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COLLECTIONS
Commentaries, Word
Studies, Devotionals, Sermons, Illustrations
Old and New Testament. |
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Romans
9:29
And
just as
Isaiah foretold ,
"UNLESS THE
LORD OF
SABAOTH HAD
LEFT TO US A
POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE
BECOME
LIKE
SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE
RESEMBLED
GOMORRAH." (NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
kai
kathos
proeireken (3SRAI)
Esaias,
Ei
me
kurios
Sabaoth
egkatelipen (3SAAI)
hemin
sperma,
os
Sodoma
an
egenethemen (1PAPI)
kai
os
Gomorrha
an
homoiothemen.
(1PAPI)
Amplified:
It is as Isaiah predicted, If the Lord of hosts had not left us a
seed [from which to propagate descendants], we [Israel] would have
fared like Sodom and have been made like Gomorrah. [Isa. 1:9.] (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: And even as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord
of Hosts had left us some descendants, we would have become as Sodom,
and we would have been like Gomorrah.” (Westminster
Press)
ESV: And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had
not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like
Gomorrah." (ESV)
ICB: It is as Isaiah said: "The Lord of heaven's armies allowed
a few of our descendants to live. Otherwise we would have been
completely destroyed like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah." Isaiah
1:9
NIV: It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord
Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we
would have been like Gomorrah." (NIV
- IBS)
NKJV: 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."
NLT: And Isaiah said in another place, "If the Lord Almighty
had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out as completely
as Sodom and Gomorrah." (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: And previously, Isaiah said: 'Unless the Lord of
Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and we
would have been made like Gomorrah'. At present the gentiles have gone
further than the Jews (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: And even as Isaiah said before, Except
the Lord of Sabaoth had left us offspring, we would in that case have
become even as Sodom and been made like Gomorrah. (Erdmans)
Young's Literal: and according as Isaiah saith before, 'Except
the Lord of Sabaoth did leave to us a seed, as Sodom we had become,
and as Gomorrah we had been made like.'
Septuagint (Lxx) of
Isa1:9: kai ei me kurios sabaoth egkatelipen (3SAAI) hemin sperma os
Sodoma an egenethemen (1PAPI) kai os Gomorrha an homoiothemen (1PAPI) |
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Romans 9 |
Romans 10 |
Romans 11 |
Past
Election |
Present
Rejection |
Future
Reception |
God's Sovereignty
Israel's Election by God |
Man's responsibility
Israel's Rejection of God |
God's Ways Higher
God Not Rejecting Israel |
AND JUST AS
ISAIAH FORETOLD EXCEPT THE
LORD OF SABAOTH (1Sa1:3) HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY: kai kathos proeireken (3SRAI) Esaias ei me kurios sabaoth egkatelipen (3SAAI) hemin sperma:
(Isaiah
1:9;
6:13;
Lamentations
3:22) (James
5:4)
Foretold (4280)
(proereo from pró = before, + eréo = to say,
declare) means literally to say before and so to foretell or to speak of
in advance. The
perfect tense
speaks of the
permanence of this prophetic word. Isaiah spoke it at a point of time in
the past and the words are still in effect.
See related topic
Jehovah Sabaoth - LORD of
Hosts
If God had judged Israel the way
their sins warranted their would have been no seed left. They would have
been destroyed. Now Paul will turn from God's sovereignty to man's
responsibility. So in (Ro 9:6-29) Paul deals primarily with the
sovereignty of God in salvation. In (Ro 9:30-10:21) he deals with man's
responsibility in salvation & the two cannot be harmonized. It's like 2
parallel lines that will never intersect. If you try to harmonize them
you will distort one or the other doctrine. You'll end up in essence in
philosophy trying to figure it all out in your mind.
Matthew Henry notes that...
"The rejecting of the Jews, and the taking in the Gentiles, were
foretold in the OT (Ro 9:26, Hosea 1:6). It tends very much to the clearing
of a truth, to observe how the Scripture is fulfilled in it. It is a
wonder of Divine power and mercy that there are any saved: for even
those left to be a seed, if God had dealt with them according to their
sins, had perished with the rest. This great truth this Scripture
teaches us. Even among the vast number of professing Christians it is to
be feared that only a remnant will be saved." (Heb 4:1-2)
WE WOULD HAVE
BECOME AS SODOM AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH: os Sodoma an egenethemen (1PAPI)
kai os Gomorrha an homoiothemen (1PAPI):
Resembled (3666)
(homoioo from hómoios = similar) means to make like (or in
the
passive voice
as here to be made like) thus speaking of complete identification.
