Isaiah chapter 45 - Romans

How many times have you quoted the following verse to someone? Or something like it?

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Romans 14:11)

I’ve paraphrased this statement many times, but I’ve never paid much attention to where it might be found. Actually, I thought perhaps it might be in the book of revelation or some other eschatological text. I was surprised to find that it is in the book of Romans. Of course, the reason that I’m making reference to it here is because Paul was actually quoting from the prophet Isaiah when wrote these words. Maybe I should say that Paul was paraphrasing the words of Isaiah, but the most correct statement would be to say that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use a set of words very similar to those HE had inspired Isaiah to write down six or seven hundred years earlier.

“I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”
(Isaiah 45:23)

This is a connection between the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah and the forty-fifth book of our Bible, but if we look into the book of Philippians we find similar phraseology.

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)

I realized after reading Philippians 2:10-11 that this is the passage I had actually heard the most. So, this would be a connection between Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10-11. We have two New Testament letters in the running for being the one that is connected to the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah.

Any guesses on which one it turns out to be? Somehow we need to fine tune this connection a bit, and to do that we going to look at another verse in the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah.

“Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” (Isaiah 45:9)

Again, another verse was familiar, but I hadn’t realized that this is where it is located. As With the help of my concordance, and some reading in Romans, I found a parallel text.

“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” (Romans 9:20-21)

I realized that this was the verse I had heard quoted so much. It is similar wording, but more importantly, the idea is the same. However, the idea of the potter and the clay is also found in Jeremiah chapter eighteen. Still, the connection between Romans 9:20-21 and Isaiah 45:9 is valid and strong. (We should also note that the book of Philippians has noting in its pages about the potter and the clay.) There is a third passage in Isaiah chapter forty-five that connects to the book of Romans.

“But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” (Isaiah 45:17)

There are plenty of passages that speak of the salvation of Israel. Perhaps the proof text for this concept is in Romans.

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:26-27)

Three passages in the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah are directly correlated to passages in the book of Romans. Other books of the Bible have verses which parallel one or the other of these three passages, but NO other book in the Bible has all three, in fact NO OTHER BOOK OF THE BIBLE HAS ANY TWO OF THE THREE.

Only the forty-fifth book of the Bible, the book of Romans is thus connected to the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah. Surprise. They are connected.