Chapter 9:

 

Principle of Sovereignty (Righteousness Rejected)

V. 9:1-11:36

1. Sovereignty is a word that many avoid but it is a good word and means chief, supreme, above all others.  That is our God.

2. The book of Romans was written about AD 58 at a time when the Jews were still trying to worship in the temple which was destroyed in AD 70 by Titus.

3. The veil had been rent when Jesus died on the cross; therefore, there was no more cloud over the temple, no more presence of God, yet the Jews went on in their acts of worship but God wasn't in it.

4. The change from Chapter 8 is abrupt and striking.  Chapters 9‑11 have to do with the place of the Jews in world history.  The church faces this bewildering problem because the Jews were God's chosen people with a unique and special place in God's purpose.  However, when God sent His Son into the world, the Jews rejected Him. (John 1:11)  How can this tragic and terrible paradox be explained?  Why would God's people choose to reject and crucify God's very own Son?  This is the problem that Paul begins to deal with in these chapters.

5. Outline of this section of Romans.

  A. Chapter 9: Israel's past election = past history of Israel = Paul is dealing with a nation not an individual.

  B. Chapter 10: Israel's present rejection = present history = shows how God bypassed a nation and uses His church.

  C. Chapter 11: Israel's future reception = promised (future) history = shows how He grafts a nation back in the olive tree when His church is caught out.

 

      1. Israel's Past Election V. 1‑33

            1) Israel's Election Described. V 1‑13

                 a. The burden Paul had. V 1‑3

V. 1

1. Paul, about to deal with their rejection, first assures Israel of his love for his kinsman according to the flesh.

2. "In Christ" = a form of an oath; Paul is so strongly stirred he takes an oath of truth with a two‑fold witness: 1) His conscience, and 2) Holy Ghost.

3. Positively: "I say the truth."

4. Negatively: "I lie not."

5. "Truth" = being consistent with reality or fact.

6. "Lie" = to utter an untruth or attempt to deceive by falsehood; negated by "not."

7. "Conscience" = an act or judgment of the mind by which we decide on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of our actions, and by which we instantly approve or condemn them.

8. A man's conscience can only deal with him to the extent of moral standard exposed to (moral training or upbringing). Example: When someone says of a man who tortured and killed several children, "He didn't have a conscience."  Oh, yes!  He did but he had no moral standard or moral training taught him when he was growing up.  Example: Paul made havoc of the church and thought he was doing right.  Why?  Because the moral standard he was exposed to, taught him wrong.  But he met the Lord and the Holy Ghost moved in.  Now he had a right moral standard, the Word with the Holy Ghost, the originator of the Word to guide rightly.

9. If the Spirit of God controls your conscience, it is a wonderful guide but otherwise it will lead you astray.  Paul places himself under an oath of truth because the Holy Ghost is controlling his conscience.

10. Note: One's conscience will reveal God is (Rom. 1:19), but will not convict man of sin, righteousness, and judgment by itself.  There must be the moral standard, the Word and the Holy Ghost present to make it sharp (convicting). (Heb. 4:12; John 16:8‑11)

11. "Also bearing witness" = to testify jointly; testifying to the truth Paul spoke; two witnesses were required by law for something to be established as true. (Deut. 19:15)

12. "Holy Ghost" = Holy Spirit.

 

V. 2

1. "Have" = tense is continuous action.

2. "Heaviness" = grief; sadness; described as "great" = intense.

3. "Sorrow" = pain; distress; consuming grief; described as "continual" = unceasing; he was not literally all the time pressed down with this sorrow and grief but whenever he thought on the subject, he had great grief.

4. "Heart" = seat of affection; in the inner being; kindred word to "soul." (Mat. 26:38)

5. The cause of Paul's grief and sorrow is not exactly stated but the implication is that it was due to the nation of Israel rejecting the Messiah, therefore, the greater part of the nation would be doomed to the lake of fire one day.

 

V. 3

1. "Wish" = a longing for; desire; want.

2. "Could" = proper translation of the tense of the verb "wish"; implies that he was willing now to be accursed from Christ; his present love for his kinsman was so strong, that he would, if practicable, save them from the threatened ruin and apostasy; the language of an unattainable wish; Paul knew that he could not take the place of another in this matter, but the intensity of his love prompted his strong statement.

3. "Accursed" = anathema; curse; condemned to hell; separated from God (Christ) forever; eternal death.

4. "Christ" = Messiah.

5. "For" = a preposition of replacement; in place of.

6. "My brethren" = from the same womb; refers to the physical descendants of Israel (Jacob); refers to the same as "my kinsman" = a fellow countryman; those descended from the same ancestor.

7. "According to the flesh" = by birth; distinguishes from Paul's Christian brethren.

8. Paul was willing to be condemned to eternal death, if it were possible, and if it would cause Israel to be saved. (Rom. 10:1)

9. Moses had the same spirit. (Exo. 32:30‑33)

     

                 b. The blessings of Israel's election. V. 4‑5

V. 4

1. "Israelites" = descendants of Israel but means more; covenant name of the chosen people; Jacob's (supplanter) name was changed to Israel (prince with God; Gen. 32:28); honoured by having such an ancestor, and by bearing a name so distinguished as that of his descendants.

2. "To whom" = Israel, the nation received eight privileges listed in verses 4‑5; much given, much required. (Luke 12:48)

A. "Adoption" = the placing as a son for the purpose of an inheritance; refers here to the placing of a nation into the family of God, regarded as His peculiar (highly favored; special) people (Deut 7:6; 14:2); "to whom pertaineth" = to whom belongs; it was their elevated external privilege.

B. "The glory" = symbol of the divine presence that attended them from Egypt and that finally rested over the ark in the tabernacle (Exo. 13:21‑22; 40:33-35); the Shekinah Glory of God and used of Jesus in James 2:1.

C. "The covenants" = contracts; promises of God; the pledges of divine protection; made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and with the nation.

D. "The giving of the law" = refers not only to the ten commandments but also to the civil, dietary, ceremonial, and social laws as well which were all given to Israel.

E. "The service" = the temple service; tribe of Levi was chosen to carry out; this was regarded by Israel as the pride and ornament of their nation; "of God" is in italics, thus not in the original but so placed that we might know what service he was talking about; the Jews knew what Paul meant when he said "the service."

F. "The promises" = the Messiah; the spread of true religion from them as a nation; hundreds more, some of which have been fulfilled and all will be fulfilled.

 

V. 5

1. "Whose" = Israel, the nation receiving these privileges.

G. "The fathers" = the patriarch (head of family); refers to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons; on this they highly valued themselves; Nicodemus valued his ancestry but Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:1‑5); the Jews which believed on Jesus also valued their ancestry to the extent they became angry at Jesus when He spoke of being made free by truth, who later stated their father was the devil. (John 8:30‑44)

H. "Christ" = has "the" definite article; the Messiah.

2. "Concerning the flesh" = refers to the decent of Jesus from the Jews on the human side; so far as His human nature is concerned.

3. "Who is over all" = a statement belonging only to the true God who is sovereign; a clear statement of the deity of Christ following the remark about His humanity.

4. "God" = Christ, who is God.

5. "Blessed" = eulogize; to speak well of.

6. "Forever" = through out the ages to come.

7. The phrase "Blessed for ever" was usually added by Jewish writers after the mention of the name God, as an expression of reverence.

8. "Amen" = so be it.

 

                 c. The basis of Israel's election. V. 6‑13

V. 6

1. "Word of God" = refers to the promise of God given to Israel.

2. "Hath taken none effect" = to fall out of; to fall down from; to fail; to fall powerless; be without effect; the tense is perfect which indicates that the promise with reference to Israel has not failed to work effectively in time past and at present is still effective.

3. "Not as though" = a phrase Paul uses to state, "even though I grieve over Israel because they have rejected the Messiah as a nation, I am not saying that all the nation will be destroyed.  The promise of God will not entirely fail."  In other words Paul is referring to a remnant that will be saved.