Paul's point uses the historical
analogy of the complete and utter annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah is
that there would have been not one believer in Israel had not God
Himself intervened.
At the Exodus, God rejected the Gentiles and chose the Jews, so that,
through the Jews, He might save the Gentiles. The nation of Israel
rejected His will, but this did not defeat His purposes. A remnant of
Jews does believe and God’s Word has been fulfilled. Paul had defended
the character of God by showing His faithfulness, His righteousness, and
His justice. Israel’s rejection had not canceled God’s election; it had
only proved that He was true to His character and His purposes.
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Romans 9:30
What shall we
say
then ? That
Gentiles, who
did not
pursue
righteousness,
attained
righteousness,
even the
righteousness
which is by
faith;
(NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
Ti
oun
eroumen?
(1PFAI)
hoti
ethne
ta
me
diokonta
(PAPNPN)
dikaiosunen
katelaben
(3SAAI)
dikaiosunen,
dikaiosunen
de
ten
ek
pisteos;
Amplified:
What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not follow after
righteousness [who did not seek salvation by right relationship to
God] have attained it by faith [a righteousness imputed by God, based
on and produced by faith],
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: What shall we then say? The Gentiles who were
not looking for a right relationship with God received such a
relationship, but it was a relationship which was the result of faith,
(Westminster
Press)
ESV: What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue
righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by
faith; (ESV)
ICB: So what does all this mean? It means this: the non-Jews
were not trying to make themselves right with God. But they were made
right with God because of their faith. (ICB:
Nelson)
NIV: What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not
pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by
faith; (NIV
- IBS)
NKJV: What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness
of faith;
NLT: Well then, what shall we say about these things? Just
this: The Gentiles have been made right with God by faith, even though
they were not seeking him. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: Now, how far have we got? That the Gentiles who never
had the Law's standard of righteousness to guide them, have attained
righteousness, righteousness-by-faith. (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: What then shall we say? That Gentiles, the ones who do
not earnestly endeavor to acquire righteousness, appropriated
righteousness, in fact, a righteousness which is out of a source of
faith. (Erdmans)
Young's Literal: What, then, shall we say? that nations who are
not pursuing righteousness did attain to righteousness, and
righteousness that is of faith, |
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WHAT SHALL WE
SAY THEN: Ti oun eroumen (1PFAI): (Ro
9:14;
3:5)
At this point Paul makes a shift in
emphasis from God's sovereignty to man's responsibility.
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Ro 9:30-10:5 |
Man is responsible to pursue righteousness by faith |
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Ro 10:6-13 |
Man is responsible to confess what God has already done |
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Ro 10:14-15 |
Man is responsible to carry the gospel to others |
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Ro 10:16-31 |
Man is responsible (accountable) to God because he has heard |
Once again Paul asked his familiar rhetorical question (What
shall we say then?) preparatory to his summation of this situation.
Having accounted for Jewish unbelief in terms of divine sovereignty,
Paul now diagnoses it as due to a fatal prior commitment to a false way
of righteousness. Divine sovereignty and the guilt of human willfulness
(man's responsibility)
are for Paul two aspects of reality. The conclusion is that Gentiles, who characteristically did not pursue
righteousness but rather wickedness, and who certainly didn’t pursue a
righteousness of their own making, have found righteousness through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not all Gentiles, of course, but only
those who believed in Christ were justified.
William Newell (Romans 9)
summarizes God's sovereignty in election:
1. Man was
lost-he could not save himself.
2. He was guilty-none could pardon him but the God he had sinned
against.
3 He was by nature "a child of wrath" not deserving good; nor being able
to change his nature. He was allied with God's Enemy; and had a mind at
enmity against God: a mind not subject, nor able to be subject to God's
law or will.
5. He knew he was doing things "worthy of death"; but not only persisted
in them, but was in league-approval with those of like practice; he was
"of the world, " not of God.
6. Therefore, if any move be made toward man's salvation, it must come
from God, not man.
7. God, being God, knew beforehand that the attitude of every man by
nature toward his overtures would be to oppose them.
8. Since any real response to these overtures, therefore, must come from
God's grace, He must elect to overcome effectually man's resistance,
either: (a) In no case, (b) Or, in every case, (c) Or, in certain cases.
9. To hold God unable to overcome man's resistance in any case is to
limit His power.
10. But to hold that God is unwilling to have certain saved is to deny
His repeated word-
"Who would have all men to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth";
"As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn
from his way and live."
