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保罗忧愁以色列人不信

我在基督里说真话,并不谎言,有我良心被圣灵感动给我作见证。 我是大有忧愁,心里时常伤痛。 为我弟兄,我骨肉之亲,就是自己被咒诅,与基督分离,我也愿意。 他们是以色列人,那儿子的名分、荣耀、诸约、律法、礼仪、应许都是他们的; 列祖就是他们的祖宗;按肉体说,基督也是从他们出来的——他是在万有之上永远可称颂的神!阿门。 这不是说神的话落了空。因为从以色列生的,不都是以色列人; 也不因为是亚伯拉罕的后裔,就都做他的儿女,唯独“从以撒生的,才要称为你的后裔”。 这就是说,肉身所生的儿女不是神的儿女,唯独那应许的儿女才算是后裔。 因为所应许的话是这样说:“到明年这时候我要来,撒拉必生一个儿子。” 10 不但如此,还有利百加,既从一个人,就是从我们的祖宗以撒怀了孕, 11 双子还没有生下来,善恶还没有做出来——只因要显明神拣选人的旨意,不在乎人的行为,乃在乎召人的主—— 12 神就对利百加说:“将来大的要服侍小的。” 13 正如经上所记:“雅各是我所爱的,以扫是我所恶的。”

随意怜悯慈悲

14 这样,我们可说什么呢?难道神有什么不公平吗?断乎没有! 15 因他对摩西说:“我要怜悯谁就怜悯谁,要恩待谁就恩待谁。” 16 据此看来,这不在乎那定意的,也不在乎那奔跑的,只在乎发怜悯的神。 17 因为经上有话向法老说:“我将你兴起来,特要在你身上彰显我的权能,并要使我的名传遍天下。” 18 如此看来,神要怜悯谁就怜悯谁,要叫谁刚硬就叫谁刚硬。

预言外邦人蒙爱

19 这样,你必对我说:“他为什么还指责人呢?有谁抗拒他的旨意呢?” 20 你这个人哪,你是谁,竟敢向神强嘴呢?受造之物岂能对造他的说:“你为什么这样造我呢?” 21 窑匠难道没有权柄从一团泥里拿一块做成贵重的器皿,又拿一块做成卑贱的器皿吗? 22 倘若神要显明他的愤怒,彰显他的权能,就多多忍耐宽容那可怒、预备遭毁灭的器皿, 23 又要将他丰盛的荣耀彰显在那蒙怜悯、早预备得荣耀的器皿上—— 24 这器皿就是我们被神所召的,不但是从犹太人中,也是从外邦人中——这有什么不可呢? 25 就像神在何西阿书上说:“那本来不是我子民的,我要称为我的子民;本来不是蒙爱的,我要称为蒙爱的。 26 从前在什么地方对他们说‘你们不是我的子民’,将来就在那里称他们为‘永生神的儿子’。” 27 以赛亚指着以色列人喊着说:“以色列人虽多如海沙,得救的不过是剩下的余数。 28 因为主要在世上施行他的话,叫他的话都成全,速速地完结。” 29 又如以赛亚先前说过:“若不是万军之主给我们存留余种,我们早已像所多玛蛾摩拉的样子了。”

律法的义和信心的义相比

30 这样,我们可说什么呢?那本来不追求义的外邦人反得了义,就是因信而得的义; 31 以色列人追求律法的义,反得不着律法的义。 32 这是什么缘故呢?是因为他们不凭着信心求,只凭着行为求,他们正跌在那绊脚石上。 33 就如经上所记:“我在锡安放一块绊脚的石头、跌人的磐石,信靠他的人必不至于羞愧。”

上帝的选民

我在基督里说真话,绝无谎言。我被圣灵感动的良心可以作证, 我心里极为忧愁,痛苦不止! 为了我的弟兄——我的同胞以色列人,即使我自己被咒诅、与基督隔绝,我也愿意! 身为以色列人,他们拥有上帝儿子的名分、上帝的荣耀、诸约、律法、圣殿敬拜和各种应许。 蒙拣选的族长是他们的先祖,基督降世为人也是做以色列人。祂是至大至尊,永远当受称颂的上帝。阿们!