4. "For" = because; the reason for Paul making the statement that the promise of God would not fail, is "they are not all Israel which are of Israel" = a paradox but true; not all the descendants of Jacob (national Israel) are the true Israel.

5. Paul explains this paradox in the following verses.

 

V. 7

1. "Seed of Abraham" = refers to the physical descendants of Abraham.

2. "Children" = refers to the true family.

3. Paul is saying just because one was a physical descendant of Abraham that he would automatically be included in the promise given to Abraham.

4. "But in Isaac" = this was the promise (Gen. 21:10‑12); not in Ishmael, who was born 14 years before Isaac, nor in Abraham's six other sons born later to he and his wife, Keturah. (Gen. 25:1‑2)

5. This implies a selection, a choice; therefore, the doctrine of election was illustrated in the very beginning of the nation.  Paul is establishing the fact that just as God had rejected a part of the natural descendants of Abraham in the beginning of the nation He could still do so in their day.

6. The basis was not physical but spiritual, not law but faith. (Rom. 4:13)

7. The Jews were proud of their being a descendant of Abraham but that was not enough to be in the true Israel as Jesus made plain to Nicodemas in John 3:1‑3 and also to the Jews in John 8:31‑44.  He acknowledged they were of Abraham's seed physically (verse 37) but stated plainly that spiritually they did not belong to him but the devil. (verse 44)

8. Paul is building his case concerning God's sovereignty in the national rejection of Israel.  He uses two examples to do so.

 

                       a) Example 1: Isaac and Ishmael. V. 8‑9

V. 8

1. "Children of the flesh" = those born of Hagar and Keturah through works.

2. "Children of the promise" = Isaac, born according to promise through faith.

3. "Promise" = announcement; a divine assurance of good. (Gen. 21:12)

4. "Counted" = reckoned; regarded; God reckons things as they are; therefore, He designed that the children of promise should be His true children.

5. "For the seed" =  the spiritual children of God in Christ, who is the Seed. (Gal. 3:16) 

 

V. 9

1. Paul quotes Gen. 18:10.

2. "Word of promise" = "at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son."

3. "At this time" = according to the time of life, a time when Sarah would conceive; refers not only to Sarah's time of conception but also means at the exact time promised on God's timetable.

4. Paul makes it very clear that the children of the flesh do not automatically become the children of God. Isaac was born of promise.  If left to Abraham and Sarah, they would have chosen Ishmael, the son of the flesh.  But God chose through Isaac to bring blessings to all mankind.

 

                       b) Example 2: Jacob and Esau. V. 10‑13

V. 10

1. "Not only this" = not only is the principle of making a distinction among the natural descendants of Abraham settled by the promise, but it is still further seen and illustrated in the birth of the two sons of Isaac.

2. "Rebecca" = Isaac's wife chosen by Abraham through his eldest servant by the providence of God. (Gen.24)

3. "Isaac" = the promised son; the son according to promise through faith.

 

V. 11

1. "Not yet born" = refers to the children Rebecca conceived by Isaac, Esau and Jacob (twins).

2. "The children" = in italics, thus not in the original but supplied by the translators to further describe who Paul was referring to, Esau and Jacob, not to all the offspring of Abraham.

3. "Neither having done any good or evil" = speaks of their having not yet committed sin, while they were still in the womb; refers to Gen 25:22‑23 quoted in verse 12.

4. Remember God is dealing with nations not just individuals.

5. "Purpose of God" = to have a family who, through the righteousness provided by His Son, would be like His Son; this is the eternal purpose of God. (Rom. 8:29)

6. "Election" = selection; based upon three things: (I Peter 1:2)

A. "Foreknowledge" = God sees and knows what He can do in one's heart (II Sam. 16:7); the potter knows clay and what kind of vessel he can make of it; this does not do away with the total depravity of man (nothing good at all in man); God is sovereign, chief, supreme, above others for there is no other.

B. "Sanctification of the Spirit" = refers to the setting apart work of the Holy Spirit called "godly sorrow" (II Cor 7:10), "Holy Ghost conviction" or "reproval" (John 16:8‑11), whereby the Holy Spirit brings one out of the kingdom of darkness and sphere of the Devil's control into the kingdom of light and the sphere of God's control; this works repentance and produces faith in the sinner.

C. "Obedience" = point where repentance and faith are worked then a sinner can repent and believe unto salvation, thus obedience; man must repent and believe to be saved. (Luke 13:3; Acts 16:31)

7. "Might stand" = abide; continue; endure; be proved to be true.

8. "Not of works" = not by deeds or merit.

9. "But of him that calleth" = according to the will and purpose of Him that chooses to dispense those favors in this manner; it is not by the merit of man, but it is by a purpose having its origin with God, and formed and executed according to His good pleasure. (Eph. 1:4‑6)

10. The Jew can not say he was elected because he was a descendant of Abraham, nor the self‑righteous because of his good works, nor the legalist because he obeyed the law.  Election is not based on works but on the call of God.

11. Isaac would have chosen Esau but God couldn't let His purpose get sidetracked. (Gen. 27)

12. God chooses who He wants and does not ask mothers and daddies about it.

 

V. 12

1. "It was said" = by God in answer to Rebecca's question in Gen. 25:22‑23.

2. "The elder" = the eldest son of the twins, Esau. (Gen. 25:25)

3. "The younger" = the youngest son of the twins, Jacob. (Gen. 25:26)

4. "Serve" = shall be subject to; Esau never served Jacob but his descendants (Edomites) were subject to Israel; the scripture in Gen 25:23 shows that he had reference to people (descendants) of Jacob (Israel) being stronger than the descendants of Esau, thus the Lord is referring to a nation and not just a person.

 

V. 13

1. "It is written" = the tense is perfect, revealing that the scripture was written down in past time and is on record today; Paul quotes Mal. 1:1‑3.

2. "Loved" = agape; God kind of love; refers to the Lord showing affection to Jacob's descendants (a nation) and bestowing on them great privileges and blessings as a proof of that love.

3. "Hated" = to love less; not used in the sense our word hate is used today; as a result of loving Esau's descendants (a nation) less the Lord withheld from them those privileges and blessings which the had conferred on the descendants of Jacob; the Lord Jesus used this same word in Luke 14:26 concerning the saint's loving their families and their own life less than the Lord Jesus.

 

            2) Israel's Election Defended V. 14‑33

                 a. First question asked. V. 14-18

V. 14

1. The first question: Is God unrighteous?

2. "What shall we say then?" = what conclusion shall we draw from these acknowledged facts and from these positive declarations of Scripture? a form of expression the apostle frequently uses, when he is about to introduce an objection.

3. "Unrighteousness" = refers to wrongfulness of character, life, or action.

4. Paul expects a negative answer to this question.

5. "God forbid" = horrors to even think such a thing; God is not unrighteous in His nature, nor in any of His ways and works, nor in this just mentioned, in choosing some and rejecting others.

 

V. 15

1. "For" = because; Paul gives a reason for what he just said by quoting Exo. 33:19.

2. "He" = God.

3. "Mercy" = to show compassion by divine grace by word or deed.

4. "I will have mercy" = I will show mercy.

5. "On whom I will have mercy" = on whomsoever I choose to bestow mercy.

6. "Compassion" = to exercise pity.

7. "I will have compassion" = I will feel compassion.

8. "On whom I will have compassion" = on whomsoever I choose to bestow compassion.

9. The reason for this is His sovereign will and pleasure, and not the works and merits of men.

10. Do not forget the foreknowledge of God in His choosing. (I Peter 1:2)

 

V. 16

1. "So then" = it follows as a consequence from this statement of God to Moses.

2. "Willeth" = wish; desire.

