What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”
“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.’ ”
Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;
for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”
As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.”
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv22–30 22. And what, etc. A second answer, by which…
22. And what, etc. A second answer, by which he briefly shows, that though the counsel of God is in fact incomprehensible, yet his unblamable justice shines forth no less in the perdition of the reprobate than in the salvation of the elect. He does not indeed give a reason for divine election, so as to assign a cause why this man is chosen and that man rejected; for it was not meet that the things contained in the secret counsel of God should be subjected to the judgment of men; and, besides, this mystery is inexplicable. He therefore keeps us from curiously examining those things which exceed human comprehension. He yet shows, that as far as God’s predestination manifests itself, it appears perfectly just.
The particles, εἰ δὲ, used by Paul, I take to mean, And what if? so that the whole sentence is a question; and thus the sense will be more evident: and there is here an ellipsis, when we are to consider this as being understood, — “Who then can charge him with unrighteousness, or arraign him?” for here appears nothing but the most perfect course of justice.
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But if we wish fully to understand Paul, almost every word must be examined. He then argues thus, — There are vessels prepared for destruction, that is, given up and appointed to destruction: they are also vessels of wrath, that is, made and formed for this end, that they may be examples of God’s vengeance and displeasure. If the Lord bears patiently for a time with these, not destroying them at the first moment, but deferring the judgment prepared for them, and this in order to set forth the decisions of his severity, that others may be terrified by so dreadful examples, and also to make known his power, to exhibit which he makes them in various ways to serve; and, further, that the amplitude of his mercy towards the elect may hence be more fully known and more brightly shine forth; — what is there worthy of being reprehended in this dispensation? But that he is silent as to the reason, why they are vessels appointed to destruction, is no matter of wonder. He indeed takes it as granted, according to what has been already said, that the reason is hid in the secret and inexplorable counsel of God; whose justice it behoves us rather to adore than to scrutinize.
And he has mentioned vessels, as commonly signifying instruments; for whatever is done by all creatures, is, as it were, the ministration of divine power. For the best reason then are we, the faithful, called the vessels of mercy, whom the Lord uses as instruments for the manifestation of his mercy; and the reprobate are the vessels of wrath, because they serve to show forth the judgments of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv22–30 The second answer is this, that God, moreover and…
The second answer is this, that God, moreover and besides that he doth justly decree whatsoever he doth decree, useth that moderation in executing of his decrees, as declareth his singular lenity even in the reprobate in that, that he suffereth them a long time, and permitteth them to enjoy many and singular benefits, until at length he justly condemns them: and that to good end and purpose, to wit, to show himself to be an enemy and revenger of wickedness, that it may appear what power he is of by these severe judgments, and finally by comparison of contraries to set forth indeed, how great his mercy is towards the elect.
By vessels, the Hebrews understand all kinds of instruments.
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Therefore again, we may say with Paul that some men are made of God the Creator to destruction.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv22–30 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath,…
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Ver. 22. Fitted to destruction] Non dicit Deum eos aptasse ad interitum, ne videretur dicere Deum eis indidisse peccatum, quo ad exitum praeparentur. (Molinaeus.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv22–30 In this and in the next verse, is a…
In this and in the next verse, is a real answer to the cavil in Rom 9:19. The apostle having spoken before of God’s absolute right and power over his creatures, to dispose of them at his pleasure, as the potter doth his clay; lest any should tax God with tyranny and partiality towards his creatures, he subjoineth the reasons of his different proceedings with the one and with the other. q.d. What hast thou to answer or object against God, if he take a severe course with some? Seeing:
1. He thereby manifesteth his great displeasure against sin, and his power to take vengeance of sinners. Seeing:
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2. He bears long with them in their sins; exerciseth great patience towards them in the midst of their provocations, giving them space to repent, if they call or will. And seeing:
3. They are vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction; partly by themselves, and their own sensual courses; partly by God’s righteous judgment, who gives them up thereunto.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv22, 25, 27, 30 As if the apostle had said, "What though God…
As if the apostle had said, "What though God doth not presently punish the obstinate and unbelieving Jews according to their desert, but beareth with them, and exercises forbearance towards them, and they go on by their continual rebellions to make themselves fit objects of his wrath; but he is pleased still with great gentleness and patience to bear with them as he did with Pharaoh; and if after all they be more hardened, as he was, by God’s forbearance, what show of injustice, I pray, is it, of he punishes them at last with greater severity, as God did him? If he swallow up their nation, destroy their temple, ruin thier city, what injustice is it to destroy those, who, by making themselves objects of God’s wrath, are fitted for destruction?"
Here note, That the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, are such as, the apostle sayeth, God endured with much long suffering; and therefore they were not made vessels of wrath by God, but by themselves; after they had filled up the measure of their sins, and thereby fitted themselves as vessels for destruction. God endured them with much long-suffering, though judgment at last took hold upon them to the uttermost.
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Learn hence, That Almighty God may, without the least suspicion of injustice or unrighteousness, punish with the utmost severity such a person or a people, whom he hath long endured with much forbearance, to go on in course of sinning, if at last they repent not. This was the manner of God’s dealing with the Jews here. His lenity towards the Gentiles is next expressed, ver. 22 That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, &c.
As if the apostle had said, Can God be taxed with unrighteousness, in showing the riches of his glorious grace and mercy towards the despised Gentiles, whom he hath called to the faith of Christ, and thereby fitted and prepared them to be vessels of mercy? Hath he not just right to show his mercy to such persons who have submitted to the terms upon which he hath promised favour and acceptance, and to own them as his peculiar people, although they be not the natural seed of Abraham, seeing they are his spiritual?
Note here, That as the unbelieving Jews were called, in the former verse, vessels of wrath; so the believing Gentiles are called, in this verse, vessels of mercy; because as vessels are fitted and formed by the hand of the artificer for the use to which they are designed, in like manner are believers wrought by God and framed by his Holy Spirit, and made meet to receive the mercy of God, that is, the fruits and effects of his mercy, especially pardon of sin and peace with God.
Concerning the vessels of wrath, the apostle speaks passively; they are fitted for destruction: concerning the vessels of mercy, he speaks actively, that God has prepared them unto glory; that is, made them meet and fit by grace here for glory hereafter.
Learn thence, That the new creation of the saints, and all the spiritual workmanship that is found upon them, is to be ascribed unto God, and to the effectual working of his grace: He hath afore prepared them unto glory.
Learn, 2. That the fullest measures of glory hereafter shall be the portion of such, and only such, as are first prepared by grace and holiness to receive them here.
Learn, 3. That those only are vessels of mercy, prepared by God unto glory, who upon the evangelical call have been prevailed with, by faith and repentance, to answer the command and call of God: That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessesl of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv25, 30 Having explained the promise, and proved the divine sovereignty,…
Having explained the promise, and proved the divine sovereignty, the apostle here shows how the rejection of the Jews, and the taking in of the Gentiles, were foretold in the Old Testament, and therefore must needs be very well consistent with the promise made to the fathers under the Old Testament. It tends very much to the clearing of a truth to observe how the scripture is fulfilled in it. The Jews would, no doubt, willingly refer it to the Old Testament, the scriptures of which were committed to them. Now he shows how this, which was so uneasy to them, was there spoken of.
I. By the prophet Hosea, who speaks of the taking in of a great many of the Gentiles, Hos 2:23 and Hos 1:10. The Gentiles had not been the people of God, not owning him, nor being owned by him in that relation: "But," says he, "I will call them my people, make them such and own them as such, notwithstanding all their unworthiness." A blessed change! Former badness is no bar to God's present grace and mercy. - And her beloved which was not beloved. Those whom God calls his people he calls beloved: he loves those that are his own. And lest it might be supposed that they should become God's people only by being proselyted to the Jewish religion, and made members of that nation, he adds, from Hos 1:10, In the place where it was said, etc., there shall they be called. They need not be embodied with the Jews, nor go up to Jerusalem to worship; but, wherever they are scattered over the face of the earth, there will God own them. Observe the great dignity and honour of the saints, that they are called the children of the living God; and his calling them so makes them so. Behold, what manner of love! This honour have all his saints.
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II. By the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the casting off of many of the Jews, in two places.
1. One is Isa 10:22, Isa 10:23, which speaks of the saving of a remnant, that is, but a remnant, which, though in the prophecy it seems to refer to the preservation of a remnant from the destruction and desolation that were coming upon them by Sennacherib and his army, yet is to be understood as looking further, and sufficiently proves that it is no strange thing for God to abandon to ruin a great many of the seed of Abraham, and yet maintain his word of promise to Abraham in full force and virtue. This is intimated in the supposition that the number of children of Israel was as the sand of the sea, which was part of the promise made to Abraham, Gen 22:17. And yet only a remnant shall be saved; for many are called, but few are chosen. In this salvation of the remnant we are told (Rom 9:28) from the prophet, (1.) That he will complete the work: He will finish the work. When God begins he will make an end, whether in ways of judgment or of mercy. The rejection of the unbelieving Jews god would finish in their utter ruin by the Romans, who soon after this quite took away their place and nation. The assuming of Christian churches into the divine favour, and the spreading of the gospel in other nations, was a work which God would likewise finish, and be known by his name JEHOVAH. As for God, his work is perfect. Margin, He will finish the account. God, in his eternal counsels, has taken an account of the children of men, allotted them to such or such a condition, to such a share of privileges; and, as they come into being, his dealings with them are pursuant to these counsels: and he will finish the account, complete the mystical body, call in as many as belong to the election of grace, and then the account will be finished. (2.) That he will contract it; not only finish it, but finish it quickly. Under the Old Testament he seemed to tarry, and to make a longer and more tedious work of it. The wheels moved but slowly towards the extent of the church; but now he will cut it short, and make a short work upon the earth. Gentile converts were now flying as a cloud. But he will cut it short in righteousness, both in wisdom and in justice. Men, when they cut short, do amiss; they do indeed despatch causes; but, when God cuts short, it is always in righteousness. So the fathers generally apply it. Some understand it of the evangelical law and covenant, which Christ has introduced and established in the world: he has in that finished the work, put an end to the types and ceremonies of the Old Testament. Christ said, It is finished, and then the veil was rent, echoing as it were to the word that Christ said upon the cross. And he will cut it short. The work (it is logos - the word, the law) was under the Old Testament very long; a long train of institutions, ceremonies, conditions: but now it is cut short. Our duty is now, under the gospel, summed up in much less room than it was under the law; the covenant was abridged and contracted; religion is brought into a less compass. And it is in righteousness, in favour to us, in justice to his own design and counsel. With us contractions are apt to darken things: -
- Brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio -
I strive to be concise, but prove obscure.
but it is not so in this case. Though it be cut short, it is clear and plain; and, because short, the more easy.
