Though God had made His covenant anciently with Abraham and his posterity, God's chosen people were determined not primarily by lineage but by faithfulness to the covenant. Church members could prepare the way for those outside the Church to accept the gospel by being faithful, humble, and merciful.
For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
In his Israel chapters, Romans 9 to 11, Paul saw God's will in Israel's No. It is not because it says No that Israel's heart has been hardened. It is because God hardened its heart that it cannot do anything but say No. Hardness of heart is not the same thing as rejection….
Today, Romans is perhaps best known for clearly articulating key doctrines like man's sinfulness, justification by faith, regeneration, union with Christ, adoption, and sanctification. Romans is known for its rich, deep, glorious, and at times unsettling theological assertions and implications.
We don't have anything good without the mercy of God. And we don't have salvation apart from his mercy. His salvation, we've seen all throughout Romans salvation from sin is not dependent on human will or work or exertion. It's dependent on the mercy of God and the grace of God through Christ at the cross.
The Lord Righteously Saves. In Romans 9:19, Paul anticipates another question from his readers, then proceeds to dispel any fear or doubt they might have about God's justice in saving. God saves righteously: He is equitable, fair, and just.
God's words in Romans 9:15 mean that it is an essential part of his glory that he be unbound in choosing the beneficiaries of his mercy. That is, He would be less glorious, indeed He would not be fully God if he were under obligation to any particular human distinctive.
In Romans 14:9, Paul makes clear that Christ's lordship involves his reign over both the dead and the living and that his lordship stems from his death and resurrection.
A people known for their military, political, and social institutions, the ancient Romans conquered vast amounts of land in Europe and northern Africa, built roads and aqueducts, and spread Latin, their language, far and wide.
God does nothing at random or by mere chance, even if you do not understand the secrets of his wisdom. You allow the potter to make different things from the same lump of clay and find no fault with him, but you do not grant the same freedom to God! …
Chapter Summary
God reserves the right to show mercy to some and not others, as Paul demonstrates from Scripture. God is like a potter who creates some vessels for destruction and others for glory. God has called out His people from both the Gentiles and the Jews to faith in Christ, the stumbling stone.
The Meaning of Romans 10:9
Confessing that Jesus is Lord is more than just uttering words; it is a public declaration of our allegiance to Christ. This confession is an essential aspect of our faith, as it demonstrates our willingness to identify with Jesus and submit to His lordship in our lives.
Anyone who will receive the free gift of God's grace by faith will be adopted as a child into God's family. God has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires, but when it comes to being justified in His sight through the blood of Jesus, clearly God offers the favor of that freely to all of humanity.
ESV This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. NIV In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
Paul's essential argument is that God is God, and as the Creator, He has the right to do as He wishes with His own creation. A potter can choose how to use clay, and that clay has no cause to complain that it was chosen for one purpose or another. In the same way, God has the absolute right to choose whom He will save.
Values for the Romans were: bravery, loyalty, piety, seriousness, respect and authority. Bravery was defined by the term virtus and initially, it had a male designation (the word comes from the word vir, meaning “husband”).
Humility and empathy are required for living alongside others in such a way as to bless those who persecute, to rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep, and to associate with the lowly.
“Say the welcoming word to God—“Jesus is my Master”—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not “doing” anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation.” (Romans 10:9, MSG).
Paul's essential argument is that God is God, and as the Creator, He has the right to do as He wishes with His own creation. A potter can choose how to use clay, and that clay has no cause to complain that it was chosen for one purpose or another. In the same way, God has the absolute right to choose whom He will save.
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. 25 As indeed he says in Hosea, "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved. '"
God reserves the right to show mercy to some and not others, as Paul demonstrates from Scripture. God is like a potter who creates some vessels for destruction and others for glory. God has called out His people from both the Gentiles and the Jews to faith in Christ, the stumbling stone.
And we know that all things work together for good: God's sovereignty and ability to manage every aspect of our lives is demonstrated in the fact that all things work together for good to those who love God, though we must face the sufferings of this present time (Romans 8:18).