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Romans 9

Paul defends God’s faithfulness and freedom to show mercy while grieving Israel’s unbelief and pointing to righteousness through faith.

Paul writes to the Roman believers with sorrow over his fellow Israelites, whose privileges include the covenants and Christ’s human ancestry. Their unbelief raises a question about whether God’s word has failed. Paul traces God’s promise through Isaac and Jacob, then addresses objections about mercy, hardening, and God’s right as Creator. He draws on Scripture to describe God’s calling of Jews and Gentiles, ending with Israel’s stumbling and the righteousness received through faith.

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1I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit
2that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
3For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh
4who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;
5of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
6But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel.
7Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.”
8That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs.
9For this is a word of promise: “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”
10Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac.
11For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,
13Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
15For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.
17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
19You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?”
20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
21Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?
22What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory—
24us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
25As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”
26“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
27Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;
28for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”
29As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.”
30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;
31but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness.
32Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Romans 9:23God’s preparation of vessels of mercy for glory places his generous purpose within Paul’s difficult discussion of wrath and patience.
Romans 9:25This quotation supports Paul’s claim that God’s call extends to Gentiles, granting belonging where there had been exclusion.
Romans 9:33The closing stone image brings Israel’s stumbling and the promise to those who believe into a single scriptural picture.
Where this chapter reaches

Genesis supplies the family history and promises concerning Isaac and Jacob, while Exodus supplies God’s words about mercy to Moses and his purpose for Pharaoh. Isaiah supplies quotations about Israel’s surviving remnant and the stone in Zion, joining the themes of judgment, preservation, and faith.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does Paul’s sorrow for his relatives shape your reading of his claims about God’s mercy?

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What questions remain for you as Paul moves from God’s sovereign choice to Israel’s pursuit of righteousness?

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Questions people ask about Romans 9

What does Romans 9 mean by “they are not all Israel that are of Israel”?

Paul distinguishes descent from Israel from belonging to the people defined by God’s promise. Isaac and Jacob illustrate how God’s calling shapes that people within Abraham’s family. This distinction supports his claim that Israel’s unbelief does not mean God’s word has failed, while the chapter also includes Gentiles among those called.

Why does God harden Pharaoh in Romans 9?

Paul cites God’s purpose for Pharaoh: to display his power and make his name known throughout the earth. He then affirms God’s freedom in mercy and hardening. When the objection about human responsibility follows, Paul appeals to the Creator’s authority; he does not explain every aspect of how hardening works.

Who is the stumbling stone in Romans 9:33?

The stone points to Christ, whose place in God’s saving purpose becomes an offense to those who do not believe. Paul uses Isaiah’s stone imagery to explain Israel’s stumbling in its pursuit of righteousness through works. The same verse promises that the person who believes in him will not be disappointed.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).