2. Another is quoted from Isa 1:9, where the prophet is showing how in a time of general calamity and destruction God would preserve a seed. This is to the same purport with the former; and the scope of it is to show that it was no strange thing for God to leave the greatest part of the people of the Jews to ruin, and to reserve to himself only a small remnant: so he had done formerly, as appears by their own prophets; and they must not wonder if he did so now. Observe, (1.) What God is. He is the Lord of sabaoth, that is, the Lord of hosts - a Hebrew word retained in the Greek, as Jam 5:4. All the host of heaven and earth are at his beck and disposal. When God secures a seed to himself out of a degenerate apostate world, he acts as Lord of sabaoth. It is an act of almighty power and infinite sovereignty. (2.) What his people are; they are a seed, a small number. The corn reserved for next year's seedings is but little, compared with that which is spent and eaten. But they are a useful number - the seed, the substance, of the next generation, Isa 6:13. It is so far from being an impeachment of the justice and righteousness of God that so many perish and are destroyed, that it is a wonder of divine power and mercy that all are not destroyed, that there are any saved; for even those that are left to be a seed, if God had dealt with them according to their sins, had perished with the rest. This is the great truth which this scripture teacheth us.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv22–30 And that he might make known the riches of…
And that he might make known the riches of his glory,.... That is, his glorious riches, the perfections of his nature, his love, grace, and mercy, his wisdom, power, faithfulness, justice, and holiness; all which are most evidently displayed in the salvation of his people, here called
vessels of mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory. They are said to be vessels, and so considered as creatures, made and brought into being; "vessels of mercy", and so fallen creatures, and by sin become miserable, for only such are objects of mercy: they are not called so, because deserving of mercy more than others, they are in no wise better than others, and are by nature children of wrath, even as others; but because God of his infinite goodness fills them with his mercy, displays it in them, in the redemption of them by his Son, in the regeneration of them by his Spirit, and in their eternal salvation: and these are by him "afore prepared unto glory"; to everlasting happiness, which he has chosen them to before time, and calls them to in time; to this glory he does not take them, until he has prepared them for it; which act of preparation does not regard the eternal predestination of them to eternal life, but an act of his grace towards them in time; and which lies in putting upon them the righteousness of his Son, and in putting his grace in them; or in other words, in justifying them by the imputation and application of the righteousness of his Son unto them, and by the regeneration, renovation, and sanctification of their hearts, by his Spirit. Now what if God willing to make known his glorious perfections, by displaying his mercy to such sinners, and by preparing them for heaven in a way consistent with his holiness and justice, what can any man that has the exercise of his reason object to this? The whole of his conduct is free from blame and censure; the vessels of wrath he shows his wrath upon, are such as fit themselves for destruction, and whom he endures with much longsuffering and patience, and therefore he cannot be chargeable with cruelty; the vessels of mercy he brings to glory, none of them are taken thither, until they are prepared for it, in a way of righteousness and holiness, and therefore he cannot be charged with acting contrary to the perfections of his nature.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv22–30 What if God, being willing - Referring to ver.…
What if God, being willing - Referring to ver. 18, 19. That is, although it was now his will, because of their obstinate unbelief, To show his wrath - Which necessarily presupposes sin. And to make his power known - This is repeated from the seventeenth verse. Yet endured - As he did Pharaoh. With much longsuffering - Which should have led them to repentance. The vessels of wrath - Those who had moved his wrath by still rejecting his mercy. Fitted for destruction - By their own wilful and final impenitence. Is there any injustice in this?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv22–30 Verse 22. What if God, willing to show his…
Verse 22. What if God, willing to show his wrath] The apostle refers here to the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and to which he applies Jeremiah's parable of the potter, and, from them, to the then state of the Jews. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were vessels of wrath-persons deeply guilty before God; and by their obstinate refusal of his grace, and abuse of his goodness, they had fitted themselves for that destruction which the wrath, the vindictive justice of God, inflicted, after he had endured their obstinate rebellion with much long-suffering; which is a most absolute proof that the hardening of their hearts, and their ultimate punishment, were the consequences of their obstinate refusal of his grace and abuse of his goodness; as the history in Exodus sufficiently shows. As the Jews of the apostle's time had sinned after the similitude of the Egyptians, hardening their hearts and abusing his goodness, after every display of his long-suffering kindness, being now fitted for destruction, they were ripe for punishment; and that power, which God was making known for their salvation, having been so long and so much abused and provoked, was now about to show itself in their destruction as a nation. But even in this case there is not a word of their final damnation; much less that either they or any others were, by a sovereign decree, reprobated from all eternity; and that their very sins, the proximate cause of their punishment, were the necessary effect of that decree which had from all eternity doomed them to endless torments. As such a doctrine could never come from God, so it never can be found in the words of his apostle.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 27, 30 Rom 9:22-23. What if God, willing, &c. — Referring…
Rom 9:22-23. What if God, willing, &c. — Referring to Rom 9:18-19. That is, Although it were now his will, because of their obstinate unbelief; to show his wrath — Which necessarily presupposes sin; and to make his power known — This is repeated from Rom 9:17; yet endured — As he did Pharaoh — With much long-suffering — Which should have led them to repentance; the vessels of wrath — Those who had moved his wrath, by still rejecting his mercy; fitted for destruction — By their own wilful and final impenitence: is there any injustice in this? And that he might make known — What if, by showing such long-suffering even to the vessels of his wrath, he did the more abundantly show the greatness of his glorious goodness, wisdom, and power; on the vessels of mercy — On those whom he had himself, by his grace; prepared for glory — Is this injustice? By vessels of mercy he means such persons as were formerly miserable by being dead in trespasses and sins, but had afterward, through believing the gospel, obtained mercy, even the great mercy of the forgiveness of sins, with the fruits and consequences of it; and by the term προητοιμασεν, he means, God’s fitting them for glory, by working in them true repentance and living faith, by justifying and sanctifying them, and giving them all those qualifications necessary for the attainment of it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 What if God ... - If God does what…
What if God ... - If God does what the apostle supposes, what then? Is it not right? This is the second point in the answer to the objection in Rom 9:19. The answer has respect to the “two classes” of people which actually exist on the earth - the righteous and the wicked. And the question is, whether “in regard to these two classes God does in fact do wrong?” If he does not, then the doctrine of the apostle is established, and the objection is not valid. It is assumed here, as it must be, that the world is “in fact” divided into two classes - saints and sinners. The apostle considers the case of sinners in Rom 9:22.
Willing - Being disposed; having an inclination to. It denotes an inclination of mind toward the thing proposed. If the thing itself was right; if it was proper to “show his wrath,” then it was proper to be willing to do it. If it is right to do a thing, it is right to purpose or intend to do it.
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His wrath - τὴν ὀργὴν tēn orgēn. This word occurs thirty-five times in the New Testament. Its meaning is derived from the idea of earnestly desiring or reaching for an object, and properly denotes, in its general sense, a vehement desire of attaining anything. Hence, it comes to denote an earnest desire of revenge, or of inflicting suffering on those who have injured us; Eph 4:31, “Let all bitterness and wrath, etc.” Col 3:8; 1Ti 2:8. Hence, it denotes indignation in general, which is not joined with a desire of revenge; Mar 3:5, “He looked round about on them with anger.” It also denotes punishment for sin; the anger or displeasure of God against transgression; Note, Rom 1:18; Luk 3:7; Luk 21:23, etc. In this place it is evidently used to denote “severe displeasure against sin.”sin is an evil of so great magnitude, “it is right” for God to be willing to evince his displeasure against it; and just in proportion to the extent of the evil. This displeasure, or wrath, it is proper that God should always be willing to show; nay, it would not be right for him not to show it, for that would be the same thing as to be indifferent to it, or to approve it. In this place, however, it is not affirmed,
That God has any pleasure in sin, or its punishment; nor, That he exerted any agency to compel man to sin. It affirms only that God is willing to show his hatred of incorrigible and long-continued wickedness when it actually exists.
To make his power known - This language is the same as what was used in relation to Pharaoh; Rom 9:17; Exo 9:16. But it is not probable that the apostle intended to confine it to the Egyptians only. In the following verse he speaks of “the vessels of mercy prepared “unto glory;” which cannot be supposed to be language adapted to the temporal deliverance of the Jews. The case of Pharaoh was “one instance, or illustration” of the general principle on which God would deal with people. His government is conducted on great and uniform principles; and the case of Pharaoh was a development of the great laws on which he governs the universe.
Endured - Bore with; was patient, or forbearing; Rev 2:3. “And hast borne, and hast patience, etc.” 1Co 13:7, “charity, (love) beareth all things.” Luk 18:7, “will not God avenge his elect. though he bear long with theme?”
With much long-suffering - With much patience. He suffered them to live while they deserved to die. God bears with all sinners with much patience; he spares them amid all their provocations, to give them opportunity of repentance; and though they are suited for destruction, yet he prolongs their lives, and offers them pardon, and loads them with benefits. This fact is a complete vindication of the government of God from the aspersions of all his enemies.
