‏ Romans 9

Summary for Rom 9:1-11:32: 9:1–11:36  ^a In this section, Paul takes up the problem raised by the unbelief of so many Jews. If God had promised salvation to Israel yet so few Jews were being saved, how could Jesus truly be the fulfillment of God’s plan (9:1-5  ^b)? In his response to this objection, Paul cites the Old Testament as evidence that God had always intended to save only a remnant of Israel (9:6-29  ^c), and he faults the Jews for refusing to embrace Christ (9:30–10:21  ^d). Paul then shows that God has not discarded Israel from his plan of salvation. Many Jews have already believed in Christ (11:1-10  ^e), and many more will believe in the future (11:12-26  ^f).
Summary for Rom 9:2-3: 9:2-3  ^g Paul does not explicitly say why he has such bitter sorrow for his Jewish brothers and sisters. Yet his willingness to become cursed on their behalf if that would save them makes clear that the failure of most Jews to respond to Jesus and be saved stimulated his agony (see also 10:1  ^h).
9:3  ⁱ I would be willing to be forever cursed (Greek anathema): Anathema is used in the Greek Old Testament to translate a Hebrew expression that means “set apart for God,” which usually has the negative sense of something destined to be destroyed as an offering to God (see Lev 27:28-29  ^j; Josh 6:17-18  ^k; 7:1  ^l, 11-13  ^m; 22:20  ⁿ; 1 Sam 15:3  ^o; 1 Chr 2:7  ^p). Paul knows that he cannot, in fact, be cut off from Christ. Paul is echoing the offer of Moses, who pled with God to kill him but to spare the people (Exod 32:30-32  ^q).
9:4  ^r Up to this point in Romans, Paul has called the Jewish people Jews. His shift to people of Israel, here and throughout most of chs 9–11  ^s, is significant. Jew connotes national identity, but Israel emphasizes the covenant relationship of the people with God.

• chosen to be God’s adopted children: The Old Testament called Israel God’s son or child to emphasize that God had selected Israel to be his own people (e.g., Exod 4:22  ^t; Jer 3:19  ^u; 31:9  ^v; Hos 11:1  ^w). Israel’s adopted status meant that they received God’s blessing and promises, not that they were necessarily saved.

• covenants: The Old Testament includes several covenants between God and the people of Israel: one with Abraham (Gen 17  ^x), one with the nation through Moses at Mount Sinai (Exod 19–24  ^y), and one with David (2 Sam 7:8-16  ^z; 23:5  ^aa).
9:5  ^ab Christ came from the people of Israel, and God first made his promises of salvation to them.
9:6  ^ac are truly members of God’s people (literally are Israel): “Israel” can refer to the people of Israel in a biological sense, i.e., everyone descended from Jacob. But in the latter part of the Old Testament and in Judaism, the idea of a “righteous remnant” within Israel developed (see Isa 11:10-16  ^ad). On at least one occasion in the New Testament, Israel refers to everyone, Jew and Gentile, who belongs to God in a spiritual sense (Gal 6:16  ^ae). Paul is stating that there is now an “Israel within Israel,” a community consisting of both Jews and Gentiles who truly believe (cp. Rom 11:16-17  ^af; Gal 6:16  ^ag).
9:7  ^ah This quotation is from Gen 21:12  ^ai, which God spoke to Abraham when he was reluctant to follow Sarah’s advice to banish his son Ishmael, who was born to the slave woman Hagar. God assured Abraham that Sarah’s child, Isaac, was the son through whom God’s promises would be fulfilled.
Summary for Rom 9:10-11: 9:10-11  ^aj she gave birth to twins: No human circumstances differentiated Isaac’s sons, Jacob and Esau. Not only were they born to the same mother, but they were also conceived at the same time. Instead, Paul argues, the difference between them was of God’s choosing.
9:12  ^ak “Your older son will serve your younger son”: God spoke these words to Rebekah before the twins were born (Gen 25:23  ^al). As the older of the twins, Esau was Isaac’s natural heir. But Esau sold his birthright to Jacob and ceded his position to his brother in fulfillment of God’s promise.
9:13  ^am “I loved Jacob, but I rejected (literally hated) Esau”: Paul quotes Mal 1:2-3  ^an, where Jacob, whose other name is Israel (Gen 32:28  ^ao), stands for the nation of Israel, and Esau stands for Edom. Here, Paul is referring to them as individuals. Just as love can sometimes express a choice, so hate can express rejection. The story of Jacob and Esau illustrates how the sovereign God chooses his own people.
Summary for Rom 9:14-16: 9:14-16  ^ap God’s choice is not unfair because he owes nothing to his sinful creatures (see study note on 4:4-5).
9:15  ^aq This quotation from Exod 33:19  ^ar focuses on God’s nature: God is free from obligation or constraint in bestowing mercy on people.
9:17  ^as God told Pharaoh: At God’s direction, Moses had asked Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave Egypt for their own land (Exod 9:16  ^at). When Pharaoh stubbornly refused, God displayed miracle after miracle to convince Israel, Pharaoh, and the Egyptians of God’s power and authority (see Exod 6:7  ^au; 7:5  ^av; 9:14-16  ^aw; 14:31  ^ax).
9:18  ^ay he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen: Pharaoh refused to let Israel go because his heart was hardened. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exod 9:12  ^az), and Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exod 8:15  ^ba).
Summary for Rom 9:20-21: 9:20-21  ^bb See Isa 29:16  ^bc; 45:9-10  ^bd.
Summary for Rom 9:24-26: 9:24-26  ^be God was free to select people from the Jews who would have a true spiritual relationship with him; similarly, he was also free to choose some from the Gentiles to be saved as well. Paul uses the prophecy of Hosea to reinforce his point. Hosea predicted that God would renew his mercy to the ten northern tribes that had rebelled against God and were under his judgment. Paul saw a principle that applies to Gentiles as well.

