The Big Read – Daily Read
Romans 9:1-29
v1-5: Paul has a great concern for the Jewish people and nation because so many of them “are enemies of the Gospel and not on course for salvation.” He was willing to be cut off from the church is that would mean the Jews’ salvation. We are rightly to be concerned for the salvation of the Jews today, but we have a special concern for the spiritual state of those who are part of our families, and we should seek to do them good.
v6-13: “Not all who are Israel in name and profession are really Israel.” It has always been the case that not every descendant from Abraham and Jacob’s bodies were true Israelites who are numbered among the children of God. “Grace does not run in the blood,” because if it did, why did Ishmael and Esau not receive salvation? God is free to choose some and not choose others according to His own absolute and sovereign will.
v14-24: “Sinners prepare themselves for hell, but it is God who prepares saints for heaven, and all those whom God intends for heaven in the future are prepared by him for heaven now.” All people are guilty sinners and under God’s wrath, but God has chosen to pick out those He wants to receive his grace and mercy, without giving us any reason, while others he has chosen to pass over according to His own good pleasure. Those who receive salvation are not more deserving than those who don’t.
v25-29: It is a wonder of God’s mercy that any are saved, because the remnant who are “would have perished with the rest if God had dealt with them according to their sins.”
Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.
(Photo: Brad Neathery)