Vessels of wrath - The word “vessel” means a cup, etc. made of earth. As the human body is frail, easily broken and destroyed, it comes to signify also the body. 2Co 4:7; “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” 1Th 4:4, “that everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor” - that everyone should keep his body from the indulgence of unlawful passions; compare Rom 9:3. Hence, also it means “the man himself.” Act 9:15, “he is a chosen vessel unto me, etc.” compare Isa 13:5. In this place there is doubtless, allusion to what he had just said of clay in the hands of the potter. The phrase “vessels of wrath” denotes wicked people against whom it is fit or proper that wrath should be shown; as Judas is called “the son of perdition,” see the note at Joh 17:12. This does not mean that people by their very creation, or their physical nature, are thus denominated; but people who, from long continuance in iniquity, deserve to experience wrath; as Judas was not called “son of perdition” by any arbitrary appointment, or as an original designation, but because in consequence of his avarice and treason this was the name which “in fact” actually described him, or suited his case.
Fitted - κατηρτισμένα katērtismena. This word properly means to “restore; to place in order; to render complete; to supply a defect; to fit to, or adapt to, or prepare for;” see Mat 4:21, “Were mending their nets.” Gal 6:1, “restore such an one, etc.” In this place it is a participle, and means those who are suited for or “adapted to” destruction; those whose characters are such as to deserve destruction, or as to make destruction proper. See the same use of the word in Heb 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed” - beautifully suited up in proper proportions, one part adapted to another - “by the Word of God.” Heb 10:5, “a body hast thou prepared for me;” suited, or adapted to me; compare Psa 68:10; Psa 74:16. In this place there is not the semblance of a declaration that “God had prepared them, or fitted them for destruction.” It is a simple declaration that they were in fact suited for it, without making an affirmation about the manner in which they became so.
A reader of the English Bible may, perhaps, sometimes draw the impression that God had suited them for this. But this is not affirmed; and there is an evident design in not affirming it, and a distinction made between them and the vessels of mercy which ought to be regarded. In relation to the latter it is expressly affirmed that God suited or prepared them for glory; see Rom 9:23, “Which he had afore prepared unto glory.” The same distinction is remarkably striking in the account of the last judgment in Mat 25:34, Mat 25:41. To the righteous, Christ will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, etc.” To the wicked, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels;” not said to have been originally prepared “for them.” It is clear, therefore, that God intends to keep the great truth in view, that he prepares his people “by direct agency” for heaven; but that he exerts “no such agency” in preparing the wicked for destruction.
For destruction - εἰς ἀπώλειαν eis apōleian. This word occurs in the New Testament no less than 20 times; Mat 7:13, “Which leadeth to destruction.” Joh 17:12, “son of perdition.” Act 8:20, “thy money perish with thee;” Greek, be for destruction with thee, Act 25:16; Phi 1:28, “Token of perdition.” Phi 3:19, “whose end is destruction.” 2Th 2:3, “the son of perdition.” 1Ti 5:9, “which drown men in destruction and perdition.” Heb 10:39, “which draw back into perdition; see also 2Pe 2:1, 2Pe 2:3; 2Pe 3:7, 2Pe 3:16, etc. In these places it is clear that the reference is to the future punishment of wicked people, and in “no instance” to national calamities. No such use of the word is to be found in the New Testament; and this is further clear from the contrast with the word “glory” in the next verse. We may remark here, that if people are suited or prepared for destruction; if future torment is adapted to them, and they to it; if it is fit that they should be subjected to it; then God will do what is fit or right to be done, and, unless they repent, they must perish. Nor would it be right for God to take them to heaven as they are; to a place for which they are not suited, and which is not adapted to their feelings, their character, or their conduct.
Rom 9:23
And that he might make known - That he might manifest or display. The apostle had shown (in Rom 9:22) that the dealings of God toward the wicked were not liable to the objection made in Rom 9:19. In this verse he proceeds to show that the objection could not lie against his dealings with the other class of people - the righteous. If his dealings toward neither were liable to the objection, then he has “met the whole case,” and the divine government is vindicated. This he proves by showing that for God to show the riches of his glory toward those whom he has prepared for it, cannot be regarded as unjust.
The riches of his glory - This is a form of expression common among the Hebrews, meaning the same as his rich or “his abundant glory.” The same expression occurs in Eph 1:18.
On the vessels of mercy - People toward whom his mercy was to be displayed (see Rom 9:22); that is, on those toward whom he has purposed to display his mercy.
Mercy - Favor, or pity shown to the miserable. Grace is favor to the undeserving; mercy, favor to those in distress. This distinction is not, however, always strictly observed by the sacred writers.
Which he had afore prepared - We are here brought to a remarkable difference between God’s mode of dealing with them and with the wicked. Here it is expressly affirmed that God himself had prepared them for glory. In regard to the wicked, it is simply affirmed that they “were fitted” for destruction, without affirming anything of the agency by which it was done. That God prepares his people for glory - commences and continues the work of their redemption - is abundantly taught in the Scriptures; 1Th 5:9, “God hath appointed us, to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2Ti 1:9, “who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” See also Eph 1:4-5, Eph 1:11; Rom 8:28-30; Act 13:48; Joh 1:13. As the renewing of the heart and the sanctifying of the soul is an act of goodness, it is worthy of God, and of course no objection could lie against it. No man could complain of a course of dealings designed to make people better; and as this is the sole design of the electing love of God, his deal, ings with this class of people are easily vindicated. No Christian can complain that God has chosen him, renewed him, and made him pure and happy. And as this was an important part of the plan of God, it is easily defended from the objection in Rom 9:19.
Unto glory - To happiness; and especially to the happiness of heaven Heb 2:10, “It became him, in bringing many sons unto glory, etc.” Rom 5:2, “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” 2Co 4:17, “our light affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” 2Th 2:14; 2Ti 2:10; 1Pe 5:4. This eternal state is called “glory,” because it blends together everything that constitutes honor, dignity, purity, love, and happiness. All these significations are in various places attached to this word, and all mingle in the eternal state of the righteous. We may remark here,
(1) That this word “glory” is not used in the Scriptures to denote any “external national privileges;” or to describe any external call of the gospel. No such instance is to be found. Of course the apostle here by vessels of mercy meant individuals destined to eternal life, and not nations externally called to the gospel. No instance can be found where God speaks of nations called to external privileges, and speaks of them as “prepared unto glory.”
(2) As this word refers to the future state of individuals, it shows what is meant by the word “destruction” in Rom 9:22. That term stands contrasted with glory; and describes, therefore, the future condition of individual wicked people. This is also its uniform meaning in the New Testament.
On this vindication of the apostle we may observe:
(1) That all people will be treated as they ought to be treated. People will be dealt with according to their characters at the end of life.
(2) If people will suffer no injustice, then this is the same as saying that they will be treated justly. But what is this? That the wicked shall be treated as they deserve. What they deserve God has told us in the Scriptures. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.”
(3) God has a right to bestow his blessings as he chooses. Where all are undeserving, where none have any claim, he may confer his favors on whom he pleases.
(4) He actually does deal with people in this way. The apostle takes this for granted. He does not deny it. He most evidently believes it, and labors to show that it is right to do so. If he did not believe it, and meant to teach it, he would have said so. It would have met the objection at once, and saved all argument. He reasons as if he did believe it; and this settles the question that the doctrine is true.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 30 And if God, &c. He now gives the reason…
And if God, &c. He now gives the reason why God might, without any injustice, have mercy on some, and not on others; grant particular graces and favours to his elect, and not equally to all; because all mankind was become liable to damnation by original sin: the clay that al are made of, is a sinful clay; and as St. Augustine says, was become a lump and mass of damnation. Every one had sinned in Adam. Now, if out of this sinful lump and multitude God, to shew the richness of his glory, and superabundant mercy, hath chosen some as vessels of election, whom he hath decreed to save, and by special graces and favours to make partakers of his heavenly kingdom; and to shew his justice and hatred of in, hath left others as vessels of his wrath and justice, to be lost in their sins, which for a time he bears patiently with, when they deserved present punishment, who can say that he hat done unjustly? (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv22–30 What if God, willing to show--"designing to manifest"
What if God, willing to show--"designing to manifest"
his wrath--His holy displeasure against sin.
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and to make his power--to punish it
known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath--that is, "destined to wrath"; just as "vessels of mercy," in Rom 9:23, mean "vessels destined to mercy"; compare Eph 2:3, "children of wrath."
fitted for destruction--It is well remarked by STUART that the "difficulties which such statements involve are not to be got rid of by softening the language of one text, while so many others meet us which are of the same tenor; and even if we give up the Bible itself, so long as we acknowledge an omnipotent and omniscient God we cannot abate in the least degree from any of the difficulties which such texts make." Be it observed, however, that if God, as the apostle teaches, expressly "designed to manifest His wrath, and to make His power (in the way of wrath) known," it could only be by punishing some, while He pardons others; and if the choice between the two classes was not to be founded, as our apostle also teaches, on their own doings but on God's good pleasure, the decision behooved ultimately to rest with God. Yet, even in the necessary punishment of the wicked, as HODGE observes, so far from proceeding with undue severity, the apostle would have it remarked that God "endures with much long-suffering" those objects of His righteous displeasure.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv22–30 22, 23. Of these two vessels, the perverse vessel…
22, 23. Of these two vessels, the perverse vessel and the obedient vessel, Paul now unfolds, in less figurative phrase, the different treatment at the hand of God. Of the former vessel, the original representative instance still is the Jews of Jeremiah, (chapters 18, 19,) who persist in their perversity, and are again (Jer_19:1) typified by Jeremiah as a broken potter’s vessel, (passages which our readers should carefully study,) while their antitype is the unbelieving Jews of Paul’s day, with a specimen of whom Paul is now reasoning. Of the latter or obedient vessel, the primitive type is naturally Jeremiah and the few faithful of his day; and their antitype is the us of Rom_9:24, namely, Paul and his brother believers.
In these two vessels God unfolds by his dealings the absolute rectitude of his government and character. The perversity of the one he endures (not decrees or foreordains) for a due time in order that the world may duly read the lesson; in the latter he displays the riches of his glory in anticipation of final glory.
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22. God—The Almighty Potter.
Willing—That is, will-ing, determining.
Show—Not merely to feel, but to reveal in action, and in conspicuous cases, like Pharaoh, to make it memorable in history.
Wrath—Of a perfectly just Being the wrath must be perfect justice, exerted in executive action. The Almighty Potter determines to show his wrath consequently upon the vessel’s determining persistently to show his perversity. So in Jeremiah 18, 19, the potter’s vessel is broken after its living impersonations had persevered in final hardness.
