Part 1327

9:19. Thou wilt say therefore to me: Why doth he then find fault? For who resisteth his will?

9:20. 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?

9:21. Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour?

The potter.... This similitude is used only to shew that we are not to dispute with our Maker, nor to reason with him why he does not give as much grace to one as to another; for since the whole lump of our clay is vitiated by sin, it is owing to his goodness and mercy, that he makes out of it so many vessels of honor; and it is no more than just, that others, in punishment of their unrepented sins, should be given up to be vessels of dishonor.

9:22. What if God, willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction,

9:23. That he might shew the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared unto glory?

9:24. Even us, whom also he hath called, not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles.

9:25. As in Osee he saith: I will call that which was not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved; and her that had not obtained mercy; one that hath obtained mercy.

9:26. And it shalt be in the place where it was said unto them: you are not my people; there they shall be called the sons of the living God.

9:27. And Isaias cried out concerning Israel: If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.

A remnant.... That is, a small number only of the children of Israel shall be converted and saved. How perversely is this text quoted for the salvation of men of all religions, when it speaks only of the converts of the children of Israel!

9:28. For he shall finish his word and cut it short in justice: because a short word shall the Lord make upon the earth.

9:29. And as Isaias foretold: Unless the Lord of Sabbaoth had left us a seed, we had been made as Sodom and we had been like unto Gomorrha.

9:30. What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who followed not after justice have attained to justice, even the justice that is of faith.

9:31. But Israel, by following after the law of justice, is not come unto the law of justice.

9:32. Why so? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were of works. For they stumbled at the stumblingstone.

9:33. As it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and a rock of scandal. And whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded.

Romans Chapter 10

The end of the law is faith in Christ, which the Jews refusing to submit to, cannot be justified.

10:1. Brethren, the will of my heart, indeed and my prayer to God is for them unto salvation.

10:2. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

10:3. For they, not knowing the justice of God and seeking to establish their own, have not submitted themselves to the justice of God.

The justice of God.... That is, the justice which God giveth us through Christ; as on the other hand, the Jews’ own justice is, that which they pretended to by their own strength, or by the observance of the law, without faith in Christ.

10:4. For the end of the law is Christ: unto justice to everyone that believeth.

10:5. For Moses wrote that the justice which is of the law: The man that shall do it shall live by it.

10:6. But the justice which is of faith, speaketh thus: Say not in thy heart: Who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down;

10:7. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.

10:8. But what saith the scripture? The word is nigh thee; even in thy mouth and in thy heart. This is the word of faith, which we preach.