✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Romanos 9

VBL · Chapter 9/16

1Yo estoy en Cristo, y lo que digo es verdad. ¡No les miento! Mi conciencia y el Espíritu Santo confirman

2cuán triste estoy, y el dolor infinito que tengo en mi corazón

3por mi propio pueblo, por mis hermanos y hermanas. Preferiría yo mismo ser maldecido, estar separado de Cristo, si eso pudiera ayudarlos.

4Ellos son mis hermanos de raza, los israelitas, el pueblo escogido de Dios. Dios les reveló su gloria e hizo tratados con ellos, dándoles la ley, el verdadero culto, y sus promesas.

5Ellos son nuestros antepasados, ancestros de Cristo, humanamente hablando, de Aquél que gobierna sobre todo, el Dios bendito por la eternidad. Amén.

6No es que la promesa de Dios haya fallado. Porque no todo israelita es un verdadero israelita,

7y no todos los que son descendientes de Abraham son sus verdaderos hijos. Pues la Escritura dice: “Tus descendientes serán contados por medio de Isaac”,

8de modo que no son los hijos reales de Abraham los que se cuentan como hijos de Dios, sino que son considerados como sus verdaderos descendientes solo los hijos de la promesa.

9Y esta fue la promesa: “Regresaré el próximo año y Sara tendrá un hijo”.

10Además, los hijos gemelos de Rebeca tenían el mismo padre, nuestro antepasado Isaac.

11Pero incluso antes de que los niños nacieran, y antes de que hubieran hecho algo bueno o malo, (a fin de que pudiera continuar el propósito de Dios, demostrando que el llamado de Dios a las personas no está basado en la conducta humana),

12a ella se le dijo: “El hermano mayor servirá al hermano menor”.

13Como dice la Escritura: “Yo escogí a Jacob, pero rechacé a Esaú”.

14Entonces, ¿qué debemos concluir? ¿Diremos que Dios es injusto? ¡Por supuesto que no!

15Como dijo a Moisés: “Tendré misericordia de quien deba tener misericordia, y tendré compasión de quien deba tener compasión”.

16De modo que no depende de lo que nosotros queremos o de nuestros propios esfuerzos, sino del carácter misericordioso de Dios.

17La Escritura registra que Dios le dijo al Faraón: “Te puse aquí por una razón: para que por ti yo pudiera demostrar mi poder, y para que mi nombre sea conocido por toda la tierra”.

18De modo que Dios es misericordioso con quienes él desea serlo, y endurece el corazón de quienes él desea.

19Ahora bien, ustedes discutirán conmigo y preguntarán: “Entonces, ¿por qué sigue culpándonos? ¿Quién puede oponerse a la voluntad de Dios?”

20Y esa no es manera de hablar, porque ¿quién eres tú, —un simple mortal—, para contradecir a Dios? ¿Puede alguna cosa creada decirle a su creador: “por qué me hiciste así?”

21¿Acaso el alfarero no tiene el derecho de usar la misma arcilla ya sea para hacer una vasija decorativa o una vasija común?

22Es como si Dios, queriendo demostrar su oposición al pecado y para revelar su poder, soportara con paciencia estas “vasijas destinadas a la destrucción”,

23a fin de revelar la grandeza de su gloria mediante estas “vasijas de misericordia”, las cuales él ha preparado de antemano para la gloria.

24Esto es lo que somos, personas que él ha llamado, no solo de entre los judíos, sino de entre los extranjeros también...

25Como dijo Dios en el libro de Oseas: “Llamaré mi pueblo a los que no son mi pueblo, y a los que no son amados llamaré mis amados”,

26y “sucederá que en el lugar donde les dijeron ‘tú no eres mi pueblo’ serán llamados hijos del Dios viviente”.

27Isaías clama, respecto a Israel: “Aun cuando los hijos de Israel han llegado a ser tantos como la arena del mar, solo unos cuantos se salvarán.

28Porque el Señor terminará rápida y completamente su obra de juicio sobre la tierra”.