• Those who were not my people: See study note on 10:19.
Summary for Rom 9:27-28: 9:27-28  ^bf only a remnant will be saved: So many Israelites had turned from God that the Old Testament prophets spoke of a true spiritual Israel within the larger nation of Israel (see Isa 11:10-16  ^bg). The remnant would receive salvation, while the rest of the Israelites would suffer condemnation.
9:29  ^bh The destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19  ^bi) is a poignant illustration of the reality and severity of God’s judgment.
9:31  ^bj who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law (literally who pursued the law of righteousness): Law of righteousness is an idiom that means “righteousness through the law.”
Summary for Rom 9:32-33: 9:32-33  ^bk The great rock in their path is Christ. People either build on him by putting their faith in him, or they stumble over his message that faith, and not human works, is the key to getting right with God.
9:33  ^bl This quotation is from Isa 8:14  ^bm; 28:16  ^bn. These two texts, along with Ps 118:22  ^bo, are also quoted together in 1 Pet 2:6-8  ^bp. The early church likely had a collection of messianic “stone” quotations from the Old Testament that they used to illuminate the significance of Christ (see also Matt 21:42  ^bq).

‏ Romans 10

10:2  ^br Zeal denotes a passionate and commendable commitment to God and his purposes (see Num 25:6-13  ^bs). But in Paul’s day Jewish zeal was misdirected because it failed to understand that Jesus Christ is the pinnacle of God’s plan. (For Paul’s own misdirected zeal before his conversion to Christ, see Acts 9:1-2  ^bt; Gal 1:13-14  ^bu.)
10:3  ^bv God’s way of making people right with himself: See 1:17  ^bw; 3:21-26  ^bx. Paul uses this phrase to explain Israel’s failure in terms basic to the gospel. God manifested his righteousness through the ministry of Christ, but most Jews did not understand it, partly because they were so focused on the law as a way of securing their own righteousness.
10:4  ^by The function of the law was to point forward and prepare the way for the Messiah; Jesus’ coming does not destroy the law but fulfills all of its requirements, so that the primary requirement for God’s people is to believe in him (see 3:31  ^bz; Matt 5:17-18  ^ca).
10:5  ^cb requires obedience to all of its commands: See Lev 18:5  ^cc, where these words encouraged the Israelites to obey the law in order to enjoy long life and prosperity in the land that God was giving them (see also Lev 26:3-13  ^cd; Deut 28:1-14  ^ce). Paul sees the implication that if people want to be right with God through the law, they can only do so by obeying all of it.
Summary for Rom 10:6-8: 10:6-8  ^cf Here Paul quotes three phrases from Deut 30:12-14  ^cg dealing with the law, and he applies them to the Good News about Christ. We do not need to go up to heaven to find Christ (and thus to be made right with God), because God has already brought him down to earth as a man. Nor do we need to go down to the place of the dead to find Christ, because God has already raised him from the dead. To find Christ, we must simply believe in the message that is close at hand.
10:13  ^ch Paul quotes Joel 2:32  ^ci, where the Lord in Hebrew is Yahweh, the personal name of God (see Exod 3:15  ^cj). However, as Rom 10:12  ^ck makes clear, the Lord in Romans is Jesus Christ. This verse shows that Christians from the time of the apostles have associated Jesus with God.
10:14  ^cl It is natural to presume that the pronoun they refers to “all who call on him” from 10:12  ^cm or “everyone” from 10:13  ^cn. While this verse probably does refer to all people, it also continues the accusation against Israel from 10:2-3  ^co (see 10:18  ^cp). Paul argues that Israel was in a position to know what God was doing through Jesus Christ, so they were culpable for their failure to understand or accept it. Israel was guilty both of failing to understand God’s plan in light of Christ (10:3-4  ^cq) and of focusing so much attention on the law that they missed Christ when he arrived (9:30-32  ^cr).
