Romans 9:1-13
“Don’t you love me?”
Vs. 1-5 Five advantages God gave Israel
Vs. 6-9 I love you, I promise
Vs. 10-13 A faithful God to unfaithful people
Intro
In the 8th chapter Paul spoke of the things that the love of God destroys in the life of the believer, things like fear, guilt and separation! His purpose over the next three chapters is to exhibit what he had just explained with regard to Man’s fallen nature and God’s winning love. Paul anticipates that someone would ask about the Jew who seemed to have been set aside by God for the building of His church.
Chapter 9 Deals with God’s sovereignty in Israel’s past election
Chapter 10 Deals with God’s equity in Israel’s present rejection
Chapter 11 Deals with God’s integrity in Israel’s future restoration
Vs. 1-5 Five advantages God gave Israel
Vs. 1-3 The first thing Paul wants to do before he deals with Israel’s position before God is deal with his heart towards Israel. Paul didn’t hate the people he hated that they were apart from the love of God. When he looked at Jesus he rejoiced but when he looked at the Jews he wept. He hated their condition so much that if he could trade places with them he would. Any religious Jew would recognize these words as being reminiscent of Moses who in their rebellion at the “Golden Calf” incident pleaded before God saying to the Lord in Exodus 32:32 “If You will forgive their sin–but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
In 2 Cor. 11:24 Paul recounts that, “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.” They hated him and soon would cause a riot in Jerusalem that would lead to his beating and being stoned. Yet Paul chose rather to act towards them as Jesus had commanded in Matthew 5:44 saying, “I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”. Dear ones, it is one thing to pray that “You could trade places for a lost loved one” and it’s another to pray that way towards the person or people that causes you the most pain and suffering! Spurgeon said, “Lesser things did not trouble Paul because he was troubled by a great thing – the souls of men. Get love for the souls of men – get your soul full of a great grief, and your little griefs will be driven out.”
Vs. 4-5 After stating his heart towards his countrymen Paul addresses the Jews separation from the love of God. Saints listen up, God didn’t make a wise decision when He chose you to be the object of His love. He made a gracious choice that displays His love! One of my favorite shows is on the History Channel called “American Restoration”. Talented people work on ruined objects transforming them back into what they originally looked like, making them not only functional but works of art; that’s what God has done to us. Upon our arrival as we enter into heaven when Michael and Gabriel strike up the band the song isn’t going to be about the wisdom of God choosing us it’s going to be about how great God is that He has made you a trophy of His transforming love. “Wait, wait Gabe” says Michael, “Look at this one, man he looks incredible remember what a mess he was before God started working on him?” The word “Glory” here is the word that was used to describe the cloud by day and the fire by night that went with Israel during their wilderness experience. The word carries the idea of something that has weight and substance to it, something that by its presence is real as we used to say in the 70’s its “Heavy Man!”.
Paul lists 5 “heavy” advantages that God gave Israel to start with:
Vs. 4a Placement: God had singled out these people through adoption which according to Deut. 7 was not based upon them being the most numerous, or advanced in fact they were the least. Things have not changed in God’s adoption as he takes pleasure in calling the “Foolish things of the world to confound the wise”.
Vs. 4b Personal Revelation: Paul uses the word that means Shekinah glory which was the direct personal revelation of God’s presence in the cloud that covered them by day and the fire that guided them at night. When the tabernacle was completed this same glorious presence remained in their camp. No other people literally had God in their camp, like Israel did.
Vs. 4b Prosperity: By prosperity I don’t mean financial or physical things I’m speaking of the things that Paul mentions here namely “the covenants and the giving of the law”. These were the things that Israel needed to succeed and excel in life. If you look at history, no other people has been able to accomplish the things culturally, economically, agriculturally, scientifically or in the area of the arts as have the Jewish people. These blessings came in giving them the book on how to do things. They succeed agriculturally because God told them every 7th year to give the land rest, they were given insight into sanitation and things to eat and not eat. In business they were given insight on making good business decisions and as a society they had laws on crime and punishment and jurisprudence.
