1 I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying; my conscience by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me

I am telling the truth because I belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit tells my heart that I am not lying.

2 T hat I have bitter grief and incessant anguish in my heart.

I have much sorrow. The pain in my heart never leaves.

3 F or I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off and banished from Christ for the sake of my brethren and instead of them, my natural kinsmen and my fellow countrymen.

I could even wish that I might be kept from being with Christ if that would help my people to be saved from the punishment of sin. They are of my own flesh and blood.

4 F or they are Israelites, and to them belong God’s adoption and the glorious Presence (Shekinah). With them were the special covenants made, to them was the Law given. To them worship was revealed and promises announced.

They are Jews and are the people God chose for Himself. He shared His shining-greatness with them and gave them His Law and a way to worship. They have His promises.

5 T o them belong the patriarchs, and as far as His natural descent was concerned, from them is the Christ, Who is exalted and supreme over all, God, blessed forever! Amen (so let it be).

The early preachers came from this family. Christ Himself was born of flesh from this family and He is over all things. May God be honored and thanked forever. Let it be so.

6 H owever, it is not as though God’s Word had failed. For it is not everybody who is a descendant of Jacob (Israel) who belongs to Israel.

I am not saying that God did not keep His promises. Not all the Jews are people God chose for Himself.

7 A nd they are not all the children of Abraham because they are by blood his descendants. No, Your descendants will be called and counted through the line of Isaac.

Not all of Abraham’s family are children of God. God told Abraham, “Only the family of Isaac will be called your family.”

8 T hat is to say, it is not the children of the body who are made God’s children, but it is the offspring to whom the promise applies that shall be counted descendants.

This means that children born to Abraham are not all children of God. Only those that are born because of God’s promise to Abraham are His children.

9 F or this is what the promise said, About this time will I return and Sarah shall have a son.

This was the promise God made: “About this time next year I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”

10 A nd not only that, but this too: Rebecca conceived by our forefather Isaac,

Not only this, but there was Rebecca also. Rebecca gave birth to two sons at the same time. Both of them were sons of Isaac.

11 A nd the children were yet unborn and had so far done nothing either good or evil. Even so, in order further to carry out God’s purpose of selection (election, choice), which depends not on works or what men can do, but on Him Who calls,

Even before the two sons were born, we see God’s plan of choosing. God could choose whom He wanted. It could not be changed because of anything the older son tried to do about it. It was before either one had done anything good or bad.

12 I t was said to her that the elder should serve the younger.

Rebecca was told, “The older son will work for the younger son.”

13 A s it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (held in relative disregard in comparison with My feeling for Jacob).

The Holy Writings say, “I loved Jacob, but hated Esau.”

14 W hat shall we conclude then? Is there injustice upon God’s part? Certainly not!

What about it then? Can we say that God is not fair? No, not at all!

15 F or He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion (pity) on whom I will have compassion.

God said to Moses, “I will have loving-kindness and loving-pity for anyone I want to.”

16 S o then is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God’s mercy.

These good things from God are not given to someone because he wants them or works to get them. They are given because of His loving-kindness.

17 F or the Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for this very purpose of displaying My power in you, so that My name may be proclaimed the whole world over.

The Holy Writings say to Pharaoh, “I made you leader for this reason: I used you to show My power. I used you to make My name known over all the world.”

18 S o then He has mercy on whomever He wills (chooses) and He hardens (makes stubborn and unyielding the heart of) whomever He wills.

So God has loving-kindness for those He wants to. He makes some have hard hearts if He wants to.

19 Y ou will say to me, Why then does He still find fault and blame us ? For who can resist and withstand His will?

But you will ask me, “Why does God blame men for what they do? Who can go against what God wants?”

20 B ut who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?

Who are you to talk back to God? A pot being made from clay does not talk to the man making it and say, “Why did you make me like this?”

21 H as the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same mass (lump) one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use, and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use?

The man making the pots has the right to use the clay as he wants to. He can make two pots from the same piece of clay. One can have an important use. The other one can be of little use.

22 W hat if God, although fully intending to show His wrath and to make known His power and authority, has tolerated with much patience the vessels (objects) of anger which are ripe for destruction?

It may be that God wants to show His power and His anger against sin. He waits a long time on some men who are ready to be destroyed.

23 A nd He thus purposes to make known and show the wealth of His glory in the vessels (objects) of His mercy which He has prepared beforehand for glory,

God also wanted to show His shining-greatness to those He has given His loving-kindness. He made them ready for His shining-greatness from the beginning.

24 E ven including ourselves whom He has called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles (heathen)?

We are the ones He chose. He did not only choose Jews. He also chose some from among the people who are not Jews.

25 J ust as He says in Hosea, Those who were not My people I will call My people, and her who was not beloved My beloved.

In the Book of Hosea He says, “Those who are not My people, I will call, ‘My people.’ Those who are not loved, I will call, ‘My loved ones.’”

26 A nd it shall be that in the very place where it was said to them, You are not My people, they shall be called sons of the living God.

“And where it said, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called sons of the living God.”

27 A nd Isaiah calls out (solemnly cries aloud) over Israel: Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, only the remnant (a small part of them) will be saved '> from perdition, condemnation, judgment]!

Isaiah says this about the Jews, “Even if there are as many Jews as the sand by the sea, only a few of them will be saved from the punishment of sin.

28 F or the Lord will execute His sentence upon the earth, rigorously cutting it short in His justice.

For the Lord will do on earth what He says in His Word. He will work fast when He says what will happen here.”

29 I t is as Isaiah predicted, If the Lord of hosts had not left us a seed, we would have fared like Sodom and have been made like Gomorrah.

Isaiah said also, “If God had not left some of the Jews, we would have all been destroyed like the people who lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

30 W hat shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not follow after righteousness have attained it by faith,

What are we to say about these things? The people who are not Jews were not made right with God by the Law. They were made right with God because they put their trust in Him.

31 W hereas Israel, though ever in pursuit of a law of righteousness (right standing with God), actually did not succeed in fulfilling the Law.

The Jews tried to be right with God by obeying the Law, but they did not become right with God.

32 F or what reason? Because not through faith, relying on the merit of their works. They have stumbled over the Stumbling Stone.

Why? Because they did not put their trust in God. They tried to be right with God by working for it. They tripped over the most important Stone (Christ).

33 A s it is written, Behold I am laying in Zion a Stone that will make men stumble, a Rock that will make them fall; but he who believes in Him shall not be put to shame nor be disappointed in his expectations.

The Holy Writings say, “See! I put in Jerusalem a Stone that people will trip over. It is a Rock that will make them fall. But the person who puts his trust in the Rock (Christ) will not be put to shame.”