Now, let us move on to Chapter Nine. Take note of verse one. When you really look at the words of the author, you must genuinely ask, 'how might these things be?' The author claims to 'tell the truth in Christ.' How, exactly, does that work? How does one know such a thing? Anyone can think or believe that they are telling the truth. For many people, if they feel a thing strongly, they claim it to be true. Yet, the author of Romans is not just claiming to tell the truth, he makes the claim that the truth he tells is in Christ.
The thing we know about this author is that he never physically met Jesus in the flesh. He never sat with the apostles and listened to the man speak. His experience with Christ is more of a paranormal event. As to the truth of what the man Jesus taught, the author would have had only two channels for informational input. The first channel would necessarily be what he heard second-hand. He would have received this information from the original apostles or from those who were there at sermons and other events. The second channel would be a direct spiritual connection.
In any event, the truth is not just the truth, it is the truth in Christ. Compare the expression of this author to what Jesus said in John 8:28, Then said Jesus unto them, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” Let us assume for the sake of this argument, therefore, that the author 'only saying' what Jesus said to the author is the same as Jesus 'only saying' what God said to him.
Moreover, the author wants it to be known that he is not just making this stuff up. He feels certain of the verity of the message he relays and is, himself, assuaged by his own conscience in the Holy Ghost. Let it be noted that if the conscience is “in” the Holy Ghost, the two are not separate or far removed. What we must see is that the Holy Spirit is an active agent within the mind of the author – an open conduit through which the truth may pass from Christ to the author.
Verses two through five: The author's sorrow is conveyed, in verse two, in relation to his conscience. Here, the author's conscience burns. It is a source of grief. His deep and continuing sorrow may point to a sense of guilt for all the brothers and sisters who died by his hand. They were not only brothers and sisters in Christ but in the flesh as well. They were Israelites, like himself, but he may have felt that they were more worthy of their connection to God than was he. Yes, he was their kin but he was also a Roman – a matter which may have made him feel distanced from them. The author, we might assume, lived with a daily sense of personal shame.
It seems obvious that he sees himself and his Israelite kinsmen as somewhat separate and he states, without reserve, that if it were possible, he would gladly give up his own salvation for their good. They were the ones, after all, who bore the glory of the 'chosen of God'. To them pertained not only both covenants but adoption as well. In that they were called to serve God, they were blessed. To only the Israelites were given the laws of God and to them, also, were given the promises. The fathers of the nation, the patriarchs, Moses, Abraham, etc – they were their fathers. Finally, it was to none but the flesh and blood Israelites that Christ came as Messiah. Christ is over all and blessed by God forever.
At the end of verse five, the author makes the utterance, “Amen.” The word means 'so be it.' This would be akin to the proclamation, 'Hear! Hear!' It would be like saying, 'I couldn't agree more' or 'the feeling is mutual.' All of these expressions are used to show acceptance of a situation or truth.
Verses six through thirteen: Who are the Israelites? These verses give us a sense of who the author is referring to. He had just put forth that, for their sake, he would offer his own redemption. Why would he say such a thing? Some of his Israelite brothers and sisters, according to the flesh, who were people he supposed to be deeper into the issues just listed, seemed, for all intents and purposes, bereft of the salvation that was offered to the 'chosen' through the Son of God. It was almost as if the word of God had been ineffective. He thinks there is another answer to the matter.
The author makes a statement that is altogether surprising. In verse six, the author states that not all Israelites are Israelites, among the chosen of God may be found the non-chosen. How strange. If they all hail from the same forefathers, the fathers of Israel, how could they not be Israel?
He claims that being the seed of Abraham is no guarantee that all of them are the children. He asserts that there is an addendum to be considered. That is, namely, “in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Such a claim begs investigation.
