But nowhere in the passage does it say that Romans is written only to the saints.
I understand. I've often cited the malpractice of "onlyism." I addressed this: the letter was written to the saints in Rome, those called of Christ and everything in the letter should be read that way
unless there is something in the text itself indicating some other group is being discussed. I then went through the chapter before, the chapter itself, and the one following to show 1) there is nothing identifying another group and 2) all the content in those three chapters precludes any interpretation rendering verse 9 is about how an unregenerate nonbeliever becomes saved. The "you" is the saints." The "you" is never "unregenerate nonbeliever." If you, justbyfaith, re-read that chapter replacing the words "you" and "us" and "we" with "unregenerate nonbeliever" you'd almost immediately render the chapter nonsensical.
Try it.
You think that Paul didn't have an evangelistic heart?
non sequitur
What I know is that the day he was knucked off his donkey and struck blind he was a persecutor of Christ and a murderous conspirator.
If he wrote Romans to the saints, it was so that the saints might be able to quote it to the unbelieving world in order that they might be ... God forbid ... saved!
There is no question he wrote the letter to saints in Rome because that is explicitly stated in the salutation of the letter, and he was not so that they would pervert his words as you've done. It was so they would understand the necessity of faith and confession even after their conversion from life to death.
I think that you can't see it because you have blinders on.
Ad hominem
Some people, when faced with a decision to receive Christ, do even that.
Yes, but it is not because of their decision; it is because they are bound in sin and dead.
Anecdotal report.
No; for his act of selling his birthright to Jacob was an act of unbelief.
LOL!!!!! The text of Romans unilaterally excludes that as a possibility! The text explicitly states the reason God hated him had nothing to do with either man and God's mercy DOES NOT DEPEND ON THE MAN, HOW HE WILLS OR HOW HE RUNS.
Romans 9:16
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
The entire narrative is about God's will and purpose and at the expense of human will and human works. Jacob was NOT a better man that Esau. He was a conniver from his first act all the way up to the day he and Esau were reconciled (and beyond). He thought Esau hated him and tried to appease the imagined estrangement by sending huge amounts of wealth to Esau before Esau arrived at Jacob's camp. Jacob fearing the worse went out to meet Esau and upon their greeting.
Genesis 33:8-9
And he (Esau) said, “What do you mean by all this company which I have met?” And he (Jacob) said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord." But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.”
God had already blessed Esau with incredible wealth of his own.
But he was not heir of the covenant. He had not been chosen. He had not been called. He had not been commanded.
Luke 16:25
But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
Read through the Beatitudes. Many times it says, "
they have their reward." Esau grew up in the exact same house with the exact same father learning many of the exact same spiritual truths lessons. By birth the birthright was his, but God had other plans and God had decided those plans before either man was ever born. God, nonetheless, blessed Esau. He had his reward on earth.
And if he ever did make a profession of faith then it was only because God decided He would save the squanderer. When Paul leverages Jeremiah's Potter and clay he writes about noble and ignoble purpose, but the truth of Esau and Jacob is that one was a squanderer and the other a grifter. Neither man was righteous in his own right and God would have been within His divine providence to see both twins still-born. He could have easily given Isaac another son to carry on the promise (and the bloodline).
Romans 9:16
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
Romans 10:9 was written to the saints, those called of Christ, and it was written to remind them of the necessity of faith and confession after conversion. That same message runs throughout the epistolary and Paul was not the only one who preached it.
2 Peter 1:3-11
...seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
The were already-saved readers. They'd already inherited the kingdom. They had everything they needed to live a godly life and could even participate in the divine nature.
But they needed to add to their faith. The NLT with which you reported an affection, states, "
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge..." The KJV states, "
add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge..."
- We have been saved.
- We are being saved.
- We will be saved.
The "
We" is the regenerate believer in God's resurrected Son, the saints, those called of Christ. Romans 10:9 falls into the-already-saved-being-saved-will-be-saved category and not the not-yet-saved-never-to-be-saved-by-their-own-fleshly-effort category.
