Romans 9:25-33
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We are going to attempt to finish out Romans 9 tonight. We covered through verse 24 last time, but we will pick up at verse 22 to start reading for context’s sake.
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 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.’ ”
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.’ ”
27 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, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So, let’s recap a bit:
Paul has laid out his case that God, being rich in mercy, has allowed some injustice in the world to happen, due to the fallen state of creation, so that His glory might be made more apparent. Or, more correctly:
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
So, now Paul goes back to the Old Testament to back up his findings. We see first that he quotes Hosea.
Now, what do we know about Hosea, right off the top of our heads?
Hosea was a prophet. God told him to go get married. But not just to a good Jewish girl.
God wanted to teach Israel a lesson through Hosea.
So God told Hosea to marry Gomer.
Gomer was not a prostitute, but she wasn’t faithful.
ESV Commentary:
Some have supposed that God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute, but this does not suit the words. The word translated “whoredom” throughout the book is a broad term for various kinds of sexual misconduct, and only in certain contexts does it refer to prostitution. In Hosea it generally refers to a married woman being unfaithful to her husband, which is why it serves as a metaphor for Israel’s unfaithfulness to the Lord, her husband (for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD; cf. 2:5). Further, one should not think that Gomer was already promiscuous when Hosea married her. As the notes below will show, she seems to have been faithful to Hosea in the begetting of her first child (1:3), and under suspicion in the begetting of her second and third (vv. 6, 8). Thus the second and third children will be children of whoredom (the word and in “and have children” is taken in the sense, “that is”). This helps explain the legal proceedings in ch. 2, and the specific word “adulteress” in 3:1. Hosea uses marriage and unfaithfulness as a prominent metaphor (cf. Ezekiel 16 and 23 for the extended version of the metaphor; elsewhere the idea is important, but not given extended treatment, e.g., Isa. 1:21). The tragedy of Hosea is the tragedy of a marriage that began well but went bad. And so it was with the Lord and Israel: a good beginning went awry. The book of Hosea refers to Israel’s cherished beginnings (e.g., Hos. 2:14–15).
God was showing Israel how they had been unfaithful to Him by pursuing other gods. And God gave specific names to Gomer’s children that had prophetic meaning.
See, in the book of Hosea, we see Hosea marry Gomer, and all goes well at first. She has a child with Hosea called Jezreel, and God promises to judge Israel.
It is better to take the phrase “house of Jehu” as parallel to house of Israel, and thus another name for Israel. By this reading, “the blood of Jezreel” refers to 1 Kings 21: Ahab, who promoted Baalism as the national religion of Israel, permitted the murder of Naboth, a man loyal to the Lord, in order to seize his vineyard in Jezreel. Appropriately, this verse sets the tenor of the rest of the book: the ongoing confrontation between Baal and the God of Israel.
Gomer’s first child is specifically mentioned as being Hosea’s child. But her next two are not. The language changes. Hosea is not mentioned as the father. And the names bear that out.
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
God tells Hosea to name this daughter, who is not his, “No Mercy” as a symbol to Israel that God will not have mercy on them. But on Judah, He will have mercy, just not the way they think.
Then, Gomer has another child:
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
Again, explicitly indicating that this child is not Hosea’s, and symbolizing that Gomer’s unfaithfulness to her husband is exactly what Israel was doing to God.
All of this points to what God is going to do with Israel, how He is going to save them and redeem them, but how they will suffer punishment first.
All of which Paul has just talked about.
And now we see Paul making the application by quoting Hosea here to the church at Rome.
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.’ ”
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.’ ”
Verse 25 sees Paul quoting from Hosea 2:23
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
Verse 26 is from Hosea 1:10
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
Paul is making the leap that the people who were not part of the covenant, the excluded ones, the Gentiles - they are now brought in, grafted into the tree. Adopted as children.
They were not God’s people, and they had no mercy, but now they are God’s people and they are His beloved.
Again we see Paul using his understanding of the Old Testament and he’s putting the pieces together.
This is actually a great look at how pastors and teachers build lessons and sermons. We see Paul is using the text, extracting the meaning, and making application.
Lest you think I am overreaching on this and Paul is “proof-texting,” or using a text in a way that suits his own argument but doesn’t really fit with the original meaning or intent, look at 1 Peter 2:10.
