Romans 9:1-13 An Answer to the Objection of the Jews
“The apostle having insinuated, Romans 3:3, that God would cast off the Jews for their unbelief, a Jew is there supposed to object, that their rejection would destroy the faithfulness of God. To this the apostle answered, that the faithfulness of God would be established rather than destroyed, by the rejection of the Jews for their unbelief; because God had expressly declared, Genesis 18:19, that Abraham’s children were to keep the way of the Lord, in order to their obtaining the promised blessings; and had thereby insinuated, that if they did not keep that way they would lose blessings, of which their being made the visible Church of God was one.” (Joseph Benson) In this age, there is only one way for salvation and an effectual calling. God has cast off the old system. The destruction of Jerusalem along with his temple answers to that. And this earth and its inhabitants will be destroyed at the return of Jesus for His people.
“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the torah, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.” (Rom 9:1-5) “On their behalf he prays, and in the fullness of his heart, that they might be saved, knowing that they (individuals) might yet be grafted into the olive tree…. Like Moses, who prayed that his name might be blotted out, if Israel were destroyed, he was willing to bear the execration of the church, and to be accounted a vagabond on the earth, if his sufferings might but effectuate their conversion.” (Jospeh Sutcliffe) “Paul never denies that the Jews were the chosen people. God adopted them as his own; He gave them the covenants and the service of the Temple and the law; He gave them the presence of His own glory; He gave them the patriarchs. Above all Jesus was a Jew.” (William Barclay) Moreover, all of the apostles were Jews. To that position, they had been call by the Master Himself. And some others, as testified in the Scriptures, had also accepted Him!
“But it is not that the Word of God has taken no effect for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.” (Rom 9:6) The first point which he makes is this— “Someone may call himself an Israelite because he belongs to them by birth, but this is not sufficient. Something more is needed. It also must be a matter of the heart.” (G. de Koning) And Jesus is in that very business— changing hearts by faith.
“But, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ (Gen 21:12) …” (Rom 9:7) People want to make this personal for the sons of isaac and a matter of their eternal salvation. But Paul taught: “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic.” (Gal 4: 21-24a) It has nothing to do with the faith of the children but rather that of the parents. “Ishmael is the son after the flesh. This son was begotten of Abraham by Hagar, the maidservant of Sarah. At that moment, Abraham wasn’t trusting God because God had promised to give him a son who would be born of Sarah. In God’s time Isaac, the son of promise, was born of Sarah.” (G. de Koning)— “That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the Word of promise: "At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son." (Rom 9:8-9) It “is a matter of promise; it implied a divine and miraculous intervention, and did not come in the ordinary course of nature.” (C. J. Ellicott)
“”And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”[Gen 25:23] — (Rom 9:10-12) Isaac had twins by Rebecca—Jacob and Esau. Esau was Isaac’s favorite, but Rebecca loved Jacob (Gen 25:28). Yet in the matter of eternal salvation, the Lord is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34-35) Yet indeed, before either was born, Yahweh declared that Esau would serve Jacob.
From the time of Adam, the firstborn was the head of the house in matters of religion. There was also a hope that he was the Messiah of Israel. The eldest was always counted as firstborn but at the time of the patriarch, God began to do something new, as He did when He appointed the Levites in their places.
