Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 9:26
And it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
26. And it shall come to pass, &c.] A new quotation, linked in one line with the last. Nearly verbatim with LXX. of Hos 1:10 (Rom 2:1 in the Heb.). For a first and second reference see last note but one. “ In the place where: ” this, in the first reference, may mean the Sanctuary from which the restored Israelite should no more be excluded; in the second, the Church and Family of the Promise, regarded as a locality in the figure. For the doctrine, cp. Eph 2:19-22.
the children ] For comment, see Rom 8:14, &c.; Joh 1:12; 1Jn 3:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And it shall come to pass – It shall happen, or take place. This is a continuation of the quotation from the prophet Hosea Hos 1:10, designed to confirm the doctrine which he was establishing. Both these quotations have the same design, and are introduced for the same end. In Hosea they did not refer to the calling of the Gentiles, but to the recalling the rejected Jews. God says, after the Jews had been rejected and scattered for their idolatry; after they had forfeited his favor, and been cast off as if they were not his people; he would recall them, and bestow on them again the appellation of sons. The apostle does not quote this as having original reference to the Gentiles, but for the following purposes:
(1) If God formerly purposed to recall to himself a people whom he had rejected; if he bestowed favors on his own people after they had forfeited his favor, and ceased to be entitled to the name of his people: then the same thing was not to be regarded as absurd if he dealt in a similar manner with the Gentiles – also a part of his original great family, the family of man, but long since rejected and deemed strangers.
(2) The dealings of God toward the Jews in the time of Hosea settled a general principle of government. His treatment of them in this manner was a part of his great plan of governing the world. On the same plan he now admitted the Gentiles to favor. And as this general principle was established; as the history of the Jews themselves was a precedent in the case, it ought not to be objected in the time of Paul that the same principle should be carried out to meet the case also of the Gentiles.
In the place – The place where they may be scattered, or where they may dwell. Or rather, perhaps, in those nations which were not regarded as the people of God, there shall be a people to whom this shall apply.
Where it was said unto them – Where the proper appellation of the people was, that they were not the people of God; where they were idolatrous, sinful, aliens, strangers; so that they had none of the marks of the children of God.
Ye are not my people – People in covenant with God; under his protection, as their Sovereign, and keeping his laws.
There shall they be called – That is, there they shall be. The verb to call in the Hebrew writings means often the same as to be. It denotes that this shall be the appellation which properly expresses their character. It is a figure perhaps almost unique to the Hebrews; and it gives additional interest to the case. Instead of saying coldly and abstractedly, they are such, it introduces also the idea that such is the favorable judgment of God in the case; see Mat 5:9, Peace-makers …shall be called the children of God; see the note on that place; also Rom 9:19; Mat 21:13, My house shall be called the house of prayer; Mar 11:17; Luk 1:32, Luk 1:35, Luk 1:76; Isa 56:7.
The children of … – Greek, Sons; see the note at Mat 1:1.
Living God – Called living God in opposition to dead idols; see the Mat 16:16 note; also Mat 26:63 note; Joh 6:69 note; Act 14:15 note; 1Th 1:1-10 is a most honorable and distinguished appellation. No higher favor can be conferred on mortals than to be the sons of the living God; members of his family; entitled to his protection; and secure of his watch and care. This was an object of the highest desire with the saints of old; see Psa 42:2; Psa 84:2, My soul thirsteth for God, the living God; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 26. And it shall come to pass, c.] These quotations are taken out of Hosea, Ho 1:10, where (immediately after God had rejected the ten tribes, or kingdom of Israel, Ho 1:9, then saith God, Call his name Lo-ammi for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God,) he adds, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, that in the place in which it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. As if he had said: The decrease of numbers in the Church, by God’s utterly taking away the ten tribes, (Ho 1:6,) shall be well supplied by what shall afterwards come to pass, by calling the Gentiles into it. They, the rejected Jews, which had been the people of God, should become a Lo-ammi-not my people. On the contrary, they, the Gentiles, who had been a Lo-ammi-not my people, should become the children of the living God. Again, Ho 2:23: I will sow her (the Jewish Church) unto me in the earth, (alluding probably to the dispersion of the Jews over all the Roman empire; which proved a fruitful cause of preparing the Gentiles for the reception of the Gospel,) and, or moreover, I will have mercy upon her, the body of the believing Gentiles, that had not obtained mercy. See Taylor.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This testimony is taken out of Hos 1:10; and it is as if he had said: This that I affirm concerning the conversion and calling of the Gentiles, is nothing else but what the prophet Hosea long ago did preach to our fathers. Some think, these places in Hosea do speak primarily of the Jews, and but secondarily, or by consequence, of the Gentiles. Others think, that they speak chiefly of the Gentiles; those terms (not beloved, and not a people) being in Scripture mostly used of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. Andanother quotation fromHo 1:10.
