Romans 9.29-Paul Cites Isaiah 1.9 As Support For His Remnant Doctrine In Romans 9.27
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 21, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:29-Paul Cites Isaiah 1:9 To Support His Remnant Doctrine In Romans 9:27
Lesson # 322
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This evening we will study Romans 9:29 in which Paul cites Isaiah 1:9 to support his teaching in Romans 9:27-28.
In Romans 9:27, he taught that only a small percentage of Israelites, a remnant, will avoid eternal condemnation whereas in Romans 9:28 he teaches that this judgment of unsaved Israel will be thorough and decisive.
In Romans 9:29, Paul quotes Isaiah 1:9 to teach that if the Lord had not been merciful by leaving a remnant in Israel that it would have become like Sodom and would have been like Gomorrah in that not only would the nation have been destroyed but all its citizens would have suffered eternal condemnation as well.
Let’s read Romans 9:1-29 and then concentrate on verse 29 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 9:1-29, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’ What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, ‘I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’ AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’ AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.’ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED; FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.’ And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.’”
Now in Romans 9:29, Paul quotes from Isaiah 1:9 to support his teaching in Romans 9:27-28 that only a remnant in Israel will avoid eternal condemnation and that this judgment of unsaved Israel will be thorough and decisive.
Isaiah 1:9, “Unless the LORD of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would be like Gomorrah.”
Romans 9:29, “And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.’”
This statement in verse 29 presents the result of the Lord judging unsaved Israel and leaving the nation with only a remnant of believers.
“Just as” introduces a comparative clause that indicates a comparison with the quotations from Isaiah 10:22-23 that are quoted by Paul in Romans 9:27-28 that the Lord Jesus Christ will judge the nation of Israel so that only remnant of believers will remain.
“Isaiah” refers to one of the three “major” prophets of Israel who served the Lord during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah (792-740 B.C.) and whose name means, “Yahweh’s saves.”
“Foretold” is the third person singular perfect active indicative form of the verb prolego (prolevgw) (pro-leg-o), which is used of Isaiah’s prediction with respect to the nation of Israel recorded in Isaiah 1:9 that only remnant of believers will avoid eternal condemnation.
“Unless” is composed of the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i) and the negative particle me (mhv) (may).
The conditional particle ei is employed with the aorist indicative form of the verb enkataleipo, “HAD LEFT” in order to form the protasis of a second class condition that indicates the assumption of an untruth for the sake of argument.
In the apodasis, we have the particle an with the aorist tense of the verbs ginomai, “WE WOULD HAVE BECOME” and the verb homoioo, “WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED.”
This second class condition is speaking of the Lord not leaving a remnant in Israel, which He has and always will and Israel becoming like Sodom and resembling Gomorrah, which it has not.
Romans 9:29, “And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.’”
“THE LORD” is a reference to the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ emphasizing His sovereign rulership over Israel by judging unregenerate Israelites and permitting only saved Israelites to enter His kingdom.
“OF SABAOTH” is the noun Sabaoth (Sabawvq) (sab-ah-owth), which refers to both angelic and human armies that are ultimately under the authority of God since He is the sovereign King over all His creatures and are used by Him to bring about judgment upon various nations of the earth throughout history.
So the term Sabaoth in Romans 9:29 is emphasizing that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is King over the angelic and human armies of the earth will use these armies to judge the nation of Israel throughout history.
It indicates that the Lord Jesus is the sovereign commander over the angelic and human armies, which are both used by Him as instruments to judge the nation of Israel and to protect her so that there is always a remnant in the natural realm making it possible for a remnant of believers.
“HAD LEFT” is the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb enkataleipo (e)gkataleivpw) (eng-kat-al-i-po), which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ causing a remnant of born-again Israelites to exist throughout human history.
“TO US” refers to Paul and his fellow regenerate Israelites throughout human history.
“POSTERITY” refers to the spiritual descendants of Israel who have trusted in Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and will avoid eternal condemnation.
“WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM” presents a comparison between the nation of Israel and the ancient city of Sodom that was destroyed by the Lord as recorded in Genesis 19.
In the natural realm, the word means that if the Lord did not cause to exist a remnant in Israel throughout her history, the nation would have acquired the characteristic of Sodom, namely of not existing.
In the spiritual realm, the word means that if the Lord did not cause to exist a remnant of born-again believers in Israel throughout her history, the nation would have acquired the characteristic of Sodom, namely of suffering eternal condemnation in the lake of fire.
In Romans 9:29, Paul is addressing the spiritual realm since he is speaking in the context of supporting his premise in Romans 9:6 that not all ethnic Israel is considered by God to be spiritual Israel.
“WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH” presents a comparison between the nation of Israel and the ancient city of Gomorrah that was destroyed by the Lord as recorded in Genesis 19.
In the natural realm, the word means that if the Lord did not cause a remnant in Israel to exist throughout her history, He would have made Israel to be like Gomorrah, namely no longer existing.
In the spiritual realm, the word means that if the Lord did not cause a remnant of born-again believers to exist in Israel throughout her history, the Lord would have made Israel to be like Gomorrah in that like Gomorrah her citizens would all suffer eternal condemnation.
In Romans 9:29, Paul is addressing the spiritual realm since he is speaking in the context of supporting his premise in Romans 9:6 that not all ethnic Israel is considered by God to be spiritual Israel.