I guess this one rose to the top of the list when someone responded recently.I've seen people claim that this section is not talking about the persons of Jacob and Esau, but the nations.
10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
("the children") is added to the text, but you can't avoid not yet being born nor having done any good or evil. He's talking about Jacob and Esau, not the nations. It can be further applied to the nations, but the context is clearly about the unborn Jacob and Esau. And again, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” is clearly about the two individuals.
Why is this important? Because the point is "that the purpose of God according to election might stand", which says that God made the choice before they were even born.
Let me make a few points:
- When Paul writes Romans 9, there are no verse breakdowns like we have today. The way you would reference a passage would be to give a familiar quote from the broader context or story so that the hearer would remember the whole story and what was occurring.
- The first of these references is Genesis 25:22-23. This does say that new nations/peoples are in her. So it pretty explicitly refers to two people groups and the greater (Esau's descendants, representing the Gentiles) would server the lesser (Israel, Jacob's descendants). Here is the text:
The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger.” (Gen. 25:22–23 NRSV)
- The second is from Malachi 1 and again, contextually, refers to people groups. In fact, those people groups are even named:
An oracle. The word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved you, says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” Is not Esau Jacob’s brother? says the LORD. Yet I have loved Jacob but I have hated Esau; I have made his hill country a desolation and his heritage a desert for jackals. If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says: They may build, but I will tear down, until they are called the wicked country, the people with whom the LORD is angry forever. Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the borders of Israel!” (Malachi 1:1-5 NRSV)
It is pretty explicit that both texts are about Israel and its relation to the nations.
Romans 9 is part of Paul's defense of Israel. It should be read in that way because contextually Gentiles are claiming that Jews had been cut off from Abraham's blessing.