10 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.
Peter and Paul do not always agree (we see them squabble in the New Testament), but they are in one accord about the Gospel.
1 Peter is written to Gentiles.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
ESV Commentary:
Since the recipients of his letter were primarily Gentiles, Peter explicitly teaches that the church of Jesus Christ is the new Israel—God’s new chosen people. “Dispersion” (Gk. diaspora) points to the same truth. It is typically used to describe the scattering of the Jews throughout the world (Deut. 28:25; 30:4; Neh. 1:9; Ps. 147:2; Isa. 49:6; Jer. 15:7; 41:17; cf. also John 7:35; James 1:1; note on Acts 2:9–11), but Peter sees a parallel in the church being dispersed throughout the world.
So, if the audience is mainly Gentiles, we are looking at Peter speaking to those who were not God’s people.
Look at 1 Peter 2 with me:
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9 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. 10 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.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
This sounds very similar to what Paul is saying. Peter wrote his epistle probably around AD 62-63. Paul wrote Romans sometime around AD 57. Within 5 years of one another, both apostles wrote very similar things from very different places (experientially and geographically): Paul most likely wrote to the church in Rome from Corinth, while Peter most likely wrote to the churches in Asia from Rome.
Peter may very well have been writing from one of the congregations that Paul wrote this letter to! He is clearly writing in the same vein, sharing the same message.
So we see that Paul and Peter agree that the Gentiles are in view here.
Now, back to Romans 9.
Paul continues his master class on Old Testament application by quoting Isaiah:
27 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, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
The passage from Isaiah (which is very similar to Hosea 1:10) is paraphrased from Isaiah 10:22-23
22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.
Paul keeps going in Isaiah, because, why not?
9 If the Lord of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
Paul is pointing out that God, in His infinite mercy, has left the children of Israel a remnant, and that those grafted in are part of the new covenant.
But not every Jew is going to heaven. That is key here. Paul is reminding the church in Rome that just because you are a Jew doesn’t mean you’re saved. And just because you’re a Gentile doesn’t mean you can’t be saved.
He expounds on that next:
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
This is where Paul wraps up this portion of his argument.
The Gentiles didn’t pursue righteousness, but they got it anyway.
That doesn’t make sense to us, especially in our “fairness” mentality. But what Paul is saying here is that Gentiles, who were not part of the covenant, were grafted in. The Gentiles didn’t pursue the law. They didn’t have the law. But God in His mercy, made a way for them. That is Romans in a nutshell to this point. God allowed the Gentiles a way to Him.
Spoiler Alert: God allowed the Jews a way to Him too. It’s the same way. It’s Jesus.
This is where Paul is going with it. The Jews had the law. They saw the law as a way for their redemption, but the law just illustrated how far they were from God.
The Jews tried to fulfill the law, and failed. They didn’t pursue God (righteousness) by faith, but by works - the fulfilling of the law.
Sproul:
The Gospel of God: Romans The Sovereign Grace of God (9:22–33)
Christ came to his own people as a rock and a Saviour. Instead of standing on the rock and seeking shelter in the rock, they tripped over the rock, and it became a stumbling-stone to them. With the appearance of Jesus it was clear that there was only one way to get to heaven, namely, by exercising faith in Christ alone. That’s what his contemporaries could not handle, because he was saying to them, ‘Your works are not pure enough to merit entry into the kingdom of God.’ This infuriated them because the doctrine of justification by faith alone is a violent assault upon human pride. Instead of allowing Jesus to lift them up, they tripped over him.
Also, interestingly enough, there’s another connection between Romans 9 and 1 Peter 2 here:
6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
Peter is expounding on the idea of faith as central to salvation, just as Paul is explaining here, quoting the same Old Testament passage, Isaiah 28:16
16 therefore thus says the Lord God,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
We also see other Old Testament passages here:
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
So, as we wrap up chapter 9 we see Paul pulling Old Testament passages from memory that strengthen his point that God, in His mercy, has allowed a remnant of faithful Jews and has adopted Gentiles into the family. That is encouraging that God loves us so much He patiently withholds His righteous judgement until the proper time.
That is one of the many reasons we should be praising Him!
Let’s pray.