“The firstborn acted as priest of the family in the father's absence or death. Esau and Reuben are both examples (Gn 27:19, 32; 1 Chr 5:1-2). This position of the firstborn ceased when the priesthood was committed to Levi's tribe (Nm 3:12-13)… A double portion of the family inheritance was the right of the firstborn…. The title ‘firstborn’ is applied to Christ (Lk 2:7; Rom 8:29; Col 1:15, 18; Heb 1:6; Rv 1:5). It stresses Christ's preeminence over all because he was the first to rise from the dead. As firstborn, Christ is heir of all things (Heb 1:2) and the head of the church (Eph 1:20-23; Col 1:18, 24; Heb 2:10-12)." (Tyndale Dict.) Those in Jesus are the “church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven.“ (Heb 12:23)
So, it was the prerogative of the birthright that was at stake— the right to lead in doctrine and practice. “Nothing can be more evident to any one that considers the beginning and end of this chapter, than that the apostle is not speaking of the election of particular persons to eternal life, but of particular nations to outward church privileges, which duly used, through Christ, should be the means of bringing men to eternal life, and to higher degrees of glory therein than others should enjoy, who were not favoured with these privileges. Nor is God, the great Governor of the world, on this account, any more to be deemed a respecter of persons, than an earthly king, who takes some of his subjects for lords of his bed- chamber, and others for lower employments; since he will make them all, that behave well in their station, completely happy.” (Sellon)
It's like with Cain, God said "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." (Gen 4:7) Neither Esau nor his descendants did well. Jacob was preferred over Esau as firstborn. “As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” [Mal 1:2-3] (Rom 9:13) “’Hate’ as opposed to ‘love’ is by no means as stark in New Testament usage as may first appear. The remark of the Lord about discipleship recorded in Luke 14:26, ‘If any man hate not his father and mother… he cannot be my disciple’ bears ample testimony to this fact.” (D. Stuart Briscoe) The quote was taken from the last book of the Old Testament. It is titled: “The burden of the Word of the LORD (Christ) to Israel by Malachi.”
This is the burden: “I have loved you,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother?’… Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” (Malachi 1:1-3) This was said by Yahweh God after the end of their story, not before it began. “The prophet is speaking of people of Jacob and Easu, with particular reference to the Edomite’s refusal to come to Israel’s aid at a time of difficulty.” (D. Stuart Briscoe) It is God’s faithfulness to the nation of Edom that is the question. Esau was a descendant of Abraham, but it did not seem that the Dabar of the LORD had an effect on his descendants. What happened? It is the same question that Paul was addressing concerning Israel. Had the Logos of God—the Dabar of the LORD— failed them?
God laid waste Edom’s mountains and heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. Due to sin of failure to love the brother nation, they had no heritage. Individuals can switch camps. But instead, as a group they responded, “We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places.” There was no repentance nor faith in the words. So, said the LORD of hosts: “They may build, but I will throw down; they shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see, and you shall say, 'The LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel.' A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?” (Mal 1:4-5) God’s disdain of the Edomites should’ve made Jews of Paul’s day desire to emulate the patriarchs— Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But most would not.
Romans 9:14-18 God’s Mercy or Hardening
And now: “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ (Exod 33:19) —( Rom 9:14-15) “That is, I will be gracious to thee, and to the people for whom thou hast prayed; but not without a holy distinction; for those who presumptuously offend shall die.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)—“‘So then it is not of him that wills’—has the inward desire, ‘nor of him that runs’—makes active effort (cf.1 Co 9:24, 26; Php 2:16; 3:14). Both these are indispensable to salvation, yet salvation is owing to neither, but is purely ‘of God that shows mercy.’ (Rom 9:16) …Php 2:12. 13, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God which, out of His own good pleasure, worketh in you both to will and to do.’” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) “Upon the uniformly wicked populations of earth, God has decided to show mercy to those who have accepted through obedient faith the mercy which is freely offered to all; but the salvation of those thus receiving God's grace does no injustice to the wicked who never obey the truth and are therefore lost. Paul explained why in the next verse.” (Burton Coffman)
