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The Book of Romans Chapter Nine
Preface
Apostle Paul now turns his attention to his “countrymen according to the flesh,” the Israelites. And in this chapter, as well as the two subsequent chapters (10 & 11), Paul deals with dispensational aspects of the Jewish people—their past (chap. 9), present (chap. 10), and future (chap. 11). In this chapter, as well as the two that follow, is Paul’s reply to the Jewish objector who asks: “Does the gospel, by promising salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews, mean that God has broken His promises to His earthly (chosen) people, the Jews?”
This chapter further emphasizes divine sovereignty, a subject that was introduced in the latter part of the preceding chapter (chap. 8), as well as human responsibility. In fact this chapter contains one of the key passages in the Word of God pertaining to the sovereign election of God insofar as those of strict Calvinistic persuasion are concerned. Perhaps it is best to once again, if not done previously, define the traditional Calvinistic and Arminian positions regarding the doctrine of election as it pertains to the salvation of the spirit.
In attempting to “resolve” the two notions, i.e., the sovereignty of God and human choice or responsibility, two camps have historically emerged. Arminians, those who embrace the position of the seventeenth-century Dutch pastor Jacobus Arminius, understand that God has selected those to be saved based on His foreknowledge, i.e., that He simply knew beforehand (such foreknowledge having no determinant effect) those who would choose Him. On the other hand, Calvinists, named for the Swiss (but French born) Reformer John Calvin, understand foreknowledge as having a determinant effect, which makes “election” the unconditional choice of God, i.e., that which causes the believer’s faith.
In fact, the strict Calvinist will often adhere to five specific doctrines represented by the acrostic TULIP, which individual letters stand for the following:
Regardless of one’s position in this matter, the believer should know for certain that God is infinitely wise, merciful, and good. He is never unfair in His dealing with His creation, and it is humanity’s sinfulness that has entrapped and condemned mankind.
But while the Calvinist attempts to use certain passages in this chapter (chap. 9) to bolster its position regarding the salvation of man, it is this commentator’s belief that sovereignty in this context is not about the “selection” of those who will or will not be saved, but about the means to salvation, which the chosen people of God rejected and which thereby caused them to be set aside for a period of time, i.e., their departure from faith in God’s Word that caused their disobedience.
And as mentioned in the commentary on the preceding chapter (chap. 8), for a more thorough treatment on the subject of “Election vs. Freewill,” it is suggested that the reader review the topical study by the same title in the topical section of this commentator’s website, www.bibleone.net. And as for the TULIP doctrines of Calvinism, this commentator finds biblical support for only the first item, i.e., the total depravity of man; although, maybe in a little different form than that of Calvinism.
Commentary Romans 9:1-5 I tell the truth in Christ; I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
The apostle Paul was a strongly dedicated Jew both politically and religiously:
A circumcised Israelite, of the tribe of Benjamin, speaking the Aramaic language in his home, inheritor of the tradition of Pharisaism, a strict observer of the requirements of the Torah, and advancing in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries, he was first and foremost a Jew (Philippians 3:5, 6; Galatians 1:14). So deeply ingrained upon his soul were these qualities, that even near the end of his life he could speak with honest appreciation of that heritage. More than 20 years after his Christian conversion he could cry out, “I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees . . . . (Acts 23:6, NASB). Even some time after this he claimed that he served “the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law, and that is written in the Prophets” (Acts 24:14, NASB). (Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, Hendrickson Publishers, 2000, Walter M. Dunnett, Ph.D., Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois)
And even though this was his position only “in the flesh,” he continued to maintain a great sorrow for his “countrymen according to the flesh,” the Israelites. This he did in spite of the fact that once he “believed in Christ,” he was made a new creation, i.e., a Christian, and therefore no longer a Jew (1 Corinthians 10:32; 12:13; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:13-15).
In fact, his sorrow and continual grief over the people of his earthly heritage was so great that he could say: “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,” which meant that he would be willing to give up his spiritual salvation if only the Jews, as a whole, would turn to Christ in faith to insure their spiritual salvation — a significant demonstration of love on Paul’s part.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (John 15:13)
His background as a religious leader well acquainted him with the fact that the Jews were the very special (chosen) people of God. From their beginning when God initially recognized them as a special nation (people) until this day, and even though most other nations of antiquity have passed into oblivion, the Jewish people have maintained their identity. This they have done in spite of being conquered and ravaged by other nations throughout history and dispersed throughout the world. And after being subjected to the most destructive actions by Satan down through the centuries, in 1948 they, as a nation, were restored to a portion of their “promised land” and recognized by the world.
