26 "It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'"
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
I will call them my people which are not a people This is said with respect to the divorce, which God had already made with the people, by depriving them of all honor, so that they did not excel other nations. Though they indeed, whom God in his eternal counsel has destined as sons to himself, are perpetually his sons, yet Scripture in many parts counts none to be God's children but those the election of whom has been proved by their calling: and hence he teaches us not to judge, much less to decide, respecting God's election, except as far as it manifests itself by its own evidences. Thus Paul, after having shown to the Ephesians that their election and adoption had been determined by God before the creation of the world, shortly after declares, that they were once alienated from God, (Ephesians 2:12,) that is, during that time when the Lord had not manifested his love towards them; though he had embraced them in his eternal mercy. Hence, in this passage, they are said not to be beloved, to whom God declares wrath rather than love: for until adoption reconciles men to God, we know that his wrath abides on them. The feminine gender of the participle depends on the context of the prophet; for he had said, that a daughter had been born to him, to whom he gave this name, Not beloved, in order that the people might know that they were hated by God. Now as rejection was the reason for hatred, so the beginning of love, as the prophet teaches, is, when God adopts those who had been for a time strangers. [1]
1 - The quotation is from Hosea 2:23, and is not literal either from the Hebrew or from the Septuagint. The order of the verse is reversed; and the word "beloved" is taken from the Septuagint. "Not beloved," in Hebrew, is lo-ruhamah, i.e., one not pitied, or one who has not received mercy: which is the same in meaning. In Romans 9:26, the words are taken from Hosea 1:10 and are not verbatim either from the Hebrew or the Septuagint, but the difference is very trifling. -- Ed.
And it shall come to pass - It shall happen, or take place. This is a continuation of the quotation from the prophet Hosea Hosea 1:10, designed to confirm the doctrine which he was establishing. Both these quotations have the same design, and are introduced for the same end. In Hosea they did not refer to the calling of the Gentiles, but to the recalling the rejected Jews. God says, after the Jews had been rejected and scattered for their idolatry; after they had forfeited his favor, and been cast off as if they were not his people; he would recall them, and bestow on them again the appellation of sons. The apostle does not quote this as having original reference to the Gentiles, but for the following purposes:
(1) If God formerly purposed to recall to himself a people whom he had rejected; if he bestowed favors on his own people after they had forfeited his favor, and ceased to be entitled to the name of "his people:" then the same thing was not to be regarded as absurd if he dealt in a similar manner with the Gentiles - also a part of his original great family, the family of man, but long since rejected and deemed strangers.
(2) the dealings of God toward the Jews in the time of Hosea settled "a general principle of government." His treatment of them in this manner was a part of his great plan of governing the world. On the same plan he now admitted the Gentiles to favor. And as this "general principle" was established; as the history of the Jews themselves was a precedent in the case, it ought not to be objected in the time of Paul that the "same principle" should be carried out to meet the case also of the Gentiles.
In the place - The place where they may be scattered, or where they may dwell. Or rather, perhaps, in those nations which were not regarded as the people of God, there shall be a people to whom this shall apply.
Where it was said unto them - Where the proper appellation of the people was, that they were not the people of God; where they were idolatrous, sinful, aliens, strangers; so that they had none of the marks of the children of God.
Ye are not my people - People in covenant with God; under his protection, as their Sovereign, and keeping his laws.
There shall they be called - That is, there they "shall be." The verb to call in the Hebrew writings means often the same as "to be." It denotes that this shall be the appellation which properly expresses their character. It is a figure perhaps almost unique to the Hebrews; and it gives additional interest to the case. Instead of saying coldly and abstractedly, "they are such," it introduces also the idea that such is the "favorable judgment" of God in the case; see Matthew 5:9, "Peace-makersshall be called the children of God;" see the note on that place; also Romans 9:19; Matthew 21:13, "My house shall "be called" the house of prayer;" Mark 11:17; Luke 1:32, Luke 1:35, Luke 1:76; Isaiah 56:7.
The children of - Greek, Sons; see the note at Matthew 1:1.
Living God - Called living God in opposition to dead idols; see the Matthew 16:16 note; also Matthew 26:63 note; John 6:69 note; Acts 14:15 note; 1-Thessalonians 1:1-10 is a most honorable and distinguished appellation. No higher favor can be conferred on mortals than "to be" the sons of the living God; members of his family; entitled to his protection; and secure of his watch and care. This was an object of the highest desire with the saints of old; see Psalm 42:2; Psalm 84:2," My soul thirsteth for God, the living God;" "My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."
And it shall come to pass, etc. - These quotations are taken out of Hosea, Hosea 1:10, where (immediately after God had rejected the ten tribes, or kingdom of Israel, Hosea 1:9, then saith God, Call his name Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God), he adds, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, that in the place in which it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. As if he had said: The decrease of numbers in the Church, by God's utterly taking away the ten tribes, (Hosea 1:6), shall be well supplied by what shall afterwards come to pass, by calling the Gentiles into it. They, the rejected Jews, which had been the people of God, should become a Lo-ammi - not my people. On the contrary, they, the Gentiles, who had been a Lo-ammi - not my people, should become the children of the living God. Again, Hosea 2:23 : I will sow her (the Jewish Church) unto me in the earth, (alluding probably to the dispersion of the Jews over all the Roman empire; which proved a fruitful cause of preparing the Gentiles for the reception of the Gospel), and, or moreover, I will have mercy upon her, the body of the believing Gentiles, that had not obtained mercy. See Taylor.
And it shall come to pass that in the place,.... This is another citation out of Hosea, and is to be seen in Hosea 1:10, and the meaning is, that in those countries, as here in Great Britain, in the very selfsame place, or spot of ground,
where it was said unto them, ye are not my people; where were nothing but idolatry and idolatrous worshippers, and whose worship, works, and actions, declared them not to be the people of God:
there shall they be called the children of the living God; not only children of God, but of the living God; in opposition to their idol gods, their lifeless deities, and senseless statues of gold, silver, brass, wood, or stone, they fell down to and worshipped. The chosen of God among the Gentiles, were from all eternity predestinated to the adoption of children; this blessing was provided, laid up, and secured for them, in the covenant of grace; in this relation of children were they given to Christ, and under this consideration of them did he partake of the same flesh and blood with them, and died, to gather them together, who were scattered abroad in the several parts of the world; and because they were antecedently sons by adopting grace, therefore the Spirit of God in effectual calling is sent down into their hearts to bear witness to their spirits, that they are the children of the living God, and to work faith in their souls to believe it; by which grace they receive this blessing, as all others, even the right and privilege of being the children of God; by this they claim it, and enjoy the comfort of it; and so are manifestly, both to themselves and others, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; though this will more clearly appear another day, than it does now.
And--another quotation from Hosea 1:10.
it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children--"called sons"
of the living God--The expression, "in the place where . . . there," seems designed only to give greater emphasis to the gracious change here announced, from divine exclusion to divine admission to the privileges of the people of God.
There shall they be called the sons of God - So that they need not leave their own country and come to Judea. Hosea 1:10
*More commentary available at chapter level.