The Choice Of Gentiles In The Scriptural Prophesies Series

(33) The Choice of Gentiles in the Scriptural Prophesies

Romans 9:25-33

25 As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.”

26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved.

28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

29 And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;

31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.

33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Introduction

In verses 25-33, Paul finishes his argument that Israel’s unbelief is not inconsistent with God’s plan of redemption by using the Old Testament to show that her unbelief reflects exactly what the prophets recorded (verses 25-29), and that it is consistent with God’s prerequisite of faith (verses 30-33).

Commentary

25 As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.”

As He says also in Hosea--Now Paul was arguing with Jews, and he knew that the only way to reinforce his argument was with quotations from their own scriptures. Therefore, he appeals to a number of Old Testament prophecies concerning God’s people and the principle of election. He paraphrases Hosea 2:23, “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” In Hosea, these words actually refer to Israel and not to the Gentiles. They look forward to the time when Israel will be restored as God’s people and as His beloved. But when Paul quotes them here in Romans, he applies them to the call of the Gentiles. What right does Paul have to make such a radical change? The answer is that the Holy Spirit who inspired the words in the first place has the right to reinterpret or reapply them later. Hosea was an Old Testament man of God who saw a parable of the relationship between God and Israel in the tragedy of his own life. Hosea married Gomer, and a child was born which he named Jezreel. But when Gomer’s second and third children were born, Hosea was not convinced he was the father, therefore he gave them names, which expressed his apprehension. Their Hebrew names were Lo-ammi (no kin of mine) and Loruhamah (one for whom no natural affection is felt). These names indicate God’s attitude toward His people in the Northern Kingdom of Israel when they broke their covenant with Him and forsook His commands. God allowed Syria to take the nation into captivity and exile [1](Hosea 1:2-9).

God was not permanently casting away the people of Israel, however. In the verses quoted by Paul, God promised to restore them as His beloved and as His people.

The principles of Hosea’s prophesy are still being fulfilled in this marvelous Day of Grace. Today, He is calling out of this world a people to His name—Gentiles, who are strangers to the covenants, aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and without hope.

______________________________verse 25 notes___________________________________

[1](Hosea 1:2-9) When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to him: “Call his name Jezreel, For in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. It shall come to pass in that day That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then God said to him: “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the Lord their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By horses or horsemen.” Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then God said: “Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you are not My people, And I will not be your God.