of this, Paul resorts now to quoting Isaiah, saying in verse 27:

27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

According to this statement, Isaiah “cried” (or loudly and openly shared) these very sentiments with Israel. Here, using what Isaiah said toward the House of Israel, Paul is pulling from number of passages (therein) that will help him use how God has dealt with Israel to establish the idea that he would deal with the nation of Gentiles in the same way.

So as to fortify his argument on behalf of this argument, Paul turns to a set of passages that help show the principle true rather than specific examples. So here in verse 27 he begins by saying though the number of the Children of Israel is large (like the sands of the sea) a remnant of them will be saved. And if Isaiah was talking about the Jews in his time the same might be true of the Jews throughout the history of the world – after all, God did make a promise to them, and He was always good on His promises.

Paul uses the term “sand of the sea” pulling to from Genesis 22:17, where God promised Abraham, "I will multiply thy seed–as the sand which is upon the seashore." And so Paul is saying that though this was promised to Abraham and that there would be one heck of a lot of them, only a remnant would be saved. This implies that great multitudes of them would not be of faith.

I am pointing out here the concept of remnant. God has given us the concept of a remnant from very early in His work among men. Essentially, a remnant is what is left over of a people or community after a catastrophe or sifting. Let me hit on the major ones:

"Noah and his family were a remnant after the flood."

God had the COI leave a remnant in their fields after

The Concept of a Remnant in Biblical Scripture

The harvest for the poor to eat and take.

Micah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and of course Isaiah, all speak of a remnant. After the Babylonian captivity, the Jews who were not scattered but returned to Jerusalem were considered a “remnant.” Because of this established principle, I am convinced that even though Christ came and took the Bride at His return a remnant was left and His body would NEVER allow for a world-wide apostasy but that a remnant would, in fact, forever remain. To suggest otherwise is just not part of the biblical picture. In the picture Isaiah presents, after the captivity of Babylon, only a “remnant” should return to their native land with the great mass being dispersed and cast off. This is unfortunately the picture in that day of those who were truly going to be redeemed to the kingdom of heaven as Jesus said, “strait is certainly the gate and narrow the way and few be there that find it, while broad is the way to destruction.”

The State of the Kingdom Today

I want to share something I suggest is the state of affairs today with the Kingdom being established. I am convinced that God has been reconciled to the world, that the world has not been reconciled to God, and that the great percentage of human beings are and potentially will remain in that state – here and in the hereafter. I am personally convinced that very, very, very few souls will fully take advantage of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives, meaning that they too will die, be buried, and rise to new life by the same power that God raised His Son. This in NO WAY suggests a heavenly doom and shadow – the victory has been had by Christ – but the principle of few be there that find it, in my estimation remains eternally true.

Paul continues to quote from (again the Septuagint version of Isaiah) – this time from chapter 10 verse 23, saying:

28 For He (God) will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

The Hebrew translation reads:

"The Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land."

Or, as it is also translated:

"Destruction is decreed which shall make justice overflow; yea, destruction is verily determined on; the Lord Jehovah will execute it in the midst of all the land."

In the end, the passage generally means God will finish His work, bringing it to an end, or will accomplish it. Specifically, it means God will cut off His work among the Jews and in so doing will bring about righteousness to the world. Where it says, “a short work,” it means He will execute it speedily. The imagery is that “the work cut short” is evidence of God’s justice and therefore His cutting the Jews off (in the face of their faithlessness and wickedness) would end up manifesting His righteousness among the Gentiles. It seems that the design Paul had in using this passage was to show that the God of old destroyed many of the Jews for their sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace.; and that, therefore, this teaching that the Jews might be excluded now by God was no new thing.

The Seed of Hope

Finally, in verse 29, Paul appeals to yet another passage from Isaiah to strengthen his argument that the Jews were not exempt from God excluding them. And he does this (once again) by appealing to the history of the Jews (at Sodom and Gomorrah) but adds some hope in by appealing to the idea of a remnant. This is what Paul says:

29 And 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.

Here, quoting from Isaiah (chapter ten), we see the prophet of old affirming the idea that if The Lord had not provided them with a remnant, the nation would have been “as Sodom” ending up, as it were, “like Gomorrah.” Where it says the “Lord of Saboath,” it means the same thing as Lord of Hosts. If you recall, God told Abraham he was going to destroy Sodom and Abraham asked the Lord if he found fifty, then forty, and finally ten righteous, would the Lord stay His hand and not destroy it – and the Lord agreed. But there was less than ten righteous in the entire town – so the Lord destroyed it. But Lot and his family (a remnant) was saved. So

Paul's Argument on Faith and Righteousness

What Paul is saying here, citing Isaiah, is the nation of Israel was so wicked that if God had not pulled out a remnant, the whole group would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. And so this is yet another illustration Paul uses to show his Jewish audience that the Nation was not so hot, and that God, in His sovereignty, will do what is necessary to reach out to any and all who will follow Him in faith.

He brings the whole argument of chapter nine around (as I’ve pointed out over the last few weeks) here in the last verses. And the point he makes all orbits around pleasing God by and through faith of a nation and of individuals. Here we go.