Vs. 4c Purpose: God not only gave them things that would enable them to succeed and excel, He also gave them a purpose in doing so as we are told that God gave them the “service of God”. In Isaiah 42:6 the Lord said, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles”. There is nothing more satisfying than the recognition that your talents, gifting and blessings are for a purpose, to bless others. It is as Acts 20:35 tells us “more blessed to give than to receive.”
Vs. 4d-5 Promises: Finally, Paul speaks on the promises to their forefathers, men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses David all of which were fulfilled in God’s Son Jesus. Israel’s blessings were not given on the basis of Israel keeping their word but on God keeping His Word. And Paul identifies Jesus here in this verse as the blessed God Himself. What do these things have to do with Israel being outside of the love of God? It reveals that God has always been faithful in loving His people even though they continued to reject that love as a nation. Paul is taking them on a little historical journey showing God’s loving gracious hand upon the nation even when they were rejecting Him. Have you ever considered the amount of blessings God has bestowed upon you while you were apart from Him? Jesus said in Matthew 5:45 that the Father, “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” If it wasn’t so then we would only have sun shining on those who have a relationship with God, only those that read their Bibles and pray would get rain on their gardens.
Vs. 6-9 I love you, I promise
Vs. 6-7 With those 5 advantages and Israel still exhibiting faithlessness does that mean that God failed, seeing that He was unable to save those He so wanted to save? Paul’s answer is that though God grants great opportunities and special privileges to people, this is no indication that he guarantees to save them. Paul thinks of someone looking at Israel and saying, “God’s word didn’t come through for them. He didn’t fulfill His promise for them because they missed their Messiah and now seem cursed. How do I know that he will come through for me?” To further illustrate this truth Paul again goes back and looks at Israel’s history by using a play of words with the word Israel which means “ruled by God”. They are not all “God ruled” who claim to be “ruled by God”.
God’s salvation is based upon a divine promise not on natural advantages such as inheritance. Abraham, who had two boys but only one was his son by faith Isaac. Ishmael was his and Sarah’s attempt to fulfill the promises of God by means of the work of the flesh. In Gen. 22:2 God said to Abraham “Take your son, your ONLY SON, up the mountain”, God didn’t recognize Ishmael as Abraham’s son of promise. Abraham wanted Ishmael to be the child of promise, but God said no. But according to Genesis 17:20 “as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” It wasn’t that Ishmael wasn’t blessed, it was that he wasn’t blessed in the way Abraham had wanted. God doesn’t count His children based upon national identity but rather on personal choice. It is an untrue assessment to say that all Jew’s are outside of the Love of God as it would be to say that all are included and then say that because not all are choosing to be included that somehow God’s or His word failed.
Vs. 8-9 Furthermore His promise is based upon what God does, not on what man will do! Though Ishmael was 13 years older and Abraham pleaded with God to bless him, the son of the promises was Isaac. We get upset at God when He doesn’t choose our Ishmaels; we complain that it’s not fair. Far too often we expect God to bless and honor our ideas and plans. Friends God is committed to fulfilling what He has promised not what you want Him to promise to do.
Vs. 10-13 A faithful God to unfaithful people
Vs. 10-13 Much is made of this quote of Paul out of Malachi but it is important that we take its meaning from the original language and the context. The meaning of the word hate here is “love less”, not “love not at all”. The context would be the same as we are to Love Jesus supremely and all others we are to “love less”. In Gen. 33:8-16, Genesis 36 we see that Esau was a blessed man. God hated Esau in regard to inheriting the covenant, not in regard to blessing in this life or the next. Someone once said, “I cannot understand why God should say that He hated Esau.” Spurgeon replied, “My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob.” God’s choice of Jacob not Esau before they were born reveals God’s choice was not based upon character or conduct therefore Israelis present disobedience cannot nullify God’s plan or purpose as He will be faithful even if His people were unfaithful.
In the first 13 verses Paul established three truths with regards to our election to His salvation:
Salvation is never based on natural advantages: What we are by background or birthright does not enter into whether you are going to be saved or are saved.
Salvation is always based upon a promise from God: This is why we are always exhorted in the Bible to believe God’s promises in His word. Our redemption includes the necessity to be confronted with God’s promises and for us to give a willing voluntary submission and surrender to them.