But of course Paul only knew the history of the Israelites from their beginning until his day. And with this in his mind he listed eight things that identified the Israelites as a special and chosen people (Exodus 5:1):
[For the past 3,500 years God has had two firstborn Sons, Israel and Christ (Exodus 4:22, 23; Hebrews 1:6). And the main thought behind this standing, in relation to both Sons, concerns the rights of the firstborn. Israel became God's firstborn son when the nation was adopted during Moses' day, but Jesus has been God's firstborn Son from eternity. The rights possessed by firstborn sons in the Old Testament were threefold — regal rights, priestly rights, and the right to receive a double portion of the father's goods. The firstborn was to be the ruler of the family (regal rights), the spiritual head of the family (priestly rights), and receive a double portion of the father's goods when the inheritance was divided. Israel is God's firstborn son because of a special creative act, followed by adoption. Jacob was a special creation of God, and God adopted the nation descending from Jacob through his twelve sons (Isaiah 43:1; Romans 9:4). And, possessing a national firstborn status of this nature, Israel was (and remains today) in line to exercise national, kingly, and priestly rights in relation to the Gentile nations of the earth. Israel was to rule the nations, and the nations were to be blessed through Israel; and, originally, Israel was to realize this status through occupying both heavenly and earthly positions in the kingdom — giving Israel a double portion. Christ though is God's firstborn Son after an entirely different fashion. He has been God's firstborn Son from eternity. He is spoken of as "the firstborn of every creature ('of all creation')" (Colossians 1:15), "the firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18; cf. Revelation 1:5), and "the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). Christ is the Son above all sons, seated at the right hand of Power in the heavens. And this is the Son Whom the Father begat, Who showed that He was fully qualified to take the earth's scepter, and then paid redemption's price so that man could be placed back in the position for which he had been created; this is the Son Who offered Israel positions with Him, ruling from the heavens, following that time when His Father would give the kingdom to Him and remove the incumbent ruler; and this is the Son Who today, through the Spirit, is offering these same positions (rejected by Israel) to Christians. And though God presently has these two firstborn Sons, with a view to these two Sons one day exercising the rights of primogeniture, God will, before these Sons exercise the rights of the firstborn, bring into existence a third firstborn son. God's firstborn son Israel has forfeited the right to rule and reign from the heavens over the earth (though still retaining earthly regal rights), and God will one day bring forth another firstborn son to occupy these heavenly positions. Christians, as the Israelites, form a special creation, though an entirely different type creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 3:26-29). And, because of this special creation, Christians, as the Israelites, can one day be adopted as firstborn sons. Christians are presently "children" (a position in which they cannot rule), but they will one day be adopted as "firstborn sons" (a position in which they can, and will, rule) (Romans 8:18-23). God will then have a third firstborn son (Hebrews 12:23), with this son having been adopted for the same purpose that Israel was adopted — to realize the rights of primogeniture. During the Messianic Era, God's firstborn son, the Church, will rule from the heavens over the nations of the earth; God's firstborn son, Israel, will rule on the earth, over the Gentile nations; and God's firstborn Son, Jesus, will have a dual reign, ruling both from the heavens on His Own throne and from the earth on David's throne. The entire creation — "made subject to vanity (i.e., rendered unfit because of Adam's sin, resulting in the curse, to fulfill the reason for its restoration)" — presently groans and travails in pain, awaiting "the manifestation" of these Sons (Romans 8:18-23). And the day when this manifestation will occur is not far removed. (The Sons of God by Arlen L. Chitwood, The Lamp Broadcast, Inc., 2002)]
[And confusion often arises at this point through the erroneous thought that the new covenant has been made with the Church. That simply is incorrect. Covenants are not made with the Church. They never have been, and they never will be.
Since the call of Abraham 4,000 years ago, God, within His covenant relationship to mankind, concerns Himself with one nation alone — the nation of Israel (Romans 9:4). The old covenant was made with the house of Israel during the days of Moses, and the new covenant will be made with the house of Israel when the One greater than Moses returns (Hebrews 8:7ff; cf. Jeremiah 31:31ff).
During the interim, Christians are ministers of the new covenant in the sense that the shed blood of Christ is the blood of this covenant and the entire basis for any Christian’s ministry has to do with this blood — blood shed at Calvary, presently on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies of the heavenly tabernacle (Matthew 26:28; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 9:14-22). But the fact remains. The new covenant has not been — nor will it ever be — made with the Church. (The Study of Scripture by Arlen L. Chitwood, The Lamp Broadcast, Inc., 2005)]
The final words of the fifth verse are most significant, i.e., “Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” In these words is the foundational stone of the Christian faith, which is also the stone of stumbling to many of earth’s religions and cults. In these words is a clear and unquestionable affirmation of the deity of Jesus Christ. Throughout the New Testament are many scriptural proofs that Jesus was and is the most Holy God, the second Person of the Trinity, e.g., John 1:1, 14; 5:18, 23; 8:24, 58; 10:30, 33; 14:7, 9, 11; 20:28; Acts 7:59; 20:28; Hebrews 1:8; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:20.
