Romans 8:19-9:33

New King James Version

¹⁹For ^(A)the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For ^(B)the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of ^[a]corruption into the glorious ^(C)liberty of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation ^(D)groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. ²³Not only that, but we also who have ^(E)the firstfruits of the Spirit, ^(F)even we ourselves groan ^(G)within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the ^(H)redemption of our body. ²⁴For we were saved in this hope, but ^(I)hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

²⁶Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For ^(J)we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but ^(K)the Spirit Himself makes intercession ^[b]for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷Now ^(L)He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints ^(M)according to the will of God.

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those ^(N)who are the called according to His purpose. ²⁹For whom ^(O)He foreknew, ^(P)He also predestined ^(Q)to be conformed to the image of His Son, ^(R)that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰Moreover whom He predestined, these He also ^(S)called; whom He called, these He also ^(T)justified; and whom He justified, these He also ^(U)glorified.

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹What then shall we say to these things? ^(V)If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²^(W)He who did not spare His own Son, but ^(X)delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? ^(Y)It is God who justifies. ³⁴^(Z)Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, ^(AA)who is even at the right hand of God, ^(AB)who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written:

^(AC)“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷^(AD)Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor ^(AE)principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

9 I ^(AF)tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, ²^(AG)that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. ³For ^(AH)I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my ^[c]countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴who are Israelites, ^(AI)to whom pertain the adoption, ^(AJ)the glory, ^(AK)the covenants, ^(AL)the giving of the law, ^(AM)the service of God, and ^(AN)the promises; ⁵^(AO)of whom are the fathers and from ^(AP)whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, ^(AQ)who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose^(AR)

⁶^(AS)But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For ^(AT)they are not all Israel who are of Israel, ⁷^(AU)nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ^(AV)“In Isaac your seed shall be called.” ⁸That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but ^(AW)the children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹For this is the word of promise: ^(AX)“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁰And not only this, but when ^(AY)Rebecca 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 ^(AZ)Him who calls), ¹²it was said to her, ^(BA)“The older shall serve the younger.” ¹³As it is written, ^(BB)“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

¹⁴What shall we say then? ^(BC)Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵For He says to Moses, ^(BD)“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷For ^(BE)the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ^(BF)“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.” ¹⁸Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He ^(BG)hardens.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For ^(BH)who has resisted His will?” ²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? ^(BI)Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹Does not the ^(BJ)potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make ^(BK)one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

²²What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering ^(BL)the vessels of wrath ^(BM)prepared for destruction, ²³and that He might make known ^(BN)the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had ^(BO)prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴even us whom He ^(BP)called, ^(BQ)not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

²⁵As He says also in Hosea:

^(BR)“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
²⁶“And^(BS) 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.”

²⁷Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

^(BT)“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
^(BU)The remnant will be saved.
²⁸For ^[d]He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
^(BV)Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

²⁹And as Isaiah said before:

^(BW)“Unless the Lord of ^[e]Sabaoth had left us a seed,
^(BX)We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

Present Condition of Israel

³⁰What shall we say then? ^(BY)That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, ^(BZ)even the righteousness of faith; ³¹but Israel, ^(CA)pursuing the law of righteousness, ^(CB)has not attained to the law ^[f]of righteousness. ³²Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, ^[g]by the works of the law. For ^(CC)they stumbled at that stumbling stone. ³³As it is written: