Romans 9

New International Version

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,^(A) my conscience confirms^(B) it through the Holy Spirit— ²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For 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) ⁴the 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) ⁵Theirs 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

⁶It is not as though God’s word^(R) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^(S) ⁷Nor 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) ⁸In 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) ⁹For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[c]^(W)

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

¹⁴What then shall we say?^(AC) Is God unjust? Not at all!^(AD) ¹⁵For 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)

¹⁶It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^(AF) ¹⁷For 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) ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(AH)

¹⁹One of you will say to me:^(AI) “Then why does God still blame us?^(AJ) For who is able to resist his will?”^(AK) ²⁰But 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) ²¹Does 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)

²²What 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) ²³What 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)— ²⁴even us, whom he also called,^(AT) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(AU) ²⁵As 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)

²⁶and,

“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)

²⁷Isaiah 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)
²⁸For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”^[k]^(AZ)

²⁹It 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

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

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

Romans 6

New International Version

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

6 What shall we say, then?^(A) Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?^(B) ²By no means! We are those who have died to sin;^(C) how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized^(D) into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death^(E) in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead^(F) through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.^(G)

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.^(H) ⁶For we know that our old self^(I) was crucified with him^(J) so that the body ruled by sin^(K) might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin^(L)— ⁷because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.^(M)

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.^(N) ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,^(O) he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.^(P) ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin^(Q) once for all;^(R) but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin^(S) but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign^(T) in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,^(U) but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.^(V) ¹⁴For sin shall no longer be your master,^(W) because you are not under the law,^(X) but under grace.^(Y)

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?^(Z) By no means! ¹⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey^(AA)—whether you are slaves to sin,^(AB) which leads to death,^(AC) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God^(AD) that, though you used to be slaves to sin,^(AE) you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching^(AF) that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin^(AG) and have become slaves to righteousness.^(AH)

¹⁹I am using an example from everyday life^(AI) because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness^(AJ) leading to holiness. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin,^(AK) you were free from the control of righteousness.^(AL) ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!^(AM) ²²But now that you have been set free from sin^(AN) and have become slaves of God,^(AO) the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.^(AP) ²³For the wages of sin is death,^(AQ) but the gift of God is eternal life^(AR) in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.