74 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
74 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
Israel's Rejection of Christ
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# Chapter 9
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1. I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit--
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2. that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
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3. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.
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4. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.
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5. The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.
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God's Gracious Election of Israel
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6. Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
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7. Neither is it the case that all of Abraham's children are his descendants. On the contrary, <b class="quote">your offspring will be traced* <b class="quote">through Isaac.*
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8. That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.
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9. For this is the statement of the promise: <b class="quote">At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.**
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10. And not only that, but Rebekah conceived children through one man, our father Isaac.
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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--
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12. not from works but from the one who calls--she was told, <b class="quote">The older will serve the younger.**
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13. As it is written: <b class="quote">I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.**
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God's Selection Is Just
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14. What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!
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15. For he tells Moses, <b class="quote">I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.**
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16. So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.
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17. For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, <b class="quote">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.**
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18. So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
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19. You will say to me, therefore, "Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?"
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20. On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"
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21. Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?
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22. And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?
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23. And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory--
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24. on us, the ones he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
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25. As it also says in Hosea,
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<b class="quote">I will call Not My People, My People,**
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<b class="quote">and she who is Unloved, Beloved.**
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26. <b class="quote">And it will be in the place where they were told,**
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<b class="quote">you are not my people,**
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<b class="quote">
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there they will be called sons of the living God.**
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27. But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
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<b class="quote">
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Though the number of Israelites**
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<b class="quote">is like the sand of the sea,**
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<b class="quote">only the remnant will be saved;**
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28. <b class="quote">since the Lord will execute his sentence**
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<b class="quote">completely and decisively on the earth.**
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29. And just as Isaiah predicted:
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<b class="quote">If the Lord of Armies had not left us offspring,**
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<b class="quote">we would have become like Sodom,**
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<b class="quote">and we would have been made like Gomorrah.**
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Israel's Present State
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30. What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness--namely the righteousness that comes from faith.
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31. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law.
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32. Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
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33. As it is written,
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<b class="quote">
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Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over**
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<b class="quote">and a rock to trip over,**
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<b class="quote">and the one who believes on him**
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<b class="quote">will not be put to shame.**
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