罗马书 9：25－33 Romans 9:25-33
就像神在何西阿书上说：那本来不是我子民的，我要称为我的子民；本来不是蒙爱的，我要称为蒙爱的。从前在甚么地方对他们说：你们不是我的子民，将来就在那里称他们为永生神的儿子。以赛亚指著以色列人喊著说：以色列人虽多如海沙，得救的不過是剩下的余数；因为主要在世上施行他的话，叫他的话都成全，速速的完结。又如以赛亚先前说過：若不是万军之主给我们存留余种，我们早已像所多玛，蛾摩拉的样子了。
这样，我们可说甚么呢？ 那本来不追求义的外邦人反得了义，就是因信而得的义。但以色列人追求律法的义，反得不著律法的义。这是甚么缘故呢？ 是因为他们不凭著信心求，只凭著行为求，他们正跌在那绊脚石上。就如经上所记：我在锡安放一块绊脚的石头，跌人的磐石；信靠他的人必不至於羞愧。
外邦人因信得救恩，并成为永生神的儿女。从一个 “不属神的族群，”他们变为一个 “属神的族群。”他们因信称义，成为蒙神爱的子民。另一方面，以色列人追求律法的义，反得不著律法的义。因为他们不凭著信心求，不信靠主耶稣，只凭著他们的行为求，他们正跌在那绊脚石上。所以，信靠耶稣基督决定一切的差别，是否我们会被神所悦纳、或得到拯救、或能称为“属神的子女。”
Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people.
And I will love those
whom I did not love before.” And, “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called
‘children of the living God.’” And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.” And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.”
What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
The Gentiles received salvation and became the children of the living God through faith. From being “not a people of God,” they became “God’s people.” By faith, they were made right with God. On the other hand, the children of Israel tried so hard by their own efforts to keep God’s law and follow his standard, but they did not trust him by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, he became the stumbling block that made them fall. Faith in Jesus Christ makes all the difference, in whether a people is accepted by God or not, in whether a people is saved, and have the right to be called children of God.
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