“’For the Scripture says to Pharaoh.’ This "is a Talmudic way of speaking, used when any point is proved from Scripture.”(Gill)— In fact, God said, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” [Exod 9:16] Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.” (Rom 9:17-18) At some point in his willful disobedience, God hardened Pharaoh. “There is no suggestion here that the Egyptian monarch was doomed from the time of his birth. What happened was this. In adult life he proved to be wicked, cruel, and extremely stubborn. In spite of the most solemn warnings he kept hardening his heart. God could have destroyed him instantly, but he didn’t. Instead, God preserved him alive in order that He might display His power in him, and that through him God’s name (Yahweh) might be known worldwide.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)
In the whole ordeal of the release of Israel from Egyptian bondage (picture of the world): “It seems that God was resolved to show His power over the river, the insects, other animals, (with the natural causes of their health, diseases, life, and death,) over meteors, the air, the sun, (all of which were worshipped by the Egyptians, from whom other nations learned their idolatry,) and, at once, over all their gods, by that terrible stroke, of slaying all their priests and their choicest victims, the firstborn of man and beast: and all this with a design, not only to deliver his people Israel, (for which a single act of omnipotence would have sufficed,) but to convince the Egyptians, that the objects of their worship were but the creatures of Jehovah, and entirely in his power… So then, upon the whole, we may conclude; He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy— namely, on those that comply with His terms, on them that repent and believe in Christ. And whom He will— namely, them that remain in impenitence and unbelief, and who reject His counsel against themselves; He hardens… “ (Joseph Benson)
So back to the point at being made. “The real case was the Jewish nation, who after hardening their hearts against the doctrine and miracles of Christ, had dreadfully destroyed the Christians, and still persisted in impenitency and unbelief. Therefore their ruin is laid on their own heads. Acts 28:25. In the destruction of Pharaoh and his host he warned all princes from repeating the like crimes, and he dispersed the Jews by such tremendous judgments, as to caution future ages against resisting the goodness of God, which would lead them to repentance. Is there then any unrighteousness with God in punishing the Jews, and in conferring evangelical grace on the Gentiles?” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
Romans 9:19-26 God’s Power Over the Clay
“You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Rom 9:19-21) “The lump represents the whole of humanity .... Let not Israel therefore say to God, ‘Thou hast no right to make of me anything else than a vessel of honor; and thou hast no right to make of that other body, the Gentiles, anything else than a base vessel.’” (F. Godet) “God hath made, created, formed the Jewish nation; and shall the thing formed, when it hath corrupted itself, pretend to correct the wise and gracious Author of its being, and say, Why hast thou made me thus? [Come let us reason]… Old John Goodwin's note on this passage is at least curious: '... But when men shall call a solid answer to their groundless conceits about the meaning of the Scriptures, a replying against God, it savours more of the spirit who was seen falling like lightning from heaven, than of His, who saw him in this his fall.’” (Adam Clarke)
Is it true that God as moral governor (a dictator) has created and reprobated a world of men to eternal perdition, merely for his own good pleasure?-> ““The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: ‘Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.’ Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the LORD. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’ The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it." (Jer 18:1-10)
“The apostle continues his answer to the Jew. Hath not God shown, by the parable of the potter, Jeremiah 18:1, that He may justly dispose of nations, and of the Jews in particular, according as He in His infinite wisdom may judge most right and fitting even as the potter has a right, out of the same lump of clay, to make one vessel to a more honourable and another to a less honourable use, as His own judgment and skill may direct; for no potter will take pains to make a vessel merely that He may show that he has power to dash it to pieces?… The reference to this parable shows most positively that the apostle is speaking of men, not individually, but nationally; and it is strange that men should have given his words any other application with this scripture before their eyes.” (Adam Clarke) Again in more specific words, it is a matter of church privilege to be the Watchers on the wall, holding the Message of the Gospel. God had the right to choose the firstborn of every household, as well as the right to pass over some based on no merit of the individuals. He had the right to give the prerogative of firstborn to Aaron’s sons. And most recently, He had the right to take it away from the house of Israel and to give it to in universal church of the firstborn.
In another place: God told the children of Israel through Moses— the prophet: “‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”—Exodus 19:5-6. But they would not heed His voice.