29Como había dicho antes Isaías: “Si el Señor Todopoderoso no nos hubiera dejado algunos descendientes, nos habríamos convertido en algo semejante a Sodoma y Gomorra”.

30¿Qué concluiremos, entonces? Que aunque los extranjeros ni siquiera procuraban hacer lo recto, comprendieron lo recto, y por medio de su fe en Dios hicieron lo recto.

31Pero el pueblo de Israel, que seguía la ley, para que ella los justificara con Dios, nunca lo logró.

32¿Por qué no? Porque dependían de lo que hacían y no de su confianza en Dios. Tropezaron con la piedra de tropiezo,

33tal como lo predijo la Escritura: “Miren, en Sión pongo una piedra de tropiezo, una roca que ofenderá a la gente. Pero los que confían en él, no serán frustrados”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul expresses deep sorrow over the unbelief of Israel, his own people, despite all the blessings they had received. He explains that God's promise has always worked through sovereign election, not merely through physical descent.

Explanation

This chapter opens an important section (chapters 9-11) in which Paul addresses an urgent question for his readers: if Israel was God's chosen people, why did most of them reject the Messiah? He argues that God's promise never depended simply on biological descent (not every child of Abraham was a 'child of the promise'), but on God's sovereign choice. The analogy of the potter and the clay illustrates that God is free to act according to his purposes, something that challenges our human notion of fairness but points to the wisdom of a God who sees beyond what we can see.

