以色列人拒绝基督

我在基督里说真话,不是在说谎;我的良心藉着圣灵与我一同作证: 我极其忧伤,心里时常苦痛。 为了我的同胞[a],我的骨肉之亲,就算我自己被诅咒、与基督分离,我也愿意。 他们是以色列人:儿子的名份、荣耀、诸约、所赐的律法、礼仪、各样应许,都是他们的; 祖先也是他们的;照着肉身说,基督也是出自他们的——他是那在万有之上当受颂赞的神,直到永远!阿们。

神拣选以色列人

但这并不是说神的话语[b]落了空,因为由以色列所生的,并不都是以色列人; 也不因为是亚伯拉罕的后裔,就都是他的儿女;只有“从以撒生的,才会被称为你的后裔。”[c] 这就是说,肉身的儿女并不是神的儿女,只有应许的儿女才算是后裔。 原来所应许的话是这样的:“到明年[d]这时候我要来,撒拉会生一个儿子。”[e] 10 不仅如此,丽贝卡也是这样。她由一个人,就是由我们的先祖以撒怀了孕。 11 实际上,双子[f]还没有出生,也没有行善或作恶以前——为了要显明神的拣选心意不是本于人的行为,而是出于召唤人的那一位—— 12 [g]就对丽贝卡说:“大的将要服事小的。”[h] 13 正如经上所记:“我爱雅各,却恨以扫。”[i]

神公义的拣选

14 那么,我们要怎么说呢?难道神不公义吗?绝对不是! 15 因为神对摩西说:

“我要怜悯谁,就怜悯谁;
我要同情谁,就同情谁。”[j]

16 由此可见,这不在于人的意愿,也不在于人的努力[k],而在于施怜悯的神。 17 原来经上有话对法老说:

“我兴起你,正是为此:
好让我藉着你来显出我的大能,
使我的名传遍天下。”[l]

18 这样看来,神要怜悯谁,就怜悯谁;要使谁顽固,就使谁顽固。

19 那么,你会对我说:“既然如此,神为什么还要指责人呢?到底谁能抵挡他的旨意呢?” 20 哦,人哪!你到底是谁,竟然向神顶嘴呢?被造的难道可以对造它的说:“你为什么把我造成这样呢?” 21 难道陶匠没有权柄从同一团泥中,既造出贵重的器皿,又造出卑贱的器皿吗? 22 但如果神想要显出他的震怒,显明他的能力,就以极大的耐心容忍那些承受震怒的器皿,就是他早已预备要归于灭亡[m]的器皿,那又怎么样呢? 23 再者,如果这是为要将他那荣耀的丰盛显明在这些得蒙怜悯的器皿,就是他早已预备要归于荣耀的器皿上,那又怎么样呢? 24 这些器皿就是我们这些蒙召的人:不仅是从犹太人中,也是从外邦人中蒙召的人。 25 正如神在何西阿书上也说:

“我将要称那不是我子民的为‘我的子民’,
那不蒙爱的为‘蒙爱的’。[n]
26 从前在什么地方对他们说
‘你们不是我的子民’,
就在那里,他们将被称为‘永生神的儿女。’[o]

27 以赛亚论到以色列人,呼喊说:

以色列子民的人数虽然多如海沙,
将要得救的却是剩余的少数。
28 主就是要在地上
彻底、迅速地成就他的话。”[p]

29 又如以赛亚预先说过:

“要不是万军之主给我们留下后裔,
我们早就变得像所多玛格摩拉那样了。”[q]

以色列人的不信

30 那么,我们要怎么说呢?那原来没有追求义的外邦人,却得到了义,就是因信而得的义; 31 以色列人追求律法的义,却没有达到律法的义[r] 32 这是为什么呢?因为他们不是本于信,倒像是本于[s]行为去追求的,所以他们就绊倒在那“绊脚的石头”上。 33 正如经上所记:

“看哪,我在锡安放一块绊脚的石头,
是使人绊倒的磐石;
可是信靠他的人将不至于蒙羞。”[t]

