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Chapter 9 God and the Jewish People 1I am in Christ, and I am telling you the truth; I do not lie. My conscience is ruled by the Holy Spirit, and it tells me I am not lying.2I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness.3I wish I could help my Jewish brothers and sisters, my people. I would even wish that I were cursed and cut off from Christ if that would help them.4They are the people of Israel, God's chosen children. They have seen the glory of God, and they have the agreements that God made between himself and his people. God gave them the law of Moses and the right way of worship and his promises.5They are the descendants of our great ancestors, and they are the earthly family into which Christ was born, who is God over all. Praise him forever! Amen.6It is not that God failed to keep his promise to them. But only some of the people of Israel are truly God's people,7and only some of Abraham's descendants are true children of Abraham. But God said to Abraham: “The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac.”8This means that not all of Abraham's descendants are God's true children. Abraham's true children are those who become God's children because of the promise God made to Abraham.9God's promise to Abraham was this: “At the right time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”10And that is not all. Rebekah's sons had the same father, our father Isaac.11But before the two boys were born, God told Rebekah, “The older will serve the younger.” This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this so that the one chosen would be chosen because of God's own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything he did.1213As the Scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” 14So what should we say about this? Is God unfair? In no way.15God said to Moses, “I will show kindness to anyone to whom I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone to whom I want to show mercy.”16So God will choose the one to whom he decides to show mercy; his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do.17The Scripture says to the king of Egypt: “I made you king for this reason: to show my power in you so that my name will be talked about in all the earth.”18So God shows mercy where he wants to show mercy, and he makes stubborn the people he wants to make stubborn. 19So one of you will ask me: “Then why does God blame us for our sins? Who can fight his will?”20You are only human, and human beings have no right to question God. An object should not ask the person who made it, “Why did you make me like this?”21The potter can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use. 22It is the same way with God. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently stayed with those people he was angry with—people who were made ready to be destroyed.23He waited with patience so that he could make known his rich glory to the people who receive his mercy. He has prepared these people to have his glory,24and we are those people whom God called. He called us not from the Jews only but also from those who are not Jews.25As the Scripture says in Hosea: 26“They were called, 27And Isaiah cries out about Israel: 28because the Lord will quickly and completely punish the people on the earth.” Isaiah 10:22-23 29It is as Isaiah said: 30So what does all this mean? Those who are not Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God, but they were made right with God because of their faith.31The people of Israel tried to follow a law to make themselves right with God. But they did not succeed,32because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did instead of trusting in God to make them right. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble.33As it is written in the Scripture: Chapter 10 1Brothers and sisters, the thing I want most is for all the Jews to be saved. That is my prayer to God.2I can say this about them: They really try to follow God, but they do not know the right way.3Because they did not know the way that God makes people right with him, they tried to make themselves right in their own way. So they did not accept God's way of making people right.4Christ ended the law so that everyone who believes in him may be right with God.5Moses writes about being made right by following the law. He says, “A person who obeys these things will live because of them.”6But this is what the Scripture says about being made right through faith: “Don't say to yourself, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’ ” (That means, “Who will go up to heaven and bring Christ down to earth?”)7“And do not say, ‘Who will go down into the world below?’ ” (That means, “Who will go down and bring Christ up from the dead?”)8This is what the Scripture says: “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.” That is the teaching of faith that we are telling.9If you use your mouth to say, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.10We believe with our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we use our mouths to say that we believe, and so we are saved.11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.”12That Scripture says “anyone” because there is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is the Lord of all and gives many blessings to all who trust in him,13as the Scripture says, “Anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved.” 14But before people can ask the Lord for help, they must believe in him; and before they can believe in him, they must hear about him; and for them to hear about the Lord, someone must tell them;15and before someone can go and tell them, that person must be sent. It is written, “How beautiful is the person who comes to bring good news.” 16But not all the Jews accepted the good news. Isaiah said, “Lord, who believed what we told them?”17So faith comes from hearing the Good News, and people hear the Good News when someone tells them about Christ. 18But I ask: Didn't people hear the Good News? Yes, they heard—as the Scripture says: 19Again I ask: Didn't the people of Israel understand? Yes, they did understand. First, Moses says: 20Then Isaiah is bold enough to say: 21But about Israel God says, New Century Version (NCV) Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.
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