Romans 9:6-18 But it is not that the Word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (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), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth." Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
In this passage the Calvinist finds substantiation for his doctrine of election, a doctrine that determines man’s salvation upon God’s unilateral selection apart from any involvement of man’s will. Yet in coming to this conclusion, a host of scriptures that clearly indicate that man’s will is indeed an integral part of the salvation process must be either ignored or explained away in one fashion or another.
And the student of God’s Word who admits to both God’s sovereignty and man’s will to freely choose, often resigns himself to simply stating that both are true and that reconciliation of the two are beyond the human mind. This is in fact the position maintained by the Believer’s Bible Commentary, a position to which this commentator does not subscribe but which position will be quoted now so that the reader may make his own informed decision:
In His sovereignty, God has elected or chosen certain individuals to belong to Himself. But the same Bible that teaches God’s sovereign election also teaches human responsibility. While it is true that God elects people to salvation, it is also true they must choose to be saved by a definite act of the will. The divine side of salvation is seen in the words, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” The human side is found in the words that follow: “and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). We rejoice, as believers, that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). But we believe just as surely that whoever will may take of the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17). D.L. Moody illustrated the two truths this way: When we come to the door of salvation, we see the invitation overhead, “Whosoever will, may come.” When we pass through, we look back and see the words “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God” above the door. Thus the truth of man’s responsibility faces people as they come to the door of salvation. The truth of sovereign election is a family truth for those who have already entered.
How can God choose individuals to belong to Himself and at the same time make a bona fide offer of salvation to people everywhere? How can we reconcile these two truths? The fact is that we cannot. To the human mind they are in conflict. But the Bible teaches both doctrines, and so we should believe them, content to know that the difficulty lies in our minds and not in God’s. These twin truths are like two parallel lines that meet only in infinity.
Some have tried to reconcile sovereign election and human responsibility by saying that God foreknew who would trust the Savior and that those are the ones whom He elected to be saved. They base this on Romans 8:29 (“whom He foreknew He also predestined”) and 1 Peter 1:2 (“elect according to the foreknowledge of God”). But this overlooks that fact that God’s foreknowledge is “determinative.” It is not just that he knows in advance who will trust the Savior, but that He “predetermines” this result by drawing certain individuals to Himself.
Although God chooses some men to be saved, He never chooses anyone to be damned. . . . The whole human race was doomed to destruction by its own sin and not by any arbitrary decree of God. . . . The question is, “Does the sovereign Lord have a right to stoop down and select a handful of otherwise doomed people to be a bride for His son?” The answer, of course, is that He does. So what it boils down to is this: if people are lost, it is because of their own sin and rebellion; if people are saved, it is because of the sovereign, electing grace of God. (Believer’s Bible Commentary, William MacDonald, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995)
This all sounds well and good but it unfortunately brings no clarity to the matter. Rather is brings grave contradiction and confusion to the believer who seeks God’s truth. And God is not the author of confusion (disorder)—1 Corinthians 14:33. Granted, God is completely sovereign and can do anything He chooses providing it is not contradictory to His nature; but, His grace encompasses all of His creation to include man. And it is difficult to see how God’s grace is trumped by any of His other attributes, especially by any “arbitrary selection process.” This commentator believes that they work consistently together, which cooperation takes place outside of the time-space dimension in which God views and acts apart from time-space constraints. Again, it is suggested that the reader go the above mentioned study regarding election and free-will in the topical section of www.bibleone.net.
Certainly God could have arbitrarily selected anyone for eternal salvation, while leaving others to spend eternity in the lake of fire. He could have designated Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to be the propitiation for the sins of only a select few (even though Scripture excludes none from His act of grace — John 1:29; 3:16; 4:42; 1 John 2:2; 4:14), as some strict Calvinist would have it. But such an action on God’s part would be entirely incongruous with his attributes of love, mercy, and grace.
So how is the believer to grasp this seeming contradiction here in the first few verses of the ninth chapter of Romans? The answer as to what God’s sovereignty applies in this chapter may be understood by a correct view of the Old Testament illustrations Paul uses and the understanding of his expression “not of works but of Him who calls.”
First, as to the subject Paul introduces to which the illustrations and expression apply (“But it is not that the Word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.”), Paul is answering the objection that even though the Jews are indeed God’s chosen people, it is apparent that God’s Word has had no effect on them in order to transform them spiritually. If God made promises to Israel as His chosen earthly people, how can this be squared with Israel’s present rejection of the Messiah and with the Gentiles being brought into the place of blessing?
