Romans 9:25 - Meaning and Application

After explaining the promise and proving God’s sovereign rule, the apostle now shows that the rejection of the Jews and the receiving of the Gentiles were foretold in the Old Testament. So this change does not fight against the promise made to the fathers under the Old Covenant. It helps a truth when we can see Scripture already pointing to it.

The Jews would have gladly carried the case back to the Old Testament, since those Scriptures had been entrusted to them. Paul now shows that the very thing that troubled them was spoken there. First, he points to the prophet Hosea, who foretold that many Gentiles would be brought in (Hosea 2:23; 1:10). The Gentiles had not been God’s people, because they did not know him or belong to him in that covenant sense, but God says, “I will call them my people.” That is a blessed change. Past sin does not keep God from showing present mercy.

And “the one not loved” is called “beloved.” Those whom God makes his people, he also loves, because he loves what is his own. Hosea also says, “In the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they will be called children of the living God” (Hosea 1:10). So they do not need to become Jews or go up to Jerusalem to worship. Wherever they are scattered in the world, God will own them. This shows the great honor of the saints, they are called children of the living God, and his calling makes them so.

Paul then turns to Isaiah, who speaks of the casting off of many Jews in two places. One is Isaiah 10:22-23, which teaches that only a remnant, a small surviving group, would be saved. In the prophecy, this first points to deliverance from the disaster coming through Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, and his army. But it reaches farther than that. It shows that it is no strange thing for God to leave many of Abraham’s descendants in ruin and still keep his promise to Abraham fully true.

This is hinted at in the statement that the children of Israel were as many as the sand of the sea, which was part of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17). Yet only a remnant will be saved, because many are called, but few are chosen. From the prophet Paul draws two lessons. First, God will finish his work. When God begins, he brings it to completion, whether in judgment or in mercy. He would finish the rejection of unbelieving Jews in their total ruin under the Romans, who soon after this took away their nation and place.

He would also finish the bringing of Christian churches into his favor and the spread of the gospel among other nations. God’s work is complete and exact. The margin says, “He will finish the account.” The idea is that God, in his eternal purpose, has already counted and appointed the place of every person, and he carries out those purposes in history. He will complete the full number of his chosen people, and then the account will be finished.

Second, God will shorten the work. He will not only finish it, but finish it quickly. Under the Old Covenant, it seemed to move slowly, as if the wheels were turning toward the widening of the church with great delay. But now he will “cut it short,” making a swift work on the earth. Gentile believers were coming in like a cloud. He will cut it short in righteousness, meaning in wisdom and justice. When people cut things short, they often do harm, but when God does it, it is always right.

Some understand this also of the gospel law and covenant that Christ brought into the world. In that sense, Christ finished the work and brought an end to the old types and ceremonies. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” the temple veil was torn, as if answering his words. The work, that is, the word or law, had been long and heavy under the Old Covenant, with many institutions, ceremonies, and conditions. Now it is cut short. Our duty under the gospel is gathered into much less space than under the law, and religion is brought into a simpler form. It is shortened in righteousness, for our good and according to God’s own plan. Human attempts at brevity often make things unclear, but that is not so here. Though the gospel is shorter, it is clearer and easier.

Paul also quotes Isaiah 1:9, where the prophet shows that in a time of widespread judgment God would preserve a seed, a small surviving group. This teaches the same lesson as the earlier passage. It is no strange thing for God to leave most of the Jews to ruin and keep only a small remnant for himself. He had done this before through their own prophets, so they should not be shocked if he does it again.

Notice, first, what God is. He is the Lord of hosts, a title that means he rules all the armies of heaven and earth (James 5:4). Everything is under his command. When he keeps a people for himself out of a corrupt, rebellious world, he acts as the Lord of hosts, in full power and sovereign right.

Notice, second, what his people are. They are a seed, a small number, like grain kept back for planting next year. It is much less than what is eaten or spent, but it carries the life of the future. So the remnant is the substance and beginning of the next generation (Isaiah 6:13). It does not weaken God’s justice that many perish while only a few are saved. In truth, it is a wonder of power and mercy that any are saved at all. Even those left as a seed would have perished with the rest if God had dealt with them only by their sins. That is the great truth this Scripture teaches us.