God and His People
1 I am speaking the truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying 2 when I say how great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart 3 for my people, my own flesh and blood! For their sake I could wish that I myself were under God's curse and separated from Christ. 4 They are God's people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God's promises; 5 they are descended from the famous Hebrew ancestors; and Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. May God, who rules over all, be praised forever! Amen.
6 I am not saying that the promise of God has failed; for not all the people of Israel are the people of God. 7 Nor are all of Abraham's descendants the children of God. God said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised you.” 8 This means that the children born in the usual way are not the children of God; instead, the children born as a result of God's promise are regarded as the true descendants. 9 For God's promise was made in these words: “At the right time I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 And this is not all. For Rebecca's two sons had the same father, our ancestor Isaac. 11-12 But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done. 13 As the scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”
14 Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. 15 For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish.” 16 So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy. 17 For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, “I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world.” 18 So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.
God's Anger and Mercy
19 But one of you will say to me, “If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?” 20 But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.
22 And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction. 23 And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory. 24 For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles. 25 This is what he says in the book of Hosea:
“The people who were not mine
I will call ‘My People.’
The nation that I did not love
I will call ‘My Beloved.’
26 And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called the children of the living God.”
27 And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: “Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world.” 29 It is as Isaiah had said before, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Israel and the Gospel
30 So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith; 31 while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it. 32 And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the “stumbling stone” 33 that the scripture speaks of:
“Look, I place in Zion a stone
that will make people stumble,
a rock that will make them fall.
But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”
La elección de Israel
1 Digo la verdad en Cristo, no miento. Mi conciencia me da testimonio en el Espíritu Santo:
2 tengo una gran tristeza y un continuo dolor en mi corazón.
3 Porque desearía ser yo mismo maldecido y separado de Cristo, por amor a mis hermanos, por los de mi propia raza,
4 que son israelitas. De ellos son la adopción, la gloria, el pacto, la promulgación de la ley, el culto y las promesas.
5 De ellos son los patriarcas, y de ellos, desde el punto de vista humano, vino Cristo, el cual es Dios sobre todas las cosas. ¡Bendito sea por siempre! Amén.
6 Ahora bien, no estoy diciendo que la palabra de Dios haya fallado, porque no todos los que descienden de Israel son israelitas;
7 ni todos los descendientes de Abrahán son verdaderamente sus hijos, pues dice: «Tu descendencia vendrá por medio de Isaac.»
8 Esto significa que los hijos de Dios no son los descendientes naturales, sino aquellos que son considerados descendientes según la promesa.
9 La promesa dice así: «Por este tiempo vendré, y Sara tendrá un hijo.»
10 Y no solo esto. También sucedió cuando Rebeca concibió de un solo hombre, de nuestro antepasado Isaac,
11 aunque sus hijos todavía no habían nacido ni habían hecho algo bueno o malo; y para confirmar que el propósito de Dios no está basado en las obras sino en el que llama,
12 se le dijo: «El mayor servirá al menor.»
13 Como está escrito: «A Jacob amé, pero a Esaú aborrecí.»
14 Entonces, ¿qué diremos? ¿Que Dios es injusto? ¡De ninguna manera!
15 Porque Dios dijo a Moisés: «Tendré misericordia del que yo quiera, y me compadeceré del que yo quiera.»
16 Así pues, no depende de que el hombre quiera o se esfuerce, sino de que Dios tenga misericordia.
17 Porque la Escritura le dice al faraón: «Te he levantado precisamente para mostrar en ti mi poder, y para que mi nombre sea anunciado por toda la tierra.»
18 De manera que Dios tiene misericordia de quien él quiere tenerla y endurece a quien él quiere endurecer.
19 Entonces me dirás: ¿Por qué Dios todavía nos echa la culpa? ¿Quién puede oponerse a su voluntad?
20 Pero tú, hombre, ¿quién eres para discutir con Dios? ¿Acaso el vaso de barro le dirá al que lo formó por qué lo hizo así?
21 ¿Qué, no tiene derecho el alfarero de hacer del mismo barro un vaso para honra y otro para deshonra?
22 ¿Y qué si Dios, queriendo mostrar su ira y dar a conocer su poder, soportó con mucha paciencia los vasos de ira que estaban preparados para destrucción?
23 ¿Y qué si, para dar a conocer las riquezas de su gloria, se las mostró a los vasos de misericordia que él de antemano preparó para esa gloria?
24 Esos somos nosotros, a quienes Dios llamó, no solo de entre los judíos, sino también de entre los no judíos.
25 Como también se dice en Oseas:
«Llamaré “pueblo mío” al que no era mi pueblo,
y llamaré “amada mía” a la que no era mi amada.
26 Y en el lugar donde se les dijo: “Ustedes no son mi pueblo”,
allí serán llamados “hijos del Dios viviente”.»
27 También Isaías clama, en referencia a Israel: «Aunque los descendientes de Israel sean tan numerosos como la arena del mar, tan solo el remanente será salvo;
28 porque el Señor ejecutará su sentencia sobre la tierra con justicia y prontitud.»
29 Y como antes dijo Isaías:
«Si el Señor de los ejércitos no nos hubiera dejado descendencia,
ya seríamos como Sodoma, y nos pareceríamos a Gomorra.»
La justicia que es por fe
30 Entonces, ¿qué diremos? Que los no judíos, que no buscaban la justicia, la han alcanzado; es decir, la justicia que viene por medio de la fe.
31 Pero Israel, que buscaba una ley de justicia, no la alcanzó.
32 ¿Por qué? Porque no la buscaba a partir de la fe, sino a partir de las obras de la ley; y tropezaron en la piedra de tropiezo,
33 como está escrito:
«Yo pongo en Sión una piedra de tropiezo y una roca de caída;
pero el que crea en él, no será avergonzado.»