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Romans 7-9
EasyEnglish Bible

The authority of the law

7 My Christian friends, you know about laws. You know that we have to obey them. The laws have authority over someone while they are still alive. 2 So think about this. A woman who has a husband must stay with him as long as he still lives. That is what the law says. But if her husband dies, she becomes free from that law about her marriage. 3 While her husband is alive, the law has authority over her. If she goes to live with another man, the law says that she has done something wrong. People will call her an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she becomes free from that law. If she then marries another man, she will not be doing anything wrong.

4 My friends, it is like that for you too. When Christ's body died on the cross, it is as if you also died with him. Because of that, you are no longer under the authority the law. Now you are free to belong to someone else. You belong to Christ, whom God raised up after his death. As a result, we can live in a good way that will please God. 5 In our old lives, we did the bad things that we wanted to do. God's laws brought bad thoughts into our minds. As a result, our bodies did many wrong things. In the end, those bad things lead to death.[a] 6 But now we have become free from the authority of the law. It is as if we have died. So those rules no longer control us. We do not still try to obey rules that someone has written down. That is the old way. Instead, we serve God in a new way. God's Spirit helps us to please him.

God's Law teaches us about sin

7 So someone might say, ‘God's Law must be bad.’ No! Certainly, it is not bad! Without that law, I would not have known what sin really is. One rule says, ‘You must not want to take things for yourself that belong to other people.’[b] Without that command, I would not have known that it is wrong to want other people's things. 8 But the command gave sin a chance to come into my thoughts. As a result, I started to want all kinds of wrong things. If there is no law to tell us what is wrong, then sin has no power to make us guilty.

9 As for me, there was a time when I did not know God's laws. I was living without any law to obey. But when I learned about that command, sin now had power in my life. 10 As a result, I became separate from God, as if I had died.[c] So the command that should have brought life to me brought death instead. 11 That command gave sin a chance to deceive me. It caused me to become separate from God.

12 So we understand that God's Law and its commands are completely good. They are holy, fair and good.

13 But someone might say, ‘This means that something good brought death to you.’ No! God's Law did not do that! It was sin that brought death to me. Sin used God's good Law to show that I was guilty. Because of that, we can see that sin is really very bad. The commands in God's Law help to show that sin is completely bad.

The power of sin in our lives

14 We understand that God's Law is spiritual. But I am weak and human. I am like a slave that has sin as my master. 15 I do not understand the things that I do. I do not do the good things that I want to do. Instead, I do the things that I hate to do. 16 But I do not want to do those wrong things. So I am agreeing that God's Law is good. 17 So it is not really I myself who am doing those wrong things. Instead, sin has power in my life. It is sin that causes me to do wrong things.

18 I know that there is nothing good in me. I am weak and human. I want to do what is good. But I am unable to do it. 19 I do not do the good things that I want to do. Instead, I continue to do the bad things that I do not want to do. 20 So, when I do bad things that I do not want to do, it is not really I myself who do them. It is sin that causes me to do wrong things, because it has power in my life.

21 So I understand what is happening in me. Whenever I want to do something good, I can only choose something bad. 22 Deep inside myself, I really love God's laws. 23 So my mind tells me to obey God's laws. But my body wants to make me do something else. Every part of me fights against what my mind tells me to do. Sin has power over my body so that I am like a prisoner. 24 This makes me very sad! My body is leading me to death. I need someone to make me free from the power of sin over my body. 25 I thank God! He has made me free, because of what Jesus Christ has done.

So with my mind I want to obey God's laws. But, at the same time, I serve sin as my master, because I am weak and human.

We can live by God's Spirit

8 Now we know this: God has forgiven those people who are united with Christ Jesus. God will never say that they are guilty. 2 If you belong to Christ Jesus, God's Spirit has given you a new life. God's Spirit now rules in your life and he has made you free. Sin and death no longer have authority over you.

3 The Law that God gave to Moses could not make us free like that. We were too weak to obey his Law because we are human. But God has done what his Law could not do. He sent his own Son to become a person like us. His human body was like the body of people who do wrong things. God's Son died as a sacrifice to take away the punishment for our sins. In that way, God destroyed the power of sin over people who are weak and human. 4 God did this so that we could become right with him. God's Law showed us how to be right with him. And now we can be right with God, if we live with God's Spirit as our guide. We do not do what our weak human thoughts want us to do.

