CHAPTER 9

Verses 1 - 5
Ÿ Paul expresses his great sorrow and continual grief for Israel
for his countrymen.
Ÿ We get an idea as to the cause of this sorrow and grief when
he speaks thus in verse 3: "For I could wish that I myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren..." We can deduce from
this verse that this sorrow and grief was caused by the
rejection of the Gospel by Israel.

Verses 6 - 13
Ÿ One may be tempted by the strong words of Paul to think that
the Word of God concerning Israel has failed.
Ÿ Paul therefore quickly combats that thought by saying that it
not that the Word of God has failed (V6). This statement forms
part of the "pillar verses" in these chapters. What follows after
are supports explaining further this statement.
Ÿ He gives two reasons to support his statement:
1. They are not all Israel who are Israel. Meaning, not all

descendants or seed of Jacob constitutes true Israel. [This

statement alone is introducing God's election]
2. Secondly, he says, "nor are they all children because they

are the seed of Abraham" It is important for us to recall at

this point that Abraham had children by three different
women: One by Hagar, one by Sarah and six by Keturah.
So, this means that out of all the eight sons of Abraham,
not all are children of God. [Again here, we see God's
election.]. Scripture makes a difference among the children
of Abraham: the children of the flesh and the children of the
promise (V6). Only the children of the promise that is, those
 1. born out of the promise God gave to Abraham saying, "At
this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.", were
counted as the true seed of Abraham (the children of God).
God is selecting from the children of Abraham. He is
accepting some and rejecting some. He selected Isaac, the
child of the promise and rejected Abraham's sons by Hagar
and Keturah.
Ÿ Paul's further explains God's election by taking it a step
further, bringing in Rebecca. He says even though Rebekah
conceived by one man Isaac - the same Isaac who was
elected by God over the sons of Hagar and Keturah - yet God
chose Jacob over his twin brother Esau. [One would have
assumed that the principle of making a distinction would have
ended by Isaac, a child of the promise, yet it continued to even
to his sons.]
Ÿ The bringing in of Jacob and Esau, of whom the distinction
was made by God even before they were born, here makes
clear that God's selection is not according to any natural
principle or of works but it is according to God who calls. God's
election is not by any merit. He preferred Jacob over Esau:
"Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated."

Verse 14 -
Ÿ One may be tempted after looking at God's selection,
favouring others and rejecting other apart from any merits or
reasons from their sides, as an act of unrighteousness from
God.
Ÿ Paul in the following verses dimistifies that thought by saying
in verse 15:
Ÿ DISCLAIMER: It is important for us no to lose sight of
Ÿ the main matter here which is found in verse 6, the "main trunk
of the tree": "But it is not as though the Word of God has
failed..." , because of the branching made in from verse 15. It
should be remembered that Paul makes this slight branching
off because of the possible charge of unrighteousness to God
by the reader after reading what he had written touching God's
selectiveness. Hence Paul finds it necessary to branch off a bit
and explain in other to puncture this thought. [Amazing
enough, even though the Holy Spirit foresaw this - charging
God with unrighteousness - and moved Paul to combat this
thought ahead of it manifestation, yet some among us still
charge God with unrighteousness! Maybe we can blame this
on our lack of understanding of Paul's explanation or maybe
on the impurity of our heart, clouding our understanding.]

Ÿ Verse 15 onwards Paul explains that that there is no

unrighteousness with God by quoting what God said to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy and I will
have compassion on whomever I will have compassion."
Ÿ We must understand that no human under heaven deserves
the mercy of God but ALL human deserve God's judgment
because:
Ÿ The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They

[people] are corrupt, They have done abominable works,

There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from
heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any
who understand, who seek God. They have all turned
aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none
who does good, No, not one.
 Ÿ (Ps. 14:1-3 NKJV)
Ÿ The above Psalm put clear the depravity of men, that when the
Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men [this
speaks of ALL men, including Jews] He found that:
1. All have turned aside

2. All are have become corrupt

3. None is doing good, not one

Ÿ Let us hear what the preacher concerning men:

Ÿ For there is not a just man on earth who does good And

does not sin. [Eccl. 7:20 NKJV]

See also Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9

Ÿ Just with these two verse, who on earth can stand and charge
God with wrong? Who can stand and claim the mercy of God
as something owed to him? We are ALL not deserving of the
mercies of God but we are definitely ALL deserving His
judgment.
Ÿ In Romans 9:15, we see hear God revealing to Moses the right
He has: to show mercy on whomever He wills. This is His right
and no one has a right to question Him about it. All of us are
deserving death and God has a right to spare/save some from
those who are deserving death, that they should not die. Now
those who are spared by the mercies of God shown them, do
they now turn and charge God with wrong that he spared them
and left some???... Do they now question God as to what
criteria He used in electing some and rejecting some???...
Ÿ Because of what God said as He spoke with Moses
concerning His mercy, that He has mercy on whomever
Ÿ He has mercy therefore Paul concludes by saying that God’s
choice is not dependent on human will or human effort but on
God's mercy. (V16)
Ÿ Paul brings in the Pharaoh to further illustrate that the right of
choice to chose who to show mercy rests with God alone. He
says God raised the Pharaoh not a vessel of mercy but as a
vessel of wrath. The power that was show through the
Pharaoh by God was the power of judgment.
Ÿ A thought may come into one's mind as he follows Paul's
argument concerning the Pharaoh (that he was raised by God
for judgment) that if God hardens whom He wills, as in the
case of the Pharaoh who was "hardened" by God, why does
He find fault since no one can resist His will because no one
can resist His will?
Ÿ In response to this thought Paul reminds man two things:
1. His (man) position in relation to God [Do not be rash

