Day 120, Romans 9 
The greatest stumbling
block to many Jews who heard Paul's message was that his gospel excluded from
God's kingdom unbelieving, yet "law-keeping," circumcised Jews, while
it welcomed believing Gentile sinners! To Jews who took pride in their
heritage, lineage, law, or circumcision, considering themselves favored above
Gentiles, Paul's message was an insult. So in this chapter, Paul helps Jews see
that God can choose whomever He wants and reject whomever He wants, regardless
of what anyone thinks! Moreover, God has historically demonstrated that He
doesn't make His selections of people based on those things that most Jews were
trusting in to make them right before God, such as physical lineage, birth
privileges, or even personal holiness.
In regard to physical
lineage, Paul reminds his readers of what they certainly already knew, that
although God chose Abraham for a special blessing, He did not choose all of
Abraham's descendants. Moreover, it was Isaac the second-born, not Ishmael the
first-born, who was surprisingly chosen to inherit the blessing. (And Paul
cannot resist pointing out that Ishmael was a product of Abraham's works, while
Isaac was a product of Abraham's faith---an analogy that teaches about
salvation.)
Moreover, God
surprisingly chose Jacob, not Esau, to next inherit the blessing, and His
choice was made before they were born, so Jacob's blessing was not based on his
works. Knowing this, how can any Jew object to God choosing to save Gentiles
without regard to their works? Their forefather and namesake, Israel, was
chosen by God without regard to his works!
May I point out that
this chapter doesn't teach that God chooses some individuals for salvation and
(thus by default) chooses other individuals for damnation. Only those who rip
verses from their context within this chapter and the entire book can come to
such a conclusion. This chapter, from beginning to end, is about Jews and
Gentiles as groups of
people, and God's choice to offer mercy. Additionally, God's choices of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not choices regarding their salvation. That was
not Paul's point.
In the strongest
terms, Paul reminds his readers that God is never unjust (9:14). So when it
appears to us that God is unjust, it shows we have the wrong perspective. For
example, God's choices of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob may have appeared to be
unjust favoritism, but it was actually an expression of God's mercy to the
whole world, as they were chosen to carry the seed that would bring blessing
to everyone.
I might add that had
God chosen to save only descendants of Israel, that would make Him unjust
without argument. And if He sovereignly grants salvation to some and not
others, as Calvinists claim, that would also make Him unjust without argument.
If He is going to remain fair and just and mercifully offer salvation to any,
He must offer it to all. Moreover, it is perfectly just for Him to withhold His
mercy from those who spurn it, and punish them, as He did Pharaoh. Clearly,
from reading the story of the Exodus, God showed mercy to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh
hardened his heart, and God's mercy decreased with each additional judgment, to
the point when God actively hardened Pharaoh's heart as a just punishment. "God has
mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires" (9:18), but
whichever He does, He does it justly, not arbitrarily!
Praise God that, as we
will read in just two chapters, "God has shut up all in disobedience so
that He may show mercy to all" (11:32). The first "all" in that
sentence and the second "all" both mean "all"---all Jews
and all Gentiles.
Yes, one can remove
from its context Paul's potter and clay analogy and make it appear that Paul is
saying that one's salvation is entirely up to God, the potter, and has nothing
to do with us, the clay. But in context, Paul can only be teaching that God,
the potter, can save believing Gentiles and not save unbelieving Jews, both
from the clay of humanity.
I have written much
more extensively on Romans 9 here if
you care to read more.
HeavenWord Daily Subscription
To subscribe to the HeavenWord Daily, simply submit your e-mail address below. You will receive a devotional each weekday morning and a Heaven's Family e-magazine once a month.
|
