God's Sovereign Choice
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1I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit--
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that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
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For 2I could wish that I myself were 3accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,a my kinsmen 4according to the flesh.
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They are 5Israelites, and to them belong 6the adoption, 7the glory, 8the covenants, 9the giving of the law, 10the worship, and 11the promises.
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To them belong 12the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ 13who is God over all, 14blessed forever. Amen.
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But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
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and not all are children of Abraham 15because they are his offspring, but 16"Through Isaac shall your offspring be named."
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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but 17the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
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For this is what the promise said: 18"About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son."
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And not only so, but 19also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
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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 20him who calls--
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For he says to Moses, 24"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
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For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 25"For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
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So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
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But who are you, O man, 27to answer back to God? 28Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"
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29Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump 30one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
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What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience 31vessels of wrath 32prepared for destruction,
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in order to make known 33the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he 34has prepared beforehand for glory--
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As indeed he says in Hosea, 37"Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.'"
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38"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 39'sons of the living God.'"
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And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: 40"Though the number of the sons of Israelc be as the sand of the sea, 41only a remnant of them will be saved,
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for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay."
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And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, 42we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah."
Israel's Unbelief
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What shall we say, then? 43That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, 44a righteousness that is by faith;
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but that Israel 45who pursued a law that would lead to righteousnessd46did not succeed in reaching that law.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)