Romans Chapter 9 Breakdown

1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

Paul knows all of the sins men, believers commit and therefore, he knows the terrible things that are to come which causes great sorrow in his heart.

3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Paul would stand in to be cursed for all those who he calls “brethren”. Those who Paul calls brethren are those who live in Judah as part of the original Israelites and those who are adopted into the glory and the covenants, the giving of the law, and to the service of YHWH and to His promises.

6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”

Genesis 21:12

But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.

YHWH’s word has taken effect, those who make up Israel are not only those who were born into it, as such, not all who were born into Israel are Israel.

8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.

Being of the flesh disqualifies a person from partaking in the promise.

9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

Genesis 18:10, 14

And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

There is an appointed time in which YHWH comes. At first it was to grant the child to Abraham in which the called will descend from. Now it will be the appointed time for the seed to be gathered together to Him.

10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”

Genesis 25:23

And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.”

Paul, continually quoting from the Torah, says it is not even everyone who came from the seed of Isaac who would be called. Therefore, we can understand it was not just about being descended from Abraham that made someone part of Israel. It was never about doing the works that made a person “called” or justified.

13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Malachi 1:2-3

“I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”

Esau broke YHWH’s commands and marred from forbidden peoples. Doing so placed Esau in a constant state of sin. Either way, the point is, it is not about who you are born to, whether it be Abraham or not, but how you serve the Lord.

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!

Due to the fact YHWH predestines certain people for certain positions, does that make Him Unrighteous? Paul says, certainly not.

15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

Exodus 33:19

Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

YHWH is allowed to choose to be merciful to whomever He wants because He is God. This also takes into account those who choose to try to be justified by keeping the law. You can outwardly look as if you are close to YHWH, but have no faith in who He is and what He says. But I would like to make note that Paul is quoting from the Torah as well.  

16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

The reason YHWH said this is to show it is Him, not the one who tries to earn salvation, and not the one who runs away from YHWH, but YHWH Himself.

17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”

Exodus 9:16

But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

YHWH predestines certain people for certain times, and certain events which ultimately shows His mercy and His Glory.

18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

All this goes to show that it does not matter who you were born to, you can be called if YHWH chooses to call you.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”

If no one can resist His will, why does He still punish those who are predestined to sin?

20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

We have no right to ask YHWH why He does what He does.

21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

YHWH uses His creation to advance His will.

22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Paul is stating what he believes is YHWH’s plan. YHWH wants to show His wrath and power, but so forgiving that He is holding off on the destruction. He does so in order that all His people can know His glory and mercy, that was prepared since the beginning. Those not only from Jewish descent but also from Gentiles.

25 As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.”

Hosea 2:23

Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

Paul quotes from the book of Hosea, which is extremely interesting considering this book is completely dedicated to the Norther House of Israel. These are the people who were once YHWH’s people, but were divorced, and were not His people. Paul is speaking to the gentiles, who may or may not be descendants of the Northern House. Paul is linking the gentiles to the Northern House of Israel who had been scattered across all the nations for disobeying the Law of YHWH. You will see in the passage that follows, YHWH told all of Israel this would happen. Then He tells them He will scatter them among all the nations for their disobedience. He follows it by telling them they will assimilate into the nations.

Deuteronomy 4:25-28

“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

Hosea 1:10

“Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’

Now Paul is still connecting the gentiles to the Northing Kingdom, but only he is saying they will be called back to YHWH, they are being called back to YHWH, because Yeshua has died severing the bonds which held them accountable to their sin that caused the divorce. The divorce is what did not allow them to ever return to YHWH.

27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved.

Isaiah 10:22-23

For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.

Paul quoting the prophets, a remnant of all of the Northern Kingdom will be saved, these are now the gentiles.

28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

YHWH will not take long to completely destroy all the earth.

29 And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

Isaiah 1:9

Unless the Lord of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.

YHWH did leave some of the Northern Kingdom with knowledge of who they were in order for them to be the seed to spread His word, to bring the others back into covenant with YHWH.

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

Paul asks another question to the reader, basically, are the gentiles gaining righteousness without searching for it while the Jews do not gain righteousness even though they were searching for it?

32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.

Is this due to the Jews not seeking righteousness by faith but rather by works of the God given law? They did stumble in this manner.

33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.:”

Isaiah 8:14

He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem

Isaiah 28:16

Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.

Yeshua is the stumbling stone for both houses of Israel. Paul makes this statement about both houses of Israel. They both tried to be saved through the keeping of commands. Yeshua is the foundation, because we are to have faith, and then go on to keep the commands. It is not the other way around as is keeping the commands brings faith, not faith brings the desire to keep the commands of YHWH. Separating yourself from the world, to do this we have faith, then because of that faith we choose to do our best at keeping the laws He has given to us.