5 Some people do what their weak human thoughts want them to do. They think about the things that will make themselves happy. But people who live with God's Spirit as their guide think about what will make God's Spirit happy. 6 People who let their human thoughts rule them will die. But people who think about what God's Spirit wants will have life with God. They will have peace inside themselves. 7 If our weak human thoughts rule us, we become God's enemies. People like that do not want to obey God's Law. They are not even able to obey it. 8 People who let their human thoughts rule them cannot make God happy.

9 But you are not like that. You no longer obey your weak human thoughts. Instead, you obey God's Spirit as your guide. That is true if God's Spirit is really living in you. But if anyone does not have Christ's Spirit in them, that person does not belong to Christ. 10 But, if Christ lives in you, you have a new life because of his Spirit. Your body will die one day because of the power of sin. But your spirit lives because Christ has made you right with God. 11 God raised Jesus, to make him alive again after his death. Now God's Spirit lives in you. So God, who raised Christ from death, will also cause your human bodies to live again. He will do that by his Spirit who lives in you.

12 So, my Christian friends, we must not obey what our weak human thoughts tell us to do. We no longer have to live like that. 13 If you agree to live in that way, you will die. Instead, you should let God's Spirit help you with his power. Then you can stop doing the wrong things that your bodies want to do. As a result, you will have life with God.

14 All those people who live with God's Spirit as their guide are God's children. 15 The Spirit that you have received from God does not make you serve him like slaves. That would make you afraid again. No. The Spirit that God has given to you causes you to become God's children. Now he takes care of you. God's Spirit makes us call God: ‘Abba, our Father.’ 16 God's Spirit himself causes us to know that we are God's children. God's Spirit and our own spirits agree that this is true. 17 Because we are God's children, we also know that we will receive good things from him. Those are the things that he has promised to give to his children. Together with Christ, we will receive the things that God has kept for him. That is true if we agree to have troubles like Christ did. Then we will also enjoy life in heaven like Christ does.

God has prepared great things for his people

18 During this time now, we have troubles and pain. But I am sure that these troubles are not really very great. One day God will show us all the great things he has prepared for us. That will make the troubles that we have now seem very small. 19 The whole universe that God has made now waits for something great to happen. Everything is waiting with hope to find out who God's children really are.

20 God has caused everything in the universe to lose its purpose. It did not choose to be like that. It was God who decided that it should be like that. Then it could hope for something better in a future time. 21 At that time, the universe will not continue to become worse and worse, as it does now. It will become free from that power. It will be free to enjoy great things from God, as God's children are also free.

22 We know that everything in the universe is still in great pain now. Everything cries together in pain, like a woman who is ready to have a baby. 23 It is the same for us who are believers. We have received God's Spirit as the first of his gifts to us, but we also cry inside ourselves. We are waiting for the time when God will finish his great work. Then we will belong to him completely as his children. Our bodies will be free from the power of sin.

24 Ever since God saved us, we have continued to wait for this to happen. One day, we will receive what we have hoped for. Then we will not need to hope for it any more. Nobody continues to hope for something that he has already. 25 But we continue to hope for what we do not yet see. And so, we wait for it patiently.

26 God's Spirit also helps us to do this. Because we are weak, we do not know how we ought to pray. But God's Spirit himself prays for us. He cries to God on our behalf in a way that nobody could say with words. 27 God sees deep inside us, and he knows our thoughts. He understands what is in the mind of his Spirit. When the Holy Spirit prays on behalf of God's people, he prays as God wants him to pray.

28 We know that God works to help those people who love him. He uses everything that happens to them to bring something good. He does this for those people that he has chosen to serve him. 29 God already had those people in his thoughts from the beginning. He decided that they should become like his Son. So then, his Son would have many younger brothers and sisters. 30 God had already chosen those people to be his children. Because of that, he called them to come to him. He accepted those people as right with himself. And those that he accepted, he also caused them to become great.