Footnotes

  1. 罗马书 9:3 同胞——原文直译“兄弟”。
  2. 罗马书 9:6 神的话语——或译作“神的道”。
  3. 罗马书 9:7 《创世记》21:12。
  4. 罗马书 9:9 明年——辅助词语。
  5. 罗马书 9:9 《创世记》18:10,14。
  6. 罗马书 9:11 双子——辅助词语。
  7. 罗马书 9:12 神——辅助词语。
  8. 罗马书 9:12 《创世记》25:23。
  9. 罗马书 9:13 《玛拉基书》1:2-3。
  10. 罗马书 9:15 《出埃及记》33:19。
  11. 罗马书 9:16 努力——原文直译“奔跑”。
  12. 罗马书 9:17 《出埃及记》9:16。
  13. 罗马书 9:22 灭亡——或译作“沉沦”。
  14. 罗马书 9:25 《何西阿书》2:23。
  15. 罗马书 9:26 《何西阿书》1:10。
  16. 罗马书 9:28 《以赛亚书》10:22-23;28:22;《何西阿书》1:10。
  17. 罗马书 9:29 《以赛亚书》1:9。
  18. 罗马书 9:31 律法的义——有古抄本作“律法”。
  19. 罗马书 9:32 有古抄本附“律法上的”。
  20. 罗马书 9:33 《以赛亚书》8:14;28:16。

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

I speak the truth in Christ(A) – I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit[a] –  that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish(B) that I myself were cursed(C) and cut off[b] from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. They are Israelites,(D) and to them belong the adoption,(E) the glory,(F) the covenants,(G) the giving of the law,(H) the temple service,(I) and the promises.(J) The ancestors are theirs,(K) and from them, by physical descent,[c] came the Christ,(L) who is God(M) over all,(N) praised forever.[d](O) Amen.

God’s Gracious Election of Israel

Now it is not as though the word of God has failed,(P) because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.(Q) Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants.[e](R) On the contrary, your offspring will be traced[f] through Isaac.[g](S) That is, it is not the children by physical descent[h] who are God’s children,(T) but the children of the promise(U) are considered to be the offspring. For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.[i](V) 10 And not only that,(W) but Rebekah conceived children(X) through one man, our father Isaac. 11 For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand(Y) 12 not from works but from the one who calls – she was told, The elder will serve the younger.[j](Z) 13 As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.[k](AA)

God’s Selection Is Just

14 What should we say then?(AB) Is there injustice with God?(AC) Absolutely not!(AD) 15 For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.[l](AE) 16 So then, it does not depend on human will or effort,(AF) but on God who shows mercy.(AG) 17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason, so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth.[m](AH) 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.(AI)

19 You will say to me,(AJ) therefore, ‘Why then does he still find fault?(AK) For who resists his will? ’(AL) 20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(AM) Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this? ’(AN) 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay,(AO) to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honour and another for dishonour? 22 And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience(AP) objects of wrath prepared for destruction?(AQ) 23 And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory(AR) on objects of mercy(AS) that he prepared beforehand for glory(AT) –  24 on us, the ones he also called,(AU) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(AV) 25 As it[n] also says in Hosea,

I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.[o](AW)
26 And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not my people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.[p](AX)

27 But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

Though the number of Israelites
is like the sand of the sea,(AY)
only the remnant will be saved;(AZ)
28 since the Lord will execute his sentence
completely and decisively on the earth.[q][r](BA)

29 And just as Isaiah predicted:

If the Lord of Armies had not left us offspring,(BB)
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.[s](BC)

Israel’s Present State

30 What should we say then?(BD) Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness – namely the righteousness that comes from faith.(BE) 31 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness,(BF) has not achieved the righteousness of the law.[t](BG) 32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.[u] They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(BH) 33 As it is written,

Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
and the one who believes on him(BI)
will not be put to shame.[v](BJ)

Footnotes

  1. 9:1 Or testifying with me by the Holy Spirit
  2. 9:3 Lit to be anathema
  3. 9:5 Lit them, according to the flesh
  4. 9:5 Or the Messiah, the one who is over all, the God who is blessed forever, or Messiah. God, who is over all, be blessed forever
  5. 9:7 Lit seed
  6. 9:7 Lit called
  7. 9:7 Gn 21:12
  8. 9:8 Lit children of the flesh
  9. 9:9 Gn 18:10,14
  10. 9:12 Gn 25:23
  11. 9:13 Mal 1:2–3
  12. 9:15 Ex 33:19
  13. 9:17 Ex 9:16
  14. 9:25 Or he
  15. 9:25 Hs 2:23
  16. 9:26 Hs 1:10
  17. 9:28 Or land
  18. 9:27–28 Is 10:22–23; 28:22; Hs 1:10
  19. 9:29 Is 1:9
  20. 9:31 Other mss read the law for righteousness
  21. 9:32 Other mss add of the law
  22. 9:33 Is 8:14; 28:16