Power known—In penalty like a God.
Endured… longsuffering—Both these expressions contradict the dogma that God predestinates the obduracy of the vessel of wrath. The apostle’s theory is not predetermination, but non-prevention of the sin. God endured, not decreed, with much longsuffering, not with a hypocritical “secret will” in its favour. The words endured, and in the next verse prepared, are instances of Paul’s aoristic tenses as explained in our notes on Rom_3:23; Rom_4:12; Rom_8:29.
Vessels of wrath—Because persistent vessels of perversity.
Fitted—Alike by their own obduracy and God’s forbearance. Mark St. Paul’s caution in saying that God himself prepared the obedient vessel for glory, (Rom_9:23.) He does not say that God prepared the vessel of wrath. As Fletcher of Madeley says, “Our salvation is of God; our damnation is of ourselves.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv22–30 22. What if God, &c.] The Gr. construction in…
22. What if God, &c.] The Gr. construction in Rom_9:22-23 is broken and peculiar. Rendered nearly lit., the verses run: But if God, choosing to demonstrate His wrath, and make known what He can do, bore with much longsuffering vessels of wrath, fitted unto ruin; and that He might make known the wealth of His glory on vessels of mercy, which He fore-prepared unto glory? The general drift of the passage, though thus grammatically peculiar, is yet clear.—The “but” suggests a certain difference between the potter’s work and that of the Creator and Judge; q. d., “If the potter’s right is so absolute, while the clay is mere matter and so has no demerit, the right of God over guilty humanity is at least as absolute; and meantime, even so, it is exercised with longsuffering.”
willing] having the will to. The Gr. verb is frequent of the sovereign Divine will and pleasure. See e.g. Mat_8:3; 1Co_12:18.
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to shew] to demonstrate. Same word as Rom_9:17 (“shew my power”), and Rom_3:25 (“to declare,” &c.). The justice and energy of His wrath against sin are both demonstrated in the doom of the impenitent.
endured, &c.] The special case of Pharaoh is in St Paul’s view, and is to be taken as an example. There we see on the one hand the sovereign will permitting sin to run its course, but on the other hand, in equal reality, warnings and appeals are addressed by God to a human conscience and will, time after time. From our point of view the two things are incompatible; but the Apostle assures us that both are real, and therefore compatible.
the vessels] Lit. vessels. But the article is rightly supplied. The two classes of “vessels” are exhaustive of mankind.—The word “vessel” is doubtless suggested here by the language of Rom_9:21. See next note.
of wrath] i.e. “connected with, devoted to, wrath.” So below, “connected with, marked out for, mercy.” The genitive need not imply a metaphor, as if the “vessels” were “filled with” wrath or mercy; such an explanation would be needlessly remote.—The same word in same construction occurs Act_9:15, where lit. “a vessel of choice;” and probably the metaphor does there appear in the next words—“to bear my Name.” Cp. also 2Co_4:7; 1Th_4:4, (where “vessel” = “body”;) 1Pe_3:7. In those passages the metaphor is traceable to the idea of the body as the receptacle and casket, as it were, of the spirit. Here, as above said, the whole reference appears to be to the imagery of the potter’s work.
fitted] Made ready, suitable. Such indeed every “vessel of wrath” will prove to have been. It is remarkable that St Paul does not say “which He fitted.” A seemingly rigid logic may say that the lost must be as truly predestined to death as the saved to life; but such logic is faulty in its premisses: we do not know enough of the Eternal Mind and the nature of things to reason so[42]. It is at least to be noted that here, while the “preparation” of the saved for glory is expressly ascribed to God, that of the lost for ruin is so stated as to avoid such ascription. Meanwhile the deepest consciousness of human hearts, awakened to eternal realities, acquits God and accuses self.—St Paul, however, does not dwell on this. To relieve mystery is only a passing aim with him here.
[42] See further, Appendix H.
destruction] Ruin, perdition, the loss of the soul. See note on Rom_2:12 (on the word “perish;” where the Gr. is the verb cognate to the noun here).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 (22) What if . . .—The sentence in the…
(22) What if . . .—The sentence in the original is incomplete. In its full form it would run, “If God willing to show His wrath” . . . (what can man reply?) This latter clause is dropped or lost in the course of the argument. The best and simplest expedient to supply its place is that adopted in the Authorised version, inserting “what” in italics at the beginning: “What if,” &c. There is a second suppression later in the sentence. At the end of Rom_9:23 we should have to insert some such clause as “He reserved His glory for them,” in order to make the sentence strictly grammatical. These irregularities are due to the Apostle’s habit of dictating, and to the lively flow of his thoughts.
Willing.—While His will was (ultimately) to execute His wrath and display His sovereign judicial power, nevertheless He bore with evildoers, and gave them time for repentance.
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(22-29) These verses supply the concluding section of the vindication. All this scheme of God’s dealings, apparently so severe, is really most merciful. To those who really deserved His wrath, He showed longsuffering. While for us who now believe, Gentiles as well as Jews, He had mercy and glory in store. But in both cases the final result was strictly in accordance with prophecy. Hosea had foretold the admission of the Gentiles. Isaiah the exclusion of the greater part of the Jews.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv22, 25, 27, 29, 30 Vers. 22-24. What if (literally, but if, involving an…
Vers. 22-24. What if (literally, but if, involving an anacoluthon) God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels (not, as in the Authorized Version, the vessels) of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy which he afore prepared unto glory; whom he also called, even us, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles . "And" at the beginning of ver. 23 is omitted in the uncial B, and there is considerable authority of versions and Fathers for rejecting it. Without it the sentence runs better, and its drift becomes more apparent. The purpose expressed in ver. 23 thus comes out distinctly as the grand ultimate Divine purpose, to which the display of wrath and power spoken of in the previous verse is but subsidiary; and this drift becomes the more apparent, if we supply in English, as we may do, "while" before "willing" in ver. 22. Thus the drift would be, "What If God, while willing to exhibit his wrath and manifest his power, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath that had become fitted for destruction, in order that he might manifest the riches of his glory," etc. The idea expressed by "endured," etc., seems suggested by Pharaoh"s case (see on ver. 17 with regard to the word diethrhyhv in the LXX, which the apostle appears here to retain the idea of, though he varied from it); but it is the Jewish nation of his own day that he has now in view. They were rejected from inheritance of the promises, and under Divine wrath; as he says in another place, "The wrath had come upon them to the uttermost". (1Th_2:16) But they were still borne with; they were not finally cut off; and what if their present rejection were but subservient to the great purpose of mercy to the true Israel? The thought, hinted here, is carried out in Ro 11, where even the idea is further entertained of Israel itself as a nation, after judgment endured, coming into God"s true fold at last, according to the design of God, through ways inscrutable by us, to "have mercy upon all." The forms of expression used in the passage before us are to be noted in support of the view we have taken of St. Paul"s general meaning. "The vessels of wrath" are said to be "fitted to destruction" (kathrtismena eiv apwleian); of the "vessels of mercy" it is said that God "afore prepared" them unto glory. Predestination to salvation is certainly a doctrine of St. Paul, but he nowhere intimates predestination to reprobation. Further, "Non dicit quae prokathrtise , sod kathrtismena : praescinditur a causa efficiente: tantum dicitur quales inveniat Deus quibus tram infert" (Bengel). Lastly, it may be observed that, though a prophtoimasen eiv doxan carries with it the idea of individual salvation, yet this only comes in as the outcome and ultimate purpose of the calling of nations or races of men. The drift of the preceding argument remains still what it has been stated to be.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv25, 30 As He saith also in Osee, I will call…
Rom_9:25-33
As He saith also in Osee, I will call them My people, which were not My people.
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The calling of the Gentiles
I. Their former condition.
1. Not My people.
2. Not beloved.
II. Their gracious call--an act of--
1. Sovereign will.
2. Unmerited.
3. Effected by the gospel.
III. Their lofty privilege--called to be the sons of the living God--
1. Through faith.
2. In Jesus Christ. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
A people who were no people
(text and Hos_2:23):--
1. We accept the supreme authority of Holy Scripture: every word of it is truth to us.
2. Yet we attach special weight to words which are the personal utterances of the Lord, as here.
3. Still more are we impressed when a Divine message is repeated, as here.
4. God saith still what He said long ago. Come, then, anxious souls, and hear the story of Gods grace to His chosen, in the hope that He may do the like for you. Observe concerning the Lords people--
I. Their original state.
1. They not only were not beloved, but they were expressly disowned. Their claim, if they made any, was negatived. This is the worst case that can be; worse than to be left alone. This conscience, providence, and Gods Word all appear to say to men who persist in sin.
2. They had no approval of God. They were not numbered with His people, and were not beloved in the sense of complacency.
3. They had not in the highest sense obtained mercy. For--
(1) They were under providential judgment.
(2) That judgment had not become a blessing to them.
(3) They had not even sought for mercy.
4. They were types of a people who as yet have--
(1) Felt no application of the blood of Jesus.
(2) Known no renewing work of the Spirit.
(3) Obtained no relief by prayer; perhaps have not prayed.
(4) Enjoyed no comfort of the promises.
(5) Known no communion with God.
(6) No hope of heaven or preparation for it.
It is a terrible description, including all the unsaved. It is concerning such that the promise is made--I will call them My people. Who these are shall be seen in due time by their repentance and faith, which shall be wrought in them by the Spirit of God. There are such people, and this fact is our encouragement in preaching the gospel, for we perceive that our labour will not be in vain.
II. Their new condition.
1. Mercy is promised.
2. A Divine revelation is pronounced. I will say, Thou art My people. This is--
(1) Done by the Spirit of God in the heart.
(2) Supported by gracious dealings in the life.
3. A hearty response shall be given. They shall say, Thou art my God. The Spirit will lead them to this free acceptance.
(1) As a whole, they will say this with one voice.
(2) Each individual will say it for himself in the singular. Thou.