God loves us very much

31 So, because of all the things that God does for us, we can say this: If God is working on our behalf, nobody can really do anything against us. 32 God did not even keep his own Son safe. Instead, he gave his Son to die on behalf of all of us. So certainly, God will continue to be kind to us. As well as his Son, he will give to us all things that we need. 33 Nobody can say that God's people are guilty. God himself has accepted us as right with him. 34 So nobody can say that God should still punish us. Nobody can say that, because Christ Jesus himself died on our behalf. And God raised him so that he became alive again after his death. Now Christ is sitting at God's right side in heaven.[d] He himself is praying to God on our behalf.

35 Christ will always continue to love us. Nothing can stop that! We may have troubles. Things may make us sad or afraid. People may do bad things to us. We may have no food or no clothes. There may be great danger. People may even try to kill us. But none of these things can stop Christ from loving us. 36 As it says in the Bible:

‘Because we are your people, God,
    people try to kill us all the time.
They think that we are like sheep,
    and we are ready to be killed.’[e]

37 Because God loves us, none of these troubles can ever beat us. He makes us win against them. 38-39 I am sure of this. Nothing can stop God from loving us. Death cannot do that. Life cannot do that. Angels cannot do that, nor can demons do that. Nothing that happens to us now, or that will happen in a future time can do that. No powerful spirits can do that. Nothing that is high above the world can do that, nor anything that is deep down below the ground. Nothing else in the whole universe can stop God from loving us. Because of our Lord Christ Jesus, we know how much God loves us.

The Jews have not believed in Christ

9 What I am telling you is true. I speak as someone who belongs to Christ. I am not telling lies. God's Holy Spirit rules my thoughts and I am sure that I am right. 2 I tell you this: Deep inside myself, I am always very sad and upset because of Israel's people. 3 I belong to the same family as they do. They are my own people. I really want them to believe in Christ too. If it would help them, I would even ask God to curse me. I would ask him to make me separate from Christ.

4 They are Israelite people. God chose them to belong to him as his own children. He showed them that he is very great. He made many agreements with them and he gave his Law to them. He showed them how they should worship him. He promised many good things to them. 5 It was their ancestors that God chose to make great many years ago.[f] And Christ himself, as a man, was born to an Israelite family. Christ is God, who rules over all things. We should praise him for ever! This is true! Amen.

6 God promised good things to Israel's people. But I am not saying that what God promised did not happen. It is clear that not all of Israel's people are God's true people. 7 Not all of them are true descendants of Abraham. God told Abraham, ‘It is only Isaac that I will call the father of your descendants.’

8 This means that not all of Abraham's children are really God's children. It is only those children who were born as a result of God's promise. Only they are the people that God calls true descendants. 9 This is what God promised to Abraham: ‘At this time next year I will come back. Then Sarah, your wife, will have a son.’[g]

10 Remember this too: Later, Isaac's wife, Rebekah, gave birth to twins. Those two sons had the same father, who was our ancestor, Isaac. 11 And God spoke to Rebekah before her sons were born. God spoke before the boys had done anything either good or bad. God did this to show clearly that he himself was choosing one child. He was not choosing someone because of what that person had done. He himself decided who he would choose. 12 God said to Rebekah, ‘The older son will serve the younger son.’ 13 This is written in the Bible: ‘I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.’[h]

14 Because of this, someone might say that God is not fair. No! We should never say that! 15 Think about this. God said to Moses, ‘I will be kind to whoever I choose to be kind to. I will feel sorry for whoever I choose to feel sorry for.’[i] 16 So then, it is God who decides these things. It is not because of what people want. It is not because of what people do. It is because God chooses to be kind.

17 The Bible tells us what God said to Pharaoh: ‘This is why I caused you to be king of Egypt. My purpose was to show how powerful I am. As a result, people everywhere would know that I am great.’[j] 18 So we see this: God is kind to some people and he forgives them. But he causes some people, like Pharaoh, to turn against him. He chooses what he will do with each person.

God himself decides when he will be angry or kind

19 One of you may say to me, ‘God always does what he wants to do. Nobody can change what God makes them do. So God should not say that people have done wrong things.’ 20 But you are only human. You have no authority to speak against God like that. God has made you. A pot cannot speak against the person who made it! It cannot ask him, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ 21 Somebody who makes pots can choose to make any kind of pot. He can use the same piece of clay to make two different pots. One of the pots may be for special parties. The other pot is for dirty things.

