Romans 9:25-29
Paul again brings two cases before us. First he brought Isaac and Ishmael (Romans 9:7–8), then Jacob and Esau (Romans 9:10–13), then Israel and Pharaoh (Romans 9:15–18), then vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy (Romans 9:20–24), and here he brings in the Gentiles and the Jews.
First, Paul brings in Hosea 2:23 and Hosea 1:10 and argues that Hosea originally describes God’s astonishing restoration of a people He had rejected in judgment! Paul now sees that same gracious pattern encompassing Gentiles who had not been God’s covenant people. Those who were not beloved by God are now called beloved (Romans 9:13).
Then he brings in Isaiah 10:22–23 and Isaiah 1:9 to show that even among Israel, only a remnant is saved.
The message is the same throughout the passage. Paul opens the chapter in tears over the loss of his kinsmen according to the flesh. Here he repeats yet again that it is always God who saves, not lineage, not being in the right community, not our innocence, not our effort.
Again, the difference is God’s mercy. “And as Isaiah predicted, ‘If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah’” (Romans 9:29). Isaiah doesn’t bring Sodom and Gomorrah into the picture for dramatic effect. Sodom and Gomorrah were deeply sinful and guilty cities, and God was right to judge them. What Isaiah is saying is not merely that if God had utterly judged Israel they would have been utterly destroyed; he is saying they would have utterly deserved it.
But there is God in action. Even in judgment, He does not utterly destroy them. In His mercy, and by His own will, He leaves a remnant. And those on whom He had not had mercy before, now He has mercy.
It all depends on God, who has mercy.
-steve