Day 62 of 90

Rom 9:1–12:21

9:1 I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit,

9:2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers' sake, my relatives according to the flesh,

9:4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;

9:5 of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel.

9:7 Neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children. But, "In Isaac will your seed be called."

9:8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed.

9:9 For this is a word of promise, "At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son."

9:10 Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac.

9:11 For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,

9:12 it was said to her, "The elder will serve the younger."

9:13 Even as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!

9:15 For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

9:18 So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

9:19 You will say then to me, "Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?"

9:20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"

9:21 Or hasn't the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?

9:22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction,

9:23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,

9:24 us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?

9:25 As he says also in Hosea, "I will call them 'my people,' which were not my people; and her 'beloved,' who was not beloved."

9:26 "It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'"

9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "If the number of the sons of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;

9:28 for the Lord will fulfill his word completely and without delay upon the earth."

9:29 As Isaiah has said before, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah."

9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;

9:31 but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

9:32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone;

9:33 even as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock that will make them fall; and no one who believes in him will be put to shame."

10:1 Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for them, that they may be saved.

10:2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

10:3 For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, "The one who does them will live by them."

10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith says this, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down);

10:7 or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)"

10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart;" that is, the word of faith, which we proclaim:

10:9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10:10 For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

10:11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."

10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on him.

10:13 For, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved."

10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a proclaimer?

10:15 And how will they proclaim unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!"

10:16 But they did not all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"

10:17 So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

10:18 But I say, did they not hear? Yes, truly, "Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

10:19 But I ask, did not Israel know? First Moses says, "I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry."

10:20 Isaiah is very bold, and says, "I was found by those who did not seek me. I was revealed to those who did not ask for me."

10:21 But as to Israel he says, "All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

11:1 I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

11:2 God did not reject his people, which he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:

11:3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life."

11:4 But how does God answer him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal."

11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.

11:7 What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he did not obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

11:8 According as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day."

11:9 David says, "Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.

11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always."

11:11 I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.

11:12 Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?

11:13 For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;

11:14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.

11:15 For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead?

11:16 If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree;

11:18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.

11:19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in."

11:20 True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;

11:21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

11:22 See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

11:23 They also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

11:24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

11:25 For I do not desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,

11:26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, "There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

11:27 This is my covenant to them, when I will take away their sins."

11:28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake.

11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

11:30 For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,

11:31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.

11:32 For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.

11:33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

11:34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"

11:35 "Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?"

11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

12:3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

12:4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function,

12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

12:6 Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;

12:7 or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;

12:8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with liberality; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.

12:10 In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate one to another; outdo one another in showing honor;

12:11 not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

12:12 rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;

12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality.

12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse.

12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Do not be arrogant, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own conceits.

12:17 Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men.

12:18 If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.

12:19 Do not seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God's wrath. For it is written, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord."

12:20 Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head."

12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.