10:18  ^cs Yes, they have: Paul quotes Ps 19:4  ^ct to show that the message of Good News was universally available through creation. And by the time Paul wrote Romans, early Christian missionaries had spread the Good News through most of the Roman Empire. Most Jews would have had ample opportunity to hear the message.
10:19  ^cu rouse your jealousy ... provoke your anger: This quotation from Deut 32:21  ^cv concerns God’s punishment of Israel for their idolatry. In Paul’s day, Israel remained guilty of idolatry because it put the law in place of God himself. God’s punishment involved using the Gentiles, people who are not even a nation, to make Israel jealous and angry (Rom 11:12-32  ^cw elaborates on this theme).
10:20  ^cx This quotation is from Isa 65:1  ^cy. In Isaiah, the words people who were not looking for me refer to the people of Israel. As in Rom 9:25-26  ^cz, Paul applies them to the Gentiles to show that God has opened the way for them to be a part of the people of God.

‏ Romans 11

11:2  ^da chose from the very beginning: Before the people of Israel could do anything to earn their status, God selected them to be his people based on his grace alone.

• Elijah the prophet: In 1 Kgs 19:1-18  ^db, the apostate King Ahab had slaughtered many of the Lord’s prophets, and Ahab’s wife Jezebel threatened Elijah with the same fate. Elijah fled to the wilderness, where he bemoaned his fate. God responded with the assurance that many faithful people remained. Paul found the present situation to be somewhat parallel. While many Jews did not believe, and some were even hostile, God was (and is) still working to preserve a believing remnant.
11:5  ^dc a few of the people of Israel (literally a remnant): Paul returns to the Old Testament concept of the remnant that he used in 9:27-29  ^dd. This solid core of godly Israelites represents God’s pledge of his continuing faithfulness to his promises and to his people.
Summary for Rom 11:7-8: 11:7-8  ^de the hearts of the rest were hardened: This is God’s own work; God has put them into a deep sleep and shut their eyes. See Acts 13:46-48  ^df; 18:6  ^dg.
11:11  ^dh so God made salvation available to the Gentiles: The offer of salvation to the Gentiles is the purpose, not just the result, of Israel’s disobedience. Paul emphasizes that God had the salvation of Gentiles in view all along, and, ultimately, the salvation of many Jews as well.

• he wanted his own people to become jealous: The theme of jealousy comes from Deut 32:21  ^di, which Paul quoted in Rom 10:19  ^dj. The sight of Gentiles enjoying the blessings of salvation that God had promised to Israel would spur Jews to desire salvation so they could participate in those blessings as well.
Summary for Rom 11:13-14: 11:13-14  ^dk you Gentiles: Paul addresses the Gentile Christians in Rome with the practical goal of rebuking them for thinking too highly of themselves (11:20  ^dl), especially in relation to their Jewish brothers and sisters. He shows that their enjoyment of salvation depends entirely on God’s kindness (11:22  ^dm) and that God’s final goal is to stimulate repentance among the Jews (11:23  ^dn).

• I stress this: Paul devoted himself to the conversion of Gentiles because he knew that their salvation would ultimately lead to salvation for Jews as well.
11:15  ^do The context emphasizes God’s role in hardening many Jews (11:7-10  ^dp), so the phrase their rejection likely means God’s rejection of the unbelieving Jews.

• Their acceptance then refers to God’s acceptance of Jews into his Kingdom (see also 14:3  ^dq and 15:7  ^dr).