3. "Not of him that willeth" = not human will; this is not teaching that man is compelled to enter heaven against his own choice; men by nature have no desire for God; really they are not even conscience of God as revealed by the word in Rom. 5:6, "without strength" = powerless; without ability (to save self), (see Rom.5:6 in commentary); this does not mean that men are not made willing because they are, by the effect of the influence of the Holy Spirit on their heart. (Psa. 110:3)

4. "Nor of him that runneth" = denotes strenuous, intense effort, as when a man is anxious to obtain an object, or hastens from danger; refers to human works (Eph. 2:9); the meaning is not that the sinner does not make an effort to be saved because the Scriptures teach the contrary (Luke 13:24; 16:16, "presseth" = to put forth effort); the sense is that the sinner would not put forth any effort himself if left to himself.

5. "But" = contrast.

6. "Of God that showeth mercy" = the essential idea here is, that salvation in its beginning, its progress, and its completion, is of Him; as a lost, ruined, and helpless sinner, we are dependent on His mere sovereign mercy to be saved or lost at His will. (John 1:12‑13); deeply anxious we should be, but there is no merit in our distress; pray, we should, but there is no merit in our prayers; weep and strive, we need to but in this there is no ground of claim on God for pardon; salvation is of the Lord (of God).

 

V. 17

1. "The scripture saith" = used when any point is proved from the scripture; Exo. 9:16 where God tells Moses what to say to Pharaoh; this passage is designed to illustrate the doctrine that God shows mercy according to His sovereign pleasure by a reference to one of the most extraordinary cases of hardness of heart which has ever occurred.

2. "Pharaoh" = the title of the Egyptian kings; refers to the specific king over Egypt when Moses was sent to deliver the children of Israel.

3. "For this same purpose" = for the design; with the intent that is immediately specified.

4. "I raised thee up" = make thee stand; sustained thee; refers to the Lord keeping him from death, preserving him from ruin, ministering strength to him, putting him on the throne (Psa. 75:6-7; Pro. 21:1), and promoted him to that high honor and dignity; He did this that He might show His power in him, and that His name might be declared throughout all the earth; God caused Pharaoh to come upon the scene at that particular point in time for a very specific reason.

5. "That I might shew my power in thee" = refers to the fact that God would demonstrate His to power to the whole world through the plagues He sent against Pharaoh and Egypt to bring about the deliverance of an oppressed people, Israel.

6. "My name" = the name of Jehovah as the only true God, and the deliverer of His people.

7. "Be declared" = to herald thoroughly.

8. "Throughout all the earth" = throughout all the land of Egypt and all the known world at the time; we know this happened by reading the story of Rahab in Josh. 2:9‑11; this applies to this present day, wherever and whenever Exo. 9:16 is read.

 

V. 18

1. "Therefore" = in view of what has just been stated Paul makes a conclusion.

2. "He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy" = repetition of part of verse 15 and part of Exo. 33:19.

3. "Whom he will he hardenth" = this is not stated in what the Scriptures said to Pharaoh, but is a conclusion to which the apostle had arrived, in view of the case of this specific Pharaoh.

4. "Hardeneth" = to render stubborn.

5. "He will" = to be resolved; to determine; to purpose.

6. This does not mean that God exerted a positive influence to do evil because God does not solicit a sinner to do evil. (James 1:13)  He just leaves a sinner to go the coarse of his depraved nature. (James 1:14)

7. Pharaoh hardened his own heart also. (Exo. 8:15, 32; 9:34) God hardened Pharaoh's heart by forcing him to an issue against which he hardened his own heart in refusal.  Light (truth) rejected, rightful obedience refused, inevitably hardens conscience and heart.

8. God is sovereign (chief, supreme, above all others because there is no other).  Therefore, He is righteous in His choosing and does not have to ask permission from anyone to do what He does.  Remember you cannot leave out the foreknowledge of God in the doctrine of election. (I Peter 1:2)

 

                 b. Second question asked. V. 19-29

V. 19

1. The second question: Why does God find fault if none can resist His will?

2. "Thou wilt say" = Paul refers to an objection that might be made to his argument.

3. "Find fault" = to blame; why does God blame men since their conduct is in accordance with His purpose, and since He bestows mercy according to His sovereign will? = objection made to Paul's argument.

4. "Hath resisted" = to stand against; oppose; to set one's self against; withstand; denotes the resistance offered by soldiers or armed men; the tense is perfect which means to withstand in time past and continue to withstand.

5. "Will" = plan; purpose.

6. "Who hath resisted his will" = who has successfully opposed His will, or frustrated His plan?; this does not mean that no one has not offered resistance or opposition to God for all have at one time or another (Acts 7:51), but that no one has done it successfully; God accomplished His purpose in spite of their opposition.

7. Remember, you have to take into account the foreknowledge of God and this deals with His wisdom.  Who can even begin to comprehend the wisdom of God?

 

V. 20

1. "Nay but, O man" = on the contrary; who are you who answers back to God in this way?

2. Paul replies to the objection in two ways:

A. First, by asserting the sovereignty of God, and affirming that He had a right to do what He did. V. 20‑21

B. Second, by showing that He did it according to the principles of justice and mercy, or that it was involved of necessity in His dispensing justice and mercy to mankind. V. 22‑24

3. "Who art thou" = a strong rebuke against the wickedness of bringing a charge against God; man is just a creature and it is improper that he should charge his Creator; what qualifications has a creature to set in judgment on the doings of the Infinite Mind.

4. "Repliest against" = an answer of contradicting; the word signifies to reply to an answer which God had already given, and implies a spirit of contention.

5. "Thing formed" = something molded; refers to something man makes and also to man, whom God made (Gen. 2:7); Paul quotes Isa. 29:16.

6. The Greek construction demands a negative answer to the last question in this verse.

7. Any one has the right to fashion his work according to his own views of what is best.  Since this right is not denied to men, we ought not blame the infinitely wise God for acting in a similar way.

8. God has absolute right and power to deal with His own creation as He pleases and man is in no condition to contend with the Almighty.  Therefore, we do not have a right to gripe about how God made us.

 

V. 21

1. Paul uses another illustration of God's absolute sovereignty found in Jer. 18:1‑4.  The vessel was marred (verse 4), did not come out in the form intended, so he rejects it and makes another vessel "as seemed good to the potter to make it."

2. The application was to Israel (Jer. 18:5‑6), meaning that if the house of Israel failed to answer to the Lord's purpose, He would reject her at His pleasure as the potter did the marred vessel.

3. "Power" = mastery; authority; right.

4. "Vessel" = utensil; apparatus; applies to men.

5. "Honour" = that which has value or is esteemed highly.

6. "Dishonour" = disgrace.

7. A vessel is honored or dishonored by the use to which it is put.  One may be intended to carry water while another for carrying away garbage, yet both are made of the same material, clay.

 

V. 22

1. Paul applies this principle in these next three verses.  If a potter may do what he wants with his vessel, certainly God may do what He wants with His vessels.

2. "What if" = as the case is.

3. "Willing" = purpose; having an inclination to.

4. "Shew" = to indicate by word or act.

5. "Wrath" = severe displeasure against sin; since sin is an evil of great magnitude, it is right for God to be willing to demonstrate His displeasure against it and that in proportion to the extent of the evil.

6. "Power" = capability.

7. "Endured" = bore with; was patient; was forbearing (temporary restraint).

8. "Longsuffering" = patience in respect to persons; carries the idea of patient endurance and forbearance under ill‑treatment; refers to the person who has power to avenge himself yet refrains from the exercise of this power; described as "much" = God did this for Israel in the days of the wilderness, Judges, kings, captivity, and even after;  He allowed them to live while they deserved to die, this He does with all sinners; He spares them in midst of all their provocations, to give them opportunity of repentance. (Rom. 2:4)

9. "Vessels of wrath" = denotes wicked men against whom it is fit and proper that wrath should be shown.

10. "Fitted" = adapted; ready; ripe.

11. "Destruction" = refers to the future punishment of wicked men, the lake of fire.

12. If men are fitted or prepared for destruction; if future torment is adapted to them and they to it; if it is fit they should be subjected to it; then God will do what is fit or right to be done.  Unless they repent, they must perish.  It would not be right for God to take them to heaven as they are, to a place for which they are not fitted, and which is not adapted to their feelings, their character, or their conduct.