it shall come to pass, thatin the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; thereshall they be called the children“called sons”
of the living GodTheexpression, “in the place where . . . there,” seemsdesigned only to give greater emphasis to the gracious change hereannounced, from divine exclusion to divine admission to theprivileges of the people of God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it shall come to pass that in the place,…. This is another citation out of Hosea, and is to be seen in Ho 1:10, and the meaning is, that in those countries, as here in Great Britain, in the very selfsame place, or spot of ground,
where it was said unto them, ye are not my people; where were nothing but idolatry and idolatrous worshippers, and whose worship, works, and actions, declared them not to be the people of God:
there shall they be called the children of the living God; not only children of God, but of the living God; in opposition to their idol gods, their lifeless deities, and senseless statues of gold, silver, brass, wood, or stone, they fell down to and worshipped. The chosen of God among the Gentiles, were from all eternity predestinated to the adoption of children; this blessing was provided, laid up, and secured for them, in the covenant of grace; in this relation of children were they given to Christ, and under this consideration of them did he partake of the same flesh and blood with them, and died, to gather them together, who were scattered abroad in the several parts of the world; and because they were antecedently sons by adopting grace, therefore the Spirit of God in effectual calling is sent down into their hearts to bear witness to their spirits, that they are the children of the living God, and to work faith in their souls to believe it; by which grace they receive this blessing, as all others, even the right and privilege of being the children of God; by this they claim it, and enjoy the comfort of it; and so are manifestly, both to themselves and others, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; though this will more clearly appear another day, than it does now.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye are not my people ( ). Quotation from Ho 1:10 (LXX Ho 2:1).
There (). Palestine in the original, but Paul applies it to scattered Jews and Gentiles everywhere.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And it shall come to pass,” (kai estai) “And it shall be or exist” This is a prophetic projection regarding God’s call of the Gentiles in a specific manner and his calling the New Testament church “my church,” Mat 16:18.
2) “That in the place where it was said unto them,” (en to topo hou errethe [autois]) “That in the locality where it was said to them;” the place referred to is that in Gentile lands, Gentile occupation; It is not accidental or incidental that Jesus called his church in “Galilee of the Gentiles,” not Judea of the Jews; See? Mat 4:13-20; Act 10:37; Act 15:14; Act 15:17; Act 26:16-20.
3) “Ye are not my people,” (ou laos mou humeis) “You all are not my people.”
4) “They shall be called,” (ekei kethesomtai) “There (in the same place or locality) they will be called;” they who of Gentiles, among the Gentiles repented and received Christ and voluntarily followed him to do his work, give God glory thru his church, which he sent to the Gentiles, into all the world, Mat 28:18-20; Mar 16:15; Joh 20:21; Act 1:8; Joh 15:16.
