"You are not My people"
Just to remind me where we left off:
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Paul says in like manner, the Gentiles who had served other gods would also receive mercy in spite of their errors. Hosea is not talking about Gentiles, but Paul is applying the mercy Hosea speaks about to the Gentiles. At first glance, I thought Hosea's point was more that of Paul, but after reading it over and over and the Romans 9 over and over again, I get a different picture. What do you think? Here: go to Bible Gateway and read chapters 1 and 2 of Hosea and see if he is talking about Gentiles there.
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
(More on Romans 9):25 As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved." 26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘ You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God."OK, so I am back looking at Romans 9, but again, it is taking me to the Hebrew Scriptures. Here looking at the first and second chapters of Hosea, I see that God is giving a description of the unfaithfulness of his people Israel. He speaks of their horrors and how they had sold themselves to the Baals. He says that He will win them once again and will woo them and that they, who had been unfaithful, will be faithful then. He says very plainly in Hosea 1:9 that they are not His people anymore... and He is not their god. This is perhaps the destruction that is spoken of in verse 22 of Romans 9. It is a separation of God and His people Israel. But wait! They will once again be known as the chosen people of God, they will once again find mercy. Paul uses this passage to say that God had planned to show mercy to a group of unfaithful people - the Jews. These Jews were receiving mercy in the prophecy of Isaiah. God had divorced them in a sentence, but He said He would restore them in the next!
Paul says in like manner, the Gentiles who had served other gods would also receive mercy in spite of their errors. Hosea is not talking about Gentiles, but Paul is applying the mercy Hosea speaks about to the Gentiles. At first glance, I thought Hosea's point was more that of Paul, but after reading it over and over and the Romans 9 over and over again, I get a different picture. What do you think? Here: go to Bible Gateway and read chapters 1 and 2 of Hosea and see if he is talking about Gentiles there.
posted by Rose~ at 2:27 PM
2 Comments:
Sis if verses 22 thru 24 of Romans 9 are also in reference to Hosea then I would consider that the distinction made in Hosea chapter 1 between the house of Israel (vs. 6) that God will no longer have mercy on (vessels of wrath?) and the children of Israel (vs. 10) who shall be called the sons of the Living God (vessels of mercy?) could be indicative of the distinction between the children of the promise and the children after the flesh (Romans 9:8).
By
Kc, at 10/19/2007 7:45 AM
KC, yes.
There are the "Israel of Israel" - the faithful out of the house of Israel. This is a group within a group. This is not the church.
What I found exciting was the way in which I think Paul was using that Hosea passage. It was not as I first had the impression. IOW, I do not think Hosea was referring to the church - the gentile/Jew body.
Good thoughts, KC.
Thanks for reading.
By
Rose~, at 10/20/2007 9:14 AM
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