Fun facts

  • The analogy of the potter and the clay (verses 20-21) comes directly from Isaiah 29:16 and Jeremiah 18:1-6, where prophets used the same image to describe God's sovereignty over the nations.
  • Paul quotes Hosea 2:23 and 1:10 to show that the inclusion of Gentiles as 'people of God' had already been prophesied centuries earlier, even though Hosea originally spoke about the restoration of Israel.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Romanos 9:1Paul opens a new section of the letter (chapters 9 through 11) with a kind of oath, calling his own conscience and the Holy Spirit as witnesses that he is not exaggerating what he is about to say about Israel.
  2. Romanos 9:2After ending chapter 8 speaking of a love nothing can separate, Paul reveals a deep personal grief: the situation of his own people, who had not yet accepted the gospel.
  3. Romanos 9:3This is a deliberate exaggeration, a hyperbole, to show the intensity of feeling. Paul is not actually asking for this; he is only describing the depth of his sorrow for his own Jewish people, whom he describes right after.
  4. Romanos 9:4This lists Israel’s historic privileges: being called God’s “children,” having his visible presence, the covenants made with the patriarchs, the law received at Sinai, the temple worship, and the messianic promises.
  5. Romanos 9:5This closes the list of privileges with the greatest one: the fathers, and, descending from that same human line, Christ himself — a verse also used to affirm the divinity of Jesus, called here “God over all.”
  6. Romanos 9:6Paul anticipates an obvious objection: if Israel has so many privileges and still rejected the gospel, has God’s promise failed? He says no, opening up an important distinction: not every physical descendant of Israel is “Israel” in the full sense of the promise.
  7. Romanos 9:7Abraham had more than one son, Ishmael and Isaac, but Paul recalls that God’s promise ran specifically through Isaac, not through all his biological descendants. This argument lays the groundwork for him to say, later in the chapter, that not every physical descendant of Israel is automatically included in the promise.
  8. Romanos 9:8This explains that distinction with the example of Abraham: sharing a father in the flesh does not guarantee being an heir of the promise; only the children “of the promise,” like Isaac, count as the promised offspring.
  9. Romanos 9:9This quotes the original promise made to Abraham in Genesis, about Isaac’s miraculous birth, to show that the promised line began through God’s direct intervention, not through the natural order of birth.
  10. Romanos 9:10This moves to the next generation: Rebekah had twins by the same father, Isaac, an even clearer example because there was no difference in mothers involved, as in the earlier case of Sarah and Hagar.
  11. Romanos 9:11This reinforces the central point of the argument: the choice between the twins was made before either of them was born or had done anything, proving it did not depend on either one’s merit, only on God’s decision.
  12. Romanos 9:12This quotes the promise made to Rebekah in Genesis, which reversed the natural order of importance between brothers by saying the elder would serve the younger.
  13. Romanos 9:13This is a quotation from the prophet Malachi, and in that kind of Hebrew idiom, “love” and “hate” were a common way of expressing preference and choice, not necessarily hatred in the strong sense the word carries today. Paul uses the quotation to speak of God’s choice, not of the character of the two brothers.
  14. Romanos 9:14A new question in the dialogue style already used earlier in the letter: is this choice of God, which seems arbitrary, unjust? Paul forcefully rejects the idea.
  15. Romanos 9:15This quotes God’s answer to Moses in the book of Exodus: having mercy is a decision that belongs to God alone, not an obligation he owes to anyone.
  16. Romanos 9:16A direct conclusion from the previous quotation: obtaining God’s mercy does not depend on a person’s effort or will; it depends on God’s decision to show it.
  17. Romanos 9:17This brings up the example of Pharaoh from Exodus, used by God even in his resistance to demonstrate power and spread his name throughout the earth.
  18. Romanos 9:18This sums up the two previous examples, Moses and Pharaoh: God has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills, without satisfying human standards of fairness.
  19. Romanos 9:19This anticipates another obvious objection: if God decides everything this way, why still find fault with anyone for resisting his will? Paul will answer with the image of the potter in the next verse.
  20. Romanos 9:20Paul answers an objection he himself imagines someone raising, about God’s right to choose whomever he wills. This topic still divides readers and churches considerably today; the intent here is only to explain the image, not to settle the debate.
  21. Romanos 9:21The image of the potter shaping clay vessels already appeared in prophets like Jeremiah, used to speak of the craftsman’s right to decide the shape and use of each piece he made. Paul uses the same scene to illustrate his argument about God’s freedom, without spelling out here what that means for each individual.
  22. Romanos 9:22This continues the reasoning from the image of the potter (from the previous verse): even if God patiently endures people fitted for destruction, this serves a purpose, showing both his wrath and his power.
  23. Romanos 9:23The other side of the same coin: that patience also serves to reveal the riches of God’s glory upon those prepared beforehand to receive it.
  24. Romanos 9:24Paul applies the argument directly to the readers: they are exactly these “vessels of mercy,” called from among both Jews and Gentiles.
  25. Romanos 9:25This quotes the prophet Hosea, who originally spoke of the people of Israel being restored after a period of rejection, to also describe the inclusion of the Gentiles as “God’s people.”
  26. Romanos 9:26This continues the quotation from Hosea: in the very place where a people had been declared “not my people,” they would come to be called “children of the living God.”
  27. Romanos 9:27This now brings in the prophet Isaiah, who had already foreseen that not all the people of Israel, numerous as the sand of the sea though they were, would be saved — only a “remnant.”
  28. Romanos 9:28This continues the quotation from Isaiah about that judgment: God’s word against the people would be fulfilled completely and without delay.
  29. Romanos 9:29Another quotation from Isaiah, now comparing Israel’s situation to Sodom and Gomorrah, cities utterly destroyed — only God’s intervention kept Israel from meeting the same end.
  30. Romanos 9:30A rhetorical question that sums up the chapter: Gentiles who were not even seeking God’s righteousness ended up attaining it, but by faith, not by merit.
  31. Romanos 9:31In direct contrast, Israel, which strove after that same righteousness by following the law, did not manage to arrive there.
  32. Romanos 9:32This explains the reason for Israel’s failure: seeking righteousness by their own works instead of by faith made the people stumble at the very point that was meant to lead to faith, compared here to a stone in the road.
  33. Romanos 9:33This quotes Isaiah about a “stumblingstone” laid in Zion: the same stone that makes some stumble is the same one others trust in without being put to shame — a reference understood as pointing to Christ.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play