with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything
hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth;
Therefore let your words be few. (Eccl. 5:2 NKJV)]. He
reminds us that God is the Creator and man is just a "thing
formed".
2. God's right of proprietorship. He reminds us that as God

is our owner, He has right to do with us whatever He

desires in the same way as a Potter has "power over the
clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour
and another for dishonour" . In verse 21, the Greek term
Paul used which is translated power or authority in English
is "exousia". This term means, "freedom of action, right to
act". It comes from the
 1.root verb "exesti" which means "lawful". Therefore Paul is
bringing awareness that lawfully, God has freedom and a
right to act as He pleases without answering to anyone. As
the Creator, He has absolute right to do whatever He
desires with His creation, as the potter has absolute right to
exercise his will over the clay to make whatever he wills
without answering to the clay.
Ÿ Verses 22-29 explicitly explains election. The guest being that
the elect of God are selected from the Jews (meaning NOT all
Jews) an another portion is selected from the Gentiles:
Ÿ God has endured (by withholding His wrath and

demonstration of His power) the vessels prepared for

destruction for the purpose of making the riches His glory
known to the vessels of mercy which He has prepared
beforehand for glory (v22-23). [We see two distinct vessels
here viz. vessels of vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy.
It is not clear from Scripture who prepared the vessels of
wrath but it is crystal clear who prepared the vessels of
mercy, it is God. It's also clear when these vessels of mercy
were prepared, "beforehand". This is perfectly in line with
other portions of Scripture about election, for example,
Ephesians 1:4, "just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world..."]
Ÿ These vessels of mercy were selected among both the

Jews and the Gentiles (24)

Ÿ Paul's quotes Hosea to show that God had long ago

intended to select a people for Himself from among the

Gentiles. 25-26
Ÿ He then finishes by quoting Isaiah proving that some, not

all, of these people are among the Jews saying, "

 Ÿ Though the number of the childrenof Israel be as the sand
of the sea, The remnant will be saved." and also, "Unless
the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have
become like Sodom, And we would have been made like
Gomorrah" (27-29). Paul is doing nothing else but support
the statement he made in verse 6 (the "stem verse"): "But it
is not that the Word of God has failed..." That God's Word
has not failed because the elect of God from Israel are
being saved and will be saved.
Ÿ What is the conclusion of the whole matter: The Gentiles
who did not pursue after righteousness have attained to it,
the righteousness of faith. But Israel who pursued the law
of righteousness has not attained to it because they did not
pursue it by faith but pursued it by the works of the law,
having stumbled at the stumbling stone, Christ. By Whom
faith righteousness, through faith in Him, comes. (30-33)

Conclusion: So far we have seen that chapter 9 is clear on

the doctrine of election. The elect have attained
righteousness but the rest were blinded (cf. Rom 11:7).

CHAPTER 10
Ÿ Paul expresses his personal desire for the salvation of

Israel.
Ÿ He explains that because of their Ignorance of God's

means of attaining righteousness, they have sought to

established their own righteousness which is by the law -
which Paul had explained that no one has
Ÿ kept the law, thus no one can be justified by it.
Ÿ He explains two means of (attaining) righteousness, the
righteousness that is of the law (that is, which is attained by
keeping the law) and the righteousness of faith (that is, the
righteousness attained by believing in Christ Jesus)
Ÿ Paul explains the hopelessness of attaining righteousness
by the law and the simplicity of attaining righteousness by
faith.
Ÿ For the former he quotes the words of Moses, "The man
who does those things shall live by them." Meaning, the
man who kept the things in the law, shall live or be justified
by them. But now the problem is, no one has kept the law,
as has been discussed in earlier chapters. And what makes
things worse is that keeping the whole law and stumbling in
one point makes you guilty of all the law! It is impossible to
be justified by the law. "For whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all."
(James 2:10 cf. Gal. 3:10)
Ÿ For the of justification by faith, Paul explains its simplicity
thus, that's it's not so hard (like justification by law) as to
ascend to heaven to bring Christ down or to descend into
abyss to bring Christ up from the dead but it's so simple
and so near in the mouth as confessing - not something
you do not know, but the Word that has been preached -
and believing in the resurrection of Christ; that is salvation!
This justification and/or salvation is not available for the
Jews only - as justification by the law was available for the
Jews only; for only to them
 Ÿ was given the law, which ALL failed to keep - but it is
available for all, both Jews and Greeks. For "whoever calls
on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (V6 - V13)