13. If one attempts to divorce teaching on election from teaching on divine foreknowledge, the result may be a religious fatalism, giving license for sin.

 

V. 23

1. "Make known" = manifest; to display; used mainly of the revelation of God's saving purpose.

2. "Riches" = wealth.

3. "His glory" = reflecting His image and character; refers to the radiance of the being of God.

4. "Vessels of mercy" = saints; refers to "us whom he hath called." (verse 24)

5. "On" = refers to a point reached at a place, time, and purpose; the purpose--to make known the riches of His glory.

6. "Had afore prepared" = to fit up in advance; predestine; to make ready.

7. "Unto glory" = for glory; refers to the glory of heaven. (Rom. 8:18; Heb. 2:10; Rom. 5:2; II Cor. 4:17)

8. Notice that the vessels of mercy were "afore prepared unto glory" but that was not said about "the vessels of wrath."  They were "fitted for destruction" (ready or ripe for destruction) due to their own sin and rebellious nature not because God predestinated them to wrath!  Instead He made a way on Calvary whereby all men could be saved if they would only come to Him with repentance and faith. (I John 2:2)

 

V. 24

1. "Us" = Christians; saints to whom Paul is writing; those whom God hath called.

2. "Hath called" = to summon; to invite; speaks of the divine invitation to salvation; called to partake of the blessings of redemption; refers to the effectual (capable of producing the desired effect; in this case‑‑justification) call. (Rom. 8:30)

3. "Jews" = a name used to denote a person belonging to Judah; a designation for the national religion of the Jews in its self-conscious distinctiveness and fierce loyalty to the law and the traditional customs.

4. "Gentiles" = those who are not Jews.

5. God's purpose in election makes it possible for both Jews and Gentiles to be saved by grace. (Eph. 2:11‑18)

6. Two things are established here:

A. That the grace of God was not confined to the Jewish people, as they supposed, so that it could be conferred on no one else.

B. That God was not bound to confer grace on all the descendants of Abraham, as He bestowed it on those selected from the mass, according to His own will, and not of necessity or the mass itself.

7. God is in control and His purpose will not be sidetracked.

8. Not all of the Jews are saved, nor all of the Gentiles, but some of each.  All are not chosen and redeemed, only some out of every kindred, tongue, nation, and people.  Some, not all, are called by grace and this is not peculiar to the Jews but it reaches also to the Gentiles.  This is true in this present dispensation, as it is also true in every dispensation.

 

V. 25

1. "As he saith also" = quoting OT scripture, Jewish writings, so that he might remove every objection concerning the doctrine he had established; Paul shows how deeply the "whosoever" gospel (Gal. 1:16) had its roots in the OT.

2. "He" = the Lord.

3. "Osee" = Hosea; English spelling of the Greek form of writing the Hebrew word Hosea.

4. Paul is quoting Hosea 2:23 not according to the letter but the sense of the passage.

5. "My people" = refers to God's covenant people in Abraham's seed; also applies to the NT church which is made up of Jews and Gentiles. (I Peter 2:9‑10)

6. "Not my people" = those not included in the seed of Abraham; in context referred to the ten tribes (Northern Kingdom; Israel) who had departed from the Lord thus "not my people"; applies to the Gentiles.

7. "Beloved" = to love; signifies to love in the most tender, kind, and endearing manner.

8. "Her beloved, which was not beloved" = the OT says, "I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy"; means, "I will love her that was not loved"; the sense is not, that God's chosen ones among the Gentiles were not objects of His love before their calling, for their very calling is the fruit, effect, and evidence of love before, because He had chosen them in His son, made a covenant with them in Christ, and obtained eternal redemption for them and all of this before He called them, which proves His love to them.  But His love was not manifested to their souls nor shed abroad in their hearts.

9. Paul supports his main position that God would choose His people from among the Gentiles as well as the Jews, or would exercise toward both His right as a sovereign, bestowing or withholding His blessings as He pleases.

 

V. 26

1. Paul now quotes Hosea 1:10.

2. "And it shall come to pass" = it shall happen, or take place.

3. "In the place" = the place where they may be scattered or where they may dwell.

4. "Not my people" = refers to the scattered ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom and applies to Gentiles.

5. "There" = the place; refers to Palestine in context where they had been called "not my people"; Paul applies it to scattered Jews and Gentiles everywhere.

6. "Shall they be called" = were called "not my people" but now in the same place, they shall be called the children (sons) of the living God"; this is because of a work of grace preformed in their heart.

7. "Living God" = called living in opposition to dead idols.

 

V. 27

1. "Esaias" = the English spelling of the Greek form of writing the Hebrew word Isaiah; Paul quotes the sense of Isa. 10:22‑23 in verses 27‑28.

2. "Also" = meaning, Isaiah as well as Hosea.

3. "Crieth" = exclaims; speaks aloud or openly; denotes loud and earnest utterance; tense reveals a continuous action, thus this was said more than once.

4. "Concerning Israel" = concerning the Jews; Isaiah probably had reference to the Jews of his own time, that wicked generation that God was about to punish by sending them captive into other lands; Paul is building his case against the Jews of his day; if the Jews in Isaiah's day were told that they might be rejected and it was settled as a precedent (for it did come to pass), it might exist also in his time, under the gospel.

5. "As the sand of the sea" = an expression used to denote an indefinite or an innumerable multitude.

6. "Remnant" = few; that which is left, particularly what may remain after a battle or a great calamity; in context means a small part or portion; out of the great multitude there shall be so few left as the make it proper to say that it was a mere remnant.

7. "Shall be saved" = shall be preserved or kept from destruction.

8. As Isaiah had reference to the captivity of Babylon, this means that only a remnant should return to their native land.  The great mass should be rejected and cast off as was the case of the ten tribes and also with many of the Southern kingdom, who chose to remain in the land of their captivity.

9. It is clear, that God has brought Himself under no obligation to save all the descendants of Abraham.  If God did it then it was equally consistent for Him to do it in the time of Paul, under the gospel.

 

V. 28

1. "He will finish the work" = He will bring the thing to an end; will accomplish; refers here to His threat of cutting off the people and means He will fulfill it.

2. "Cut it short" = execute it speedily; speaking of His prophecy, what He had said; the destruction shall not be delayed.

3. "In righteousness" = so as to manifest His own justice; the work though severe, shall be a just (righteous) expression of God's hatred of the sins of the people.

4. "Because a short work" = means that God will not prolong indefinitely the period of His long‑suffering, but that His judgment will come.

5. "Upon the earth" = upon the land of Israel.

6. The reason Paul quoted this passage is to show that God of old destroyed many of the Jews for their sin, and that, therefore, the doctrine he is teaching was no new thing, that the Jews might be excluded from the peculiar privileges of the children of God.  Heb. 4:2 is an example.

 

V. 29

1. "Esaias" = Isaiah.

2. "Said before" = refers to a previous portion of Isaiah than the one just quoted (Isa. 1:9); the tense is perfect meaning this scripture was completed at a point of time in the past and stands on record today, Paul's day and ours as well.

3. "Lord of Sabaoth" = Lord of Host; the warring name of God; properly denotes armies or military hosts organized for war; refers to the unseen realities of the angels who are represented as arranged in military order under their commander and king, the Lord.

4. "Had left" = had preserved or kept from destruction.

5. "Seed" = a part; a small portion; a remnant; means if sovereign God hadn't let remain a remnant, the whole nation would have been cut off like Sodom and Gomorrah.

6. "Sodoma" = Sodom.

7. "Gomorrha" = Gomorrah; these two cities were destroyed, as well as three others, because ten righteous men could not be found to spare the cities' destruction (Gen. 18:32); in a time of great depravity a small number of holy men (a remnant; seed) were found in Israel and the nation was spared.