22 What does that teach us about God? Some people are like pots that are ready for God to destroy. God is angry with people like that. He is ready to show his power against them. But he has chosen to wait patiently. He keeps his anger for later. 23 Other people are like valuable pots that God has chosen to make. God wants to be kind to people like that. He wants to use them to show people how great he is. He has prepared them to be with him for a special party in heaven. 24 We are those people! God has chosen us to be his people. It is not only Jews that he has chosen. He has also chosen Gentiles. 25 God says this in the book of Hosea:

‘I will say to people who were not my people,
“Now you are my people.”
I will say to people that I did not love,
“I love you.” ’[k]

26 ‘God had said to them,
“You are not my people.”
In the same place where he said that,
people will now call them “Children of God, who lives for ever.” ’[l]

27 Also, Isaiah, God's prophet, said this about Israel's people:

‘There are so many of Israel's people, nobody can count them.
They are as many as the bits of sand on the shore of the sea.
But God will save only a few of them.
28 The Lord God will finish his work quickly.
He has warned his people what he will do.
And he will punish them completely.’[m]

29 Isaiah had already said this:

‘The Lord of great power has let some of our children live.
If he had not done that, no descendants would remain.
We would have become like the people in Sodom and Gomorrah.’[n]

30 So, we must think about what all this means. The Gentiles were not trying to become right with God. But some of them have now become right with him. God has accepted them as right, because they have believed in Jesus Christ. 31 But Israel's people tried to find a law that would make them right with God. But they failed to become right with God. 32 They failed because they refused to believe in Christ. Instead, they were trying to do certain things so that God would accept them. Because of that they fell to the ground. Their feet hit the stone which causes people to fall. 33 It says this in the Bible:

‘Look, I am putting a special stone in Zion.
That stone will cause people to fall to the ground.
It is a rock that will make them fall down.
But anyone who believes in him will never be disappointed.’[o]

Footnotes

  1. 7:5 When Paul talks about death here, he means that people die in their spirits. They have become separate from God and the true life which he gives to believers. See Romans 5:12-14
  2. 7:7 When Paul talks about ‘God's Law’, he means the laws and commands that God gave to Moses for the Israelites to obey. Here, he uses one command as an example. See Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21.
  3. 7:10 Paul understood that he had not obeyed God's Law. He knew that he had become separate from God. He did not have the true life which God gives to believers. See Romans 5:12-14.
  4. 8:34 Jesus sits at the right side of God the Father. The right side is the most important place. This means that Jesus rules with the same power and authority as God himself.
  5. 8:36 See Psalms 44:22.
  6. 9:5 The ancestors of Israel's people were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. See Genesis 12—49.
  7. 9:9 See Genesis 17:21; 18:10,14.
  8. 9:13 See Malachi 1:2-3. Later, God gave Jacob the name ‘Israel’. Jacob was the ancestor of the Israelites.
  9. 9:15 See Exodus 33:19.
  10. 9:17 See Exodus 9:16.
  11. 9:25 See Hosea 2:23.
  12. 9:26 See Hosea 1:10.
  13. 9:28 See Isaiah 10:22-23.
  14. 9:29 See Isaiah 1:9 and Genesis 19:1-29. Sodom and Gomorrah were small towns. The people who lived there refused to obey God. So God destroyed those towns.
  15. 9:33 See Isaiah 28:16; 8:14 and 1 Peter 2:6-8. ‘Rock’ is one of God's names for Jesus. He is God's Messiah. It is difficult for people to believe that God will accept them only if they believe in Jesus Christ. They think that they can do good things and then he will accept them. This is why Jesus is like a rock that causes people to fall to the ground.
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Romans 7-9
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Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters(A)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.(B) 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.(C) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law(D) through the body of Christ,(E) that you might belong to another,(F) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a](G) the sinful passions aroused by the law(H) were at work in us,(I) so that we bore fruit for death.(J) 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law(K) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.(L)

The Law and Sin

7 What shall we say, then?(M) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(N) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(O) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b](P) 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(Q) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.(R) 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life(S) actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(T) deceived me,(U) and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.(V)

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good(W) to bring about my death,(X) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,(Y) sold(Z) as a slave to sin.(AA) 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.(AB) 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.(AC) 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.(AD) 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c](AE) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.(AF) 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.(AG)