当然,这并不表示上帝的话落了空,因为从以色列生的,不一定都是以色列人, 亚伯拉罕的后裔不一定都是亚伯拉罕的儿女,圣经上说:“以撒生的才可算为你的后裔。” 这话的意思是:亚伯拉罕凭血气所生的儿女并不是上帝的儿女,只有凭应许所生的才算是他的后裔。 因为上帝曾这样应许他:“明年这时候,我会再来,撒拉必生一个儿子。”

10 后来,利百加和我们的先祖以撒结婚,怀了双胞胎。 11 在这对孩子还未出生,还没有显出谁善谁恶之前,上帝为了显明自己拣选人并不是按人的行为,而是按祂自己的旨意, 12 便对利百加说:“将来大的要服侍小的。” 13 正如圣经上说:“我爱雅各,厌恶以扫。”

14 这样看来,我们该怎么下结论呢?难道上帝不公平吗?当然不是! 15 祂曾对摩西说:

“我要怜悯谁就怜悯谁,
要恩待谁就恩待谁。”

16 可见这并不在于人的意志和努力,而在于祂的怜悯。 17 圣经记载着上帝对法老说的话:“我使你兴起是为了在你身上彰显我的权能,使我的名传遍天下。” 18 总之,上帝要怜悯谁,就怜悯谁;要叫谁顽固,就叫谁顽固。

上帝的烈怒和怜悯

19 这样,你肯定会对我说:“为什么上帝还指责人呢?谁能抗拒祂的旨意呢?” 20 你这个人啊!你是谁啊?竟敢顶撞上帝!受造之物怎能对造物主说:“你为什么把我造成这样?” 21 陶匠难道不可以从一团泥中拿一部分造贵重的器皿,又拿一部分造平凡的器皿吗?

22 倘若上帝要显示祂的烈怒和权能,就尽量容忍那些祂预备要毁灭的器皿, 23 以便在那些祂怜悯并预备赐予荣耀的器皿上彰显祂丰盛的荣耀,这难道不可以吗? 24 那些蒙怜悯的器皿就是我们这些从犹太人和外族人中被上帝呼召的人。 25 正如上帝在《何西阿书》上说:

“本来不是我子民的,
我要称他们为‘我的子民’;
本来不是我所爱的,
我要称他们为‘我所爱的’。
26 从前我在什么地方对他们说,
‘你们不是我的子民。’
将来也要在那里对他们说,
‘你们是永活上帝的儿女。’”

27 关于以色列人,以赛亚先知曾疾呼:

“以色列人虽多如海沙,
但得救的只是剩余的人,
28 因为上帝要在世上迅速、
彻底地执行祂的判决。”

29 以赛亚又说:

“若不是万军之主给我们存留后裔,
我们早就像所多玛和蛾摩拉一样灭亡了。”

以色列人和福音

30 这样看来,我们该说什么呢?本来不追求义的外族人却因信而得到了义。 31 以色列人靠遵行律法追求义,却徒劳无功。 32 为什么会这样呢?因为他们不凭信心,只靠自己的行为去追求义,结果就在那块“绊脚石”上跌倒了。 33 正如圣经上说:

“看啊!我在锡安放了一块绊脚石,
一块使人跌倒的磐石。
但信靠祂的人必不致蒙羞。”

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,(A) my conscience confirms(B) it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself(C) were cursed(D) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,(E) those of my own race,(F) the people of Israel.(G) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;(H) theirs the divine glory,(I) the covenants,(J) the receiving of the law,(K) the temple worship(L) and the promises.(M) Theirs are the patriarchs,(N) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,(O) who is God over all,(P) forever praised![a](Q) Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

It is not as though God’s word(R) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.(S) Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[b](T) In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,(U) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.(V) For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”[c](W)

10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.(X) 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad(Y)—in order that God’s purpose(Z) in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”[d](AA) 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[e](AB)

14 What then shall we say?(AC) Is God unjust? Not at all!(AD) 15 For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f](AE)

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.(AF) 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g](AG) 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.(AH)

19 One of you will say to me:(AI) “Then why does God still blame us?(AJ) For who is able to resist his will?”(AK) 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(AL) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,(AM) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h](AN) 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?(AO)

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience(AP) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?(AQ) 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory(AR) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory(AS) 24 even us, whom he also called,(AT) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(AU) 25 As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
    and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[i](AV)

26 and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
    ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”[j](AW)

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,(AX)
    only the remnant will be saved.(AY)
28 For the Lord will carry out
    his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”[k](AZ)

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty(BA)
    had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.”[l](BB)

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What then shall we say?(BC) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;(BD) 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,(BE) have not attained their goal.(BF) 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(BG) 33 As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[m](BH)

Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
  2. Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
  3. Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
  4. Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
  5. Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
  6. Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
  7. Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
  8. Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
  9. Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
  10. Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
  11. Romans 9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)
  12. Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
  13. Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.

10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;

11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

26 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.

27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.