羅馬書 9
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
上帝的選民
9 我在基督裡說真話，絕無謊言。我被聖靈感動的良心可以作證， 2 我心裡極為憂愁，痛苦不止！ 3 為了我的弟兄——我的同胞以色列人，即使我自己被咒詛、與基督隔絕，我也願意！ 4 身為以色列人，他們擁有上帝兒子的名分、上帝的榮耀、諸約、律法、聖殿敬拜和各種應許。 5 蒙揀選的族長是他們的先祖，基督降世為人也是做以色列人。祂是至大至尊，永遠當受稱頌的上帝。阿們！
6 當然，這並不表示上帝的話落了空，因為從以色列生的，不一定都是以色列人， 7 亞伯拉罕的後裔不一定都是亞伯拉罕的兒女，聖經上說：「以撒生的才可算為你的後裔。」 8 這話的意思是：亞伯拉罕憑血氣所生的兒女並不是上帝的兒女，只有憑應許所生的才算是他的後裔。 9 因為上帝曾這樣應許他：「明年這時候，我會再來，撒拉必生一個兒子。」
10 後來，利百加和我們的先祖以撒結婚，懷了雙胞胎。 11 在這對孩子還未出生，還沒有顯出誰善誰惡之前，上帝為了顯明自己揀選人並不是按人的行為，而是按祂自己的旨意， 12 便對利百加說：「將來大的要服侍小的。」 13 正如聖經上說：「我愛雅各，厭惡以掃。」
14 這樣看來，我們該怎麼下結論呢？難道上帝不公平嗎？當然不是。 15 祂曾對摩西說：
「我要憐憫誰就憐憫誰，
要恩待誰就恩待誰。」
16 可見這並不在於人的意志和努力，而在於祂的憐憫。 17 聖經記載著上帝對法老說的話：「我使你興起是為了在你身上彰顯我的權能，使我的名傳遍天下。」 18 總之，上帝要憐憫誰，就憐憫誰；要叫誰頑固，就叫誰頑固。
上帝的烈怒和憐憫
19 這樣，你肯定會對我說：「為什麼上帝還指責人呢？誰能抗拒祂的旨意呢？」 20 你這個人啊！你是誰啊？竟敢頂撞上帝！受造之物怎能對造物主說：「你為什麼把我造成這樣？」 21 陶匠難道不可以從一團泥中拿一部分造貴重的器皿，又拿一部分造平凡的器皿嗎？
22 倘若上帝要顯示祂的烈怒和權能，就儘量容忍那些祂預備要毀滅的器皿， 23 以便在那些祂憐憫並預備賜予榮耀的器皿上彰顯祂豐盛的榮耀，這難道不可以嗎？ 24 那些蒙憐憫的器皿就是我們這些從猶太人和外族人中被上帝呼召的人。 25 正如上帝在《何西阿書》上說：
「本來不是我子民的，
我要稱他們為『我的子民』；
本來不是我所愛的，
我要稱他們為『我所愛的』。
26 從前我在什麼地方對他們說，
『你們不是我的子民。』
將來也要在那裡對他們說，
『你們是永活上帝的兒女。』」
27 關於以色列人，以賽亞先知曾疾呼：
「以色列人雖多如海沙，
但得救的只是剩餘的人，
28 因為上帝要在世上迅速、
徹底地執行祂的判決。」
29 以賽亞又說：
「若不是萬軍之主給我們存留後裔，
我們早就像所多瑪和蛾摩拉一樣滅亡了。」
以色列人和福音
30 這樣看來，我們該說什麼呢？本來不追求義的外族人卻因信而得到了義。 31 以色列人靠遵行律法追求義，卻徒勞無功。 32 為什麼會這樣呢？因為他們不憑信心，只靠自己的行為去追求義，結果就在那塊「絆腳石」上跌倒了。 33 正如聖經上說：
「看啊！我在錫安放了一塊絆腳石，
一塊使人跌倒的磐石。
但信靠祂的人必不致蒙羞。」
Romans 9
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
God’s Election of Israel
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever.[a] Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants. 9 For this is what the promise said, “About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 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 his call, 12 she was told, “The elder will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 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.” 16 So it depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills.
God’s Wrath and Mercy
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”[b] 20 But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me thus?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
25 As indeed he says in Hose′a,
“Those who were not my people
I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved
I will call ‘my beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us children,
we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomor′rah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued the righteousness which is based on law did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble,
a rock that will make them fall;
and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Footnotes
- Romans 9:5 Or Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever
- 9.19-24 Paul’s words here, taken by themselves, seem to leave no room for moral responsibility; but they must be taken in conjunction with other passages; see chapters 1 and 2.
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.