Recently we’ve picked back up an older series discussing the doctrine of election. In doing so, we addressed three common objections to election that Paul anticipated in his own letter to the Romans, but that still exist today. First, the veracity of God’s Word, then the justice of God, then whether or not God is fatalistic in His predestination and election. Recall from those posts or from your own reading of Romans 9 that Paul’s introduction to the doctrine of election came by way of Jewish questions concerning the nature of salvation with respect to Abrahamic genealogy. From their perspective, salvation belonged to the Jews by means of their lineage from Abraham. We recalled that both John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul dealt with this attitude of Jewish exclusivity. Because of the nature in which Paul described both Jews and Gentiles guilt and condemnation, justification on the basis of faith alone apart from works of the law (circumcision), all in union with Adam regardless of ancestry, all in union with Christ on the basis of faith, it brought up questions regarding what the purpose or advantage of being a Jew was. Originally started in Romans 3, Paul picked up the thought again in Romans 9 where he defers to the doctrine of divine election in order to explain how God had always chosen His children regardless of genealogy. After answering the three objections, Paul returns to his topic of Jew and Gentile election in Romans 9:24, where we continue to find that the doctrine of election is not limited to the Jew
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Romans 9:22-24
While many claim that Romans 9 is strictly dealing with Israel, and national Israel at that, we’ve already seen how it has individual application and now how it explicitly extends also to Gentiles, or pagans. In Paul’s conclusion of answering his objectors, and in the discussion of the two vessels no less, he aptly states how this principle of election applies not only to those He has called out of the Jews, but also those whom God has called out of the Gentiles.
We’ve already commented on Romans 9:6 and the truth that not all from Israel belong to Israel and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. In verse 24 cited above, we see a similar relationship of being called out of one group and into something else. There are those, the elect, who are called out of the Jews and those, the elect, who are called out of the Gentiles. What they were called out of seems clear, but what were they called into? Before answering that, we see Paul once again cites the Old Testament for support of his statement
25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
Romans 9:25-26
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
As with any Old Testament citation, it’s important to understand the context in which it was written. The typical New Testament author’s practice is to use the Old Testament citation as a reference point for readers to go back and read the surrounding context and understand the times in which it was written and used. They do not change the meaning of the original passage, but often they apply it in a fuller way (Sensus Plenoir). In the case of the verses from Hosea, they come from Hosea 2:23 and 1:10.
For background, Hosea has been commanded by God to take a prostitute for a wife. He then has three children with her (Gomer) and God ascribes the name and reason behind the name for each. First born, in Hosea 1:4, is Jezreel followed by the reason for God’s naming choice, “for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” The Valley of Jezreel was the place where Jehu, a king of Israel, had displayed hypocritical zeal for God as he murdered Baal worshipers all the while hiding golden calves in his home. Jezreel was a known place of bloodshed. The naming of Hosea’s first male child Jezreel was meant to be a sign act for the coming judgment of God against Israel (586BC). Second born was a daughter who the Lord declared would be named “No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel to forgive them at all.” (Hosea 1:6) This was followed by the declaration that the Lord would have mercy on the house of Judah. Finally, after the weaning of No Mercy, Gomer gives birth to a son whom the Lord calls, Not My People, “for you are not my people and I am not your God.” Hosea 1:9
After recounting the birth and naming of the children, Hosea follows up with a recitation of the offspring promise of the Abrahamic Covenant, followed by the citation seen in Romans 9:26 above
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
Hosea 1:10
Noteworthy for us, along with the reference to the Abrahamic Covenant, is an apparent reversal of what was just stated in Hosea 1:9, not merely a reversal but in addition an apparent improvement in status from children of Israel to children of the living God. After naming the third child, Not My People, which was the third of three sign acts against Israel, God follows with a restatement of the Abrahamic Covenant, in which he promised enumerable offspring for Abraham. So how, on the one hand, does God declare Israel Not My People and then on the other hand, state that in spite of this the number of the children of Israel will be as numerous as sand on the seashore?
The answer is the principle that Paul had already introduced back in Romans 2:28-29
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Romans 2:28-29
And again in Romans 4:11b-12 as Abraham’s paternity is established on the basis of faith alone
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Romans 4:11b-12
As Paul continues to lay out justification by faith alone apart from works of the law, we again see a restatement of the Abrahamic Covenant and that the promises were on the basis of faith. (Romans 4:16-25) As an aside, Paul makes a similar argument when addressing the Judaizers in his letter to the Galatians. There, written before Romans, he writes
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3:7-9
Yet again we see that it is by faith that a person is called a child of Abraham helping us to see further that the true fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenantal promises is on the basis of faith, not geneaology. As this theme continues in the letter to Galatia we find out what makes this definitively true, the promised Offspring is Christ (Galatians 3:16) leading to the conclusion that, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:29
Returning to Romans, all of this corresponds precisely with Paul’s statement in Romans 9:6-8
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 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.
Romans 9:6-8
By the time we arrive at Romans 9:26 and the citation from Hosea 1:10, we should have a clear understanding of what the prophet was saying as it was in effect, Not all Israel is Israel. In the midst of Hosea’s prophecy of judgment was also a prophecy of salvation. This salvation comes by means of a reversal, of the curse. Rather than a message appearing to contradict itself, Not My People, then My People, what actually happens is a judgment statement of not My people on those who are merely children of the flesh and a statement of My people on those who are children of the promise. The latter half of the verse from Romans 9:26 pulls from Hosea 2:23. This is the other bookend of the statements of reversal as God promises to have mercy on No Mercy and will say to Not My People, “you are My people; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.'” The identity of the people in Hosea is, as we have concluded, not the people of flesh, but the people of promise. Paul takes this context and now includes Gentiles in the Not My People, but now My people. The only way this makes sense is to understand that he has been working from this principle of children of the flesh vs. children of the promise, the latter being those of faith who are likewise children of Abraham. More fully, the latter being the elect who are called to faith. To answer our earlier question of to what were the Jews and Gentiles each called into? The answer is into sonship of God, children of God, children of the promise, children of Abraham, those of true circumcision, i.e. of the heart, and yes, True Israel. Paul’s citation and use of Hosea make it clear that Gentiles are included in this Not my People being now My People. Contextually, that is Israel, but not of the flesh, rather of the spirit which includes those elect of the flesh. Looking back once again to Romans 9:6, it is crystal clear there are two Israels. Likewise, it is clear that true Israel is paralleled with children of God.
In the unfolding of Romans 9, a highly controversial passage, we have seen how Paul answers the question of, “What advantage is the Jew?” by highlighting God’s eternal plan of redemption to bring both elect Jews and Gentiles into the fold of His one people. Any notion of two peoples of God must be flatly rejected on the basis of unity in Christ between Jew and Gentile. Additionally, those who would reject the above interpretation in favor of a more Israel-centric reading that maintains their distinction must explain how it is that Jews become members of the body of Christ (Church) now, in the present, but that Jews in the future are members of National Israel (their understanding of Romans 11). Are present day Jews who become Christians no longer eligible to be members of this future Israel? Do they at some point hold dual citizenship in the Church and Israel? The only consistent answer to these questions is to see the dichotomy which was present in the Abrahamic Covenant from the start and to see how God has chosen a people for Himself from every nation, tongue, and tribe.
