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 神拣选以色列人

我在基督里说真话,不说谎话;我的良心被圣灵感动为我作证。 我非常忧愁,心里时常伤痛。 为我弟兄,我骨肉之亲,就是自己被诅咒,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、律法的颁布、敬拜的礼仪、应许都是给他们的。 列祖是他们的,基督按肉体说也是从他们出来的。愿在万有之上的 神被称颂,直到永远[a]。阿们!

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是他的儿女;惟独“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,惟独那应许的儿女才算是后裔。 因为所应许的话是这样:“到明年这时候我要来,撒拉必会生一个儿子。” 10 不但如此,利百加也是这样。她从一个人,就是从我们的祖宗以撒怀了孕。 11 双胞胎还没有生下来,善恶还没有行出来,为要贯彻 神拣选人的旨意, 12 不是凭着人的行为,而是凭着那呼召人的, 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。”

14 这样,我们要怎么说呢?难道 神有什么不义吗?绝对没有! 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 由此看来,这不靠人的意愿,也不靠人的努力,只靠 神的怜悯。 17 因为经上有话对法老说:“我将你兴起来,特要在你身上彰显我的权能,为要使我的名传遍全地。” 18 由此看来, 神要怜悯谁就怜悯谁,要使谁刚硬就使谁刚硬。

 神的愤怒和怜悯

19 这样,你会对我说:“那么,他为什么还指责人呢?有谁能抗拒他的旨意呢?” 20 你这个人哪,你是谁,竟敢向 神顶嘴呢?受造之物岂会对造他的说:“你为什么把我造成这样呢?” 21 难道陶匠没有权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,难道不可多多忍耐宽容那应受愤怒、预备遭毁灭的器皿吗? 23 这是为了要把他丰盛的荣耀彰显在那蒙怜悯、早预备得荣耀的器皿上。 24 这器皿也就是我们这些蒙 神所召的,不但是从犹太人中,也是从外邦人中召来的。 25 正如 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 关于以色列人,以赛亚喊着:“虽然以色列人多如海沙,得救的将是剩下的余数, 28 因为主要在地上施行他的话,彻底而又迅速。” 29 又如以赛亚先前说过:

“若不是万军之主给我们存留余种,
我们早已变成所多玛,像蛾摩拉一样了。”

以色列人和福音

30 这样,我们要怎么说呢?那不追求义的外邦人却获得了义,就是因信而获得的义。 31 以色列人追求律法的义,反而达不到律法的义。 32 这是什么缘故呢?是因为他们不凭着信心,而是凭着行为,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,使人跌倒的磐石;
信靠他的人必不蒙羞。”

Footnotes

  1. 9.5 “基督按肉体…直到永远”:原文或译“基督按肉体说也是从他们出来的,他是在万有之上,永远可称颂的 神”。

Paul Mourns for Israel

I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My mind tells me that what I say is true. It is guided by the Holy Spirit. My heart is full of sorrow. My sadness never ends. I am so concerned about my people, who are members of my own race. I am ready to be cursed, if that would help them. I am even willing to be separated from Christ. They are the people of Israel. They have been adopted as God’s children. God’s glory belongs to them. So do the covenants. They received the law. They were taught to worship in the temple. They were given the promises. The founders of our nation belong to them. The Messiah comes from their family line. He is God over all. May he always be praised! Amen.

God’s Free Choice

I do not mean that God’s word has failed. Not everyone in the family line of Israel really belongs to Israel. Not everyone in Abraham’s family line is really his child. Not at all! Scripture says, “Your family line will continue through Isaac.” (Genesis 21:12) In other words, God’s children are not just in the family line of Abraham. Instead, they are the children God promised to him. They are the ones considered to be Abraham’s children. God promised, “I will return at the appointed time. Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18:10,14)

10 And that’s not all. Rebekah’s children were born at the same time by the same father. He was our father Isaac. 11 Here is what happened. Rebekah’s twins had not even been born. They hadn’t done anything good or bad yet. So they show that God’s purpose is based firmly on his free choice. 12 It was not because of anything they did but because of God’s choice. So Rebekah was told, “The older son will serve the younger one.” (Genesis 25:23) 13 It is written, “I chose Jacob instead of Esau.” (Malachi 1:2,3)

14 What should we say then? Is God unfair? Not at all! 15 He said to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.
    I will show love to those I love.” (Exodus 33:19)

16 So it doesn’t depend on what people want or what they do. It depends on God’s mercy. 17 In Scripture, God says to Pharaoh, “I had a special reason for making you king. I decided to use you to show my power. I wanted my name to become known everywhere on earth.” (Exodus 9:16) 18 So God does what he wants to do. He shows mercy to one person and makes another stubborn.

19 One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still blame us? Who can oppose what he wants to do?” 20 But you are a mere human being. So who are you to talk back to God? Scripture says, “Can what is made say to the one who made it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” (Isaiah 29:16; 45:9) 21 Isn’t the potter free to make different kinds of pots out of the same lump of clay? Some are for special purposes. Others are for ordinary use.

22 What if God chose to show his great anger? What if he chose to make his power known? But he put up with the people he was angry with. They were made to be destroyed. 23 What if he put up with them to show the riches of his glory to other people? Those other people are the ones he shows his mercy to. He made them to receive his glory. 24 We are those people. He has chosen us. We do not come only from the Jewish race. Many of us are not Jews. 25 God says in Hosea,

“I will call those who are not my people ‘my people.’
    I will call the one who is not my loved one ‘my loved one.’ ” (Hosea 2:23)

26 He also says,

“Once it was said to them,
    ‘You are not my people.’
    In that very place they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ” (Hosea 1:10)

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. He says,

“The number of people from Israel may be like the sand by the sea.
    But only a few of them will be saved.
28 The Lord will carry out his sentence.
    He will be quick to carry it out on earth, once and for all.” (Isaiah 10:22,23)

29 Earlier Isaiah had said,

“The Lord who rules over all
    left us children and grandchildren.
If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom.
    We would have been like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)

Israel Does Not Believe

30 What should we say then? Gentiles did not look for a way to be right with God. But they found it by having faith. 31 The people of Israel tried to obey the law to make themselves right with God. But they didn’t reach their goal of being right with God. 32 Why not? Because they tried to do it without faith. They tried to be right with God by what they did. They tripped over the stone that causes people to trip and fall. 33 It is written,

“Look! In Zion I am laying a stone that causes people to trip.
    It is a rock that makes them fall.
    The one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (Isaiah 8:14; 28:16)

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