rsv Romans:9:1-29 SEEK
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I am speaking the truth in Christ ,
I am not lying ;
my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit ,
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that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart .
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For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren ,
my kinsmen by race .
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They are Israelites ,
and to them belong the sonship ,
the glory ,
the covenants ,
the giving of the law ,
the worship ,
and the promises ;
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to them belong the patriarchs ,
and of their race ,
according to the flesh ,
is the Christ .
God who is over all be blessed for ever .
Amen .
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But it is not as though the word of God had failed .
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel ,
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and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants ;
but "
Through Isaac shall your descendants be named ."
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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God ,
but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants .
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For this is what the promise said , "
About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son ."
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And not only so ,
but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man ,
our forefather Isaac ,
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though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad ,
in order that God '
s purpose of election might continue ,
not because of works but because of his call ,
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she was told , "
The elder will serve the younger ."
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As it is written , "
Jacob I loved ,
but Esau I hated ."
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What shall we say then ?
Is there injustice on God '
s part ?
By no means !
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For he says to Moses , "
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy ,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion ."
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So it depends not upon man '
s will or exertion ,
but upon God '
s mercy .
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For the scripture says to Pharaoh , "
I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you ,
so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth ."
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So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills ,
and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills .
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You will say to me then , "
Why does he still find fault ?
For who can resist his will ?"
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But who are you ,
a man ,
to answer back to God ?
Will what is molded say to its molder , "
Why have you made me thus ?"
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Has the potter no right over the clay ,
to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use ?
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What if God ,
desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power ,
has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction ,
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in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy ,
which he has prepared beforehand for glory ,
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even us whom he has called ,
not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles ?
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As indeed he says in Hose '
a , "
Those who were not my people I will call `
my people ,'
and her who was not beloved I will call `
my beloved .'"
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And in the very place where it was said to them , `
You are not my people ,'
they will be called `
sons of the living God .'"
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And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel : "
Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea ,
only a remnant of them will be saved ;
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for the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch ."
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And as Isaiah predicted , "
If the Lord of hosts had not left us children ,
we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomor '
rah ."