11. Therefore, it would seem that only in those cases in which it would
no longer be consistent with God's glory-that is, consistent with His
holiness and righteousness, and His just government of His creatures,
would God withhold, or refuse longer to employ. His gracious operations
in behalf of any creature.
12. But, when we consider Election, we must remove our thoughts wholly
from this world, the first Adam, the sin of man, and his "attitude"
toward God. The purpose of God according to Election is "not of works,
but of Him that calleth." It is outside human history altogether. (Ref)
It is of God
THAT GENTILES WHO DID NOT
PURSUE RIGHTEOUSNESS ATTAINED RIGHTEOUSNESS: hoti ethne ta me diokonta (PAPNPN)
dikaiosunen katelaben (3SAAI) dikaiosunen: (1:18-32;
4:11;
10:20;
Isaiah 65:1,2;
1 Corinthians 6:9-11;
Ephesians 2:12;
4:17-19;
1 Peter 4:3)
(31;
Proverbs 15:9;
21:21;
Isaiah 51:1;
1 Timothy 6:11)
Pursue (1377)
(dioko) means to run swiftly after something, and was therefore
frequently used of hunting. It was also used metaphorically of earnestly
seeking a desired goal or objective.
Paul is going to show that the Jews missed
righteousness because they sought it by works rather than by faith. The Jews
missed righteousness because they did not see the end of the law which
results in righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. On the
other hand, the Gentiles
were not even pursuing righteousness.
Paul concludes the lesson on God’s divine choice (God's Sovereignty in
Election) by reminding his
readers that although God chooses some to receive His mercy, those who
receive His judgment do so not because of something God has done to
them, but because of their own unwillingness to believe the gospel
or as he states in his letter to the Thessalonians...
because they did not receive
(accept deliberately and readily, receive kindly & so to take to
oneself) the
love of the truth so as to be saved. (2Thessalonians
2:10)
Sinners are condemned for their
personal sins, the supreme one being rejection of God and His Son Christ
Jesus.
EVEN THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BY FAITH: dikaiosunen de ten ek
pisteos:
(Ro
1:17;
3:22;
4:9,11,13,22;
5:1;
10:10;
Galatians 3:8;
5:5;
Philippians 3:9;
Hebrews 11:7)
Paul is not saying that Gentiles
are saved on a different basis than Jews, but that the human requirement
for salvation is faith.
By faith - The preposition
ek is rendered literally out of or from faith.
Faith (4102)
(pistis)
represents a persuasion which is not based solely on a mental assent but
upon a firm conviction of the veracity of a set of facts (truth), a
surrender to that truth and a conduct emanating from that surrender. In
sum, faith shows itself genuine by a changed life. Faith, like grace, is
not static. Faith is a convicted heart reaching out to receive God’s
free and unmerited gift of salvation.
William Barclay (see
critique)
wrote that...
Faith begins with receptivity.
It begins when a man is at least willing to listen to the message of the
truth. It goes on to mental assent. A man first hears and then agrees
that this is true. But mental assent need not issue in action. Many a
man knows very well that something is true, but does not change his
actions to meet that knowledge. The final stage is when this mental
assent becomes total surrender. In full-fledged faith, a man
hears the Christian message, agrees that it is true, and then casts
himself upon it in a life of total yieldedness.
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Romans
9:31
but
Israel,
pursuing a
law of
righteousness, did not
arrive at that
law. (NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
Israel
de
diokon
(PAPMSN)
nomon
dikaiosunes
eis
nomon
ouk
ephthasen.
(3SAAI)
Amplified:Whereas
Israel, though ever in pursuit of a law [for the securing] of
righteousness (right standing with God), actually did not succeed in
fulfilling the Law. [Isa. 51:1.]
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: while Israel which was looking for a law which would
produce a right relationship with God never succeeded in finding such
a law. (Westminster
Press)
ESV: but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to
righteousness[4] did not succeed in reaching that law. (ESV)
ICB: And the people of Israel tried to follow a law to make
themselves right with God. But they did not succeed, (ICB:
Nelson)
NIV: but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not
attained it. (NIV
- IBS)
NKJV: but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not
attained to the law of righteousness.
