1I am telling the truth in Christ; I am not lying. My conscience, guided by the Holy Spirit, also confirms this,
2that I have great sorrow and constant pain in my heart.
3I would even wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, my relatives by birth.
4They are the people of Israel. God adopted them as his children, revealed his glory to them, made covenants with them, gave them his Law, taught them how to worship him, and gave them his promises.
5Their ancestors were famous, and Christ himself, as a human, came from their family. He is God overall, praised forever. Amen.
6However, this does not mean that God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel truly belong to Israel.
7And just because they are Abraham’s descendants, it doesn't mean they are all his true children. Instead, God said, “Your true descendants will come through Isaac.”
8This means that it is not those who are born naturally into Abraham’s family who are God’s children, but those who are children of the promise are considered the true heirs.
9Because this is what the promise said: “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”
10And not only that, but Rebekah also became pregnant with twins by our ancestor Isaac.
11Before the twins were born, and before they had done anything good or bad, God’s plan, which was based on his choice, needed to stand. This choice was not based on their actions but on God who calls.
12So God told her, “The older son will serve the younger son.”
13Just as the Scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”
14So what does this mean? Is God unfair? Absolutely not!
15For God told Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I choose to have compassion.”
16So it doesn't depend on what people want or what people do, but on God's mercy.
17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “I raised you up for this very purpose: to show my power in you and to make my name known throughout the whole earth.”
18Therefore, God shows mercy to whomever he wants to, and he makes stubborn whomever he wants to.
19You might then ask me, “Why does God still find fault? Who can resist his will?”
20But who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
21Doesn’t the potter have the right to take a lump of clay and make one pot for special use and another for ordinary use?
22What if God, wanting to show his anger and make his power known, patiently put up with those who were objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction?
23And what if he did this to make the richness of his glory known to those who were objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—
24that is, us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
25As God says in the book of Hosea: “I will call those ‘my people’ who were not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who was not loved.”
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.’”
27Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Even if the number of the children of Israel are as many as the sand on the seashore, only a small number of them will be saved.
28because He will quickly and righteously complete His work, for the LORD will quickly carry out His work on the earth.
29Just as Isaiah said earlier: “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.”
30So what does this mean? It means that non-Jews, who weren’t trying to be good enough for a right standing with God, achieved that right standing through faith.
31But Israel, by trying to follow a law to become righteous, did not succeed in achieving that righteous standing.
32Why? Because they didn't pursue it through faith, but as if it could be achieved by following the rules. They tripped over the obstacle,
33just as it is written: “Look, I am placing in Zion a stone that people will trip over and a rock that will make them stumble. But anyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”