I submit this reference from Stackexchange for clarification: 'Concerned about what may be inferred from his lament [v.1-5], his anguish over Israel's rejection of the promised Savior, the Apostle hastens to declare that there has been no failure; God's promises have indeed been effective and do remain: this word has not failed. Some Jews have believed, and what is more, some Gentiles, too. These believers constitute the real Israel. Not all of those who are biological descendants of Abraham deserve the name - only those who have put their faith in Christ and are thus "a new creature", "the Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16) Not all the fleshly sons of Abraham are his children, "his seed"; take, for example, the children of the bondwoman and Keturah, whom he had married after Sarah's death (Genesis 16:15; 25:1-4). But, as the Apostle reminds us, it was "in Isaac" that Abraham's "seed should be called" (Genesis 21:12; Hebrews 11:18). This does not mean, however, that fleshly descent from Isaac is the guarantee of being "counted for the seed" [cf. Galatians 3:26,29]. This new understanding of "the seed" had been foretold by the Psalmist, when he put these words in the mouth of the Man, the Anointed or Christ: "But I have been appointed king by Him on Zion His holy mountain ... The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day I have begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations [LXX: τὰ ἔθνη, "the Gentiles"] for thine inheritance" [Psalm 2:6-8].*'
*Dmitry Royster, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2008), pp.234-235.*
When we think of the word 'called,' must we understand it to mean 'named?' Here, I am reminded of the word of Christ in Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” We see the chosen people of God, among whom, both physically and spiritually, many are not the chosen and, on the other hand, we see that many are called, some from Isaac, to whom was the promise. God provided a sacrifice for Isaac so that Isaac was saved from death. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, Isaac blessed Jacob over Esau.
So then, the children of flesh are not the children of God, who is spirit, but, rather, the children of promise are the children of God. Even though the whole thing about the chosen nation of God had been set in motion and played out as it did, men taking possession by their own will, God's election was still the center of God's overall plan. I see, in connection to God's election, a strong connection to faith and spirituality.
In physical and national terms, the twelve tribes of Israel came through Jacob. God favored Jacob. Salvation offered to Israel through the Messiah was a salvation offered to a small percentage of Abraham. Even here, salvation is reserved, through election, for those of the faith. Is faith in Christ at all on the order of Jacob's faith? What was Jacob's faith? Jacob had the faith to wrestle an angel of God all night, to endure physical damage, all for a blessing. Jacob went the distance, his faith endured.
The blessing that Jacob received was that he became Israel. I think the Israel of God are those who become Israel through enduring faith.
Verses fourteen through eighteen: Can we accuse a righteous God of unrighteousness? No. Many try but their failing is that they do not realize how high above us all God truly is. They try to bring God down to their level so they can make claims such as 'a loving God would not do thus and thus.' God is spirit. God has his own agenda. Just because he loves us and is willing to go to extra pains to make us his own – that in no way entails that we will have our way. God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, as he told Moses, God will have compassion on those of his own choosing.
The fact is, no man, by his wanting it so or by working really hard to make it so, can replace the will of God with his own will. It just won't happen. It will always be God's choice, and rightly so, who will receive his mercy and compassion. It will always be God's choice, and rightly so, whose heart is hardened, as in the case of Pharaoh. It will always be God's choice, and rightly so, whose life is destroyed so that the power and mercy of God's choosing may be made known through them, as in the case of the blind beggar that Jesus healed.
The fact is, if God were on our level, he would be as powerless as we are. The fact that God has power should clue us in on how things work. God is above. He creates and manipulates energy and matter. He creates and manipulates angelic beings of more power than we can imagine. God has created mankind and set the parameters by which our lives play out. Existence runs on autopilot, obeying pre-existent rules. We may not change those rules. Our reality can be a beautiful thing – like a colored image meticulously colored inside the lines. It is only in our pride that we give ourselves more choices than we actually have.