4. A declaration of love shall be made. I will call her beloved, etc. Love shall be enjoyed.
5. This shall be perceived by others. They shall be called, etc. Their likeness to God shall make them to be called the children of God, even as the peacemakers in Mat_5:9. Thus every blessing shall be theirs, surely, personally, everlastingly.
Reflections:
1. We must give up none as hopeless; even though they be marked out by terrible evidence to be not the people of God.
2. None may give up themselves in despair.
3. Sovereign grace is the ultimate hope of the fallen. Let them trust in a God so freely gracious, so mighty to save, so determined to bring in those whom it seemed that even He Himself had disowned, whom everybody had abandoned as not the people of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A great reversal
Whether the original reference of the prophet is to the ten tribes or to the Gentile world is immaterial, since St. Paul employs the quotation to illustrate his contention that it is the purpose of Him who is Eternal Wisdom and Unchanging Righteousness to transfer privilege and blessing from those who pretended to an ancestral claim to them, unto those who had usually been regarded as aliens and reprobates--even the sinners of the Gentiles. If this phase of Divine action has to some extent lost its interest, the principle it illustrates is ever important.
I. The highly favoured may abuse their advantages and lose them. Consider the case of the Hebrews.
1. Their special prerogatives in religious knowledge and means of spiritual improvement.
2. Their rebellion and apostasy in yielding to idolatry.
3. Their frequent chastisements, especially in the captivity, and their subsequent humiliations.
4. The repetition of their insensibility and disobedience in the rejection of the Christ.
5. The final catastrophe which overtook the nation in the destruction of Jerusalem and the final dispersion.
II. The less favoured may be, in Gods providence, exalted to privilege. Consider the case of the Gentiles.
1. The publication of the gospel to them by Paul upon its rejection by the Jews.
2. The acceptance by many of the glad tidings intended for the enlightenment and salvation of men.
3. The position taken by Gentile converts in the diffusion of Christianity.
4. The subsequent conversion of the Roman empire.
5. The course of Christian history which may all be traced to the operation of this wonderful principle.
Application:
1. They act foolishly who rely on their privileges.
2. They are wise who, grateful for their privileges, are concerned so to use them that they may become the vehicles of the highest blessing to themselves, and to those over whom their influence may extend.
3. They who are cast down because their circumstances seem unfavourable should not forget that those who were not Gods people became His people, His beloved, the children of God. (Prof. Thomson.)
The character and privileges of the saints
I. What they were.
1. Not My people. Whos then? Men do not occupy neutral territory, nor are they an independent republic. Gods people own and serve Him as their Sovereign and Master--dread alternative then, those who throw off this allegiance become the slaves and subjects of the prince of this world, doing homage to him in their sentiments, and serving Him in their lives. And such were some of you.
2. Not beloved.
(1) Because unlovely and unloving. Alienated and enemies in their minds by wicked works. How could God love in the sense here mentioned those who defied His authority, broke His commandments, and made bad that which He pronounced very good.
(2) Therefore--
(a) The wrath of God abideth on them--rests as long as the provoking cause remains.
(b) The coming wrath menaces them.
II. What they are.
1. My people.
(1) They belong to God. He has bought them; He has taken them to be His peculiar possession; they gladly acquiesce in the Divine proprietorship. How safe and happy this makes them! If God be for us, who can be against us?
(2) They are Gods people.
(a) A homogeneous people. They are not His as so many scattered units, but His as a body, a Church. United to Him they are bound to one another for mutual protection, edification, comfort and general usefulness.
(b) A royal people. A kingdom. The Church is not a mere school of thought, but a kingdom of priests unto God. Gods people are royal in their birth, bearing, privileges, duties, and hopes.
(c) A people with a destiny. While some peoples have fulfilled their destiny, and others have theirs trembling in the balance, and others yet again all uncertain of theirs that of the people of God is sure. They and only they are to inherit the earth. That destiny is being fulfilled every day, and will be perfectly fulfilled when Jesus shall reign whereer the sun, etc.
2. Beloved.
(1) Gods anger is passed away from them. What then? What happens when the clouds rollaway at noon-day? So when the clouds of our rebellion and sinfulness pass away from before His countenance we bask in His smile. So--
(2) They are the objects of His complacency. He sees in them that which fills Him with delight--His beloved Sons purchase and image. Hence--
(3) They are the subjects of His special care (Rom_8:39). And--
(4) They await the highest manifestations of His favour.
3. Children of God.
(1) They are born from above, and become partakers of the Divine nature.
(2) They are adopted into the Divine family.
(3) They are heirs of Divine possessions.
III. How they become what they are
1. By sovereign grace. There was no merit in them, but every demerit. Had not God chosen them they had never chosen God.
2. By compliance with the conditions laid down by sovereign grace. Repentance and faith. (J. W Burn.)
And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people.
Hope for the outcasts:
I. Their condition--Not My people.
1. Without God.
2. Without knowledge of the truth.
3. Without hope.
II. Their happy change.
1. Adopted.
2. Transformed.
3. Admitted to fellowship with God--the true source of life and happiness. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The sovereignty of God
I. The miserable condition of this people at the first--Not My people. What an awful position is that of nations, families, or men where they are not Gods people. What privileges they lose! What anticipations they are without! How empty their existence! How fearful their prospects! It is evident that nations have been under this denomination. There was not a country, except the Jewish, in ancient times that knew anything about the living God. And at the present day there are those nations which revel in their ignorance of Divine truth. Besides which, even in Christian lands, only a small proportion truly serve the Lord God.
II. The blessed condition of this people at the last. There is a remark-able contrast. They are the same people. But their condition is changed. They are to become not only Gods people, but Gods children, not only His servants, but His heirs. The change is a remarkable one, for it--
1. Involves a change of nature, disposition, heart, character, and it manifests the power of Divine grace which can so transform stones into children.
2. Alters the condition and future of those who are its subjects. They look forward to a period of blessedness in a Fathers house. (J. J. S. Bird, M.A.)
Though the number of … Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.--
The example of Israel a warning to the world
I. Judgement begins at the house of God.
II. Cannot be arrested by numbers or force.
III. Is exceedingly terrible--only a remnant saved.
IV. will be complete.
V. Will de executed in righteousness.
VI. Will be sudden and summary. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The rejection of the Jews
I. Predicted.
II. National.
III. Judicial--in righteousness.
IV. Terribly fulfilled--only a remnant saved.
V. Mixed with mercy.
VI. Alleviated by hope--a seed left. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The remnant saved
Our text is a quotation from Isaiah, and is intended to show the great disparity, in point of number, between the believing and the unbelieving Israelites.
I. Though multitudes appear to be the people of God, yet those who are so in reality are comparatively few.
1. The children of Israel according to the flesh were numerous as the sand of the sea. The promise of Gen_22:17 was in great measure fulfilled in Mosess time (Num_23:9-10). When they went down into Egypt they were only seventy-five persons; but when they came out from thence, all told, they probably amounted to three or four millions. Yet they are not all Israel (1Co_10:1-11; Heb_4:1-2; Heb_4:11). The Jews also in our Lords time were very numerous; but the greater part of them perished in their unbelief, and were at length dispersed and ruined as a nation (Mat_23:34-39; 1Th_2:15-16).
2. Those also who profess religion have in all ages been very numerous, yet the number of the truly pious is very small.
(1) How many who are called Christians are entirely ignorant of the fundamental truths of Christianity (Isa_29:11-12).
(2) How many rest in outward privileges and performances.
(3) How many selfish worldlings there are who follow Christ for the loaves and fishes.
(4) What shall we say of those heartless and barren professors, who bring forth no fruit; or if any, it is to themselves, and not to God.
II. They are called a remnant, a remnant that shall be saved. With respect to the Jews in the apostles time, only a small part of them were brought to believe in Christ; and though some thousands were converted in one day, the far greater number continued in obstinate unbelief. Instances of conversion since that time have been very rare. We are assured, however, that at the appointed time the Redeemer will come, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And with respect to the Gentiles, there has ever been and will be, even in times of the grossest darkness and corruption, a remnant according to the election of grace.
1. There is and shall be a remainder, a part reserved out of the whole, as the word generally signifies (Isa_10:12 : Rev_12:17). This implies--
(1) Paucity or fewness. Christs Church is a little city, and few men in it. A little flock, under the care of the great and good Shepherd; small when compared with the rest of the world, and with what it will be hereafter (Rev_7:9). But in any one age, and especially in any one place, the Church of Christ is comparatively small; and if the chaff were separated from the wheat, it would be smaller still (Mat_20:16).
(2) Choice or separation. Gods remnant is a chosen remnant, according to the election of grace; and this alone it is that secures its existence (Rom_8:29).
2. This remnant shall be saved, net only from the wrath to come, but also from innumerable evils in the present life (Isa_26:20; Eze_9:4). But eternal salvation is chiefly intended, which includes--
(1). A deliverance from all evil and the fear of evil (Rev_21:4).
(2) The possession of all good; perfect knowledge, holiness, peace; the true enjoyment of ourselves, and the most intimate communion with God.
3. The salvation of this remnant is certain, both from the promises of God and the engagements of the Redeemer. Christ must reign. Conclusion: If we have hitherto been indifferent about this salvation, let us take warning. If we have immortal souls, surely their interest demands our chief attention. Are we only nominal Christians, let us remember that an empty name will be of no avail hereafter; but if we are Israelites indeed, how delightful are our prospects! (B. Beddome, M.A.)
For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness.--
Judgment
I. Is the work of God.
II. Must be severely executed upon sinners--when God arises His procedure is rapid, righteous, complete. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Some points in the Divine procedure
Irrespective of the particular application of this prophecy by Paul there are certain fundamental and abiding principles that are worth attention.
I. Completeness. As for God, His way, His method of operation, is perfect. From the atom to the sun there is no flaw in His handiwork. It will be found to be the same when we review the course of history from the standpoint of eternity. Things are fragmentary now, but the very fragments are complete, and when fitted into each other as a compacted whole we shall say, Thou hast done all things well. He will finish the work --
1. Why? Because--
(1) His calculations are infallible who sees the end from the beginning.
(2) His resources are inexhaustible who has all power in heaven and earth.
