The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (172 page)

9:4-5
An inventory of Israel's covenant blessings. These are tokens of God's irrevocable commitment to the people of Israel (11:29) that gave them an "advantage" over other nations (3:12), drawing them closer to God, ordering their worship, and showing them the way of righteousness. Their crowning gift is the Messiah, who came many centuries after the initial endowments had been given through Moses and the patriarchs. 
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9:5 Christ, who is God:
The punctuation of this verse is debated. When a comma is placed between "Christ" and "God", the two are identified and the divinity of Jesus is asserted. When a period is used instead, the two are distinguished and God the Father is extolled by the final blessing. Both renderings are consistent with Pauline theology. 
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9:6 not all . . . belong to Israel:
The thesis statement of Rom 9-11, that
elect
Israel, as a remnant chosen by grace, has always been a subset of
ethnic
Israel (11:6-7). 
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9:7-13
Paul shows that a pattern of divine selection and L exclusion was already at work before the founding of Israel as a nation. • From Gen 21:12 and 18:10 he shows that God made a distinction between the biological sons of Abraham, choosing
Isaac
over Ishmael to be the channel of his covenant blessings (9:7, 9). Then from Gen 25:23 and Mal 1:2-3 he shows that God made a distinction between the biological sons of Isaac, choosing
Jacob
over Esau to be a channel of covenant blessings (Rom 9:12-13). The point is that natural and biological descent from the patriarchs is not a guarantee of divine blessing, because everything depends on the grace of God's call (9:11; Lk 3:8; Jn 8:33-39). 
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9:8 children of the flesh . . . the promise:
The distinction applies to the sons of Abraham and Isaac. Ishmael and Esau are sons by the flesh but excluded from the covenant plan of God, while Isaac and Jacob are sons called by the Lord to carry his promises forward. 
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9:11 his call:
Or, "the One who calls". That God advances his plan of election through his call is a theme that was introduced in the Genesis quote in 9:7 ("named" is literally "called") and runs throughout the chapter (9:24-26). 
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9:13 Esau I hated:
A Semitic expression that means God loved Esau less than Jacob. It neither asserts nor implies that God predestined him for punishment or damnation. 
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9:14-18
Paul denies that divine election amounts to divine injustice. • From Ex 33:19 he shows that God's justice is matched by an abundance of mercy (Rom 9:15), as seen when he robed the children of Israel in mercy right after they abandoned him for the golden calf (Ex 32:1-6). From Ex 9:16 he shows that the hardness of Pharaoh during the Exodus was part of his plan to reveal his power to the world (Rom 9:17). In effect, Paul is defending God's freedom to be
patient and merciful
toward sinners, not his freedom to
punish
sinners. 
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9:18 he has mercy . . . he hardens:
The pattern of God's dealings with Israel (9:15) and Pharaoh (9:17) during the Exodus is a pattern repeated in Paul's day, when a remnant of Israel is shown mercy (9:23-24) and the rest remains hardened (11:7, 25). Divine hardening does not cause a person to sin but is a disciplinary measure for those like Pharaoh who are already stubbornly resisting God (Ex 7:14; 8:15). 
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9:21 the potter:
Illustrates the sovereign freedom of God. • Paul is alluding to Is 29:16, although the same imagery is used elsewhere in the OT (Sir 33:13; Is 45:9; Jer 18:1-11). In Isaiah, Israel is the earthenware vessel that complains to the Lord and dares to question the wisdom of his ways. Rebuked for this audacity, it is reminded that God is the Maker of all things and stands accountable to no one. 
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9:22 made for destruction:
The Greek can mean that the vessels of wrath have prepared themselves for doom by rejecting the gospel. Paul is not saying that God has predestined the unbelievers of Israel for damnation; otherwise he would not be praying (10:1) and working (11:14) for their salvation (CCC 1037). 
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9:25-29
Citations from Hosea and Isaiah support the assertion in 9:24 that Gentiles and a remnant of Jews constitute the "vessels of mercy" (9:23). • Hosea foretells the restoration of Israel to full covenant sonship after centuries of exile have dissolved the northern tribes into the nations and reduced them to the status of Gentiles (Hos 2:23 in 9:25 and Hos 1:10 in 9:26). Isaiah depicts Yahweh saving a remnant of Israel even as he punishes the rest of the nation for their transgressions. In context, the Isaian passages speak of a remnant saved from the northern and southern tribes of Israel respectively (Is 10:22 in 9:27-28 and Is 1:9 in 9:29). See word study:
Remnant
at Rom 11:5. 
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9:32 through faith:
The hardened part of Israel (11:7) pursues, not the wrong object (righteousness), but the right object in the wrong way (by works/without faith). The Law was intended to lead them to their Messiah (10:4). 
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9:33 Behold, I am laying:
A quotation from Is 28:16 with an excerpt from Is 8:14 spliced into the middle. • The passages are linked together by the common image of a
stone,
which is symbolic for the royal Messiah in Jewish tradition (
Targum Isaiah
). Stumbling over the stone dramatizes the folly of unbelief (11:20; 1 Cor 1:23). Paul believes that many in Israel have tripped but have not completely fallen (11:11). He is hopeful that some will regain their balance and come to faith in Jesus (11:23). 
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10:1-4
Instead of condemning and abandoning his kinsmen, Paul is pained at the unbelief of Israel (9:2) and prays intensely for its salvation. A former Pharisee, he is well acquainted with unenlightened
zeal
for the ancestral traditions of Judaism (Gal 1:14; Phil 3:6) (CCC 579). 
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10:3 righteousness:
A distinction is made between righteousness that comes from the Mosaic Law (Deut 6:25) and righteousness that comes from the Messiah (Rom 5:17; Phil 3:9). The former is real but radically deficient; the latter alone gives us entrance into the messianic kingdom (Mt 5:20). 
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10:4 the end:
The Greek can mean "termination" or "goal". The latter sense is more probable, for Jesus came to fulfill the Law rather than to abolish it (Mt 5:17) (CCC 1953). • Christ is the end that completes, not the end that destroys, for the details of the Law were shadows that prefigured his coming (St. Augustine,
Against the Adversary of the Law and the Prophets
2, 26-27). 
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10:5 shall live by it:
An excerpt from Lev 18:5. • Israel is urged to follow the Torah and shun the ways of the Egyptians and the Canaanites. Adherence to the Law would have brought life, but Israel needed to learn that obedience was humanly impossible without the grace and help of God that come through faith.
See note on Rom 5:20
. 
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