8. Paul had been accused of preaching a new doctrine, a new gospel (Acts 17:19), but he proved from the Scriptures that his doctrine was not new but that it was rooted deeply in the OT.  The Jews had missed this truth and when there was no open revelation recorded from God during the 400 year period of time from Malachi to Matthew, they established their traditions, man made rules and regulations, and left the Word of God.  As a result they missed this truth and Christ as well. (John 5:39‑40)

 

                 c. Third Question Asked. V. 30-33

V. 30

1. The third question: What shall we say about the Gentiles then?

2. "What shall we say then?" = what conclusion shall we draw from the previous train of thought?  the question is asked as Paul is about to sum up the argument revealing that the outcome was inevitable.

3. "The Gentiles" = those not Jews; the Greek indicates that many Gentiles had actually embraced the righteousness by faith while in comparison few Jews had done so.

4. "Followed after" = to run swiftly in order to catch some person or thing; to run after; to pursue; in context means to seek after eagerly; earnestly endeavor to acquire; negated by "not."

5. "Righteousness" = justification; refers to being saved; this does not mean that the Gentiles did not have any morals about right and wrong, but they had not made it their main object to justify themselves as the Jews had; they were not filled with prejudice and pride as the Jews were; they were sinners, and they recognized it and did not have the mighty obstacle of self‑righteousness to overcome as the Jews had.

6. "Have attained" = to take eagerly; to grasp; to lay hold of so as to make it one's own; to take possession.

7. "Which is of faith" = reliance upon Christ for salvation as Paul had repeatedly shown as the only way to get the God‑kind of righteousness.

8. The righteousness the Gentiles attained was not a righteousness of their own, not the righteousness of works, not a righteousness by the deeds of the law, but that which is of faith (by faith), the channel through which one relies (trust) upon Christ for salvation.

 

V. 31

1. "But" = contrasting Israel (Jews) with the Gentiles.

2. "Law of Righteousness" = the law of justice; the law demands perfect purity and the Jews thought they rendered such obedience to merit justification.

3. "Hath attained" = different word from verse 30; means to have arrived at; anticipate; negated by "not."

4. The Jews thought they had attained to the law of righteousness by their external conformity to it but they did not know the spirituality of it; that it required truth and holiness in the inward parts, and that he who offended in one point of it, was guilty of all; therefore, he could not be justified by it.

 

V. 32

1. "Wherefore?" = why? then Paul gives the reason.

2. "They sought it" = in italics; supplied by the translators and not in the originals; implied from the context; means to pursue.

3. "Faith" = reliance upon Christ for salvation; without faith it is impossible to please God. (Heb. 11:6)

4. "Works " = deeds; toil; refers to their trying to comply with all the demands of the law so that they might merit salvation; if God had intended for man to become righteous by his works, He would never have given His Son to die.

5. "Stumbled" = to trip up; to fall or fail.

6. "Stumblingstone" = an obstacle in the path over which one may fall; in context it means that obstacle that prevented their attaining the righteousness of faith; refers to Christ Jesus, who annoyed and offended the Jews because His words, deeds, career, and particularly His vicarious (endured or done by one person substituting for another) death on the cross, failed to correspond to their preconceptions concerning the Messiah; therefore, they despised and rejected Him and that crime was the occasion of their fall, rejection, and ruin.

7. Some might ask the question: How should the Jews know any thing about justification by faith? by three things:

A. The doctrine was taught in the OT (Psa. 32:1‑2, 10; "trusteth" = faith; Hab. 2:4)

B. The  sacrifices had reference to a future state of things and should have been understood as such.  They were types and shadows of things to come.  (Heb. 10:1; 9:12, 23‑26)

C. The principle of justification and of living by faith had been fully brought out in the lives and experiences of the saints of OT time. (See Rom. 4 and Heb. 11)

8. The Jews were unwilling to submit to Christ.  They had contempt of Him and His message; therefore, they rejected Him and crucified Him.  As a result God withheld from them the blessing of justification and rejected them.  Paul proceeds to prove that this was foretold by the prophets. (verse 33)

 

V. 33

1. "As it is written" = the tense is perfect which means at some point in time past this scripture was written down and stands on record forever; Paul's quote is made up of two passages, Isa. 8:14 and 28:16, and contains the substance of both.

2. "Lay" = to place; notice it is God, "I", who placed.

3. "Sion" = also Zion of OT; refers to mount Zion which was a hill in Jerusalem, near Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built; where the palace and throne of David was; sometimes the whole city of Jerusalem was called by this name; therefore, it came to signify the capital and the glory of the people of God.

4. "Stumblingstone" = "rock of offence" = Christ.

5. "Offence" = a trapstick; a snare.

6. The message of Christ crucified was a stumbling block (rock of offence) to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks (Gentiles). (I Cor. 1:23; I Peter 2:8)  He is the stone of stumbling, not because it was the design of sending Him that men should fall, but because that would be the result.

7. "Believeth" = saving faith exercised; to trust one's spiritual well‑being to Christ the proper object of faith for justification.

8. "On" = refers to a point reached at a place, time, and purpose; the purpose‑‑justification.

9. "Shall not be ashamed" = "shall not make haste" in Isa. 28:16; the two ideas are complementary; means to be afraid as one who makes haste often is (negated by not); to be agitated with fear or fright; refers to the man who believes shall not be agitated, or thrown into commotion, by fear of want or success; he shall not be disappointed in his hopes and will never be ashamed that he was justified; they who do not believe in Christ shall be agitated, fall, and sink into eternal shame and contempt; they who do believe shall be confident, shall not be deceived, but shall obtain the object of their desires.

10. This applies to what Jesus said in Mat. 21:44:

A. Whosoever falls (believes) on (point, place, and time with purpose) this stone (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall be broken = godly sorrow working repentance and faith to salvation (justification).  They shall not be ashamed‑‑not be disappointed.

B. But on whomsoever the stone falls, it will grind him to powder‑‑no hope, lost forever.

11. The believer rests on the solid rock, Christ Jesus; he does not have to rush about in anxiety but can move in deliberation and peace.  Jesus will never allow him to be put to shame.  In a world of change and uncertainty, Jesus never changes. (Heb. 13:8)

12. Paul defends Israel's election proving God is righteous in all that He does even in rejecting the nation Israel and turning to the Gentiles to establish His church.

13. Here is the paradox of history: the Jews tried to be righteous and were rejected; the Gentiles, who did not have the privilege the Jews had, were received.

14. God is sovereign.

 

Chapter 10:

 

      2. Israel's Present Rejection. V. 1‑21

            1) The Reasons for the Rejection. V. 1‑13

V. 1

1. This chapter deals with the present history of Israel and shows how God bypassed a nation and uses the Gentile church.

2. Paul did not discuss Israel's rejection with coldness and anger.  In fact, he could not comment on this subject without expressing once more the deep grief it caused him.  (He had already stated this in Rom. 9:2‑3.)  Paul's life was often endangered by the Jews.  They stoned him, beat him, and persecuted him in many different ways, but in spite of that he was deeply grieved over their souls and desired above all else that they might be saved.

3. "Brethren" = from the same womb; refers to the saints to whom Paul was writing this letter to. (Rom. 1:7)

4. "Heart's desire" = earnest and sincere wish.

5. "Prayer" = petition; supplication; earnest and sincere prayer; refers to prayer for particular benefits; the tense of the verb in this verse reveals a habitual, continuous action, not a one time prayer.

6. "For" = on behalf of; Paul was interceding for Israel to be saved right after he discusses their rejection of Christ; this reveals clearly that Paul did not feel that the case was hopeless for them as individuals in spite of their conduct.

7. "Israel" = the Jewish nation with individuals on his mind.

8. "Be saved" = received salvation; refers to salvation from the sin of unbelief and the consequences of sin in hell; refers to the preservation from the eternal anger of God.

 

V. 2

1. "Bear record" = to be a witness; to give evidence; to testify to what one has seen or heard concerning the subject at hand.

2. "Have" = tense reveals a habitual continuous action.

3. "Zeal" = enthusiastic, diligent devotion in pursuit of God, thus a zeal for God; they had an emotional eagerness and enthusiasm for God as they knew Him; Paul understood the Jews because he sat where they sat. (Phil. 3:6)

4. "Knowledge" = full recognition and discernment; the Jew's zeal was not an enlightened, discerning, and intelligent zeal; it was not founded on correct views of God and of religious truth.