5) “The children of the living God “ (huioi theou zontos) “Sons or heirs of (the) living God;” When God grafted the Gentiles in, nationally, committed to the church, called from among and sent to the Gentile world, the preaching of the gospel and administration of his worship and service for this age he also gave to them promise of a joint-heirship in ruling and reigning with him over national Israel in the coming millennial Luk 22:28-30.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
26. ] I will call them my people which are not a people This is said with respect to the divorce, which God had already made with the people, by depriving them of all honor, so that they did not excel other nations. Though they indeed, whom God in his eternal counsel has destined as sons to himself, are perpetually his sons, yet Scripture in many parts counts none to be God’s children but those the election of whom has been proved by their calling: and hence he teaches us not to judge, much less to decide, respecting God’s election, except as far as it manifests itself by its own evidences. Thus Paul, after having shown to the Ephesians that their election and adoption had been determined by God before the creation of the world, shortly after declares, that they were once alienated from God, (Eph 2:12,) that is, during that time when the Lord had not manifested his love towards them; though he had embraced them in his eternal mercy. Hence, in this passage, they are said not to be beloved, to whom God declares wrath rather than love: for until adoption reconciles men to God, we know that his wrath abides on them.
The feminine gender of the participle depends on the context of the prophet; for he had said, that a daughter had been born to him, to whom he gave this name, Not beloved, in order that the people might know that they were hated by God. Now as rejection was the reason for hatred, so the beginning of love, as the prophet teaches, is, when God adopts those who had been for a time strangers. (311)
(311) The quotation is from Hos 2:23, and is not literal either from the Hebrew or from the Septuagint. The order of the verse is reversed; and the word “beloved” is taken from the Septuagint. “Not beloved,” in Hebrew, is lo-ruhamah, i.e., one not pitied, or one who has not received mercy: which is the same in meaning.
In Rom 9:26, the words are taken from Hos 1:10 and are not verbatim either from the Hebrew or the Septuagint, but the difference is very trifling. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26) And it shall come to pass.This, too, was originally spoken of the restoration of the northern exiles to the land of Palestine. As applied to the conversion of the Gentiles, it would mean that the lands which had previously been heathen should become Christian. There is some doubt whether the Hebrew of Hosea should not rather be translated, instead of calling them, for in her place where it was said unto them. Instead of calling them Ye are not my people, they will be called Sons of the living God. So Ewald and Hitzig.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Come to pass Hos 1:10. Both these passages describe the recovery of the Jews from their apostasy and from the Assyrian captivity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And it shall be, that in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” there will they be called “sons of the living God”.’
He then further cites Hos 1:10 which asserts that those who were ‘not My people’ would at some stage become ‘sons of the living God’. If we see Paul as referring this to Gentiles, as he probably is, then he is declaring that Scripture teaches that some from among the Gentiles, will be called ‘sons of the living God’ (compare 2Co 6:16 with 18). If that is so then what he sees as inherent within the words is that God will call many from among the Gentiles to Himself, and make them children of God (as was true of the elect of Israel – Rom 9:8). On the other hand, if we see the reference as being towards Jews then this is further confirmation that at one stage many in Israel had not been sons of the living God, and that all was therefore subject to God’s election. It may well be that Paul had both possibilities in mind.
In support of seeing these two verses as referring to Israel is that he later cites texts separately which demonstrate the acceptance of Gentiles in Rom 10:19-20, and that the whole of this passage has been mainly dealing with the question as to whether all Jews were elect, with the mention of Gentiles only being brought in at the end to clinch his argument.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 9:26 . Hos 2:1 (almost literally from the LXX., Rom 1:10 ) is joined to the former passage, so that both are regarded as forming one connected declaration. Often so in Rabbinical usage, even when the passages belong to different writers. See Surenhusius, ., p. 464. 45.
] , and it (the following) will come to pass. Comp. Act 2:21 . These words are included in those of the prophecy (see also the LXX.), and therefore a colon is not to be placed after , as though they were the apostle’s (Hofmann and others).
