Romans Chapter 9 Vs. 26

 

God's Sovereign Choice

And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Rom 9:26

And it shall... The 4th Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in Romans (Rom. 9:26; Hos. 1:9-10). Next, Rom. 9:27.

1Jhn 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

We see in all of this, that God is speaking of the Gentiles who become Church through faith in Jesus Christ.

Gal. 3:29 “And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

God was not permanently casting away the people of Israel, however. In the verses quoted by Paul God promised to restore them as His beloved and as His people. By ethnic heritage the Gentiles were not God’s people, so Paul was led by the Spirit of God to apply these verses to Gentiles — and Jews also — who were sovereignly chosen by God and called to be His people in Christ. The quotation of Hos. 2:23 is rather free with the order of the clauses reversed to fit the application to Gentiles. Paul was applying these verses from Hosea to the Gentiles, not reinterpreting them. He was not saying that Israel of the Old Testament is part of the church.