“‘What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction’— Again, remember that God showed long-suffering to Pharaoh as He did to Israel “that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." (Rom 9:17) — “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor 10:11)— “‘and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Rom 9:22-24) “By ‘the vessels of wrathfitted for destruction’ he manifestly means the nation of the Jews, who were now grown ripe, and fit for the destruction he was bringing upon them. And by ‘vessels of mercy’ he means the Christian church gathered out of a small collection of convert Jews, and the rest made up of Gentiles, who were together from thenceforward to be the people of God in the room of the Jewish nation, now cast off, as apparent in Romans 9:24.” (John Locke) “But in both cases the final result was strictly in accordance with prophecy.” (C. J. Ellicott)—>
“As He also says in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.” [Hos 2:23] — This is a “prophecy, that the gentiles should become the new Israelites, or peculiar people of God. Hence Peter calls the saints of Roman Asia, (1 Peter 2:9) ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, to show forth the praises of Him who had called them out of darkness into marvellous light.’” (Joseph Sutcliffe)— “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ [Hos 1:9] there they shall be called sons of the living God.” (Rom 9:25-26) “Although the prophet refers to the readmission of Israel as the people of God, Paul's quotation of the passage in favor of the acceptance of the Gentiles is fully justified, for the words incidentally indicate the manner in which God at all times accepts strangers into communion with Him. Out of the land of the heathen, from out of the midst of the Gentiles, from all nations on earth, the Lord wanted to gather and is gathering to Himself His Church. He is extending His mercy, calling, converting the heathen also, making them His own, to live under Him in His kingdom, to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.” (Paul E Kretzmann)
Yahweh told Hosea to marry a harlot named Gomer, because the northern kingdom had gone after other gods. God wanted Israel to know how He felt about their wicked behavior. So He made the prophet to understand through his own experience so that he could tell it to the people. His bride caused him much pain. “There is many a verse of Scripture which no commentary save that of personal experience can satisfactorily interpret.” (A. W. Pink)
Yahweh named Hosea’s three children. The first child, a son, was named Jezreel (God plants) (Hos 1:4). Indeed, it is the LORD who planted the house of Israel as the apple of His eye. The LORD told him to call the second child, a daughter, Loruhamah (no more mercy), because He said: “I will no longer show love to the house of Israel.” (Hos 1:6) And finally, He then told him to name the third child, a son, Loammi (not my people), because he added: “You are not my people and I am not your God.” (Hos 1:9) "In order to understand, we need to remember that according to the New Testmanet, Old Testament prophesies often have threefold fulfillment. The first is immediate and literal (in the history of Israel), the second intermediate and spiritual (in Christ and in His Church), and the third ultimate and eternal (in God’s consummated kingdom). The prophecy of Hosea takes the form of God's promise in mercy to overturn an apparently hopeless situation, to love again those He had declared unloved and to welcome again as His people of those He had said were not His people(the remnant). The immediate and literal application was to Israel in the eighth century BC, repudiated and judged by the Lord for apostasy but promised reconciliation and reinstatement. However, God‘s promise to Hosea‘s children has a further and gospel fulfillment in the inclusion of the Gentles. Their inclusion is a marvelous reversal of fortunes by God‘s mercy.” (John R. W. Stott)
“Now, Paul applies this verse to make it mean that God will in the future again speak about them as ‘His people’ and Israel as His ‘beloved’. This can only mean there will be those from the people of Israel who will believe on the Lord Jesus. They are the people who are recognized by God as ‘My people’. Maybe it can even be applied to the nations surrounding Israel. They had always been ‘not My people’ and ‘not beloved’ because God hadn’t formed a special tie with them. But if from out of these nations, people accept the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord, they may consider themselves as part of ‘My people’.” (G. de Koning)
Romans 9:19-26 God’s Power Over the Clay
“You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Rom 9:19-21) “The lump represents the whole of humanity .... Let not Israel therefore say to God, ‘Thou hast no right to make of me anything else than a vessel of honor; and thou hast no right to make of that other body, the Gentiles, anything else than a base vessel.’” (F. Godet) “God hath made, created, formed the Jewish nation; and shall the thing formed, when it hath corrupted itself, pretend to correct the wise and gracious Author of its being, and say, Why hast thou made me thus? [Come let us reason]… Old John Goodwin's note on this passage is at least curious: '... But when men shall call a solid answer to their groundless conceits about the meaning of the Scriptures, a replying against God, it savours more of the spirit who was seen falling like lightning from heaven, than of His, who saw him in this his fall.’” (Adam Clarke)
Is it true that God as moral governor (a dictator) has created and reprobated a world of men to eternal perdition, merely for his own good pleasure?-> ““The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: ‘Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.’ Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the LORD. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’ The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it." (Jer 18:1-10)
“The apostle continues his answer to the Jew. Hath not God shown, by the parable of the potter, Jeremiah 18:1, that He may justly dispose of nations, and of the Jews in particular, according as He in His infinite wisdom may judge most right and fitting even as the potter has a right, out of the same lump of clay, to make one vessel to a more honourable and another to a less honourable use, as His own judgment and skill may direct; for no potter will take pains to make a vessel merely that He may show that he has power to dash it to pieces?… The reference to this parable shows most positively that the apostle is speaking of men, not individually, but nationally; and it is strange that men should have given his words any other application with this scripture before their eyes.” (Adam Clarke) Again in more specific words, it is a matter of church privilege to be the Watchers on the wall, holding the Message of the Gospel. God had the right to choose the firstborn of every household, as well as the right to pass over some based on no merit of the individuals. He had the right to give the prerogative of firstborn to Aaron’s sons. And most recently, He had the right to take it away from the house of Israel and to give it to in universal church of the firstborn.