Ÿ Paul in these verse proves (and gives a reason) that Israel

is not saved because they have rejected the Christ and not
believed on Him. He expound by responding to the
questions he paused in verse 14 -15. That the Gospel was
preached to Israel however, not ALL Israel obeyed it - by
believing what was preached by the prophets sent to them.
(16-18)
Ÿ He paused another question which he answers by quoting
the Law and the prophets. The question is, did not Israel
know that the Gospel, they were rejecting, was going to go
forth into the Gentiles and the whole world? He quotes
Moses and Isaiah that Israel knew this. This means Israel
knew that someday the door of faith will be opened to the
Gentiles. The Gospel they were rejecting, was will someday
be received by the Gentiles. And this is, to some extent,
meant to provoke them to jealousy (repentance). (19 - 21)

CHAPTER 11
Ÿ Paul pauses another question - note that these questions Paul
pauses are probable questions in the mind of a reader: has
God therefore totally rejected His people?
Ÿ Paul answers this question by first bringing himself, who is
believing Jew, into the picture as proof that God
Ÿ has not rejected His people (V2). He is in effect saying, "Look
at me, I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the
stock of Benjamin, but I am saved! This means that God has
not rejected His people, at least not totally. For had He had
rejected us totally, I also would not be saved because "it is not
of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows
mercy." (Rom. 9:16) but look, I am saved!"
Ÿ He Affirms that God has not rejected His people whom He
foreknew. Now, we must remember that foreknowledge is
more than just God knowing things from eternity past
(foresight), but foreknowledge is God's deliberate setting of
His electing love on those whom He chooses, from eternity
past.

Ÿ From verse 2b - 10, Paul is proving or making known the

partially of Israel:
Ÿ He reminds us of the words of Elijah during the time of the
massacre of the Lord’s prophet by Jezebel, that he thought he
was the only prophet that was left from the massacre. But
God's response is that He Himself, not man, has reserved
7000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Now, to bow
or bend the knee is an expression denoting worship,
surrender, yielding (Phil. 2:10; Eph 3:14; Isa 45:23). This
means during that time the prophets were divided into two
group, one group remained faithful to God and another
defected to Baal worship. Those who refused to worship Baal
were therefore massacred. God is saying to Elijah, who had
the notion that he is the only surviver of the massacre among
those prophets who chose to remain faithful to God, that there
are 7000 men who survived the
Ÿ massacre of Jezebel because He Himself reserved them. In
case Elijah thinks they survived because they surrendered to
Baal worship, God adds these words: "who have not bowed
the knee to Baal." This means their surviving death was not of
(from) themselves, as though they were clever or wiser to
escape than those God-fearing prophets who died, but it was
simply because they were by grace chosen by God to survive
the massacre.
Ÿ Even so (in the same way) at this present time there is a
remnant according to the election of grace. There is a
revealing by Paul of partial rejection (or partial salvation) "at
this present time". That even though at the present time Israel
is rejected but they are not totally rejected because there is a
remnant from among them (Israel) chosen by God, at this
present time, that is being saved. This remnant was not
elected by God because of any merit or foresight their faith
from eternity past, as some would say, but it was purely
because of God's grace. Now, this is foreknowledge!
Ÿ What then is the proper conclusion from this argument? "Israel
[as a whole] has not obtained what it seeks [justification, by
the law]; but the elect [among them] have obtained it, and the
rest were blinded. " (V7)
Ÿ Apostle Paul then quotes from the Old Testament to validate
his point of (partial) blindness of Israel.

VERSES 11 - 36
Ÿ Paul pauses another question: "... have they stumbled that
they should fall? (V11). The question here is, if rephrased:
"Have they [Jews] stumbled in disobedience
Ÿ that they should not be reconciled with God? Have they sinned
against God that they are irreconcilable?" The answer is,
absolutely not!
Ÿ Paul then explains the mystery of God: that their stumbling
opened a door of salvation for the Gentiles and as a result of
the Gentiles' salvation, the Jews would themselves be
provoked to jealousy. So, the stumbling of the Jews, was
riches for the Gentiles because that gave them an opportunity
to be saved, and the salvation of the Gentiles was also God's
strategy He utilises (or will utilise) to provoke them to jealousy
- so that they too may be saved. The very fact that God
planned to "PROVOKE" the Jews to Jealousy, (AFTER He
had rejected them) is sufficient evidence that the current
rejection of the Jews is NOT final. [Provocation of the Jews:
We can assume, also, that this provocation to be in the future,
the near future. If you were to look at the state of the church
now no Jew would be provoked to jealousy seeing how
debased the church has become, how low it has fallen, how it
has born the image and character of the world. However, the
Lord will and/or is raising His church to such glory that will
supercede the glory that the Israelites have ever heard of from
their forefathers or seen and then, they will be provoked to
jealousy.]
Ÿ Paul reasons that if the fall of the Jews has brought such
riches to the world surly their restoration will be greater
enrichment (V12)