Romans 9-11

GOD’S WORD Translation

Paul’s Concern for the Jewish People

9 As a Christian, I’m telling you the truth. I’m not lying. The Holy Spirit, along with my own thoughts, supports me in this. ² I have deep sorrow and endless heartache. ³ I wish I could be condemned and cut off from Christ for the sake of others who, like me, are Jewish by birth. ⁴ They are Israelites, God’s adopted children. They have the Lord’s glory, the pledges,^[a] Moses’ Teachings, the true worship, and the promises. ⁵ The Messiah is descended from their ancestors according to his human nature. The Messiah is God over everything, forever blessed. Amen.

⁶ Now it is not as though God’s word has failed. Clearly, not everyone descended from Israel is part of Israel ⁷ or a descendant of Abraham. However, ⌞as Scripture says,⌟ “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.” ⁸ This means that children born by natural descent ⌞from Abraham⌟ are not necessarily God’s children. Instead, children born by the promise are considered Abraham’s descendants.

⁹ For example, this is what the promise said, “I will come back at the right time, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁰ The same thing happened to Rebekah. Rebekah became pregnant by our ancestor Isaac. ¹¹ Before the children had been born or had done anything good or bad, Rebekah was told that the older child would serve the younger one. This was said to Rebekah so that God’s plan would remain a matter of his choice, ¹² a choice based on God’s call and not on anything people do.^{[b] 13} The Scriptures say, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”

¹⁴ What can we say—that God is unfair? That’s unthinkable! ¹⁵ For example, God said to Moses, “I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to.” ¹⁶ Therefore, God’s choice does not depend on a person’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

¹⁷ For example, Scripture says to Pharaoh, “I put you here for this reason: to demonstrate my power through you and to spread my name throughout the earth.” ¹⁸ Therefore, if God wants to be kind to anyone, he will be. If he wants to make someone stubborn, he will.

¹⁹ You may ask me, “Why does God still find fault with anyone? Who can resist whatever God wants to do?”

²⁰ Who do you think you are to talk back to God like that? Can an object that was made say to its maker, “Why did you make me like this?” ²¹ A potter has the right to do whatever he wants with his clay. He can make something for a special occasion or something for everyday use from the same lump of clay.

²² If God wants to demonstrate his anger and reveal his power, he can do it. But can’t he be extremely patient with people who are objects of his anger because they are headed for destruction? ²³ Can’t God also reveal the riches of his glory to people who are objects of his mercy and who he had already prepared for glory? ²⁴ This is what God did for us whom he called—whether we are Jews or not.

God Chose People Who Are Not Jewish

²⁵ As God says in Hosea:

²⁷ Isaiah also says about Israel:

²⁹ This is what Isaiah predicted:

³⁰ So what can we say? We can say that non-Jewish people who were not trying to gain God’s approval won his approval, an approval based on faith. ³¹ The people of Israel tried to gain God’s approval by obeying the laws in Moses’ Teachings, but they did not reach their goal. ³² Why? They didn’t rely on faith to gain God’s approval, but they relied on their own efforts. They stumbled over the rock that trips people. ³³ As Scripture says,

If You Believe You Will Be Saved

10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of the Jewish people is that they would be saved. ² I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God, but they are misguided. ³ They don’t understand ⌞how to receive⌟ God’s approval. So they try to set up their own way to get it, and they have not accepted God’s way for receiving his approval. ⁴ Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval.

⁵ Moses writes about receiving God’s approval by following his laws. He says, “The person who obeys these laws will live because he obeys them.” ⁶ However, Scripture says about God’s approval which is based on faith, “Don’t ask yourself who will go up to heaven,” (that is, to bring Christ down). ⁷ “Don’t ask who will go down into the depths,” (that is, to bring Christ back from the dead). ⁸ However, what else does it say? “This message is near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the message of faith that we spread. ⁹ If you declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. ¹⁰ By believing you receive God’s approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved. ¹¹ Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.”

¹² There is no difference between Jews and Greeks. They all have the same Lord, who gives his riches to everyone who calls on him. ¹³ So then, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ But how can people call on him if they have not believed in him? How can they believe in him if they have not heard his message? How can they hear if no one tells ⌞the Good News⌟? ¹⁵ How can people tell the Good News if no one sends them? As Scripture says, “How beautiful are the feet of the messengers who announce the Good News.” ¹⁶ But not everyone has believed the Good News.

