24. This is what God did for us whom he called—whether we are Jews or not.
25. As God says in Hosea:“Those who are not my peopleI will call my people.Those who are not lovedI will call my loved ones.
26. Wherever they were told,‘You are not my people,’they will be called children of the living God.”
27. Isaiah also says about Israel:“Although the descendants of Israel areas numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore,only a few will be saved.
28. The Lord will carry out his sentence on the land,completely and decisively.”
29. This is what Isaiah predicted:“If the Lord of Armies hadn’t left us some descendants,we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
30. So what can we say? We can say that non-Jewish people who were not trying to gain God’s approval won his approval, an approval based on faith.
31. The people of Israel tried to gain God’s approval by obeying the laws in Moses’ Teachings, but they did not reach their goal.
32. Why? They didn’t rely on faith to gain God’s approval, but they relied on their own efforts. They stumbled over the rock that trips people.
33. As Scripture says,“I am placing a rock in Zion that people trip over,a large rock that people find offensive.Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.”