5. "According to" = in a way consistent with.

 

V. 3

1. This verse gives three basis related reasons for Israel's rejection.

 

                 a. They were ignorant of God's righteousness.

2. "Ignorant" = not to know through lack of information; not to understand; they did not understand because they were blinded by tradition. (II Cor. 4:4)

3. "God's righteousness" = justification; refers to God's plan of justifying men or declaring them righteous by faith in His Son; does not mean the personal holiness of God.

 

                 b. They tried to establish their own righteousness.

4. "Going about" = to seek after; seek for; aim at; strive after; desire; endeavor.

5. "To establish" = to set up; refers to their effort to present their own righteousness to constitute a ground of justification before God; they desired to erect a righteousness of their own as a monument to their own glory and not to God's.

6."Own" = one's own private, personal possession.

7. Second "righteousness" = here refers to the righteousness of the law. (verse 5)

 

                 c. They did not submit to the righteousness of God.

8. "Have not submitted" = military term meaning to arrange under; to be subordinate as soldiers in a battalion under a commanding officer; to put one's self under orders; to obey.

9. Third "righteousness = really "the righteousness" because the Greek as a definite article; refers to God's plan of justifying men which was in His Son, Christ as verse 4 brings out. (I Cor. 1:30)

10. Self righteousness was a great obstacle to the Jews just as it is to any sinner.

11. They would not submit to Christ as their Lord and ruler because they did not believe (unbelief, the root problem).  He was the Messiah (John 1:11).  Therefore, God rejected them and He was just and righteous in doing so.

12. If a sinner is ever to be saved he must submit to Christ (the righteousness of God) as his Lord and commander or he, like the Jews, will be rejected.

 

V. 4

1. "Christ" = Messiah; Lord Jesus.

2. "End" = termination; the conclusion of an act or state; that which completes a thing or renders it perfect; Christ completed the law of righteousness when He cried, "It is finished", died, and the veil was rent as a symbol that the law was ended (completed).

3. "Law" = refers to the Mosaic law.

4. "For righteousness" = for justification.

5. "Every one" = to the Jew and also to the Gentiles.

6. "Believeth" = to exercise saving faith in the proper object, which is Christ; the unbeliever is still under law's condemnation and penalty. (I Tim. 1:8-10)

7. The Mosaic law consists of three parts;

      A. The ten commandments.

      B. The social laws given to guide Israel's conduct.

      C. The laws of the tabernacle, sacrifices, and priesthood.

8. None of the three were designed to actually save the Jews.  The ten commandments and the social laws were designed to show Israel its sin and bring condemnation upon them. (Rom. 3:20)  The laws of the tabernacle, sacrifices, and priesthood did not save but obedience to them on the part of an unsaved Jew resulted in a righteous standing before God if his faith was placed in the proper object which was Christ, the coming sacrifice, not the physical sacrifice which was only a picture or type of the real sacrifice to come.

9. Christ is the goal or aim of the law (Gal. 3:24) and also the fulfillment. (Mat. 5:17)  The law can find no fault in Him.

10. Both Moses and Paul clearly understood and taught that legal requirements of conduct would never give an individual a righteous standing before a holy God.  This fact is brought out in the next verse as Paul quotes Moses in Lev. 18:5.  By quoting the OT scripture Paul shows that he was not introducing a new doctrine.

 

V. 5

1. "Moses" = known as the Hebrew lawgiver; really the human instrument through which God gave the law to the Hebrews.

2. "Describeth" = writes.

3. "The righteousness which is of the law" = justification that could only be had by perfect obedience to the law.

4. "Doeth" = obeys; yield obedience.

5. "Those things" = refers to keeping the law perfectly.

6. "Shall live" = refers to eternal life, or life in the new world to come.

7. "By them" = by or in the righteousness that is of the law; mean man stands or falls with it; man must continue his entire life in obedience to the law if he is to have life.

8. Moses did not say that anyone either had yielded or would yield perfect obedience to the law of God.  In fact it is certain that it cannot be yielded by fallen creatures.  Therefore, Christ fulfilled the law for sinful man so that he can have life and eternal bliss.  But one under law has a lot to look forward to-‑horror, terror, gloomy despair, pain, sorrow, and death. (Gal. 3:10-12)

9. Eternal life is by faith in both the OT and NT and it is never earned.  Israel was trying to earn eternal life by their own righteousness.  Their motive was wrong because saving faith was not involved; therefore, God rejected them.

 

V. 6

1. "But" = contrasts the righteousness by faith to the self‑ righteousness by works previously dealt with.

2. Paul quotes various phrases from Deut. 30:11‑14 in verses 6‑8.  Notice he does not quote Moses as saying this or meaning this concerning his doctrine.

3. "Speaketh" = Paul personifies the righteousness (justification) by faith as if it were living and describing its own effects and nature.

4. "On this wise" = in this manner.

5. "Say not in thine heart" = don't think or suppose that the doctrine is so difficult to be understood, that one must ascend to heaven in order to understand it.

6. "Who shall ascend into heaven" = an expression used among the Jews to denote a difficult undertaking; the phrase "to ascend to heaven to get understanding" was used to express the highest difficulty. (Job 11:7-8)

7. "That is, to bring Christ down from above" = in parenthesis to show that Paul is not claiming that it was the original design of Moses to affirm this of Christ; Paul is just giving the sense or explaining how this applies to his own doctrine (teaching).

 

V. 7

1. "Descend" = to go down.

2. "Deep" = abyss; this word was applied to anything of which the depth or bottom of was not known; the words in Deut. 30:13 are "beyond the sea" = the sea was often called the deep in the OT and sailing on it and over it was expressed by "going down to the sea in ships." (Psa. 107:23‑26)

3. This also was an expression denoting a difficult undertaking.

4. "That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead" = in parenthesis to explain how the phrase Moses used in the OT applies to the doctrine Paul was teaching, that of righteousness by faith, as well as to the law about which Moses was speaking.

 

V. 8

1. "What saith it" = again personifying righteousness by faith as if it were living and describing its own effects and nature.

2. "Word" = every utterance of God; Paul in referring to the words themselves which constitute his message of faith. (Rom. 10:17)

3. "Nigh" = near; implies it is easily obtained; that which is remote is difficult to obtain; Note: this is only accomplished by the aid of the Holy Spirit; it is easily obtained when God grants repentance and faith.

4. "In thy mouth" = implies that the doctrine was already so familiar, and so well understood, that it was actually in their mouth, that is, their language, their common conversation; this was true in Moses' day and in Paul's day as well because of the apostles preaching the facts of the gospel were so well known that they might be said to be "in every man's mouth."

5. "In thy heart" = refers to their mind; they not only talked about them but thought about them as well; this was true of what Moses said and also true of the doctrine requiring faith in Christ.

6. "That is" = this is the use Paul makes of it; not saying that Moses referred to the gospel.

7. "Word of faith" = the gospel message concerning faith; the doctrine which requires faith, which is the gospel.

8. "Preach" = to herald forth divine truth of the gospel.

9. Summary of verses 6‑8:

A. Paul represents righteousness of faith as addressing every man who is anxious to obtain salvation in these encouraging words, "Let not the man who yearns for deliverance from his own sinfulness, think that the accomplishment of some impossible task is required in order to enjoy the blessings of the gospel.  Let him not think that the personal presence of the Messiah is necessary for him to be saved.  Christ does not need to be brought down from heaven, or up from the abyss, to impart to him righteousness."

B. This is not necessary since the Incarnation and Resurrection are facts.

C. Incarnation: Christ has already came down from heaven, robed in flesh through a virgin's womb.

D. Resurrection: Christ not only died on the cross but came forth from the grave and the abyss.  He has descended in the earth and has risen from (out from among) the dead.

