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Chapter 9

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^{1 2} I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in bearing me witness

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that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.

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For I could wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kin according to the flesh.

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They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;

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theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Messiah. God who is over all ³ be blessed forever. Amen.

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But it is not that the word of God has failed. For not all who are of Israel are Israel,

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nor are they all children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but "It is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name."

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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 descendants.

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For this is the wording of the promise, "About this time I shall return and Sarah will have a son."

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And not only that, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one husband, our father Isaac ⁴  - 

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before they had yet been born or had done anything, good or bad, in order that God's elective plan might continue,

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not by works but by his call - she was told, "The older shall serve the younger."

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As it is written: "I loved Jacob but hated Esau." ⁵

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⁶ What then are we to say? Is there injustice on the part of God? Of course not!

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For he says to Moses: "I will show mercy to whom I will, I will take pity on whom I will."

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So it depends not upon a person's will or exertion, but upon God, who shows mercy.

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For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "This is why I have raised you up, to show my power through you that my name may be proclaimed throughout the earth."

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Consequently, he has mercy upon whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills. ⁷

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⁸ You will say to me then, "Why (then) does he still find fault? For who can oppose his will?"

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But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is made say to its maker,"Why have you created me so?"

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Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one?

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What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction?

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This was to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared previously for glory,

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namely, us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.

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As indeed he says in Hosea: "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved ⁹ I will call 'beloved.'

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And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called children of the living God."

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And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "Though the number of the Israelites were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved;

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for decisively and quickly will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth."

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And as Isaiah predicted: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom and have been made like Gomorrah."

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¹⁰ What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith;

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but that Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law?

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Why not? Because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes stumbling, ¹¹

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as it is written: "Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion that will make people stumble and a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame."