The current passage in Romans is not difficult, but only if we know the context. In this article, therefore, there are two parts:

1. General introduction to Israel and nations
2. Paul’s statements about the church (Romans 9:22-33).

The individualized world

We live in an individualized time in which the individual person has an incredibly high value. This was (and is) not always the case everywhere. This has a lot of good, but not only that. Our world today is characterized by strong individualism. This, of course, has also had an impact on religious experience and beliefs. The idea that “you must believe or God cannot save you” is widespread unbelief in God’s work. This “unbelief of believers” is based on an overvaluation of the individual and often leads to a dubious self-righteousness.

Scripture often speaks of groups rather than individuals. What applies to the group and is envisioned for the group also applies to you. Abram was chosen as the first man, not for himself, but as a channel of blessing from God to reach all people. This concerns you and me and all other people. Faith or religious affiliation were not mentioned in this promise. Why it went with Abram was the blessing of God to reach all. Election is always with a specific goal in mind. The second chosen one was the people of Israel, with a similar mission. The third chosen one is today’s church, with a new task, complementary to the task of Israel.

The first chosen one: Abraham

Abram, later Abraham, was the first chosen one. Abram receives a commission and a promise.

“And Yahweh said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land which I will shew thee. And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and I will make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed!”
Gen 12:1-3 (Gen 13:6; Gen 15:1-6, et al.)

When Abram receives a promise from God, it is not about Abram (the later Abraham), but about all the people in the world. God’s goal is not to save Abram, as we would consider such a thing today. What happens there is different. Abram is depicted as a channel of blessing. Through Abram, however, all people were to be blessed. There was God’s promise for the future, wherein via Abram God’s blessing would be spread to the whole world.

In an aside, “salvation by faith” is not a theme in this story. It is not about Abram alone, but about Abram including his descendants and with an impact for the whole world. In this calling of God, the outlook of God was also preserved. Nothing less than the entire world was the goal.

The Second Chosen One: The People of Israel

After that comes God’s action with Israel. Israel was chosen by God out of all the nations, not because they were so important, great and powerful, but on the contrary, because they had no advantages:

“For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God: Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people of possession to him out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more than all the nations that Yahweh inclined toward you and chose you, for you are the least of all the nations; but because of Yahweh’s love for you, and because he kept the oath he swore to your fathers, Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Deut 7:6-8

While God went one way with Israel, it was with the intention of once reaching the rest of the nations via Israel:

“And it shall come to pass at the end of the days, that the mountain of the house of Yahweh shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us from his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For from Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem; and he shall judge between the nations, and execute judgment upon many peoples. And they shall forge their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
Isa 2:2-4

However, this was still not concrete. It was a messianic promise.

The Third Chosen One: Today’s Church

Until the present church, God was “busy with Israel.” There lay the promises and via Israel these were to receive a form and future. Most of the Bible deals with Israel and Israel’s expectation. Only in this expectation were the other nations resolved. The focus was on Israel because the promise was to be part of Israel’s calling and ministry. The other nations received little attention. We find this confirmed as an understanding in the New Testament.

“The God who created the heavens, the earth and the sea, along with everything in them. He let all nations go their own ways in the past generations, though He did not leave Himself unwitnessed, working good, giving rain from heaven and fruit-bearing terms, and refreshing our hearts with food and gladness.”
Acts 14:15-17

The crucial point here is that the nations were not to be excluded from God’s blessing, but they were to receive this blessing via Israel, the people Abraham had as his ancestor. It is a series with promises via a certain path.

What could believers from the nations do when they themselves were not in focus? They could turn to Israel and join the people as proselytes. There were rules for this and we find corresponding examples in both the Old and New Testaments. A situation like today, in which national believers can approach God without the mediation of Israel and the temple service, without circumcision and keeping the commandments, was by and large unthinkable at that time – despite exceptions here and there.

Something has therefore changed. When was that? These are the questions Paul deals with here in Romans. Chapters 9-11 are about Israel and about the nations, not about personal salvation. It’s about the bigger picture. It is about God’s promises to Israel and what became different for the church today. For Jesus also saw His mission as being exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24; Rom. 15:8). The Gospels do not speak of a new situation, but of the beginning of the fulfillment of old promises. So when does it become new? Not at the beginning of the New Testament, but later in the New Testament.

Today’s church is not Israel or the continuation of Israel. Nor is it incorporated into the family of God through the mediation of Israel, in the style foreseen by the prophets. Nevertheless, today’s church is a “called out” crowd of people. The word church (ekklesia) means “called out ones”. Paul writes of today’s church from all nations as follows:

“But now, in Christ Jesus,
are you who were once far away [die Nationengläubige],
become near ones through Christ’s blood.
For He is our* peace, who has made the two*
one made and the middle wall of the enclosure
(the enmity in His flesh) has broken down
(by abolishing the law of commandments in decrees),
around the two*
to create in Himself a new humanity
(by making peace) and the two*.
in one body, to reconcile with God through the cross:
so killing the enmity in him.
With His coming, He proclaims as the gospel:
Peace to you who are far away and peace to you who are near,
because we both*
have access to the Father in one spirit through Him.”
Eph 2:13-18

*Jews and Gentiles, believers from Israel and the nations.

The goal of the church today is a new humanity. This is new. It is a different outlook from what could be gleaned from the Tenach. In this new humanity, believers from Israel and the nations come together in the Spirit (!) and in Christ (!). This characterizes the body of Christ, of which only the apostle Paul speaks. He is also the only “apostle to the nations” (Rom 11:13).

Today’s church, as the chosen one, also has a task. Paul describes these as follows:

“He makes us* alive together in Christ (in grace you are saved), He raises us up together* and sets us down together* in the midst of the superhuman in Christ Jesus. in order to achieve in the coming eons the all-surpassing Riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus To put on display.”
Eph 2:5-7

*Jews and Gentiles, believers from Israel and the nations.

The task of today’s church – as with Israel – still has a future component. We should display grace as we have experienced it in Christ Jesus. Where is this going to happen? “In the midst of the superheavenly,” writes the apostle. From this we can see:

• Area of Israel’s activity according to the promise: Earth
• Area of activity of the present church according to the promise: heaven (w. “upper heaven”).

Together, this appears comprehensive. Israel and the nations are to be understood complementarily. In New Testament times, however, this was stunningly new. Paul revealed “mysteries” (Rom 16:25-27; Eph 3:1-12; Gal 1:11-12). Peter found some things in it “difficult to understand” (2Pet 3:15-16), which is not surprising.

The Sovereignty of God

God’s sovereignty is evident in all His dealings with Israel and the nations. When God acts, human doing and willing seems very humble. This contrast is used deliberately. God is above everything. This is not just arbitrariness, but also trust in God. When God acts, it comes good. There is comfort in the fact that God is in charge and not man. This is the trust in God of the characters of the Bible.

Paul talks about this in a big context in Romans 9-11. The goal, many a harsh statement, is not condemnation, but clarifies understanding in a larger context. This becomes especially clear in the next verses of Romans 9:22ff.

When everything becomes different

God’s purpose corresponded to election (Rom 9:11). He has mercy on whom he wills and hardens whom he wills (Rom 9:18). Doesn’t the potter have authority over the clay to make one vessel for glory and another for dishonor out of the same clay (Rom 9:19-21)?

We are in the middle of an argument of the apostle here. We should not tear verses out of this context, lest we do violence to the aim of these remarks. It only goes on step by step. Paul does not seek to condemn anyone, nor does God. However, the sovereignty of God is above all else. This creates space for such groups and people who have not had “the best cards” until now. Sovereignty, then, by which God could also include a new group in the inner circle.

“But how, if God.
(willing to display His wrath and make known what He is able to do)
bears the vessels of wrath (Rom 9:21) adapted to destruction with much patience,
to show at the same time (!) the riches of His glory
at the vessels of mercy (Rom 9:21),
whom He has prepared for glory
– us, whom He also calls,
not from the Jews alone, but also from the nations.”
Rom 9:22-24

Paul explains here the image of the potter and the clay. God, as the potter, has authority over the clay. He writes to the church in Rome, in which Jews and national believers are together. They are the vessels of mercy that God has “prepared beforehand for glory.” Paul thus gives the readers of the letter a position in this story. On the one hand it is about the church, but on the other hand it is about the understanding of Israel (Rom 9:1-5) and how the church in Rome could understand that.

The example from Hosea

Imagine that the Jews in the community knew the context of the prophets as if it were self-evident. The current experience of the church, the broad array with believers from all nations (Rom 9:24), was in tension with these promises. That is what Paul is trying to clarify here.

“As He also says in Hosea, “That which was not My people I will call “My people,” and that which was not beloved I will call “beloved” (Hos. 2:23). And it will be so: In the place where they were told: You are not My people (Hos 1:9), there they will be called “sons of the living God.””
Rom 9:25-26

Paul does not reject Israel here, but explains – with a comparison – how the nations belong to it. The apostle uses figurative language. It is not about Israel here, but about the other nations. That is what is new. How to understand the community? How can it be that – in contrast to the Old Testament – the nations now suddenly belong in Christ? This was brand new in the first century when Paul wrote this. The example shows how the nations that were once strangers, far from the covenant promises, are given a place as “beloved.”

Of course, Hosea was speaking about Israel directly. Paul uses this prophecy about Israel merely as an example, i.e. not so that the promise is taken away from Israel and is now to apply to the nations. He uses the promise as an example of the way nations are included in the inner circle of faith. However, it is something like a partial realization, which can be found back exemplarily also in the Tenach. This statement is to the nations and means something like, “You now belong to it as only a sovereign God can regulate.”

The picture of Israel and the nations is thus not complete. Now the apostle turns to the other part of the church, namely the part that came from Israel.

The example from Isaiah

“But Isaiah cries aloud over Israel: Though the number of the sons of Israel were as the sand of the sea, yet only the remnant shall be saved; for concluding and cutting short, the Lord will keep account upon the earth. Just as Isaiah had also prophesied before, If the LORD of hosts had not left us seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah (Isa. 10:22-23; Isa. 1:9)”
Rom 9:27-29

After Paul has said something about the believers from the nations, he changes the target group here. Now he is talking about the Jews in the community. Again he quotes from the Tenach, the Old Testament. “Though the number of the sons of Israel were as the sand of the sea, yet only the remnant shall be saved.” The remnant is now to be applied as an example to the Jewish believers in the church. Applied, because here – as just before – it’s about a visual language. The church from all nations is not Israel, so the example can only be applied in a figurative sense.

Once again, it is primarily about encouragement. First, the apostle had encouraged the nation believers. Now he encourages Jewish believers in the community. It is not a question of devaluation, but of upgrading. Likewise, it is not about exclusion, but about including all who are “in Christ” in the church.

In summary

“What do we want to bring forward now?”
Rom 9:30

The last verses of this chapter summarize what has been said so far. What did Paul want to make clear now?

“What do we want to bring forward now?

1. 1. That the nations who did not pursue righteousness have taken hold of righteousness, namely, righteousness by faith.
   2. But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, does not run into the law of righteousness, overtaking those. Why? Since it is not by faith but by works of the law, they stumble at the stone of stumbling, as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of stumbling; and he who believes in Him shall not be put to shame. (Isa 28:16)”

Rom 9:30-33

Once again Paul mentions the two groups: Nations and Israel.

• The nations had not sought justice, but found it by faith. That was extraordinary.
• Israel, on the other hand, equipped with everything it would need to understand the righteousness of God, got the focus wrong, according to Paul.

One’s own effort doesn’t cut it. Faith is transverse to one’s own effort. Neither lineage nor one’s own efforts bring success if one wants to stand before God. Some, however, live by faith. This is the orientation with which Paul encourages the Jewish believers in the church. Not the doing, but the trust in God’s working is central. They are, as he called it a few verses earlier, “the children of promise” (Rom 9:8).

How should we evaluate this? Paul – like Jesus – repeatedly struggled with the fact that some put keeping the law, the precepts and commandments, above all else. Believers from the nations should also abide by these rules. However, times had changed. The church is not about the fulfillment of prophetic promises, as Israel expected. Something new had happened. Now Paul’s believers are being adapted to this new situation.

So on the one hand there are people who want to move the church in the direction of circumcision, Torah and rules, while on the other hand Paul calls out the church with the grace of God in Christ Jesus. That is the contrast of this time.

In Galatians, for example, the apostle must write:

“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand fast therefore in it, and be not again bound in the yoke of slavery. Behold, I Paul say unto you: If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no use to you. Again I testify to every man who is circumcised that he owes it to himself to keep the whole law. You are deprived of the blessing and separated from Christ, who want to be justified by the law: Ye are fallen from grace. Yet we wait in the Spirit by faith for the expectation of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything, but only faith working through love.”
Gal 5:1-6

This is the new thing, against the background of the current controversy from the first decades of the community. The new had to be clarified, understood, explained and introduced. This is the intent of chapters 9-11 in Romans. Here foundations are laid for understanding Israel and the nations.

So far, Paul dealt with the believers (from Jews and nations) in the church itself. But what effect does this have on the understanding of Israel as a whole? We’ll talk about that in the next chapter.