John Calvin Commentary Romans 9:25

"As he saith also in Hosea, I will call that my people, which was not my people; And her beloved, that was not beloved." — Romans 9:25 (ASV)

As he says in Hosea, he now proves that the calling of the Gentiles ought not to have been considered a new thing, as it had long before been attested by the prophet's prediction. The meaning is clear, but there is some difficulty in applying this testimony, for no one can deny that the prophet in that passage speaks of the Israelites. For the Lord, having been offended by their wickedness, declared that they would no longer be His people. He afterward added a consolation, saying that of those who were not beloved He would make some beloved, and from those who were not a people He would make a people. But Paul applies to the Gentiles what was expressly spoken to the Israelites.

Those who have previously been most successful in untying this knot have supposed that Paul meant to adopt this kind of reasoning: "What may seem to be a hindrance to the Gentiles becoming partakers of salvation also existed for the Jewish nation. Just as God formerly received into favor the Jews, whom He had cast away and exterminated, so also now He exercises the same kindness towards the Gentiles." But as this interpretation, though it may be supported, still seems to me somewhat strained, let the readers consider this: Whether it would not be a more suitable view to regard the consolation given by the prophet as intended not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles. For it was not a new or unusual thing for the prophets, after having pronounced God’s vengeance on the Jews on account of their sins, to turn themselves to the kingdom of Christ, which was to be propagated throughout the whole world.

And they did this not without reason; for since the Jews so provoked God’s wrath by their sins that they deserved to be rejected by Him, no hope of salvation remained unless they turned to Christ, through whom the covenant of grace was to be restored. And as it was based on Him, so it was then renewed when He interposed.

And undoubtedly, as Christ was the only refuge in great extremities, no solid comfort could have been brought to miserable sinners and those who saw God’s wrath impending over them, except by setting Christ before their eyes. It was usual for the prophets, as we have reminded you, after having humbled the people by pronouncing divine vengeance on them, to call their attention to Christ as the only true asylum for those in despair.

And where the kingdom of Christ is erected, there also is raised up that celestial Jerusalem, into which citizens from all parts of the world assemble. And this is what is chiefly included in the present prophecy: for when the Jews were banished from God’s family, they were thus reduced to a common class and put on a level with the Gentiles.

The difference being taken away, God’s mercy is now indiscriminately extended to all the Gentiles. We therefore see that the prophet’s prediction is aptly applied to the present subject, in which God declares that after having equalized the Jews and the Gentiles, He would gather a Church for Himself from aliens, so that those who were not a people would begin to be so.