Salvation never takes notice of whether we are bad or good: In God’s view all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the degree of how far we have fallen compared to someone else is irrelevant. We are all children born into a fallen race and all equally lost and as such all equally redeemable!
Romans 9:14-33
“What if God…?”
Vs. 14-18 It’s a matter of choice
Vs. 19-29 It’s just not fair
Vs. 30-33 Human delusion
Intro
The 9th chapter of Romans poses several challenges to the Bible student:
First, Paul didn’t set out to write a paper on the sovereignty of God as it relates to election. He was dealing with gentile conversion and what that has to say to the Jews and the promises God had made to them. Secondly, we have a tendency to think of God as nothing more than an enlarged man with human attributes and motives. We have a problem with anyone having that much authority over another as they often become tyrants. Our response to this is to distrust and fight against anyone that has absolute power over us. Our nation was founded by people who fled nations that had absolute power over them to establish a constitutional republic to make sure that there was a system of checks and balances to ensure that no one person could have that much power over the affairs of our lives.
Vs. 14-18 It’s a matter of choice
Vs. 14 In these verses Paul outlines the basis of His election and he starts off with the truth that God’s choice is based upon His sovereign right to choose. Election is always totally a matter of grace because if He elected on the basis of merit or works then no one would ever be saved. All of us deserve judgment not mercy and it is God’s mercy and grace that is “unfair”! If God had to give an account of His actions to someone then the person He would give account to would be His God. His sovereign rule over us will not destroy us or rob us from something that is really in our best interest.
The clearest example of this was in His prohibition in the garden not to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said that in the day we eat of it would die and Satan countered to impugn God’s motives and say that what motivated this command was jealousy. His command was not based upon jealousy but rather our continual benefit. The truth is God’s sovereign power is our only hope. Once a man asked Spurgeon how he reconciled divine sovereignty with human responsibility and he replied “No need to reconcile friends”.
Vs. 15-16 Moses is an example of God’s way of choosing: Israel, with the exception of Moses and Joshua, deserved to be destroyed but God only destroyed 3,000. Moses was chosen in a time when Pharaoh was putting to death all male Hebrew babies and God elects to save him from destruction. Yet he is delivered into the very ones whose commands were given to destroy him. There he was raised in all the benefits of royalty whereby he rediscovers his roots and becomes a murderer, then fugitive and vagabond for another 40 years until God plucks him out of the desert to be the deliverer. What was Mosses contribution to this? Nothing! For 40 years he thought he was someone, the next 40 years he thought he was nothing, the last 40 years he realized that God does something through nothing.
Paul establishes three things about God’s mercy in verse 16:
It is him who wills: It is not given to us because of what we wish to do
It is him who runs: It is not given to us because of what we actually do
It is God: It is given simply out of His desire to show mercy
Vs.17-18 Pharaoh is an example of God’s way of choosing: In Exodus we are told 10 times that Pharaoh hardened his heart and 10 times that God did so. God’s hardening was only confirming Pharaoh’s decision as Pharaoh’s heart was left by God in its natural state, defiant and rebellious against Him. In Exodus 5:2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” When a man seeks his own glory it is destructive as he has to put others down to elevate his greatness. But God demonstrates His glory, His greatness, for the welfare and benefit of His creation not to boast in His superiority. The same sunlight that melts the snow hardens the clay, the difference isn’t the sunlight it’s what it shines on! Pharaoh was raised up that God’s power might be displayed ON him, Moses was raised up that He might display His power THROUGH him.
Vs. 19-29 It’s just not fair
Vs. 19-29 In verse 19 Paul brings out a hidden accusation against God by saying, “God uses men to do evil, and then He turns around and blames them for the evil He made them do and punishes them for it.” “That’s not fair, that’s not just!” People are always looking for someone to blame for their condition so they won’t have to take responsibility for their own choices. People are not lost because they are hardened; they are hardened because they are lost and they are lost because they are sinners.