Isaiah asks, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing the message, and the message that is heard is what Christ spoke.

¹⁸ But I ask, “Didn’t they hear that message?” Certainly they did! “The voice of the messengers has gone out into the whole world and their words to the ends of the earth.”

¹⁹ Again I ask, “Didn’t Israel understand ⌞that message⌟?” Moses was the first to say, “I will make you jealous of people who are not a nation. I will make you angry about a nation that doesn’t understand.” ²⁰ Isaiah said very boldly, “I was found by those who weren’t looking for me. I was revealed to those who weren’t asking for me.” ²¹ Then Isaiah said about Israel, “All day long I have stretched out my hands to disobedient and rebellious people.”

God’s Continuing Love for Jewish People

11 So I ask, “Has God rejected his people Israel?” That’s unthinkable! Consider this. I’m an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not rejected his people whom he knew long ago. Don’t you know what Elijah says in the Scripture passage when he complains to God about Israel? He says, ³ “Lord, they’ve killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I’m the only one left, and they’re trying to take my life.” ⁴ But what was God’s reply? God said, “I’ve kept 7,000 people for myself who have not knelt to worship Baal.” ⁵ So, as there were then, there are now a few left that God has chosen by his kindness.^{[c] 6} If they were chosen by God’s kindness, they weren’t chosen because of anything they did. Otherwise, God’s kindness wouldn’t be kindness.

⁷ So what does all this mean? It means that Israel has never achieved what it has been striving for. However, those whom God has chosen have achieved it. The minds of the rest of Israel were closed, ⁸ as Scripture says,

⁹ And David says,

¹¹ So I ask, “Has Israel stumbled so badly that it can’t get up again?” That’s unthinkable! By Israel’s failure, salvation has come to people who are not Jewish to make the Jewish people jealous. ¹² The fall of the Jewish people made the world spiritually rich. Their failure made people who are not Jewish spiritually rich. So the inclusion of Jewish people will make the world even richer.

¹³ Now, I speak to you who are not Jewish. As long as I am an apostle sent to people who are not Jewish, I bring honor to my ministry. ¹⁴ Perhaps I can make my people jealous and save some of them. ¹⁵ If Israel’s rejection means that the world has been brought back to God, what does Israel’s acceptance mean? It means that Israel has come back to life.

¹⁶ If the first handful of dough is holy, the whole batch of dough is holy. If the root is holy, the branches are holy. ¹⁷ But some of the olive branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in their place. You get your nourishment from the roots of the olive tree. ¹⁸ So don’t brag about being better than the other branches. If you brag, remember that you don’t support the root, the root supports you. ¹⁹ “Well,” you say, “Branches were cut off so that I could be grafted onto the tree.” ²⁰ That’s right! They were broken off because they didn’t believe, but you remain on the tree because you do believe. Don’t feel arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹ If God didn’t spare the natural branches, he won’t spare you, either. ²² Look at how kind and how severe God can be. He is severe to those who fell, but kind to you if you continue to hold on to his kindness. Otherwise, you, too, will be cut off ⌞from the tree⌟.

²³ If Jewish people do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted onto the tree again, because God is able to do that. ²⁴ In spite of the fact that you have been cut from a wild olive tree, you have been grafted onto a cultivated one. So wouldn’t it be easier for these natural branches to be grafted onto the olive tree they belong to?

²⁵ Brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery so that you won’t become arrogant. The minds of some Israelites have become closed until all of God’s non-Jewish people are included. ²⁶ In this way Israel as a whole will be saved, as Scripture says,

²⁸ The Good News made the Jewish people enemies because of you. But by God’s choice they are loved because of their ancestors. ²⁹ God never changes his mind when he gives gifts or when he calls someone. ³⁰ In the past, you disobeyed God. But now God has been merciful to you because of the disobedience of the Jewish people. ³¹ In the same way, the Jewish people have also disobeyed so that God may be merciful to them as he was to you. ³² God has placed all people into the prison of their own disobedience so that he could be merciful to all people.