Israel’s Rejection of Christ
I atell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 athat I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For aI could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, ato whom pertain the adoption, bthe glory, cthe covenants, dthe giving of the law, ethe service of God, and fthe promises; 5 aof whom are the fathers and from bwhom, according to the flesh, Christ came, cwho is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose
6 aBut it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For bthey are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 anor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, b“In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but athe children of the promise are counted as the seed. 9 For this is the word of promise: a“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only this, but when aRebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (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 aHim who calls), 12 it was said to her, a“The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, a“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice
14 What shall we say then? aIs there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, a“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For athe Scripture says to the Pharaoh, b“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.” 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He ahardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For awho has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? aWill the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the apotter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make bone vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering athe vessels of wrath bprepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known athe riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had bprepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He acalled, bnot of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea:
a“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
26 “Anda 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.”
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
a“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
bThe remnant will be saved.
28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
aBecause the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”
29 And as Isaiah said before:
a“Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
bWe would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”
Present Condition of Israel
30 What shall we say then? aThat Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, beven the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, apursuing the law of righteousness, bhas not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For athey stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
a“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And bwhoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
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