Romans 9:24-29
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Called Beloved, Called My People
Called Beloved, Called My People
Introduction
Summarize previous verses from chapter 8 up until this point. Themes of Jew and Gentile, Paul’s anguish, demonstrating the promise per Scripture.
the calling concerning the Gentiles (vv. 24-26)
Romans 9:24–26“even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ””
[v. 24a] “even us whom he has called”
It is quite obvious that this is reflecting back upon God’s calling in general. Romans 9:23 “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—” God is the one who is active in preparing us beforehand. And so also God is the one who has called us for a purpose. This is the same God whom we have learned in this passage, the one …
(1) whose Word has not failed
(2) who is just
(3) who “mercys” and “compassions” us
(4) who has right over the clay
(5) who makes honorable and dishonorable vessels
(6) who has prepared beforhand a people for glory
and here in this passage (7) who has called us.
The calling here refers to effectual calling. It is the exact same calling as in Romans 8:28–30“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Effectual calling is an active calling. God is the one who does it and acts in accordance with His own Word.
Similarly, it is a responsive calling. We are enlivened by the Spirit, our heart of stone turns into a heart of flesh, and we respond to the Gospel. We hear the Good Shepherd’s voice. John 10:27–29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
As children, we all probably remember being in a crowd of other kids. You could hear the voice of your friends parents and not respond. But when you heard the voice of your mother or father, you responded. You knew the sound of their voice. In the same way, the Lord speaks to us and we hear his voice and respond to the call of His Gospel and good news.
Effectual calling, as the WSC says, “Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.”
It is a work of God’s Spirit. Man is not in the equation. Thanks be to God we are not. We are told in 2 Timothy 1:9 “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,” and also in 2 Thessalonians 2:13“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”
Jesus Himself tells us that John 3:3 “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.””
And also in John 6:44–45“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”
You are called by the Triune God. The Creator of the heavens and earth. An effectual and irresistible calling that man cannot thwart. An irresistible calling that extends to the Jew and the Gentile.
[v. 24b] “Not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles”
Paul uses the prophet Hosea to point to the reality that the Gentiles are called just as Israel was called.
Romans 9:25 “As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ””
Once again God is the author of the calling, the one who effects the calling.
1.A) The Person Who was Called
Verse 25 gives us insight into the person who was called, just as Hosea himself says. Yet, we have to remember, Hosea is merely the messengers, the prophet of God. It is God who was speaking to the people then, and who is speaking to us all now. God’s redemptive promise comes through the prophet Hosea. When God speaks, he alone brings things into being. He alone can call into existence what was once not there. Romans 4:17 “as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”
What does God bring forth that did not once exist? Faith and repentance. He brings a people out of their estate of sin and misery into a state of spiritual renewal. God brings the called into the covenantal community.
Two declarative statements are found regarding the people who God has called. The person who is effectually called goes from a transitional state of being. They were once not my people, meaning, they were not of the people of God. They were estranged, set apart to spiritual darkness, death, and destruction. They were outside of God’s covenantal love. Now, those who are called are called to be my people by the Lord.
So also, the person called, being estranged from God, being in Adam, being an enemy of God, is now called beloved. They are declared to be the special object of God’s redeeming love. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are “His people” you are “his beloved.” The calling in Romans 9:25b is the same calling we have seen previously. Once again, it is effectual, meaning it accomplishes its intent.
When God calls, the sinner comes home. It is irresistible. God cannot be thwarted. Paul uses the same root for “called” as he does in the opening of his letter to Rome. Romans 1:7 “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” So also, he uses the same word as studied previously in Romans 9:11 “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 him who calls—”
Calling is effectual, irresistible, and part of God’s decree. It is brought about by God. We know in that moment, being brought to spiritual light, the calling of the Father, our God, and the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. As S. Lawson reminds us, “If God didn’t call, you’d never answer.”
As the wonderful modern hymn writers and musical group CityAlight writes in one of their songs, “Oh how strange and divine, I can sing, "All is mine", Yet not I, but through Christ in me.”
All is yours because of what Jesus Christ has done on your behalf. He is the one who bore the just punishment of your sin and misery and has called you from a people who were “not my people, and not my beloved” to those who are his people, his beloved. This calling of the Gentiles is exactly what Jesus Himself said would happen. In John 10:16 “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
Thus far we have looked at the calling concerning the Gentiles, specifically in verse 25 the “Person Who Was Called” and now in verse 26 under the calling concerning the Gentiles, we will look at the place where the person is called.
[v. 26] Romans 9:26 ““And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ””
Context. Hosea was writing during the time when the ten northern tribes of Israel were about to by uprooted and displaced to Assyria. Being out of the land represented to Israel the place of spiritual darkness. It was a reminder of the wilderness wanderings, being separated from God’s promise. It was a place of exile. It is the displacement from the presence of God due to the people’s apostasy. The people of Israel were acting like the pagan nations following the depravity of the kingship.
So also, the Gentile people the εθνων or nations, were in a place of spiritual darkness and separation from the holy love of God. You were once separated from God, bound to your sin. The nations of the Gentiles and pagan nations were truly a not my people and out of covenant fellowship with the Triune God. But these people, you being separated from God became his people.
This restoration, like some of Israel, is only possible because of Jesus Christ, the true and better Adam, the true Israel. Galatians 3:16 “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.” and Galatians 3:26–29“for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
This is because Jesus is the Son of God. Romans 1:4 “and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 8:3 “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,” Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Therefore, Gentiles are the sons of God by nature of their union with Christ, which brings us back to the concept of adoption. Romans 8:14–15, 19, 23“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!””; “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.”; “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Now this promise is not new in God’s redemptive plan. If you remember all the way back to Genesis 9. The promise of Gentile inclusion into the people of God was pronounced by Noah. Genesis 9:26–27“He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.””