E. The phrases in verses 6 and 7 are used to express things that are impossible for men to do.  Christ has already done that for us.  And for men to say such, even in their hearts, is to deny that Christ is come in the flesh (incarnation) and risen from the dead (resurrection).

10. Paul describes the word of faith he preached in verses 9‑13.

 

V. 9

1. "Confess" = to speak the same thing; to agree with some person with reference to something; properly means to speak that which agrees with something which others speak or maintain.

2. "With thy mouth" = to speak; to declare it; to do it openly and publicly.

3. "Lord" = supreme in authority.

4. "Jesus" = the earthly name of the Son of God and Jehovah of the OT.

5. "Believe in thine heart" = to have and exercise saving faith, not just in the head or intellect; means to sincerely and truly believe this so that the external profession shall correspond with the real, internal feelings.

6. "Heart" = the seat of the energy of the Holy Spirit.

7. "Hath raised" = to be recalled from the dead to life.

8. "From" = out from among.

9. "Shalt be saved" = to be delivered from the penalty of sin and delivered safely (spirit, soul, and body) in heaven.

10. To confess the Lord Jesus means to confess Jesus as Lord. It means to be in agreement with all that the Scripture says about Him, which included what the names imply:

      A. That Jesus is Jehovah of the OT.

      B. That He is the Messiah, the one the Jews have been looking for.

11. It also includes a heart belief in His deity, incarnation, sinless life, sacrificial and substitutional death on the cross, His resurrection, and His bodily coming back to earth.

12. No Jew would do this who had not really trusted Christ as his Messiah.

13. No Gentile would do it who had not ceased worshipping the emperor as lord.

14. No one can do this within himself.  It takes the work of the Holy Spirit (Ghost) which works repentance and faith so one can believe and confess Jesus as Lord, his personal Lord and Saviour. (I Cor. 12:3b; II Cor. 7:10; John 16:8‑11)

 

V. 10

1. "With the heart" = the center and seat of spiritual life; not with the intellect only.

2. "Believeth" = exercises saving faith; the tense is continuous, believes and keeps on believing.

3. "Unto righteousness" = justification; no man can be justified without saving faith for that is God's plan and He will not depart from it.

4. "Confession is made" = profession; same word as verse 9, the tense is continuous action indicating that one who genuinely believes will confess (profess) his attachment to the Lord Jesus not once, but day after day, year after year.

5. The order is correct here.  One believes before he confesses.  There can be no true attachment to Christ which will not manifest itself in one's life.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.  It is impossible for one to have saving faith in his heart and not show it in his life in words and deeds.

6. These confessed and believed truths are constant, life long convictions.

7. "Salvation" = rescue; safety; refers to more than just justification and being saved from the penalty of sin but also to sanctification by which we are being saved day by day from the power of sin and also to glorification when one day we will be saved from the presence of sin, spirit, soul, and body. (I Peter 1:5,9)

 

V. 11

1. "Scripture" = OT Scripture; Isa. 28:16; 49:23; Paul backs up what he has said by quoting OT Scripture; this is the second time Paul has used Isa. 28:16. (Rom. 9:33)

2. "Whosoever" = Jews or Gentiles; every one of every nation and kindred; implies it was not confined to the Jews only.

3. "Believeth" = exercises saving faith.

4. "On" = refers to a point reached at a place, time, and purpose; the purpose‑‑justification.

5. "Shall not be ashamed" = will not be disappointed; not put to shame in the sense of being disappointed; in Isa. 28:16 "shall not make haste" = means will not be agitated with fear as one who often makes haste is; he shall not be disappointed in his hopes and will never be ashamed that he was justified.

6. This is not referring to an idea of one being ashamed of the Lord Jesus, but Paul says that the sinner who places his faith (saving) on the Lord Jesus (proper object) will not be defeated or disappointed of doing so in all his life.

 

V. 12

1. Difference" = distinction; diversity; advantage; no difference in regard to the subject at hand; in many respects there might be a difference but not in the way of justification before God, for all have sinned, all have failed in obeying the law, and all must be justified in the same way, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; there is no advantage which the Jew has over the Greek in regard to justification before God.

2. "Jew" = that portion of mankind which professed to yield obedience to the law of Moses; included proselyte Gentiles.

3. "Greek" = Gentile; non Jews; the term Jew and Greek includes all mankind.

4. "Lord" = supreme in authority.

5. "Lord over all" = refers to the fact that there is the same Lord of all; the Jews and Gentiles have one common Lord; the same God had formed them, ruled them, and had the same path for both to eternal life.

6. "Rich" = to have abundance; commonly applied to wealth but here it means that the Lord abounds in mercy and goodness towards all who call upon Him.

7. "Call" = invoke or call earnestly; implies that we must call upon Him with a humble sense of our sinfulness and our need of pardon and with a willingness to receive eternal life as it is offered by saving faith; this call is not with the lips only but with the heart which has been reproved by the Holy Ghost. (I Cor. 12:3b; II Cor 7:10; John 16:8‑11)

8. Paul now verifies this in verse 13 by quoting OT Scripture. (Joel 2:32)

 

V. 13

1. "Whosoever" = Jew or Gentile; rich or poor; bond or free; black or white; educated or uneducated; refined or crude; the Jews did not like this word.

2. "Name" = authority; to call upon the name of the Lord is the same as to call on the Lord Himself, for He has and is authority. (Mat. 28:18; power = authority)

3. "Shall be saved" = delivered from sin and its guilt; justified.

4. For one to call on the Lord he must believe from the heart His deity, incarnation, sinless life, sacrificial and substitutional death on the cross, His resurrection, and His bodily coming back to earth.  This is the same basic requirement as to confess the Lord Jesus of verse 9.

5. Again I repeat: No Jew would do this who had not really trusted Christ as his Messiah, no Gentile would do it who had not ceased worshipping the emperor as lord, and no one can do this (Jew or Gentile) unless the Holy Ghost has completed His work of reproval in his heart. (I Cor. 12:3b; II Cor 7:10; John 6:8‑11)

 

            2) The Remedy for the Rejection. V. 14‑17

V. 14

1. The remedy is "saving faith" of which Paul explains how or by what method saving faith must be produced in a person.

2. He begins by asking a series of questions which he knew the Jews would voice in objection to his teaching.

3. "How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?" = that is, how could they call on one in whose existence, ability, and willingness to help they did not believe; they did not believe Jesus was the Messiah; the objection is, that in order to call on one for help that person must be satisfied that there is such a being, and that He is able to aid him.

4. "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" = this position is equally undeniable, that men could not believe in a being of whom they had not heard; the implied objection was, that men could not be expected to believe in one of whose existence they knew nothing, and, of course, that they could not be blamed for not doing it; in the Jews objection, it was not right to make eternal life depend on faith in the Lord Jesus, who they did not believe was the Christ (Messiah).

5. "How shall they hear without a preacher?" = how can men hear, unless someone preach (proclaim) to them that which is to be heard and believed? The objection is, that it is not right to condemn men for not believing what has never been proclaimed to them; therefore, the doctrine that eternal life is based on faith in the Lord Jesus cannot be just and right.

6. "Preacher" = to herald forth as a public crier, divine truth.

 

V. 15

1. "How shall they preach, except they be sent?"

A. "How" = does not refer to the manner of preaching, but to the fact that there would be no preachers at all unless they were sent forth.

B. "Preach" = to proclaim in a public manner as a crier does: to proclaim the gospel to men.

C. "Except" = unless.

D. "Be sent" = to put forth into action; set apart; implies being divinely commissioned and sent forth by God; He who sends a message to men can alone designate the proper persons to bear it;  He does this through His church (Acts 13:1‑4; Gal. 1:15‑16); Jesus charged the church to pray for laborers (Mat. 9:36‑38); preaching is God's plan (I Cor.1:21); human instrumentally is necessary and must cross ones path before they will be saved. (Acts 8:30‑31)

E. The point of objection is this: Men could not believe unless the message was sent to them, and God had not actually sent it to all men; therefore, it could not be just to make eternal life depend on so impracticable a thing as faith in Christ for eternal life.

