Dual Panel1BEFORE Christ and my own conscience in the Holy Spirit I assure you that I am speaking the plain truth
2when I say that there is something that makes me feel very depressed, like a pain that never leaves me.
3It is the condition of my brothers and fellowIsraelites, and I have actually reached the pitch of wishing myself cut off from Christ if it meant that they could be won for God.
4Just think what the Israelites have had given to them. The privilege of being adopted as sons of God, the experience of the glory of God, the agreements made with God, the gift of the Law, true ways of worship, God's own promisesall these are theirs.
5The patriarchs are theirs, and so too, as far as human descent goes, is Christ himself, Christ who is over all. May God be blessed forever. Amen.
6Now this does not mean that God's word to Israel has failed. For you cannot count all "Israelites" as the true Israel of God.
7Nor can all Abraham's descendants be considered truly children of Abraham. The promise was that "in Isaac shall thy children be called".
8That means that it is not the natural descendants who are children of God, but that the children of the promise are to be considered truly Abraham's children.
9For this was the promise: "About this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son."
10And then, again, a word of promise came to Rebecca, at the time when she was pregnant with two children by the one man, Isaac our forefather.
11It came before the children were born or had done anything good or bad, plainly showing that God's act of choice has nothing to do with achievements, but is entirely a matter of his will.
12She was told: The elder shall serve the younger.
13And we get a later endorsement of this in the words: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
14Now do we conclude that God is unjust? Never!
15For God says long ago to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
16It is obviously not a question of human will or human effort, but of divine mercy.
17The scripture, says to Pharaoh: For this very purpose did I raise thee up that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth.
18It seems plain, then, that God chooses on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will harden in their sin.
19I can almost hear your retort: "If this is so, and God's will is irresistible, why does God blame man for what they do?"
20But the question really is this: "Who are you, a man, to make any such reply to God?" When a craftsman makes anything he doesn't expect it to turn round and say, "Why did you make me like this?"
21The potter, for instance, has complete control over the clay, making with one part of the lump a lovely vase, and with another a pipe for sewage.
22May it not be that God, though he must sooner or later expose his wrath against sin and show his controlling hand, has yet most patiently endured the presence in his world of things that cry out to be destroyed?
23Can we not see, in this, his purpose in demonstrating the boundless resources of his glory upon those whom he considers fit to receive his mercy, and whom he long ago planned to raise to glorious life?
24And by these chosen people I mean you and me, whom he has called out from both Jews and gentiles.
25He says in Hosea: I will call that my people, which was not my people; And her beloved, which was not beloved.
26And it shall be, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, There shall they be called sons of the living God.
27And Isaiah, speaking about Israel, proclaims: If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved:
28For the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short.
29And previously, Isaiah said: Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We had become as Sodom and had been made like unto Gomorrah.
30Now, what do we conclude? That the gentiles who never seriously pursued righteousness, have attained righteousness, righteousnessbyfaith.
31But Israel, earnestly following the Law of righteousness, failed to reach their goal.
32And why? Because their minds were fixed on what they achieved instead of on what they believed. They tripped over that very stone
33the scripture mentions: Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.