21 So I find this law at work:(AH) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being(AI) I delight in God’s law;(AJ) 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war(AK) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin(AL) at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?(AM) 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!(AN)

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,(AO) but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.(AP)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation(AQ) for those who are in Christ Jesus,(AR) 2 because through Christ Jesus(AS) the law of the Spirit who gives life(AT) has set you[e] free(AU) from the law of sin(AV) and death. 3 For what the law was powerless(AW) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[f](AX) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh(AY) to be a sin offering.[g](AZ) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement(BA) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.(BB)

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;(BC) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.(BD) 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death,(BE) but the mind governed by the Spirit is life(BF) and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;(BG) it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh(BH) cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh(BI) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.(BJ) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,(BK) they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you,(BL) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[h] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead(BM) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies(BN) because of[i] his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.(BO) 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;(BP) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,(BQ) you will live.(BR)

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God(BS) are the children of God.(BT) 15 The Spirit(BU) you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;(BV) rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[j] And by him we cry, “Abba,[k] Father.”(BW) 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit(BX) that we are God’s children.(BY) 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs(BZ)—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings(CA) in order that we may also share in his glory.(CB)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.(CC) 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God(CD) to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,(CE) in hope 21 that[l] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay(CF) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.(CG)

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning(CH) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,(CI) groan(CJ) inwardly as we wait eagerly(CK) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.(CL) 24 For in this hope we were saved.(CM) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.(CN) Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.(CO)

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit(CP) himself intercedes for us(CQ) through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts(CR) knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes(CS) for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good(CT) of those who love him, who[m] have been called(CU) according to his purpose.(CV) 29 For those God foreknew(CW) he also predestined(CX) to be conformed to the image of his Son,(CY) that he might be the firstborn(CZ) among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined,(DA) he also called;(DB) those he called, he also justified;(DC) those he justified, he also glorified.(DD)

More Than Conquerors

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things?(DE) If God is for us,(DF) who can be against us?(DG) 32 He who did not spare his own Son,(DH) but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge(DI) against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns?(DJ) No one. Christ Jesus who died(DK)—more than that, who was raised to life(DL)—is at the right hand of God(DM) and is also interceding for us.(DN) 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?(DO) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?(DP) 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[n](DQ)

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors(DR) through him who loved us.(DS) 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[o] neither the present nor the future,(DT) nor any powers,(DU) 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God(DV) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(DW)

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,(DX) my conscience confirms(DY) it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself(DZ) were cursed(EA) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,(EB) those of my own race,(EC) 4 the people of Israel.(ED) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;(EE) theirs the divine glory,(EF) the covenants,(EG) the receiving of the law,(EH) the temple worship(EI) and the promises.(EJ) 5 Theirs are the patriarchs,(EK) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,(EL) who is God over all,(EM) forever praised![p](EN) Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

6 It is not as though God’s word(EO) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.(EP) 7 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.”[q](EQ) 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,(ER) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.(ES) 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”[r](ET)

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

14 What then shall we say?(EZ) Is God unjust? Not at all!(FA) 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.”[u](FB)

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.(FC) 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.”[v](FD) 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.(FE)

19 One of you will say to me:(FF) “Then why does God still blame us?(FG) For who is able to resist his will?”(FH) 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(FI) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,(FJ) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[w](FK) 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?(FL)

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience(FM) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?(FN) 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory(FO) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory(FP)— 24 even us, whom he also called,(FQ) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(FR) 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,”[x](FS)

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.’”[y](FT)

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

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

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

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

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What then shall we say?(FZ) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;(GA) 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,(GB) have not attained their goal.(GC) 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(GD) 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.”[ab](GE)

Footnotes

  1. Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
  2. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
  3. Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
  4. Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh
  5. Romans 8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me
  6. Romans 8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.
  7. Romans 8:3 Or flesh, for sin
  8. Romans 8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive
  9. Romans 8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through
  10. Romans 8:15 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture; also in verse 23.
  11. Romans 8:15 Aramaic for father
  12. Romans 8:21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For
  13. Romans 8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—with those who
  14. Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:22
  15. Romans 8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers
  16. Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
  17. Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
  18. Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
  19. Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
  20. Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
  21. Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
  22. Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
  23. Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
  24. Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
  25. Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
  26. Romans 9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)
  27. Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
  28. Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
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