Romans chapters 9 and 10 take us into what Andrew Olton calls “the cloud of mystery”—a place where the clarity and joy of God’s love (as seen at the end of Romans 8) suddenly gives way to deep questions and even anguish. Paul, after celebrating that nothing can separate us from the love of God, immediately expresses great sorrow for his own people, the Israelites, who have not, as a whole, embraced their Messiah. This tension between God’s promises to Israel and the reality of their response is not just a historical curiosity; it raises profound questions about God’s faithfulness, the nature of election, and the interplay between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
Paul insists that God’s word has not failed. The promises to Israel were never simply about ethnicity or lineage; rather, they were always about God’s sovereign choice—His freedom to call, to show mercy, and to fulfill His purposes in ways that often confound human expectations. God’s election operates on multiple layers: He chose a nation, but within that nation, He also chose individuals for specific purposes. This is not about injustice, but about mercy. The very fact that anyone is saved is an act of God’s undeserved kindness, not a matter of human effort or entitlement.
Yet, Paul does not let us rest in a fatalistic view of God’s sovereignty. He holds in tension the reality that while God is utterly free and sovereign, human beings are genuinely responsible. The Gentiles, who were not seeking righteousness, have found it by faith, while many Israelites, who pursued righteousness through the law, have stumbled over Christ because they sought it by works. The mystery is not resolved, but deepened: God’s sovereign call and human response are both real, and both must be proclaimed and lived.
At the heart of it all is the simplicity and power of the gospel: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is not about religious striving, but about humble trust in God’s provision. The invitation is open to all—Jew and Gentile alike. The call is to bow the knee to God’s sovereignty, to trust in His mercy, and to respond in faith, confessing Jesus as Lord.
Romans 9:1–18 (ESV) — > I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
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> But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
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> What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Romans 10:8–13 (ESV) — > But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
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