(3) His determinations must take effect who doth according to His will in the armies of heaven, etc. Men fail because they neglect to take all the factors into account; because their resources are limited, or because they are irresolute. But there can be no failure when we take into account Gods omniscience, power, and sovereign will.
2. In spite of what?
(1) The cunning, malice, strength, and determination of His enemies. These are many, and to any other than God would be formidable.
(2) The ignorance, feebleness, apathy, and irresoluteness of His professed friends. These would lead any other than God to give up in despair.
3. What in?
(1) Creation, which when finished was pronounced very good.
(2) Providence. This is now in progress, but when finished no flaw will be detected in its procedure.
(3) Redemption. Redemption by price was finished on the Cross; redemption by power when heavens courts shall echo with It is done.
(4) Judgment. No one shall be missing from the great assize, and nothing will mar the completeness of the final awards.
II. Promptness. Cut it short. In creation, where God had only to deal with inert matter, this finds a perfect illustration. He said, and it was done. In dealing with men it is somewhat different, yet the same in the end. God is patient, is willing, and can afford to wail; but when the hour of destiny is struck His action is decisive and irrevocable. This is seen in--
1. The history of redemption. When the fulness of the time was come, when the preparatory work was finished, God sent His Son. Down from the shining seats … He fled. What a short work, too, the redeeming ministry was, and the expiating act.
2. The history of nations. The method of the Divine procedure with the antediluvians, the Canaanites, Babylon, Israel, and the Roman empire was first long-suffering, forbearance (chap. 2:4; 2Pe_3:1-18.); and then, when the cup of their iniquities was full, how suddenly was it emptied and destroyed.
3. The history of men--
(l) In ordinary life. How long matters often are in coming to a climax, but how sharp and short is the decisive hour which determines temporal destiny.
(2) In salvation. The preparatory process may be protracted, but the soul passes from death into life in a moment.
(3) As regards the future. We may slumber in the dust for ages, but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall awake.
III. Righteousness. Without this the other two methods might fill us with terror. But it reassures us to know that in His providential government of the world, or in the salvation or judg-ment of men, God always acts--
1. From a right motive.
2. In a right way.
3. At the right time.
4. With right results. (J. W. Burn.)
Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma.--
The Lord of Sabaoth
I. The meaning of the term. Lord of hosts--of--
1. The whole universe, with its hosts of things animate and inanimate.
2. The hosts of the heavens.
3. The hosts of hell.
II. Why God is termed Lord of Sabaoth.
1. Because He is supreme Ruler of all.
2. To oppose the prevailing worship of the heavenly bodies.
3. To give us some idea of His almighty power and grandeur. (M. Thomson.)
The Divine considerateness
Sodom and Gomorrha were utterly wiped out. No human being remained to perpetuate the progeny of the inhabitants of the plain. It might have been so, and deservedly, with Israel; but it was not so, and graciously. A remnant was, and always has been left, notwithstanding the most frightful devastations--a seed to propagate the race. So in Gods procedure generally, where men and nations have not sinned past recovery. A seed of some sort is left, which, by sedulous cultivation, may result in future harvests. This principle may be illustrated in--
I. The history of humanity at large.
1. After the fall the human race might have been as Sodoma, but in wrath God remembered mercy. He left man not only life, but a promise which kept human hope from utter extinction; some relics, too, of the Divine image on which the Redeemer could take hold in fashioning the new man.
2. After the flood the family of Noah was left, not only to preserve the species, but to hand on the hope. The covenant with the Patriarch was but the first of a series which culminated in the fulfilment of the covenant of redemption. A second time the Lord of Sabaoth left a seed.
3. In the fulness of time, when the world was ripe for destruction, the gift of the seed saved it. The state of things depicted in chaps, 1 and 2 could not have gone on much longer but for the Divine interposition, which has at last changed the condition of the world. But for this it must have perished; as it is it lives, and has in it the germs of a total regeneration.
II. The history of nations.
1. Sometimes a few good men are left whose prayers, efforts, and influence save the nation from decay. Who can tell but that the preservation of the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal postponed the catastrophe of the Hebrew nation. What a different history France would have had but for the expulsion of the Huguenots. It is impossible to tell what would have become of England but for the godly few who remained to perpetuate the Puritan revival through the reigns of Charles II. and James II. 2. Sometimes the seed presents itself in the form of a gracious opportunity.
(1) The Reformation was such a seed. Contrast the destinies of the nations which accepted it with those that rejected it.
(2) The missionary impulse of the close of the last century was another. Great Britain and America yielded to it, and the material and moral prosperity of both has never since looked back.
III. The history of the individual. Here history repeats itself on a small scale.
1. Home reminiscences have often been as a seed perpetuating the life and moral character of a man. In temptation the remembrance of prayers offered or words uttered have made many a man stop short on the brink of ruin and retrace his steps into a nobler and better life.
2. The Word read or preached in myriads of instances has been such a seed.
3. So has some great affliction.
4. And some special summons to duty. (J. W. Burn.)
Gods judgments are
I. Richly deserved. Our sins are--
1. Multiplied.
2. Aggravated.
3. Obstinately persisted in--like Sodom, etc.
II. Mercifully alleviated.
1. A remnant is spared.
2. As a seed of promise.
3. Through sovereign grace. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 22. What if God. Now if God, in the…
22. What if God. Now if God, in the exercise of his undoubted right, has done something like this, in his dealings with the Jew and Gentile. Willing to show his wrath. Though provoked to visit punishment on the Jewish nation for its sin in rejecting Christ, and thus to demonstrate his power, yet thus far he has endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath. The unbelieving Jewish nation, so sinful before God, yet long endured, is meant. God, in the exercise of his sovereign will, has thus far deferred the exhibition of his wrath in its destruction. This verse began with a question. It implies, If God does all this, where is the fault?
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv25, 30 Rom_9:25.—Refers not only to the gathering again of the…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_9:25.—Refers not only to the gathering again of the Israelites rejected in the carrying away by Shalmaneser, but also of the Gentiles rejected at the building of Babel; remnants elected from both.
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Rom_9:27.—Only few out of the ten tribes returned to Judæa; few left by Sennacherib; few brought to Christ.
Rom_9:28.—Alford seems to include both promise and threatening in λόγος, and makes the object of the citation a confirmation of “the certainty of the salvation of the remnant of Israel, seeing that now, as then, He, with whom a thousand years are as a day, will swiftly accomplish His prophetic word in righteousness.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_9:25-29
The not-beloved become beloved.—The late Mr. Spurgeon, in his sermon on “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” says: “This text means just what it says; it does not mean nations, but it means the persons mentioned. Jacob—that is, the man whose name was Jacob—Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Take care how any of you meddle with God’s word. I have heard of folks altering passages they did not like. Our only power with the word of God is simply to let it stand as it is, and to endeavour by God’s grace to accommodate ourselves to that.” He will not even allow us to translate “Esau have I hated” by “the meaningless words ‘I love less.’ ” Fortunately we do not want. But if we are to follow the great preacher’s literalism, shall we find the doctrine of eternal predestination and election before time in the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth verses? He says in another place, “I may be as sure of my election as if I could climb to heaven and turn over the red roll and read my name in letters of gold. The Lord has given thee a test which never did fail yet, and never will.” How about those once not beloved? Are the names of the not beloved written in the red roll? He says that between calling and election there is an indissoluble union. Here God calls a people which were once not His people; therefore God elects those who were once not elected. As we understand the doctrine of election carried out to its extreme lengths, the elected always are and have been God’s people, and the effectual calling is only giving outward expression to the divine purpose. So again the non-elect are elected—the not-people of God become His children. Our conclusion is that repellent dogmatism on abstruse subjects is to be avoided. Positive assertions cannot bury difficulties. The reason of man cannot be stifled by swelling words. Humility is a becoming attitude in the presence of the sublimest topics that can engage human attention. We learn from the passage under discussion:—
I. Divine grace.—Whatever may be our views of predestination and election, we must hold fast to the doctrine of divine grace. If the gospel be a remedial scheme for the benefit of universal man, then we must not hamper that scheme by narrow views. Let us believe in the largeness and freeness of the divine mind; let God’s call move through the earth, giving forth its sweet measures as fully as God’s myriad songsters. God makes into His people those who were once not His people. He called the Gentiles; He called the British peoples. Let us adore God’s matchless grace. God calls, and all who hear and obey may become the children of the living God, the beloved of the eternal Love.
II. God’s righteousness.—Wonderful is the pleading of Jeremiah. “Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee; yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously.” The prophet rises above seeming anomalies in the divine proceedings, and declares, “Righteous art Thou, O Lord.” Whatever may appear contradictory, yet let us rest assured that God’s finished work, that God’s completed plan, will vindicate the eternal righteousness. Righteous is the Lord, though He call that beloved which was not beloved, and though only a remnant of the elect nation be saved.
III. God’s provision.—A remnant is saved. A germinating force is provided. A remnant was saved from the deluged world; a remnant was saved from the destroyed cities. God has His remnants through all time, and these become the seed forces of great harvests. In darkest periods God has His sons of light. God’s germinating forces are good and true men. They are productive. They die; but the wheat dies, and over its tomb waves the golden harvest.
The remnant.—R.V., “It is the remnant that shall be saved.”
I. The doctrine of the remnant.—
1. Teaching of Old Testament prophecy. The text is quoted from Isa_10:22. Words there are, “A remnant of them shall return”—i.e., from the captivity, and thus be saved from ruin and extinction, which awaited the majority. Referring to that remnant (Rom_6:13), he speaks of it as a “holy seed.” In his eye small minority were a “holy seed,” but great majority unsound, and therefore doomed. “Drunkards and blind,” as he calls them—i.e., dissolute and foolish—constituting this majority, must perish; but its perishing = necessary step towards happier future. Foresees that remnant is not only to return and so be saved itself, but it is to be also a mighty power for the saving of others. A Prince of the house of David is to be born, who is to bring wondrous influences to bear upon the bad majority, and at length to reign over a state renewed, preserved, and enlarged, a great and glorious kingdom. No need to enter into question as to how soon prophet expected reign of Prince to begin. Enough to know such a Prince at length did come, and that His object was to found a kingdom not of this world. He came and accomplished His work. His followers at first a mere remnant—twelve apostles, one hundred and twenty disciples at Jerusalem—but its mission = through that Prince to save the world. Communities wherein no good remnant left; hopelessly doomed (Isa_1:9; cp. Rom_9:29).