These words also treat, in Hosea himself, of the theocratic restoration of the exiled people of the kingdom of Ephraim, so that denotes Palestine , whither the outcasts were to return (not the place of exile, as Hengstenberg, I. p. 248, and others think). But Paul recognises the antitypic fulfilment, as before at Rom 9:25 , in the calling of the Gentiles , who, previously designated by God as not His people, become now, in consequence of the divine calling, sons of the living (true) God . See on Rom 9:25 . But in this sense of Messianic fulfilment, according to Paul, the . . . cannot be Palestine , as it is in the historical sense of the prophet; nor yet is it “the communion of saints” (de Wette, comp. Baumgarten-Crusius: “the ideal state, the divine kingdom”), nor the “ coetus Christianorum , ubi diu dubitatum est, an recte gentiles reciperentur” (Fritzsche); but simply and this is also the ordinary explanation the locality of the Gentiles , the Gentile lands. There , where they dwelt, there they, called by God to the salvation of the Messiah, were now named sons of the true God; and there , too, it had been before said to them: Ye are not my people! in so far , namely, as this utterance of rejection was the utterance of God , which, published to the Gentiles, is conceived, in the plastic spirit of poetry, as resounding in all Gentile lands . To suppose the locality without significance (Krehl), is inconsistent with its being so carefully designated. And to take , with Ewald, not in a local sense at all, but in that of instead that , even if it agree with the Hebrew (comp. Hitzig), cannot be made to agree with the Greek words. The LXX. understood and translated locally , and rightly so.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Ver. 26. The children, &c. ] This is such a royalty, Joh 1:12 , as the apostle worthily wondereth at, and sets an Ecce Behold, upon it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
come to pass = be.
children. App-108. Quoted from Hos 1:9, Hos 1:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The Jews thought that God must certainly save them. They thought they had a birth claim. Were they not the children of Abraham? Surely they had some right to it. This chapter battles the question of right. No man has any right to the grace of God. The terms are inconsistent. But that same grace delights to save and bless even the perverse and rebellious who will yield to its blessed power.
Rom 9:26. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
That In the very same place where their sins made it patent and palpable they were not Gods people in that very same place shall men confess that they are the children of the living God. Oh! what has not grace done?
Rom 9:27-29. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
God has a people, then, even in Israel with all its rejection; and he Always will have, for he will never make the seed of Abraham to be as Sodom and Gomorrha. He will love his own, and glorify himself in the midst of his people.
Rom 9:30. What shall we say then?
Why, say this:
Rom 9:30. That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
For thousands of years they worshipped brutish idols and blocks and stones. Their philosophy was mixed with filthiness. Their lives were abhorrent to God. Even these at last have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, for the Gospel being preached among the Gentiles, they have believed in Jesus, and they are saved.
Rom 9:31. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Israel followed after the law of righteousness with many ceremonies and external washings, and wearings of phylacteries and bordered garments.
Alas poor Israel
Rom 9:32. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;
And God is determined that they that are of the law shall not inherit it. He has made it a sovereign decree that the believer shall be justified and saved, and none else. They sought it not by faith, But as it were by the works of the law.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Rom 9:26. – -) Hos 2:1, LXX. – -.-) there: So it is not necessary for them to change their country and betake themselves to Judaea, comp. Zep 2:11.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 9:26
Rom 9:26
And it shall be, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called sons of the living God.-This he quotes to show that God had from the beginning purposed to bring the Gentiles into Christ. [Paul quotes these words, which refer primarily to the ten tribes, in proof that God, when he called men from the midst of the Gentiles to be vessels of mercy, acted on the principles announced by Hosea. The Gentiles could not be more completely aliens than those whom God declared to be neither his people nor objects of his mercy. But he foretold that in days to come he would speak again to the outcasts and call them his children. In the gospel this prophecy is fulfilled, and the fulfillment, though wider than the promise, exactly accords with its spirit. The passage quoted was probably chosen because it is a clear promise, not only of the blessings of the gospel, but of the actual announcement (Rom 1:2) of the good tidings. What in the days of Hosea God promised to say in days then future, he actually said (Rom 8:14) in the gospel. To be called the sons of God is a most honorable and distinguished appellation. No higher favor can be conferred on mortals than to be the sons of the living God, members of his family, entitled to his protection, and secure of his watch and care. The reception of the Gentiles being now established by Hosea, Paul proceeds to prove from Isaiah that only a remnant of Israel will be saved.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
children (Greek – , sons).
