ROMANS
CHAPTER 9
How the law of election (foreordination) operates—Israel chosen (foreordained) to receive the adoption, the covenants, the promises, and the blessings of the gospel; yet they are not all Israel, which are of Israel—They must seek their blessings by faith—The Gentiles also attain to righteousness and salvation by faith.
1 I SAY the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience [ The light of Christ which prompts all men to know right from wrong. For those who are members of the church - they are also blessed with the whisperings that come fro the Holy Ghost. ] also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
3 For I could
wish that myself were accursed from
Christ [ Paul admits that before his conversion
he was accursed in that he failed to accept Christ - even though he was
born of the house of Israel. ] for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh: [ Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin see Rom 11:1. ]
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, [ Or who are the Israelites? They are those whom God was trying to change their character. So the righteous are those who are changing their character and the unrighteous are those who are not changing their character, it is that simple. So the literal posterity does not amount to anything in God's eye, it is the one who adopt his ways either literal seed of adopted ti does not matter to him. Those who accent the gospel become his seed. Abr 2:9-10. ] and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: [ See Duet 9 those who thought that they were chosen. The remanent are those that are repenting, accepting to live the ways of God. ] but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) [ How Does the Law of Election Operate? “Paul here tells how the election of grace fits in to the gospel scheme. His Roman readers knew what he was talking about because they already understood the doctrine of election. Since the sectarian world has little or no comprehension of pre-existence and eternal progression, upon which doctrines the principles of election are based, it is no wonder that these and other teachings of Paul are so completely misconstrued by them.
“This doctrine of the election of grace is as follows: ‘As part of the new song the saints will sing when they “see eye to eye” and the millennial era has been ushered in will be these words, “The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel, According to the election of grace, Which was brought to pass by the faith And covenant of their fathers.” (D. & C. 84:98–102; Rom. 11:1–5.) This election of grace is a very fundamental, logical, and important part of God’s dealings with men through the ages. To bring to pass the salvation of the greatest possible number of his spirit children the Lord, in general, sends the most righteous and worthy saints to earth through the lineage of Abraham and Jacob. This course is a manifestation of his grace or in other words his love, mercy, and condescension toward his children.
“‘This election to a chosen lineage is based on pre-existent worthiness and is made “according to the foreknowledge of God.” (1 Pet. 1:2.) Those so grouped together during their mortal probation have more abundant opportunities to make and keep the covenants of salvation, a right which they earned by pre-existent devotion to the cause of righteousness. As part of this election, Abraham and others of the noble and great spirits were chosen before they were born for the particular missions assigned them in this life.’ (Abra. 3:22–24; Rom. 9.)” (McConkie, DNTC, 2:273–74.) ]
13 As it is written, [ Where? Mal. 1:2–3] Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. [ Did the Lord Hate Esau? While it is likely that the names Esau and Jacob stood for the nations that had sprung from these two brothers, namely, Edom and Israel, it still seems strange that God should choose one to hate and one to love. But while the Greek word used here does mean “hate” in the same sense that we use it, Paul is quoting a phrase from Malachi 1:3. In Hebrew the verb translated to hate carried many shades of meaning, including “rejection,” “strong displeasure,” or, very commonly, “loving less than.” The important point in Paul’s discussion is that this acceptance of Jacob and rejection of Esau was on the basis of personal righteousness, not on some arbitrary judgment.
“God chose Jacob over Esau while the two were yet in Rebecca’s womb and before either, as far as the works of this life are concerned, had earned any preferential status. Why? It is a pure matter of pre-existence. Jacob was coming into the world with greater spiritual capacity than Esau; he was foreordained to a special work; he was elected to serve in a chosen capacity.
“Then through the lineage of Jacob, God sent those valiant spirits, those noble and great ones, who in his infinite wisdom and foreknowledge he knew would be inclined to serve him. Through Esau came those spirits of lesser valiance and devotion. Hence, in the very nature of things, many of Jacob’s seed were righteous in this life, and many of Esau’s were wicked, causing Malachi to say in the Lord’s name, some fifteen hundred years later, that God loved the house of Jacob and hated the house of Esau. (Mal. 1:2–3.)” (McConkie, DNTC, 2:277.)
]
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this
same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth. [ Paul quotes
Exod 9:16 to use God's election of Pharaoh as an example of the Lord
electing a Gentile to do His will. In addition to this are Cyrus king
of Persia (cf. Isa. 45:1-3), Nebuchadnezzar king of Assyria (cf. Jer.
27:4-7), and Senacherib King of Assyria (cf. Isa. 10:5-6). All of whom
are Gentiles called to do the Lord's will in accomplishing the Lord's
purposes with Israel, cf. Isa. 45:4. But, Israel is blind to this as
the Lord brings nations like Assyria and Babylon against Israel to punish
and chasten them per the covenant curses of Lev. 26 and Deut. 28. ]
18 Therefore hath he mercy on
whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
[ Those with hardened hearts will say "It is not my
fault because it is all God's doing, it is predestined. They say the
Lord decided who will he show mercy to and who will he case to have a
hard heart. I think there is a lesson here on the reverse side as well.
God does not determine what we will do, he does not control our agency.
vs 21 Interacting with someone to encourage a particular type of behavior
does not preclude agency. Satan encourages us to do evil and God encourages
us to do good, we choose which to follow. ]
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against
God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why
hast thou made me
thus? [ Men cannot use the excuse well it is your
fault God - you made me this way. ]
21 Hath not the potter power
over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another
unto dishonour? [ In other words: the Lord created us - but it is left to us to determine whether we will follow good or evil. ]
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath,
and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath [ D&C 76:33 classifies "vessels
of wrath" as sons of perdition. In Moses 5:24 Cain is "called Perdition;
for thou wast also before the world." Moses 4:1 says that "Satan...is
the same which was from the beginning". If we cross reference these with
Ether 8:15 which says "Cain, who was a murderer from the beginning" and
John 8:44 which says "the devil...he was a murderer from the beginning",
then we can safely conclude that both Satan and Cain were Perdition from
before the world was created. If this is the case then while Satan rebelled
against God, Cain must have gone along with God's plan despite being
just as rebellious and self-promoting as Satan. However, while he made the right choice
in the War in Heaven, Cain was still of that same character when he entered the
flesh. And, so, he was still Perdition. Hence the ease with which Satan tempts
him and the evil acts shortly thereafter committed. This would also suggest that
sons of Perdition are also foreordained. ] fitted to destruction:
[ Just as man has his agency - so does God have his
agency on how he decides to deal with man. ]
23 And that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, [ Forordination
- Based upon the character of the individual's spirit certain things
were foreordained upon the individual. some people were bad news to start
with and the Lord put up with them (v. 22), others were good people and
foreordained to receive good things (v. 23). ]
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 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.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
[ "remnant" that small group that will be spared because of their character and trying to follow God. The entire Church of Jesus Christ in not the remnant, but there is a portion(those that truly know and then do, living and keeping the commandments. You really may not know who they are. We do need to ask ourselves, are we part of the remnant? How long will ye halt between two opinions. ) of the church(those who know and understand the gospel) that is. See more in Rom 11:1-6. ]
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness:
[ Referring to the judgement the Lord is to meet out upon
the wicked. He will "cut short", or "destroy" the wicked,
in His righteousness. Similar use of the phrase appears in D&C 52:11 and
D&C 84:97 where plagues are poured out as a scourge upon the wicked. Pauls
is quoting from Isaiah 10:22-23. ] because
a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.