Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 9:26

"And 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." — Romans 9:26 (ASV)

And it shall come to pass. This means it shall happen or take place. This is a continuation of the quotation from the prophet Hosea (Romans 1:10), designed to confirm the doctrine 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 of 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 it should not be considered absurd if he dealt in a similar manner with the Gentiles, who were 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, and as the history of the Jews themselves was a precedent in the case, it should not be objected in the time of Paul that the same principle should be carried out to meet the case of the Gentiles as well.

In the place. This refers to the place where they may be scattered or where they may dwell. Or rather, perhaps, in those nations that were not regarded as the people of God, there shall be a people to whom this shall apply.

Where it was said to them. This means where the proper appellation of the people was that they were not the people of God; where they were idolatrous, sinful, aliens, and strangers, so that they had none of the marks of the children of God.

Ye are not my people. That is, they are not 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 Hebrew writings, often means the same as to be. It denotes that this shall be the appellation that properly expresses their character.

This is a figure of speech perhaps almost peculiar to the Hebrews, and it gives additional interest to the case. Instead of stating coldly and abstractly, "they are such," it also introduces the idea that such is the favorable judgment of God in the case. For example, see Matthew 5:9: Peacemakers—shall be called the children of God. (See also the note on Matthew 5:9 and Romans 9:19). Other examples include Matthew 21:13, My house shall be called the house of prayer ; Luke 1:32, 35, 76; and Isaiah 56:7.

The children of, etc. In Greek, this is Sons. (See the note on Matthew 1:1).

Living God. He is called the living God in opposition to dead idols (see the note on Matthew 16:16). This term also appears in Matthew 26:63; John 6:69; Acts 14:15; 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Turn from idols to serve the living and true God; and Jeremiah 10:10.

This 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 in his watch and care. This was an object of the highest desire with the saints of old. See Psalm 42:2, My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; and Psalm 84:2, My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.