Romans 9

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¹I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, ✦ ²that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. ✦ ³For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, ✦ ⁴who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; ✦ ⁵of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen. ✦ ⁶But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel. ✦ ⁷Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.” ✦ ⁸That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs. ✦ ⁹For this is a word of promise, “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” ✦ ¹⁰Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. ✦ ¹¹For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls, ✦ ¹²it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.” ✦ ¹³Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” ✦ ¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! ✦ ¹⁵For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ✦ ¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. ✦ ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ✦ ¹⁸So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. ✦ ¹⁹You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” ✦ ²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” ✦ ²¹Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? ✦ ²²What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction, ✦ ²³and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, ✦ ²⁴us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? ✦ ²⁵As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.” ✦ ²⁶“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” ✦ ²⁷Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved; ✦ ²⁸for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.” ✦ ²⁹As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.” ✦ ³⁰What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; ✦ ³¹but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. ✦ ³²Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone; ✦ ³³even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Rom 9 ·13 Rom 11 ·12 Gal 3 ·11 Rom 4 ·10 Eph 2 ·10 Rom 3 ·9 Rom 10 ·9 Rom 8 ·7

Christ at the center

Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.

How Romans 9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed
Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Romans 9YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Romans 9David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Romans 9Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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