Verses nineteen through twenty-four: Of all the people on Earth, there is 'one lump' – we are all lumped together. We come from the same source, without difference. Like a potter working with clay, God may choose to create some lives for one purpose and some lives for another purpose. That is within his power and jurisdiction. Like the pots, we may only be what we are made to be. Our complaints are so much wasted breath. What foolishness it is to think we might work against God's will! What foolishness it is to ask, why would God make me this way and still find fault if I am unable to resist His will?
It is God's choice. If he deliberately makes some of us cracked and worthy to be destroyed, we will be destroyed. As to being cracked, our best course is to hope He might fill us. Though we leak through our cracks, there is still the possibility of mercy in that we may be patched. As pots go, some may be attractive and whole to be filled with water. Some may be plain and rough but suitable for potting plants – and in this, a slow leak works to the advantage of the plant in that the water does not sour. Not all pots are filled with the same thing – but consider for a moment the treasure of the Dead Sea Scrolls; consider the pots and jars that were so filled. They were not honored until they were cracked open and the treasure set free.
Verses twenty-five through thirty-three: In ending the chapter, the author refers to two of the old testament prophets. As God said through the prophet Hosea, “I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” Let us look closer. The Jewish people were the chosen people of God, the beloved of the spirit (her.) The division was between the chosen and all the rest, the gentile peoples of the world. As Jesus said in John 10:16, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
To what place does Hosea refer?
Adam Clarke Commentary: And it shall come to pass, etc. - These quotations are taken out of Hosea 1:10, where (immediately after God had rejected the ten tribes, or kingdom of Israel, Hosea 1:9, then saith God, Call his name Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God), he adds, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, that in the place in which it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. As if he had said: The decrease of numbers in the Church, by God's utterly taking away the ten tribes, ( Hosea 1:6;), shall be well supplied by what shall afterwards come to pass, by calling the Gentiles into it. They, the rejected Jews, which had been the people of God, should become a Lo-ammi - not my people. On the contrary, they, the Gentiles, who had been a Lo-ammi - not my people, should become the children of the living God. Again, Hosea 2:23: I will sow her (the Jewish Church) unto me in the earth, (alluding probably to the dispersion of the Jews over all the Roman empire; which proved a fruitful cause of preparing the Gentiles for the reception of the Gospel), and, or moreover, I will have mercy upon her, the body of the believing Gentiles, that had not obtained mercy. See Taylor.
The place is Palestine. The place is Northern Israel and the lost ten tribes that are mentioned in the letters of the new testament. As is said in James 1:1, for instance, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”
As God said through Isaiah, “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: for he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.”
To what does 'the Lord of Sabaoth' refer? It refers to the old testament title, 'the Lord of Hosts.' It is important, here, that we know exactly what the hosts of heaven are. They are the armies of God; they are destoying angels. The reference to Sodom and Gomorrha is stark. They were completely destoyed. None survived except for Lot and his family – and even among the survivors, not all survived but the wife was also destroyed so that only three came out.
Like as with Sodom and Gomorrha, the destruction and dispersal of the ten northern tribes of Israel was almost complete. Like as with Lot and his two daughters, a seed was left. That seed of the Ten Tribes was planted among the gentile nations where it grew and flourished. Yet, after all was said and done, they were as much gentile as the nations they were dispersed in.
The author of the book of Romans comes, then, to the differentiation between the people of God, the remaining southern tribes, and those who, in the book of Hosea, were declared to be not the people of God. It is the differentiation between the Jews and the Gentiles. The author makes the point that the Gentiles will be called the children of the living God through faith in his son Jesus Christ. They will be the spiritual Jews, the new elect or chosen of God. They will not replace the physical elect (there shall be one fold, and one shepherd) but will be added to the Jews. This, according to Hosea, will take place in the same physical area where they were rejected.
Faith trumps the law where the physical Jews fail in the matter of legalisms. The law had become their own works and they had rejected the cornerstone that was the son of God. All of the faithful build upon the cornerstone but to the unfaithful that cornerstone becomes a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.
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