NLT: But the Jews, who tried so hard to get right with God by
keeping the law, never succeeded. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: but Israel, following the Law of righteousness,
failed to reach the goal of righteousness. (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: But Israel, earnestly endeavoring to acquire a law of
righteousness, did not measure up to the law. (Erdmans)
Young's Literal: and Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness,
at a law of righteousness did not arrive; |
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BUT ISRAEL
PURSUING A LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: Israel de diokon (PAPMSN) nomon
dikaiosunes eis nomon:
(Ro
9:30-32;
10:2-4)
"Whereas Israel, though ever in
pursuit of a law [for the securing] of righteousness (right standing
with God), actually did not succeed in fulfilling the Law. (Amplified)
Paul understood this pursuit of
righteousness by doing "good" works because as an unconverted Jew...
as to zeal, a persecutor of the
church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
(Philippians
3:6)
After his conversion Paul ask the
legalistic prone Galatian believers this rhetorical question...
Is the Law then contrary to
the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which
was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based
on law. (Galatians
3:21)
Israel like Paul in his unconverted state was
pursuing righteousness by works not by faith.
DID NOT ARRIVE
AT THAT LAW: ouk ephthasen (3SAAI: pthano):
Arrive (5348)
(phthano) means to come suddenly and unexpectedly. Phillips
paraphrases it that Israel "failed to reach the goal of righteousness".
William Barclay paraphrases
it as...
while Israel which was looking for a
law which would produce a right relationship with God never succeeded in
finding such a law.
The picture Paul paints is of a foot
race and his contrast
is sharp, presenting Gentiles who are unconcerned about acquiring
righteousness as actually arriving at the prize, even though not competing in
the race with the Jews. The prize of course is justification by faith.
This is a sad picture of the nation of Israel struggling intensely to perfect
their religious life and coming up empty-handed.
Hodge puts the matter
well:
The Gentiles, sunk in carelessness
and sin, have attained the favor of God, while the Jews, to whom
religion was a business, have utterly failed
The Jews confusedly identified their own works, in which they took
pride, with the absolute standard the law requires. Their whole effort
was not grounded in faith but in works designed to gain acceptance
(v32). |
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Romans
9:32
Why
* ?
Because they did not pursue it by
faith, but as
though it were by
works. They
stumbled
over the
stumbling
stone,
(NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
dia
ti?
hoti
ouk
ek
pisteos
all'
os ex
ergon;
prosekopsan (3PAAI)
to
litho
tou
proskommatos,
Amplified:
For what reason? Because [they pursued it] not through faith,
relying [instead] on the merit of their works [they did not depend on
faith but on what they could do]. They have stumbled over the
Stumbling Stone. [Isa. 8:14; 28:16.] (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: Why? Because they tried to get into a right
relationship with God, not by trusting God, but by depending on their
own human achievements. They stumbled over the stone which makes men
stumble, (Westminster
Press)
ESV: Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it
were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, (ESV)
ICB: because they tried to make themselves right by the
things they did. They did not trust in God to make them right. They
fell over the stone that causes people to fall. (GWT)
(ICB:
Nelson)
NIV: Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it
were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." (NIV
- IBS)
NKJV: 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.
NLT: Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by
keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith. They
stumbled over the great rock in their path. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: And why? Because their minds were fixed on what they
achieved instead of on what they believed. They tripped over that very
stone the scripture mentions: (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: Because of what? Because, not out of a source of faith
but even as out of a source of works they sought to acquire it. They
stumbled up against the stone which is a stumbling stone (Erdmans)
Young's Literal: wherefore? because -- not by faith, but as by
works of law; for they did stumble at the stone of stumbling, |
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WHY? BECAUSE
THEY DID NOT PURSUE IT BY FAITH BUT AS THOUGH IT WERE
BY WORKS: dia ti hoti ouk ek pisteos all os ex ergon: (4:16;
10:3;
Matthew 19:16-20;
John 6:27-29;
Acts 16:30-34;
1 John 5:9-12)
Righteousness has always been by
grace through faith and not the result of works so that no man might
boast. Israel failed to follow the prototype, Abraham, who laid down the
template by which one attains God's perfect righteousness...
(Abraham) believed in the LORD
and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Genesis
15:6)
THEY STUMBLED
OVER THE STUMBLING STONE: prosekopsan (3PAAI) to litho tou
proskommatos: (11:11;
Matthew 13:57;
Luke 2:34;
7:23;
1 Corinthians 1:23)
Stumbled (4350) (proskopto from prós = to, against + kópto = cut, strike) means
literally to strike against and so to dash against something as one's
foot against a stone.
Proskopto in its literal
use pictures a traveler who bumps against an obstacle and is caused to
stumble. Most of the NT uses of
proskopto describe a figurative stumbling, as here in Romans where
Paul describes Israel's stumbling in a spiritual sense.
Proskopto is used 8
times:
Matthew | | |