2. Teaching of the text. At Pentecost strangers from Rome at Jerusalem. Perhaps, too, some of those libertini (freedmen) who heard St. Stephen may have been Romans. In any case St. Paul here addresses a Church which had been founded at Rome, chiefly Jewish, but also partly Gentile = small minority among vast population. They right; rulers of this world and vast majority of people all wrong. They = “holy seed,” which was to grow and wax strong; leaven, which was to extend itself till the whole was leavened. How this was done subsequent history of Christianity shows.
3. General statement. History, both sacred and secular, exhibits frequent periods where the corruption of human nature becomes painfully apparent in general depravity and vice. But God’s Spirit has never entirely forsaken the world. Except in cases where utter ruin has resulted, a reaction has in the course of time set in, and this has always begun not with the many but the few. Often when the majority have run headlong into sin and ruin, a minority have been saved—e.g., Flood, call of Abraham, Caleb and Joshua, etc. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Majority very apt to be wrong on vital questions. May be sometimes right, but as a rule lack principle and persistence. Today good impulses prevail, but gone to-morrow. [Contrast Sunday cry of “Hosanna” with Friday cry of “Crucify Him”; vacillation of crowds in every age; popularity of Savonarola with Florentines all gone in an hour, and the once powerful and attractive preacher publicly executed; instability of popular feeling in Reformation times and since.]
II. What saves the remnant?—Answer of:
1. Isaiah and prophets: “To order one’s conversation aright,” to “cease to do evil,” to “learn to do well,” to “delight in the law of the Lord,” to “make one’s study in it all the day long.”
2. Our blessed Lord: to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” to “become as little children,” to “do the will of our Father in heaven.”
3. St. Paul: to “have faith in Christ, the embodiment of righteousness” (Rom_9:30-32), and thus to have the heart and mind set upon those objects, aims, and actions of which righteousness is composed (Php_4:8).
III. Consolation for the saved remnant.—
1. Holding fast to that whereby the remnant is saved, there arises in the soul a peace which nothing else can give (Psa_119:165). God’s laws of righteousness are eternal and unchangeable. We know what they are. The majority may seek to evade them; but the godly minority have the consolation of knowing that the eternal One is not only wise and good, but also powerful to “defend the right.” This thought has nerved on the saints and heroes who have often shone as lights in a corrupt age.
2. Their influence must sooner or later be felt. “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Their example and efforts have a tendency to purify. There is consolation in the thought of this.
IV. Warning from the doctrine of the remnant.—Not to be led astray by an evil majority (Exo_23:2). An evil majority, headed by self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, lured Jerusalem to its overthrow. Massillon, preaching before the court of France in the days of Louis XIV., spoke of the last judgment—the great testing-time when the saved remnant shall be finally severed from all others besides—in terms so awfully vivid that when the climax of his discourse was reached the whole of that brilliant assemblage rose to their feet as one man, conscience-stricken, cut to the heart. But there was no real reformation. The fashion of the time was too strong. The righteous minority in France was too small, too weak, to save the nation from the crack of doom which burst in the Revolution nearly a century later. Beware of the authority which in these days it is too much the fashion to attach to mere majorities (Mat_7:13-14).—G. E. P. Reade.
Rom_9:25-33. Paul elects the non-elect.—“As He saith also in Osee,” etc. This avowedly difficult passage deals with the doctrine of election, suggested by the question of the calling of the Gentiles. Paul here sets forth the groundwork of chaps, 9 to 11. He points out that the Israelites who were lost were ruined by pride, refusing to comply with the divine purposes. Some have built on this section of the epistle the doctrine of election, which Wesley thus expresses: “By virtue of an eternal, unchangeable, irresistible decree of God, one part of mankind is infallibly saved, and the rest infallibly damned, it being impossible that any of the former should be damned, or that any of the latter should be saved.” What is Paul’s attitude towards this? The whole chapter deals fully with the question.
1. Paul notes the unhappy fact that the Jews were rejected by God.
2. This he remarks in order to show that neither ancestry nor a man’s works will form any claim to justification.
3. He seeks to show that God has a free hand, is not bound down by any restriction at all. He has absolute right to do as He pleases, and name His own conditions for salvation. Hence He may reject the Jews who do not comply, and accept the Gentiles who do.
4. Paul, by his concluding statements, throws open salvation to all who are willing to accept Christ, even those whom the Jews thought were non-elect. The text suggests that Paul practically elects the non-elect.
I. Paul here teaches that salvation is for all who believe in Christ.—
1. Here he is in harmony with Peter, his contemporary. Peter (Act_3:25-26) declared the blessing of redemption to be first promised to the Jews. But the very word “first” implied that it was to be sent to the Gentiles also. Paul agrees in Gal_3:8.
2. He is in harmony with the psalmists, who teach that grace is not exclusive (Psa_72:17; Psa_102:15; Psa_102:22; Psa_117:1).
3. He is in harmony with the prophets, who recognise the breadth and length, the height and depth, of the divine redemption (Isa_45:22-23; also our text, Rom_9:25). Is not this pointing to the salvation of the human race? The minor prophets teach the same (Joe_2:28-31; Joe_3:12-21; Hab_2:13-14; Zep_2:11; Zep_3:8-9; Mal_1:11; Mal_3:1-3; Mal_4:1-3).
4. Paul is in harmony here with his other epistles, where he develops the doctrine of salvation for all who believe with great force (e.g., Eph_1:10; Col_1:20). Is not this an election of the non-elect?
II. The once-indifferent may embrace salvation.—Rom_9:30. The Jews were first called; the Gentiles appeared to be excluded. The Jews exhibited this thought by their utmost scorn for Gentiles. But now, if willing to come, if accepting the conditions of salvation, they may be saved. Once they were outside the pale, because they followed not after righteousness, had no knowledge of it, no care nor thought about it. When they heard the gospel, they embraced it. Then its blessings were theirs. The moment of acceptance was the moment when the barriers of exclusion were broken down. It is so now. We are “non-elect” so long as we reject the gospel, and no longer.
III. There are no vested interests in the matter of salvation.—We may be Jews, having Abraham for our father; but that will not open the kingdom of heaven to us. Israel, the chosen people, not saved from disaster: only a remnant saved. We may say we are among the “elect”: that, if we do not live aright, will not save us. The question of elect or non-elect does not free us from active living faith in Christ. We must believe in Christ and live like Him.
IV. Outward observance of God’s laws will not secure our election.—Israel followed after the law, observed it to the letter, but had none of the spirit of righteousness. Jews harboured hate, secretly served other gods, etc.; and God rejected them, even while their altar fires were burning and their feasts were religiously observed. Why rejected? Because they sought not their salvation by faith, but by works. There was no inward righteousness. It was all outward show. “Not every one that saith,” etc. It is a case of the last being first and the first last. Any who may have the form of righteousness may miss its blessings, if they have not the power of godliness. At the last there will be a sifting; the unworthy will be set aside. In this sense “a remnant” only will be saved—only those who have loved righteousness and accepted Christ as their Saviour.