The Gentiles and Faith

30 “What shall we say then?” (Paul asks – and then he answers) (We shall say) “That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.” “What conclusion shall we draw from the previous train of remarks I have made,” Paul asks the reader? “What can we assume from reading these passages I’ve provided you from the Old Testament?” he queries. Paul seems to ask this question and make this summary of his argument in order to make his point clear – that many of the Gentiles (and the way that God opened for them) was by faith – and certainly not after pursuing righteousness by or through the law.

This epistle to the Church at Rome was written as late as the year fifty seven and at that time it is believed that multitudes of heathens had embraced the Christian religion. But in contrast with the Jew and the Jewish nation, these Gentile converts had not made obedience to aspects of the Law (or even to “righteous living) a main object by which then tried to follow or live. They just believed. And I would suggest that what Paul is saying here, contextually, is that bottom line, they were sinners.

Where the Jews were filled with prejudice and pride and supposed that because they had complied with the law (which they hadn’t) and we’re God’s chosen, the Gentile nation (as a whole) did not face the obstacles of piety, pride and self-righteousness the Children of Israel had acquired over centuries of being His and having the Law. I would be willing to bet that many Gentile converts at this time remained excessively wicked in the eyes of the Jewish converts and it is highly probable that few of them pursued after righteousness the way the they did.

Where Paul says in verse 30 that these Gentiles did not “follow after righteousness” the Greek word for "followed" usually means “to pursue with intense energy, as a hunter pursues his game, or a man pursues an enemy who is running away with his property.” So, where the Jews had sought after righteousness in that way and with that fervor; the Gentiles had not. Nevertheless, Paul is telling them that even though these sinner had NOT pursued after righteousness like a man in pursuit of prey, they obtained justification!

Israel and the Law of Righteousness

31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

But Israel (Paul adds) the Jews . . . as a people (a nation) acting according to the prevalent principles of working out their own righteousness, had missed the boat and not obtained it. The word righteousness or “law of righteousness” is synonymous with justification here. The Jews, who had pursued hotly after justification through the Law never obtained it. We know why.

That law demands perfect purity – even in its external observances. It demanded holiness. The Jews supposed that they done their part and that whatever obedience they were able to offer constituted merit for justification. This was just not true – and Paul has spent all of this time – and a lot of the next chapter too, explaining why. In fact, as we will remember, in chapters 1-3 of this letter to the church at Rome Paul goes into great detail explaining how it was impossible . . . because the Law demands perfect obedience. So no individual, let alone the nation of Israel, was ever successful in establishing their own righteousness by the Law. This must have been quite humbling for a faithful Jew to read. Think about it.

You’re a devout Jew who had attempted to obey (to the best of your ability) all that you

Faith and Justification

had been taught. I mean you have toiled for decades over . . .

Sabbath days. Holy days. High Holidays. Tithes. Dress and grooming standards. Nutrition and diet. Marriage and family regulations. Purification rites. Temple observances. Rituals for oaths, rituals for leprosy. Offerings of animals small and great . . .

. . . for decades upon decades!

And now one of their own, Paul, writes a letter and tells you that your people, still adhering to these things, are not only NOT justified before God, BUT . . . but the lazy, dirty, unwashed, uncaring, apathetic, indifferent to all God once prescribed are WHOM GOD NOW CHOSE! All because they merely believe! How could this be?

What kind of God have we been following? (Some of them may have asked themselves or each other.) Answer . . . .? (beat)

A God who loves, and calls to all of His creations, so that none would be lost.

And in His marvelous wisdom, He so articulated a plan whereby one nation would serve as a picture for another, and the other nation would serve to rally the first to jealousy.

Paul's Message on Faith

In light of this it is perhaps easier to see how important a subject this is and why Paul has gone to such great lengths to try and explain it.

Paul was a very unusual man. And Philippians 3:4-7 explains why, saying:

4 . . . If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: 5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

And while this was the heart of Paul, it was certainly not the heart of his brethren the Jews.

Why? Verse 32 reiterates the problem saying:

32 Wherefore? (or why?) Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

They depended on their own righteousness, obtained (they thought) by and through the works of the law, and not on the mercy of God obtained by faith.

God's Righteousness vs. The Law

This is why Paul continues on in chapter ten, saying:

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

In ALLL that we have talked about, election, choosing, using, calling to service, and the apparent arbitrary nature of God Paul has been pointing to the fact that there is no “meriting salvation” because salvation cannot be merited by or through fallen human means. To assume it is possible is like God sticking a ten billion pound rock out in the desert and telling any and all that they can be justified by lifting it.

We might ask?

Was it fair that God would place before them this enormous boulder and then tell them to try and bear it? In other words, relative to the Nation of Israel, isn’t it God’s fault for placing this mindset before them in the first place?

In closing, and in response, God plainly stated to the Nation that it was by and through faith that He was pleased, saying in

Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”

David made it clear in Psalms 32:10, saying:

“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.”

The bottom line picture was always present with them – to place all their trust in the Lord and He would care for them.

This is why Hebrews 11 names specific Old Testament prophets and people who got it, who understood it, and did just that. And they were always the ones whom God justified.

But many stumbled or fell or tripped over this concept. It became a stumbling block to them.

An impediment to the path THEY believed had to be trod. And it – the Good News – caused many – not all, but many, to trip.

More on this next week as we sojourn into chapter ten which becomes lighter in content but revelatory in nature.

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