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Paul now sets forth from Moses’s writing a picture of the kind of righteousness Israel has sought; the righteousness based on law does not lead to true righteousness.

Paul reaffirms that he cares about the Israelites’ salvation. And while there is no doubt the Jews are eagerly devoted to God, they do it by their own rules. They ignore God and make up their own way to live life.

Righteousness can only be gained one way: through faith. The Gentiles (people who are non-Jewish) found righteousness through faith, even though they were not looking for it. Many of the Jewish people pursued righteousness through following rules, not through faith, so they did not find righteousness.

Even though much of Israel has rejected Christ, there is a remnant who remain faithful. A remnant of faithful Israelites has persisted throughout history. 

Paul is telling his audience of believers in Rome at the time, a group that contains both Jews and Gentiles (those who are non—Jewish), that it is not only Jews who are in God’s family, but also the Gentiles.

God is willing to retrofit those who choose to reject Him as vessels of destruction, just as He did when Pharaoh continued to reject Him. But God has created other vessels (believers) to demonstrate His glory through His mercy—to us who believe in His son.

Again Paul anticipates someone to respond, “Well then, why does God find fault in people? No one can resist God’s agenda.” Paul responds with a profound answer, “You’re only a created man. You cannot argue with God, your Creator.”

Paul uses another example from the Old Testament to show God’s sovereignty. God raised Pharaoh, a wicked heathen king who rejected God, to a position of authority over the enslaved Israelites. God used a wicked man to show that He was more powerful than even the greatest king of the known world (at that time). God is God. He does what He chooses to do.

In light of God’s decision to love/choose one brother and hate/not choose the other, we might wonder, "Since God chose Jacob over Esau, doesn’t that make God unfair?" Paul’s answer is clear, "No!" God told Moses that it is up to Him to whom He chooses to show mercy and compassion. We can’t earn God’s favor or His mercy. It’s God who extends it to us.

The word of promise calls back to God’s promise that he would give Abraham and Sarah a son. This was the foundational promise God made to start His chosen people, and Abraham responded in faith. It was God who chose Abraham, and God who willed the conception of their son Isaac. God likewise chose Isaac’s son Jacob to father the tribes of Israel, rather than his elder brother Esau. Even before either Jacob or Esau were born, before either one could prove who was better, God decided it would be Jacob whom He would use for His purpose. God is God. His will is ultimately accomplished.

God’s promises have not failed. Abraham was a faithful, obedient servant toward God, but that doesn’t mean all descendants of Abraham followed his example. There are some Israelites who believed in Jesus Christ, but the leaders of Israel rejected Jesus outright. There’s a distinction between biological descendants of Israel and "children of the promise."

Throughout Romans, Paul has been refuting slanderous charges made by competing Jewish authorities about his gospel message. Paul is deeply sad that Israel, as a nation, has rejected Christ. Israel is God’s chosen nation, and Paul wishes that every Israelite had faith in Christ. 

Paul is nailing this point down, that because of the love of God, a love that is shown to us through Jesus’s death on the cross, we as believers cannot be separated from that love.

Because of Jesus’s sacrifice and our faith as believers in that sacrifice, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God. The Heavenly Father who loved us enough to have His Son die for us, obviously wants us to have ultimate and lasting fulfillment; He wants to give us "all things." The world cannot rightly judge how we should live; only God can, He who loves us.

God promises that He causes every circumstance to conform believers to the image of Christ, with the intent that many would rule with Christ as joint heirs.

In the same way that we are not fully redeemed, our ability to communicate with God is not fully restored. In our weakness, the Holy Spirit helps us talk to God, in ways we could never express with mere words. In our struggle against our sinful nature, our struggle to walk in faith, to live harmoniously, it is God who helps us. It isn’t the law, it isn’t a set of rules, it is God who is our constant helper. He sent His Son to save us from eternal death, and then He sent His Spirit to speak on our behalf and guide our steps.

We have hope that one day God will restore everything to the way He first designed it, a time when the world is redeemed as well, and no longer resists the will of God. It is in hope that we look forward to this event because it has yet to happen, and so we are determined to wait with excitement for this restoration.

Even though believers have been gifted with the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we continue to struggle in this fallen world. We eagerly await the finalization of our adoption by God, when He will fully raise us up and give us new bodies that are freed from sin and pain. This is Glorification Salvation. The word ’groan’ expresses a deep, powerful, inherent desire for relief and restoration.

All of God’s creation desires for God to finally restore it to a perfect, harmonious state. One day God will do this, and all of creation will be freed from its corrupted state and will once again be as God originally designed it. And believers who receive the reward of reigning with Christ will take their proper place as joint-heirs, or "sons." But for now, we’re looking forward in hope to this day, despite whatever pains we experience.

Christians are children of God, and from Him every believer unconditionally inherits being justified in His sight and the promise of one day being with Him in His glory. For Christians who suffer as Christ did, there is a specific inheritance reward; Jesus was given authority over earth by God for what He did as a man—dying and resurrecting to take the punishment for our sins. God rewarded Jesus Christ for this suffering. For those of us who suffer as Christ did, enduring rejection from the world, He bestows the privilege to be fellow heirs with Him in His coming kingdom. Ultimately, the sufferings on this earth are trivial in light of this wonderful opportunity of reigning with Christ in His future reign on earth.