(See Scofield “Eph 1:5”)
God Hos 1:10
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
And it: Hos 1:9, Hos 1:10
there shall: Rom 8:16, Isa 43:6, Joh 11:52, 2Co 6:18, Gal 3:26, 1Jo 3:1-3
Reciprocal: Deu 14:1 – the children 2Sa 7:24 – art become 1Ch 17:22 – thy people Isa 54:3 – thou shalt Isa 65:15 – his servants Dan 6:26 – for Hos 2:23 – and I will say Act 18:6 – from Rom 4:17 – calleth 2Co 6:16 – I will be 1Th 1:9 – the living 1Ti 3:15 – the living Heb 2:10 – many Heb 8:10 – they shall Heb 12:22 – of the 1Pe 2:10 – were
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rom 9:26. And it shall come to pass, etc. This is the latter half of Hos 1:10, which is closely connected in thought with the other passage. The only variation from the LXX. is the strengthening of also into there, a word supplied in Italics in the E. V. of the prophecy.
In the place, etc. Some have thought that the prophet meant Palestine (Samaria), to which the ten tribes returned. This makes Pauls application of this part of the prophecy purely typical. Lange, more correctly, finds in Hos 1:11 a proof that the expression of the prophet denotes the stay of the Jews in the Gentile world. Others explain the phrase as referring generally to the heathen world; some, as meaning the Christian Church, the ideal state, etc.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 26. The second saying quoted (Hos 1:10) is attached to the preceding as if it followed it immediately in the prophet. More than once in the following chapters we find this combination of originally distinct sayings. Some apply the expression in Hosea: in the place where, to the land of Samaria, in the meaning that God there pronounced the rejection of the people. In that case, Paul, in applying this saying to the Gentiles, would have perverted it entirely from its meaning. But is it not more natural to apply this word: the place where, to the strange land where the Jews were long captive, and as it were abandoned of God? Was it not there God said to them by the voice of fact during long ages: Ye are not my people? Is it not there that they will begin anew to feel the effects of grace when God shall visit them, and recall them as well as the Gentiles, with whom they are at present confounded?
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
And it shall be [shall come to pass], that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, There shall they be called sons of the living God. [These verses originally apply to the to-be-returned-and-reinstated ten tribes, after the devastation and deportation inflicted by the Assyrians. To illustrate the stages in the rejection of Israel, Hosea was to take a wife and name his daughter by her Lo-ruhamah, which means, “that hath not obtained mercy” (1Pe 2:10), which Paul translates “not beloved”; and the son by her he was to name Lo-ammi; i. e., “not my people.” This symbolic action is followed by the prophecy (not yet fulfilled) that the day should come when “Lo-ruhamah” would be changed to “Ruhamah,” “that which hath obtained mercy” or “beloved”; and “Lo-ammi” would be changed to “Ammi,” “my people.” Some expositors have been at a loss to see how Paul could find in this prophecy concerning Israel a prediction relating to the call of the Gentiles. But the prophecy and the facts should make the matter plain. By calling them “not my people,” God, through Hosea, reduced the ten tribes to the status of Gentiles, who were likewise rejected and cast off. Paul therefore reasons that if the restoration of the ten tribes would be the same as calling the Gentiles, the prophecy indicates the call of Gentiles. All this is borne out by the facts in the case. The “lost tribes” are to-day so completely Gentile, that, without special revelation from God, their call must be the same as calling Gentiles. The word “place” (Rom 9:26) is significant. The land of the Gentiles, where the ten tribes are dispersed and rejected, and are become as Gentiles, is to be the place of their reinstatement and acceptance, and this acceptance shall resound among the Gentiles. This publishing on the part of the Gentiles is a strong indication of their interest, hence of their like conversion. Having shown by Hosea that the “no-people” or non-elect Gentiles are clearly marked in Scripture, as called and chosen, Paul now turns to Isaiah to show that of the elect, or Jewish people, only a remnant shall be saved. And this fact is the source of that grief which Paul mentions at the beginning of the chapter.]