2. The oft‑repeated "how" in these verses represent vital, searching, and challenging questions.

3. "It is written" = the tense reveals it was written down in time past and is still on record today; Paul gives the sense of Isa. 52:7 to confirm what has just been put forth in the objection‑‑the importance and necessity of there being messengers of salvation.

4. "Beautiful" = attractive; lovely; the idea of the word includes vigor, thus vigorous feet; the image in Isaiah is that of a herald seen at first leaping or running on a distant hill (Isaiah uses the words "upon the mountains" = which makes the passage more picturesque), when he first comes in sight, with tidings of joy from a field of battle, or from a distant land; the appearance of such a man to those who were in captivity, would be an image full of gladness and joy.

5. "The feet" = indicates the feet of a herald, naked and dusty from travelling, would be naturally objects of disgust, but are made pleasant by the joy of the message; emphasizes the rapid approach of the messenger. (II Sam. 18:24‑27)

6. "Preach the gospel" = one word in the Greek; announce the good news of peace.

7. "Peace" = to set at one again (so translated in Acts 7:26); the verb form of this word means to bind together that which has been separated; refers to reconciliation with God. (Rom. 5:1)

8. "Bring glad tidings" = one word in the Greek, same as "preach the gospel"; announce the good news of good things.

9. "Good things" = refers to the benefits of the Messianic kingdom.

10. The sequence in these verses are:

A. The preacher is sent by God through the church.

B. He preaches the gospel and matters pertaining to it (the deity, virgin birth, sinless life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, intercession, and bodily coming back).

C. The sinner hears the gospel message as it is sharpened by the Holy Ghost. (Heb. 4:12; I Thess. 1:5)

D. The sinner believes the message due to saving faith being given to him. (Eph. 2:8; John 3:27)

E. Then he calls and confesses (believing all the Scripture says about the Lord Jesus, even though they do not understand all about it) that Jesus is his Lord.

F. He is saved (justified).

G. Then he recognizes the beauty of the feet of the one who brought him the gospel message, appreciates him, loves him, and is thankful to the Lord for him.

11. In context, the ones who bear the gospel message have beautiful feet in the eyes of the Lord also.  He is precious to the Lord due to the fact Jesus had no posterity, no children to carry on the family name (in a sense) but when preachers submit to the call of the Lord to carry the message, in essence they are declaring His generation and the Lord says their feet are beautiful to Him. (Isa. 53:8)

 

V. 16

1. This verse is not a continuation of the objection of the Jew but part of the answer of Paul.

2. "Obeyed" = to heed or conform to a command or authority; they heard but did not act upon what they heard.

3. "Gospel" = the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection and all the other facts about the Lord Jesus.

4. "Esaias" = Isaiah. (Isa. 53:1)

5. "Lord" = supreme in authority; Jehovah.

6. "Believed" = saving faith exercised; the Greek construction reveals that few or none had believed.

7. "Our report" = our message; that which is delivered to be heard and believed.

 

V. 17

1. "So then" = indicating a report or message was necessary.

2. "Faith" = refers to saving faith; this is also true of any kind of faith.

3. "Hearing" = same word as "report" in verse 16; does not mean that all who hear actually believe, for that is not true; but that faith does not exist unless there is a message or report to be heard or believed.

4. "Word" = utterance; refers to every utterance of God, whenever and however He speaks.

5. This shows us the importance of the message, and the fact that men are converted by the instrumentality of truth, and of truth only.

 

                 3) The Result of the Rejection. V.18‑21

V. 18

1. "But I say" = Paul replies to the Jew's objection.

2. "Have they not heard?"= a question but affirming that they had heard.

3. "They" = refers to the Gentiles in this verse while in verse 19 he deals especially with Israel (Jews).

4. "Yes, verily" = one word in the Greek; an intense expression, denoting strong affirmation.

5. Paul quotes Psa. 19:4 which refers back to Psa. 19:1‑3.

6. "Their" = heavens; firmament; day and night. (Psa. 19:1-3)

7. "Sound" = utterance; a musical note; a tone made by a stringed instrument; "line" of Psa. 19:4; the heavens proclaim God's existence‑-music to my ears; as applied to the heavens, it means they speak, or proclaim the wisdom and power of God.

8. "Earth" = the planet on which man lives.

9. "Ends" = extremity.

10. "World" = the inhabited earth.

 

V. 19

1. "But I say" = still further discourse to meet the objection; he shows that the doctrine he was teaching was actually taught in the O.T.

2. "Did not Israel know?" = a question, but the Greek affirms that they should have known but they did not know.

3. "Israel" = Jews.

4. "Know" = knowledge gained by experience; involves the idea of understanding what is heard; Israel did not understand for Jesus showed them so in John 5:39‑40.

5. Paul does not deny the principle contained in the Jew's objection in verses 14‑15‑‑that the gospel should be preached in order that men might be justly condemned for not believing it, nor that the messengers must be sent by God, nor that faith comes by hearing.  All of this he readily admits.  But he proceeds to show from the OT that all this had been actually furnished to the Jews and to the Gentiles and that they were actually in possession of the message, and could not plead that they had never heard it.  They all had light (John 1:9) but failed to step in it. (John 1:5)

6. "First" = in the first place.

7. "Moses saith" = refers to the writings of Moses which are the first five books of the OT; quotes Deut. 32:21.

8. "Provoke to jealousy" = one word in the Greek; excite to rivalry; in Deuteronomy the context refers to the idolatrous and wicked conduct of the Israelites which provoked God or excited His indignation; they had shown favor, or affection for that which was not God (true also in Paul's day as well as Moses' day) and by so doing had provoked Him to anger; as a result God also would show favor to those whom they regarded as "no people" (Gentiles), and that would provoke them to anger.

9. "Foolish" = unintelligent; void of understanding; refers to the Gentiles, a nation who had no understanding of the true God.

10. "Anger" = enrage; by God bestowing favor on the Gentiles would excite the Jews anger.

 

V. 20

1. Now Paul quotes Isaiah.  First Moses, now Isaiah. (Isa. 65:1)

2. "Esaias" = Isaiah.

3. "Is very bold" = to dare; to be venturesome; Paul describes Isaiah as bold in that he expresses the doctrine openly, boldly, and without any reserve; means that however unpopular the doctrine might be, or however dangerous it was to declare openly that Israel would be rejected and the Gentile nation be turned to‑‑Isaiah had declared that a long time ago.

4. "I" = the Lord; Isaiah is saying what the Lord said.

5. "I was found" = in the past tense here but in the present tense in the OT which indicates that the time would come when the Gentiles would be brought to the knowledge of the true God; this had already taken place in Paul's day.

6. "Was made manifest" = became apparent; became clear; refers to God giving proof of His saving grace unto the Gentiles.

7. "Asked not after" = did not inquire, ask for, or seek after God.

8. This verse does not mean that we can expect to find God if we do not seek for Him.  But God takes the initiative and makes it possible for people to seek and find Him, and they do, even Gentiles whose character was not to seek God.  Yet, they would have in Isaiah's day, and had, in Paul's day, the gospel sent to them and they would and did embrace it by saving faith.  Cornelius is an example in Acts 10 and 11.  When Peter explained the events concerning Cornelius being saved, the saved Jewish brethren stated in Acts 11:18 that God had granted the Gentiles repentance.

9. Israel missed that in the OT Scriptures; therefore, they did not know (understand).

 

V. 21

1. Paul now quotes Isa. 65:2.  The preceding quotation established the doctrine that the Gentiles were to be called.  Now he proceeds to establish that the Jews would be rejected.

2. "He" = the Lord.

3. "All day long" = continually, without intermission; implying that their acts of rebellion were not a one time thing but an established character of the people.

4. "Stretched forth" = to extend; denotes an attitude of an earnest request; a willingness and earnest desire to receive them to favor. (Pro. 1:24; Mat. 23:37)

5. "Disobedient" = to disbelieve; not confiding or obeying; the word is "rebellious" in Isaiah.