• While the phrase life for those who were dead could refer to the new spiritual life that comes to the Jews as a result of their conversion to Christ (see 6:13  ^ds), the language more naturally suggests the physical resurrection from the dead that occurs when Christ returns in glory (see, e.g., 1 Thes 4:13-18  ^dt).
11:16  ^du the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy: This imagery comes from Num 15:17-21  ^dv, where God commanded the Israelites to take part of their first batch of dough and set it aside as a gift. God’s promises to and blessings on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were like a down payment, guaranteeing the completion of God’s work among his people.
Summary for Rom 11:17-24: 11:17-24  ^dw In Paul’s extended metaphor, God’s special olive tree refers to the people of God. The image is a natural one, because the olive tree is the most widely cultivated fruit tree in the Mediterranean basin, and it was already used as a symbol of Israel in the Old Testament (Jer 11:16  ^dx; Hos 14:5-6  ^dy). Paul refers to the Gentile Christians as branches from a wild olive tree because they were not originally included among the people of God.
11:18  ^dz You are just a branch, not the root: By the time Paul wrote to the church in Rome, it was composed mainly of Gentiles, a common situation in the early Christian communities. This dominant role led many Gentile Christians to brag about their status, while treating Jews and their religious heritage with disdain. Paul reminds the Gentile believers that they enjoy God’s blessings only because they have been included in the one people of God, who are rooted in God’s promises to Israel.
11:20  ^ea fear what could happen: In Scripture, fear often means a reverential awe of God that includes the recognition that we must one day stand before him in judgment (see 2 Cor 5:11  ^eb; 7:1  ^ec, 11  ^ed, 15  ^ee; Phil 2:12  ^ef; Col 3:22  ^eg).
11:22  ^eh if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off: Scripture consistently emphasizes that only believers who persevere to the end will be saved. However, Paul’s warning leads to debate over the theological implications of his statement. Some think that it implies that genuine believers can stop believing and therefore not be saved in the end. Others argue that we should not press the metaphor so far and that Paul is referring to people who appear to be believers but whose lack of real faith ultimately reveals itself.
11:24  ^ei by nature ... contrary to nature: The usual method of enhancing the yield of olive trees involved grafting a shoot from a cultivated tree onto a wild olive tree to benefit from the wild tree’s vigor. By grafting wild olive branches (Gentiles) into the cultivated olive tree (the people of God), God has done what is contrary to nature.
11:25  ^ej Paul usually uses the word mystery to refer to an event of the last days that has already been determined by God. Such a mystery already exists in heaven and is revealed to God’s people in the Christian era (see 16:25  ^ek; 1 Cor 2:1  ^el, 7  ^em; 4:1  ^en; 15:51  ^eo; Eph 1:9  ^ep; 3:3  ^eq, 4  ^er, 9  ^es; 6:19  ^et; Col 1:26  ^eu, 27  ^ev; 2:2  ^ew; 4:3  ^ex; 1 Tim 3:9  ^ey, 16  ^ez). Here, the mystery is the relationship of Jews and Gentiles in the plan of salvation, which is at the heart of this entire passage (Rom 11:11-32  ^fa).
Summary for Rom 11:26-27: 11:26-27  ^fb The phrase all Israel could refer to the total of all believers, both Jewish and Gentile; with this meaning, and so would describe the way that God works to bring salvation to all his people. Alternatively, all Israel could refer to the total of all Jews destined to believe throughout the Christian era, or to a significant number of Jews who turn to Christ in the last days. With the last meaning, and so would have a sequential meaning—after the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ, then the full number of Jews will be saved. It does not mean all Jewish people (see 2:17-29  ^fc)

• In the Old Testament, The one who rescues is the Lord. Paul almost surely is referring to Jesus Christ (see 1 Thes 1:10  ^fd).

• from Jerusalem: The Hebrew text of Isa 59:20  ^fe says that the redeemer will come to Jerusalem. Paul might have changed the wording to represent Jesus’ first coming from among the people of Israel or to speak of the second coming when Jesus will return from the heavenly Jerusalem (see Heb 12:22  ^ff).
11:32  ^fg have mercy on everyone: Everyone has the sense of “all kinds of people.” In the context of Romans, and especially this chapter, it refers to the inclusion of Gentiles alongside Jews.
11:36  ^fh everything comes from him and exists by his power: This statement is similar to statements found among Greek Stoic philosophers in their descriptions of God. Paul regularly draws on literature from the Greco-Roman world to present and clarify the truth about God and his purposes (cp. Acts 17:24-29  ^fi).