In another place: God told the children of Israel through Moses— the prophet: “‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”—Exodus 19:5-6. But they would not heed His voice.
“‘What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction’— Again, remember that God showed long-suffering to Pharaoh as He did to Israel “that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." (Rom 9:17) — “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor 10:11)— “‘and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Rom 9:22-24) “By ‘the vessels of wrathfitted for destruction’ he manifestly means the nation of the Jews, who were now grown ripe, and fit for the destruction he was bringing upon them. And by ‘vessels of mercy’ he means the Christian church gathered out of a small collection of convert Jews, and the rest made up of Gentiles, who were together from thenceforward to be the people of God in the room of the Jewish nation, now cast off, as apparent in Romans 9:24.” (John Locke) “But in both cases the final result was strictly in accordance with prophecy.” (C. J. Ellicott)—>
“As He also says in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.” [Hos 2:23] — This is a “prophecy, that the gentiles should become the new Israelites, or peculiar people of God. Hence Peter calls the saints of Roman Asia, (1 Peter 2:9) ‘a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, to show forth the praises of Him who had called them out of darkness into marvellous light.’” (Joseph Sutcliffe)— “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ [Hos 1:9] there they shall be called sons of the living God.” (Rom 9:25-26) “Although the prophet refers to the readmission of Israel as the people of God, Paul's quotation of the passage in favor of the acceptance of the Gentiles is fully justified, for the words incidentally indicate the manner in which God at all times accepts strangers into communion with Him. Out of the land of the heathen, from out of the midst of the Gentiles, from all nations on earth, the Lord wanted to gather and is gathering to Himself His Church. He is extending His mercy, calling, converting the heathen also, making them His own, to live under Him in His kingdom, to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.” (Paul E Kretzmann)
Yahweh told Hosea to marry a harlot named Gomer, because the northern kingdom had gone after other gods. God wanted Israel to know how He felt about their wicked behavior. So He made the prophet to understand through his own experience so that he could tell it to the people. His bride caused him much pain. “There is many a verse of Scripture which no commentary save that of personal experience can satisfactorily interpret.” (A. W. Pink)
Yahweh named Hosea’s three children. The first child, a son, was named Jezreel (God plants) (Hos 1:4). Indeed, it is the LORD who planted the house of Israel as the apple of His eye. The LORD told him to call the second child, a daughter, Loruhamah (no more mercy), because He said: “I will no longer show love to the house of Israel.” (Hos 1:6) And finally, He then told him to name the third child, a son, Loammi (not my people), because he added: “You are not my people and I am not your God.” (Hos 1:9) "In order to understand, we need to remember that according to the New Testmanet, Old Testament prophesies often have threefold fulfillment. The first is immediate and literal (in the history of Israel), the second intermediate and spiritual (in Christ and in His Church), and the third ultimate and eternal (in God’s consummated kingdom). The prophecy of Hosea takes the form of God's promise in mercy to overturn an apparently hopeless situation, to love again those He had declared unloved and to welcome again as His people of those He had said were not His people(the remnant). The immediate and literal application was to Israel in the eighth century BC, repudiated and judged by the Lord for apostasy but promised reconciliation and reinstatement. However, God‘s promise to Hosea‘s children has a further and gospel fulfillment in the inclusion of the Gentles. Their inclusion is a marvelous reversal of fortunes by God‘s mercy.” (John R. W. Stott)
“Now, Paul applies this verse to make it mean that God will in the future again speak about them as ‘His people’ and Israel as His ‘beloved’. This can only mean there will be those from the people of Israel who will believe on the Lord Jesus. They are the people who are recognized by God as ‘My people’. Maybe it can even be applied to the nations surrounding Israel. They had always been ‘not My people’ and ‘not beloved’ because God hadn’t formed a special tie with them. But if from out of these nations, people accept the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord, they may consider themselves as part of ‘My people’.” (G. de Koning)