Paul answers the charge four ways:
Vs. 20 The first answer to the accusation that God is unfair is to ask God’s accuser what their credentials are to bring such a charge. God who is infinite in wisdom and power is being questioned by a finite man who has extremely limited understanding and power. We are incapable of judging God who alone is mighty and wise, absolute in power, infinite in knowledge, knowing all things from the beginning to the end? We know nothing of what God knows yet we are often guilty of judging Him based upon what we don’t know. Job cried for the right to ask God “How Com,” and in Chapters 38-41 God says that He would allow this if Job could answer a few questions first. In chapter 38 God asks Job if he can handle the job of running the universe, “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place?”. Job wisely replies that he can’t. In the 39th chapter God asks, “Does the hawk fly by your wisdom?” God asks Job how have you done with power and authority. In the 40th chapter God asks “Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?” God asks Job how have you done with absolute power? By the 42nd chapter Job understands that God is out of his league and that even though he can’t understand the why, he can take his rest in Who. Folks, God is not responsible for sin; He is under no obligation to save anyone, when He saves it is purely and completely an act of mercy and grace!
Vs. 21 The second answer to the accusation again comes back to the accuser as God says that the potter has rights over the clay. We might object to being called “clay” after all we do have feelings, we are alive. But how about our authority over the plants and animals? Do you ask permission of your lawn when you mow it? Do you ask your dog what kind of food he would like to have today? Nope, you just exercise authority over that which you are superior. How about your children? Do you ask them if they would like to go to school today? Does your boss ask you if you would like to do your job? In God’s infinite wisdom and knowledge He reads with unerring accuracy the operations of the human heart. The reason people refuse to come to God’s love will be found in their love of sin not in their non-election. The most read verse of Jesus in the Bible is John 3:16 and there we are told specifically, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Vs. 22-28 The third argument Paul brings up has to do with what people see as unfairness in God’s election as they impugn His motives. Paul starts by asking “What if God”. Before we assume the worst about God’s decision, we should consider the best. God has purposes and plans that we just can’t see and even if we could we would not be able to understand them. One of those is to display His power by being patient towards those who practice evil towards Him and their fellow man instead of just zapping that person. And sometimes in His wisdom He displays His power and judgment quickly and decisively. Why the one and not the other? I don’t know but I know that He always does what is right and in this case, it has to be right even though it doesn’t appear that way to me now. The wrath of God is on display right next to the patience of God to draw people of all kinds to Himself. God does not force people to come to Him; we are drawn to Him and sometimes what draws us is the reality of judgment and sometimes what draws us is the reality of love and sometimes it is a combination!
Vs. 29 The last argument is aimed again at God’s accusers in election by saying that people make the mistake of assuming that everyone is neutral. The fact is we aren’t neutral, we are sinners by nature and choice, we are all lost, all are victims of sin and apart from God’s intervention the only thing we can do is resist God. That is what Paul already established in chapter 3, that there is none who does right, none who seeks after God, not one. God’s judgment causes man to wake up and stop resisting His love; apart from this His grace wouldn’t make sense. The amazing aspect of God’s election isn’t in His choosing some and not others, it’s that He has chosen any at all.
Vs. 30-33 Human delusion
Vs. 30-33 This passage specifically deals with the Gentile salvation and the Jewish separation. The problem wasn’t that the Jews were pursuing righteousness but that they thought that by their self-efforts they had obtained righteousness. They arrogantly believed like Cain of old that God would have to accept their effort over His Word and character.
The larger application here is: “How can I tell if someone is chosen or not?” “If natural advantages and whether we are good or bad when compared to someone else can’t determine this then how can I tell?” The simple answer to determine if you are elected by God being drawn by Spirit into salvation or being permitted to remain lost is what you do with Jesus! Many in Israel chose to stumble at the ROCK because to stand on it would mean they weren’t good enough on their own works. You can be very religious in your garden working in it every day, spend the rest of your life weeding your garden, planting and watering but what do you do with the ROCK; that is what will determine where you will spend eternity. It is a human delusion, fostered by Satan, that salvation is within our natural reach. That any time we want to we can, with minimal effort at the last minute, make up our mind to do a little this or that and God will be forced to accept what we have offered instead of us accepting what He has offered, His only begotten Son.