V. If any are lost, the fault is theirs.—They can never plead the existence of a hard-and-fast law that dooms some and delivers others. The lost are not so lost because of any decree of God. It is because they reject Christ and His offers of mercy. Therefore the need that preachers should still continue to plead with men, as those for whom they must give account. And therefore, also, the need and happy opportunity for the worst to come and plead forgiveness from the Saviour of men.—Albert Lee.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_9:24-29
Paul’s design.—In the twenty-fourth verse the apostle explains whom he means by “the vessels of mercy”: “Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.” “To call,” as the word is used in Scripture, sometimes refers to the offer of salvation made by the preaching of the gospel, and sometimes to this offer rendered effectual by the co-operation of the Holy Spirit and embraced by those to whom it is proposed. Sometimes also, as in the next verse, it denotes to denominate in a particular manner—“I will call them My people”; and in this sense it often means to make them what they are called—“I will call them My people” being precisely equivalent to “I will make them My people.” Here the word is used in the last of these senses, and means “whom He hath called or constituted His people”—even us believers in Christ, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, whom God hath called to the obedience of the gospel, and thus constituted His Church and people. This application of the word, which is fixed by the following quotation, is a further proof that the preparation “for glory,” mentioned in the preceding verse, does not mean eternal glory, but merely the glorious distinction of being the Church and people of God. He goes on to show that the calling of the Gentiles, and the continuing of only a small portion of the Jews in the number of the people of God, need not appear incredible, seeing it might be clearly inferred from the Old Testament Scriptures (Rom_9:25), “As He saith also in Osee, I will call them My people which were not My people, and her beloved which was not beloved.” The quotation is taken from Hos_2:23; but the apostle has inverted the order of the two clauses and slightly changed the language, though without altering the meaning. It has been thought that this prophacy relates primarily to the Israelites, and only in a secondary sense to the calling of the Gentiles. But the words are certainly most appropriate when applied to the Gentiles. “I will call them My people—that is, I will make them My people—which were not My people, and I will render her beloved which was not beloved,” are phrases which describe correctly receiving into the number of the people of God those who did not formerly belong to it. They do not so well describe restoring to the number of God’s people those who had belonged to it formerly. And as the apostle quotes the prophecy as descriptive of the calling of the Gentiles, we are authorised to hold this to be its proper application. To these prophecies, relating to the extension of the privilege of the people of God to the Gentiles, there is added another relating to the Israelites (Rom_9:26): “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there shall they be called the children of the living God.” This prediction relates to the displeasure of God with His people on account of their sins, and His refusing to acknowledge them as His people—a refusal, however, which would be only temporal, for they would in due time be constituted “the children of the living God.” By joining these two quotations together, the apostle confirms the doctrine which he has been inculcating, that the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, were to have the offer of the gospel made to them, and to be admitted without distinction to share in the privileges of the people of God. But though the offer of salvation through Christ was to be given to Jews and Gentiles without distinction, it had been foretold that only a small number of the Jews would accept the offered mercy (Rom_9:27): “Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” The quotation is from Isa_10:22, where the prophet alludes to the consequences of the destruction brought upon the ten tribes by the Assyrians. He “crieth concerning Israel,” said the apostle—that is, he openly and authoritatively declares—that though their number before their dispersion be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant—or, as it is in the original, the remnant—shall be saved from the general calamity, or return from their dispersion. This prediction is quoted as an illustration of the divine procedure in the present circumstances of the Jewish nation. For as the ten tribes were at that time scattered among the heathen, and ceased to be the people of God on account of their sins, a very small portion of them only escaping this calamity, so in the present times the great body of the nation would suffer a similar fate on account of the heinous guilt which they had contracted, the small number which believed in Christ only being continued a part of the Church and people of God.—Ritchie.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30 22. “But if God, wishing to show forth his…
22. “But if God, wishing to show forth his indignation and make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath which had been perfected for destruction.” “Fitted,” E. V., which I translate “having been made perfect,” is the identical word constantly translated “perfect,” setting forth Christian perfection. Hence it involves the conclusion that there is a perfecting for destruction as well as salvation. No soul goes to heaven till perfected for glory. Even so no one goes to hell till perfected for damnation. The potter never gives up the vessel while there is hope. God is the Omnipotent. Hence He works on every vessel so long as there is hope. When the human will so contravenes the divine will as to disqualify Omnipotent grace to make you a vessel to honor, then you are perfected for destruction. God is Omniscient. He sees you will never let Him save you. Consequently He lets you drop into hell. There is no other place for you. He has made heaven for you, but you will not let Him love you, consequently you are a vessel unto dishonor perfected for damnation, i. e., ripe for hell.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv22–30 What if [With these words Paul introduces his real…
What if [With these words Paul introduces his real answer to the question asked in verse 19. The full idea runs thus: "I have answered your impudent question by an assertion of the absolute right of God, which you can not deny ( Pro_26:5 ; Psa_18:26 ). But what will you say if, etc." If the absolute abstract right of God puts man to silence, how much more must he be silent before the actual, applied mercy and grace of God which forbears to use the right because of his longsuffering pity toward the impenitent, and his forgiving leniency toward the repentant. Paul asserts the absolute right of God, but denies that he applies it. Herein he differs from Calvinism, which insists that he applies it] God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction [And now, O man, how silent must you be if it appears that God, although willing to show his displeasure against wickedness, and ready to show his power to crush its designs, nevertheless endured with much longsuffering evil men whose conduct had already fitted them for, or made them worthy of, destruction. Paul has already told us that the longsuffering of God is exercised to induce repentance, though its abuse may incidentally increase both wrath and punishment ( Rom_2:4-11 ). It is not affirmed that God "fitted" these evil ones for destruction. "And," says Barnes, "there is an evident design in not affirming it, and a distinction made between them and the vessels of mercy which ought to be regarded. In relation to the latter it is expressly affirmed that God fitted or prepared them for glory. (See Rom_9:23 ) 'Which HE had afore prepared unto glory.' The same distinction is remarkably striking in the account of the last judgment in Mat_25:34-41 . To the righteous, Christ will say, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for YOU,' etc. To the wicked, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS;' not said to have been originally prepared for them. It is clear, therefore, that God intends to keep the great truth in view, that he prepares his people by direct agency for heaven; but that he exerts no such agency in preparing the wicked for destruction." No potter, either divine or human, ever made vessels just to destroy them. But any potter, finding a vessel suited to a dishonorable use, may so use it, and may afterwards destroy it. How the Jews "fitted" themselves for destruction is told elsewhere by the apostle-- 1Th_2:15-16 ]:
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv26–30 children (Greek - τέκνον, sons).
children (Greek - τέκνον, sons).
(See Scofield "Eph 1:5")
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God Hos 1:10
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv22, 30 God’s power exerted in the interest of men:
God’s power exerted in the interest of men:
v. 22. What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
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v. 23, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory,
v. 24. even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
v. 25. As He saith also in Hosea, I will call them My people which were not My people, and her beloved which was not beloved.
v. 26. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there shall they be called the children of the living God.
v. 27. Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved;
v. 28. for He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
v. 29. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.
If the question is one merely of right on the part of God, then the answer can be only that which St. Paul gave, vv. 19-21. But a different question entirely is that, whether God makes use of this absolute sovereignty and power with regard to the eternal fate of man, his salvation or condemnation. But if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has borne in much long-suffering the vessels of wrath destined to condemnation! Will the reasonable objections still be maintained? Although God, in carrying out the judgment of hardening and condemnation upon the sinners, thus wanted to exhibit His wrath and make known His power, yet He bore the vessels of this wrath previously with the greatest patience. Men had incurred God’s wrath, they deserved the full measure of His indignation and anger. But the Lord was full of mercy and long-suffering; His patience had the purpose of leading the sinners to repentance, 2Pe 3:9. Even though the sinners were altogether fitted for destruction, still God had patience with them; the measure of their transgression is full to overflowing, and yet God does not pour out upon them the vials of His wrath. He leaves no stone unturned in the effort to bring them to their senses. This is the other side of the essence of God, in which His love and mercy comes into consideration. This is the manner in which the patience of God is manifested, as many examples from history will demonstrate. And these facts take away all strength from the opponent’s argument.
But God had also a second object in view in enduring the vessels of wrath: in order to make known the wealth of His glory upon the vessels of mercy which He has prepared before unto glory, us, whom He also has called, not only of Jews, but also of Gentiles. The very fact that God showed such an abundance of patience in the case of the vessels of wrath incidentally had the object to give a proof and manifestation of His glory upon the vessels of mercy, the believers, in whom His glorious purpose is realized. By calling the believers from the midst of both the Jews and the Gentiles, by converting them to Christ, He has glorified Himself, Eph 1:6; His work has redounded to His own praise and honor. For by the call of God the vessels of mercy have received His mercy, He has made them the recipients and bearers of His grace in Jesus Christ. And the same people have been prepared beforehand for the glory of heaven, Mat 25:34: both their call and their entrance into glory is a result of God’s counsel of grace. Thus God glorified Himself upon the vessels of mercy through the manifestation of His grace, and at the same time He gathered for Himself, from Jews and Gentiles, a people that here sees and enjoys the abundance of His goodness and mercy and will finally behold His glory in all eternity.
These facts St. Paul now substantiates by a reference to the Old Testament Scriptures, giving first of all a free quotation from Hosea, chap. 2:3, to show that God’s people were to be gathered from the Gentiles also: I will call that which is not My people My people, and her who is not beloved, beloved; and it will be in the place where it was said to them, My people you are not, there will they be called the sons of the living God. See 1Pe 2:10. Although the prophet refers to the readmission of Israel as the people of God, Paul’s quotation of the passage in favor of the acceptance of the Gentiles is fully justified, for the words incidentally indicate the manner in which God at all times accepts strangers into communion with Him. Out of the land of the heathen, from out of the midst of the Gentiles, from all nations on earth, the Lord wanted to gather and is gathering to Himself His Church. He is extending His mercy, calling, converting the heathen also, making them His own, to live under Him in His kingdom, to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
But St. Paul brings quotations also to substantiate His statement that God is calling the members of His Church from the midst of the Jews. He refers to Isa 10:22-23, where Isaiah calls out over Israel: If the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved; for the word, the oracle of God, is brought to an end and fully decided upon in righteousness; for the judgment will be quickly carried out. It is a final and decisive work which the Lord executes in the land by saving the remnant of Israel in the midst of the general destruction which comes upon the obstinate sinners. When the great mass of Israel is struck by the tidal wave of God’s judgment of destruction, the Lord will save a remnant, will bring a few of them to the knowledge of their Savior, the true Messiah. The second quotation from Isaiah. chap. 1:9, is in verbal agreement with the Greek translation: If the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, as Sodom we should have become and been made like unto Gomorrah. Over the great majority of the Jewish people the judgment of God was poured out from the time of Isaiah to the final destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70. According to man’s judgment, the end would have been the annihilation of the Jewish race, as in the fate which overtook Sodom and Gomorrah. But the Lord preserved for Himself a seed, an escaped part, a remnant, saved for future growth, the little band of true Israelites that accepted Jesus as their Redeemer. And thus, just as Paul contends, the Lord has chosen His own from both Gentiles and Jews, gathering them unto Himself into His Church. Therefore, also, every objection to the work of God must be withdrawn, all offense must be acknowledged to be wrong and foolish. The facts here presented are bound to remove all false conceptions of God. If we but keep the love and mercy of God before our eyes, as we have experienced them so abundantly, then the only sentiment to be found in our hearts will be a feeling of joy and gratitude over the miracles of God’s grace, as shown to us daily.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv22, 25, 27, 30 he ... his
he ... his
The words "he" and "his" here refer to God.
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containers of wrath ... containers of mercy
Paul speaks of people as if they were containers. AT: "people who deserve wrath ... people who deserve mercy" (See: Metaphor)
the riches of his glory upon
Paul compares God's wonderful actions here to great "riches." AT: "his glory, which is of great value, upon" (See: Metaphor)
which he had previously prepared for glory
Here "glory" refers to life in heaven with God. AT: "whom he prepared ahead of time in order that they might live with him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
also for us
The word "us" here refers to Paul and fellow believers. (See: Inclusive "We")
called
Here "called" means God has appointed or chosen people to be his children, to be his servants and proclaimers of his message of salvation through Jesus.
translationWords
wrath
endure
glory
call
Jew
Gentile
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv24, 27, 29 9:24-26 God was free to select people from the…
9:24-26 God was free to select people from the Jews who would have a true spiritual relationship with him; similarly, he was also free to choose some from the Gentiles to be saved as well. Paul uses the prophecy of Hosea to reinforce his point. Hosea predicted that God would renew his mercy to the ten northern tribes that had rebelled against God and were under his judgment. Paul saw a principle that applies to Gentiles as well. • Those who were not my people: See study note on 10:19.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.