After looking at the various approaches, it seems the best way to understand Paul is that he finds the prophetic fulfillment of Hosea’s words in the church. This view makes the best sense in light of the broader context of Romans 9:24-29. Paul is citing the Old Testament demonstrating that the prophetic promises find their fulfillment in the church which is comprised of the called Jews and Gentiles.

The New Testament often quotes or alludes to the Old Testament, and occasionally, the citations provide insight into a specific doctrine or understanding of the New Testament writer. For example, Paul’s usage of Isaiah 45:23 in Philippians 2:10-11 reveals what Paul thought of Jesus—He is the Lord to whom all will bow the knee. Paul naturally appealed to the Old Testament to support his teachings, citing it some 93 times in his letters. He more than likely did so to demonstrate that there was continuity between old and new covenant revelation and that the new fulfilled the old.[1] This article will consider Paul’s citation of Hosea in Romans 9:24-26 and how Paul applied this passage to his audience.

The Context of Romans 9–11

Out of the 93 times that Paul cites the Old Testament, 26 of those occurrences are in Romans 9­–11.[2] This section has been the center of debate for some time among scholars. Many wonder what relevance this section has with the rest of the epistle. The claim is that if these chapters were removed, then it would still flow naturally from chapter 8 to chapter 12. Be that as it may, this is the best place for Paul to insert a section on the question of Israel. Paul had been laboring up to this point that the gospel he preached was that of the prophets (Romans 1:2). He had described how those who were justified will ultimately be glorified (8:30) and those who the Son was sent for were eternally secure in Him (3:24; 8:31-39).

Given all of this, the natural question that Paul anticipated was the role of Israel in light of the gospel. In other words, what happened to Israel? As Leon Morris states; “Paul’s whole argument demands an examination of the Jewish question.”[3] Thus, it is easy to see the urgency that would have moved Paul to answer some of the questions his readers had. C.E.B. Cranfield helpfully summarizes potential objections to Paul’s gospel on this question:

If the truth is that God’s purpose with Israel has been frustrated, then what sort of basis for Christian hope is God’s purpose? And if God’s love for Israel has ceased, what reliance can be placed on Paul’s conviction that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ?[4]

Paul began his response in Romans 9 by focusing on the divine reason why God’s Word had not failed to the Jews. First, he said that it did not fail because, the promise, understood correctly, was not to all Israel, but to the Israel within Israel. (Romans 9:6). The promise was for the spiritual Israel that was elected by God. Additionally, this divine determination by God is consistent with His sovereignty (9:7-23).

This brings us to our passage. In one of the many citations of the Old Testament in this chapter, Paul does so here to show that the choosing of God was prophesied in the Old Testament to include Jews and Gentiles (Romans 9:24-29). Before proceeding, it needs to be pointed out that the entirety of vv. 24-29 are important for his argument. While we will focus on vv. 24-26 where Paul argues for the inclusion of Gentiles in the people of God, vv. 27-29 are a citation to show that there is an elect remnant of ethnic Israel included in the covenant people.[5]

Exegesis of Romans 9:24-26

even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” (Romans 9:24-26, NASB 1995)

The question of how v. 24 connects to the preceding verse is a difficult and has a range of possibilities.[6] Syntactically, v. 24 connects back to v. 23, since the relative clause oὓς (“whom”) is the first word of verse 24 and since it is a reference back to the σκεύη ἐλέους (“vessels of mercy”) in v. 23. Nonetheless, what Paul says in v. 24 begins a new paragraph since he already established that God is free to choose whom He wishes in the preceding verses.[7] What Paul is doing is identifying those who receive God’s mercy. Not only were the Jews recipients of God’s covenant mercy but so were Gentiles. The former would have been obvious to any Jew in Paul’s day, the latter would have been more difficult for them to accept. Yet Paul argues his case based on their very own Scriptures—the Old Testament. In vv. 25-26, he cites two passages from Hosea to demonstrate that Gentiles are included in this covenant mercy.

In Romans 9:25, Paul cites freely from Hosea 2, neither quoting the Masoretic Text nor the LXX. Interestingly, Paul also reverses the word order of the two clauses that he cites in the passage. The passage found in Hosea 2:23 [2:25, MT/LXX] reads:

And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.

Paul’s free quotation of this passage is as follows:

Those who were not my people I will call my people, and her who was not beloved I will call beloved.

καλέσω τὸν οὐ λαόν μου λαόν μου καὶ τὴν οὐκ ἠγαπημένην ἠγαπημένην·

Paul then quotes Hosea 1:10 [2:1, MT/LXX], almost verbatim from the LXX. Hosea 1:10 reads:

And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them “Children of the living God.”  

Paul’s quotation from the Greek translation of the Old Testament reads:

And in the very place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῷ τόπῳ οὗ ἐρρέθη αὐτοῖς οὐ λαός μου ὑμεῖς, ἐκεῖ κληθήσονται υἱοὶ θεοῦ ζῶντος.

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