This promise was given to Abraham and the patriarchs as well. Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” Genesis 22:17 “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,” Genesis 32:12 “But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ””
And this promise was told of Israel in terms of the last days. In the last days, the Gentiles will come into the people of Israel. Isaiah 14:1 “For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.” So also in Zechariah 2:11 “And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”
Once again, and this cannot be emphasized enough, only God has the right to call those whom he wishes and whom he has decreed from the foundations of the world. Go back and look at the Potter and the clay. And you were called with a purpose. What is that purpose? Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Romans 9:23 “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—” 1 Peter 2:9–10“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
How wonderful is the Gospel? How beautiful is this Good News? That Jesus Christ Himself bore your sins and iniquities so that you would be conformed to His image and be united with Him in his death and resurrection to be called/declared sons of the Most High God. God has the permission to have mercy and compassion on whomever he wills and desires. Even Jesus Himself said he could make believers out of stones if need be. Race, ethnicity, and upbringing do not make you a child of God. Only the effectual and definitive work of Jesus Christ make you the sons of God. And secondly, and finally, we come to the “Calling Concerning the Jews.”
2. the calling concerning the Jews (vv. 27-29)
Romans 9:27–29“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, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.””
This theme will be drawn out throughout the remainder of Romans 9-11. Paul has alluded to it in the first four verses of Romans 9 and it will continue to be a focus of his.
Ethnic Israel has not been forgotten. As Scripture tells us, there will always be a faithful remnant of God’s people. Once again, this falls back into what Paul says in Romans 9:6–8“But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” Therefore, there will be a remnant of ethnic Jews who will be saved.
The original disciples of Jesus make this quite clear. 11 of them were true believers of who Christ is, one of them, Judas Iscariot, though a Jew, though one circumcised, and though one who walked alongside Jesus was not of true, spiritual Israel. Peter himself exclaims this truth at Pentecost. Acts 2:36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”” During this encounter there were some who were “cut to the heart” and asked Peter what they should do to be saved. Not all who were there were cut to the heart. We know that some of Israel remained and still remained hardened to the fact that Peter declares to them in Acts 2:38–39“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.””
In reference to the passage quoted from Isaiah 10:22, 23, ethnicity and heritage does not earn you the right to being saved. Israel’s apostasy which led to exile demonstrates this very point that “Not all Israel is Israel.” Despite the high number of Israelites, only a remnant will be saved. Only a remnant will worship the one and only living and true God. The proof is in the pudding.
Again, the patriarchs were promised that their descendents would be as numerous as the sands of the sea shore. This promise if fulfilled in part in the salvation of a remnant. Isaiah says a remnant will be saved. Salvation indicates that the focus for Israel is salvation rather than possessing the land. And this salvation of a remnant among the people of Israel continues to advance the theme of mercy against the backdrop of wrath. When one sees the part of Israel are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, then the mercy of the remnant is vouchsafed all the more striking. Mercy is brighter against the backdrop of wrath, especially when we were all deserving of wrath.
[v. 29]
Verse 29 is another quote from Isaiah, this time from 1:9. Paul communicates here that even the salvation of a remnant is a miracle of God’s grace and a great mercy. The verb used “had not left us” highlights God’s preservation of Israel with specific reference to the “offspring” or σπερμα, or “seed.” In Paul’s teaching here “seed” and “remnant” have the same denotation. “Seed”, occurring here for the first time after verse 8, points back to that same meaning, namely, the seed who are partakers of the promise” (John Murray, 41). Not all of Israel are part of the promise, yet God ensures that some will remain.
Removing the negative, “not”, it is saying that God has indeed left us an offspring, but if he did not, the people of Israel would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. Left to itself Israel would follow the degraded path of Sodom and Gomorrah. Following the same trajectory as Sodom and Gomorrah, if left alone, they would have succumbed to the same depravity, and many did in the worship of false gods and idols.
But God intervened and spared a remnant. Israel isn’t utterly and totally ruined. Just like with Lot, God spared a remnant from destruction and so also will he spare a remnant from Israel as well. This works well into what Paul will write in Romans 11:4 “But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”” God has kept, preserved, and maintained his remnant.
That only a remnant is saved points up the severity and extent of the judgment executed. That a remnant is saved is the evidence of the Lord’s favour and the guarantee that his covenant promise has not failed. It should be noted that it is by God’s gracious action that a seed is maintained: “except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed”. In accord with the sustained stress upon the sovereign will and determinate purpose of God in the preceding context the same is still applied to the reservation of a remnant and the preserving of a seed
This is all part of God’s mercy. Even though Israel apostasies, God still retains a remnant of people. Again in 9:29 the theme emerges that God’s mercy is cherished against the wider canvas of his wrath. No one can legitimately complain that the preservation of a remnant justifies a complaint against God. The saving of any is mercy. Furthermore, the presence of a remnant signifies that more will be included, that God is not finished with his people.
This warning and affirmation extends into the distinction between the visible and invisible church. There are some who are in the visible church. They have made a profession of faith. They attend church weekly. They partake of the sacraments. Yet like Israel, they are unrepentant. They rely upon their works to justify themselves before God. They rely upon their obedience to the covenant to justify themselves. We cannot for one moment think that our membership and fellowship with a church is the means by which we are saved. Like Israel then and now, we are saved by grace alone through faith alone.