羅馬書 - 第 9 章 第 11 節
（雙子還沒有生下來，善惡還沒有作出來，只因要顯明神揀選人的旨意，不在乎人的行為，乃在乎召人的主）。

9:11–12a—for although they were not yet born or had done anything good or evil, in order that the chosen purpose of God might stand firm not by works but by the one who calls—(μήπω γὰρ γεννηθέντων μηδὲ πραξάντων τι ἀγαθὸν ἢ φαῦλον, ἵνα ἡ κατʼ ἐκλογὴν πρόθεσις τοῦ θεοῦ μένῃ, οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦντος). God told Rebecca that he had chosen Jacob over Esau before either child possessed any qualification, whether by parentage or performance, that could serve as a basis within themselves for this choice. He did this so that his freedom to include within his people anyone whom he chose might remain uncompromised.

The “for” (γάρ) that begins this clause shows that Paul is about to support the general case he is making in 9:10–13. At the same time, however, the genitive-absolute construction and purpose clause show that he has left behind the sentence he began in 9:10 and started over with a new thought. Like the participial expression “Rebecca, although becoming” (Ῥεβέκκα … ἔχουσα) in 9:10, the genitive absolute (γεννηθέντων … πραξάντων) and purpose clauses (ἵνα … μένῃ) here qualify the expression “it was said to her” (ἐρρέθη αὐτῇ) in 9:12a. The genitive-absolute construction broadens Paul’s case that God chose Jacob over Esau apart from their physical relationship to Isaac and Rebecca. Now Paul includes the further thought that God chose Jacob over Esau without regard to the moral quality of their lives. The purpose clause states that God worked this way to preserve his sovereign freedom to determine the identity of those through whom he would accomplish his purposes.

The term “purpose” (πρόθεσις) could refer to the goal that people carefully planned to achieve, whether a wicked king plotting to steal the money in the temple treasury (2 Macc 3:8) or sailors calculating how to reach their destination (Acts 27:13). Paul has used the term once before in Romans to speak of the good “purpose” God has for his people and that all things, under his direction, work together to achieve (Rom 8:28). “Purpose,” then, refers to the goal that God has carefully thought through and wants to achieve. Paul qualifies the term with a prepositional phrase (κατ᾽ ἐκλογήν) that we should understand adjectivally. Paul speaks of God’s “chosen purpose.” At the same time the noun “choice” (ἐκλογή) that forms the object of the preposition echoes the adjective “called” (κλητός) and the verb “call” (καλέω) that Paul used to describe the way in which God puts his plan into effect for the good of his people in 8:28–30. The result emphasizes that God’s choice of Jacob over Esau served his freely chosen and benevolent purpose. God chose Jacob so that this free and good purpose might “stand firm” (μένῃ).

The phrase “not by works but by the one who calls” qualifies the verb “stand firm” and reiterates the freedom of God’s choice by summarizing the clause “although they were not yet born or had done anything good or evil.” That Paul can summarize matters of birth and matters of moral virtue by the term “works” hints that he did not make a sharp distinction between ethnic affiliation and moral virtue as possible qualifications for a right standing with God (cf. 3:20, 27, 28; 4:2, 6; 11:6). In Paul’s thinking, God’s freedom was not bound by either form of human “works.”

The phrase “not by works but by the one who calls” also shows that Paul’s idea of God’s freedom in choosing his people goes beyond the level of the group to comprehend the individuals who make up that group. Up to this point in the letter when Paul has denied that human works can function as a criterion for a right standing with God, he has had the individual primarily in view. “We hold that a human being [ἄνθρωπον] is justified by faith apart from works of the law,” he says in 3:28, and again in 4:6, “David describes the happiness of the human being [τοῦ ἀνθρώπου] for whom God counts righteousness apart from works.”

Similarly, the affirmation that membership within God’s people originates with “the one who calls” (τοῦ καλοῦντος) picks up the language of 8:30 that God “called” (ἐκάλεσεν) those whom he justified. Since in the argument so far justification is a matter of faith, and faith is something that individuals rather than groups exercise (e.g., 3:28; 4:4), it is likely that here in 9:12 Paul assumes God calls his people into existence by calling certain individuals to have faith and to be justified by that faith (cf. 4:1–9, 18–25). This approach is confirmed further in 9:14–18 where Paul consistently uses the singular to refer to the person who is the object either of God’s mercy or his hardening.^[1]

^[1] Thielman, F. (2018). Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. (C. E. Arnold, Ed.) (pp. 452–453). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.