Romans 9 with Metaphysical Footnotes (asv)

^9:1I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit,1 ^9:2that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. ^9:3For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh: ^9:4who are Israelites;2 whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; ^9:5whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh,3 who is over all, God blessed4 for ever. Amen.

^9:6But it is not as though the word of God hath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel: ^9:7neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. ^9:8That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise5 are reckoned for a seed. ^9:9For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. ^9:10And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac-- ^9:11for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, ^9:12it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. ^9:13Even as it is written,

Jacob I loved,

but Esau I hated.

^9:14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. ^9:15For he saith to Moses,

I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

^9:16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy. ^9:17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. ^9:18So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will be hardeneth.

1. bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is authority on the gospel of Jesus. It is the only authority that Jesus ever recognized, and whoever attempts to set forth His gospel from any other standpoint is in the letter and not the spirit. No man can know what Jesus' doctrine is except he gets it direct from the one and only custodian. It is not to come secondhand, but each for himself must receive it from the Holy Spirit, which is sent by the Father in the name of the Son. Revealing Word, Holy Spirit
2. Israelites. The illumined thoughts in consciousness, which are undergoing spiritual discipline. They are the total of our religious thoughts. MBD, Israelites
3. of whom is Christ concerning the flesh See the alternative translation in NRSV. Some scholars would end the sentence here and then begin a new sentence "May he who is god over all be blessed forever." This is important because it appropriately separates the Christ, or Messiah, from the transcendent God.
4. Christ ... who is over all, God blessed. When we enter into spiritual consciousness, do we find that all our former religious beliefs and prejudices are at once transformed? In spiritual consciousness we, either surrender our “conscious prejudices and narrow religious beliefs, or we allow them to be transformed. Our subconscious beliefs and prejudices take longer to reach and influence. Romans 9 Metaphysical Bible Interpretation
5. children of the promise. God has prepared a plan for the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles. For the present, Jews may be regarded as “marking time” until the way is fully opened for the Gentiles. Herbert Hunt 6. Paul's Journey to Rome

^9:19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will? ^9:20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? ^9:21Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? ^9:22What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction: ^9:23and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory, ^9:24even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? ^9:25As he saith also in Hosea,

I will call that my people, which was not my people;

And her beloved, that was not beloved.

^9:26And 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.

^9:27And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved: ^9:28for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short. ^9:29And, as Isaiah hath said before,

Except the Lord of Sabaoth1 had left us a seed,

We had become as Sodom,

and had been made like unto Gomorrah.2

1. Lord of Sabaoth. or "Jehovah of hosts," in individual consciousness is that the Jehovah, Christ, true I AM in one, is Lord of--has dominion over--all the host of thoughts, forces, and activities in one's whole organism, in mind (heaven) and body (earth).
2. Gomorrah. A state of mind in man that is adverse to the law of Spirit. It is submerged in sense and is very tyrannical in its nature. (See SODOM.)

^9:30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith: ^9:31but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.^9:32Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling; ^9:33even as it is written,

Behold, I lay in Zion a stone1 of stumbling2 and a rock of offence:

And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.3

1. I lay in Zion a stone. Isaiah 28:16. The stone is Jesus Christ.
2. a stone of stumbling. Isaiah 8:14. Stumbling because of reliance on law instead of Jesus Christ.
3. shall not be put to shame. See discussion of grace in The Master Key To Every Kingdom: Grace by Crichton Russ Boatwright.