Paul is essentially making a distinction between “physical” Israel and “spiritual” Israel, those who rest in disbelief of God’s Word (resulting in disobedience) and those who rest in faith in God’s Word (resulting in obedience). Just because a Jew may claim he is a descendant (of the seed) of Abraham, he can only be a “child of God” by faith alone in Christ (the Messiah) alone. And this fact (i.e., “means of salvation”) is established by God’s sovereignty. Paul then gives three Old Testament illustrations of this sovereignty, which establishes that God’s favor (salvation) is apprehended only by man’s faith, not man’s works—Isaac and Ishmael (vss. 7b-9); Jacob and Esau (vss. 10-13); and Pharaoh (vss. 14-18).
Although many expositors see only “arbitrary choice” as the lesson conveyed in God’s actions in these illustrations, this commentator sees the issue of grace through faith as the commonality that makes them a cohesive unit. This is especially true in the first two illustrations, with the third one confirming that God’s way always supersedes regardless of circumstance (i.e., the work of man).
In the first illustration, that of Abraham’s children Isaac and Ishmael, the lesson emanates from the unilateral covenant made by God to His servant Abram (later to be renamed Abraham—Genesis 17:5) in Genesis chapter fifteen, which included God’s promise of an heir that would come from Abraham’s own body (Genesis 15:4). This was a covenant and promise of an heir that Abraham was to be believed even in light of the fact that both Abraham and his wife Sarai (later to be renamed Sarah—Genesis 17:15) were advanced in years (Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 years old—Genesis 17:17) past the time of childbearing. And at first Abraham did believe and God accounted Abraham’s faith to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Not only was this an issue of faith, but it was an issue of the veracity of God, i.e., He had made a promise and the child that was to come was to be the “child of promise.” And finally it was an issue contrasting God’s way to man’s way, i.e., the work of God as opposed to the work of man.
But in a moment of faithlessness (a retreat from faith), Abraham permitted himself to be persuaded by Sarah to take Sarah’s maidservant Hagar to bed in order to produce a blood-line heir, which occurred and Ishmael was born. Subsequent to this God appeared once again to Abraham to confirm His covenant with him and to introduce to Abraham the act of circumcision as the sign of the covenant between them. It was during this time that Abraham still in a faithless frame of mind pleaded with God to allow Ishmael to be his heir, which was unacceptable to God. Then in Genesis chapter eighteen God again appeared to Abraham in the form of three men to once again confirm to Abraham His “heir of promise,” which at the time only caused a response of laughter of incredulity from Sarah.
But at “the set time of which God had spoken” God activated Sarah’s womb and she bore Isaac—the child of promise—when Abraham was indeed one hundred years old (Genesis 21:1-5). And in these two births, Ishmael (the son of the bondwoman) and Isaac (the son of the freewoman), the type was cast, which the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans drew upon to illustrate God free promise in conjunction with the principle of faith as opposed to man’s work (self-effort) under the law, and which transforms men into children of God. But even more, it is the same principle of freedom and faith (fullness of the Spirit) by which the redeemed are to live if they are to accomplish anything of eternal value for God and thereby avoid a terrible recompense for their actions at the Judgment Seat of Christ (which in fact is Paul’s message in Romans 8), as seen in the following passage from Galatians.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.” Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. (Galatians 4:21-31)
Paul then brings forth a similar lesson from the illustration of the children of Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Esau. It was in Genesis 25 that Isaac pleaded with the Lord to make his wife’s womb fertile, a prayer that God answered in the birth of twins. But God in conjunction with His foreknowledge knew that Jacob, although the second out of the womb, would be a man of faith (relative to Isaac and himself—Hebrews 11:20, 21); while Esau would not, but rather he would be strong in his own might. Therefore it was God’s plan that the older would serve the younger “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls” (Romans 9:11).
God’s purpose in accordance with the doctrine of election, which applies to those who will have faith in His Son and which is for the specific objective of transforming those with such faith to be conformed to the image of His Son so that they may indeed become “firstborn son,” incorporates the following processes in turn: foreknowledge, predestination, calling (efficacious selection), justification, and glorification. All of God’s manifold blessings for mankind rest upon only one means of apprehension — that of faith in His Word — and most specifically in the living Word, Jesus Christ. It has always been from the beginning of the restoration of the earth and the creation of man that the redemption of man is “by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
His purpose and salvation is God’s way, and certainly could not have been in accordance with man’s way; since they were established before the children were delivered from their mother’s womb, before they could perform any deeds of good or evil. And the expression “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” is God’s most direct way of stating that there is a vast and impassable gulf between the principle of works and the principle of faith.
And finally Paul expresses the supremacy of God’s plan over any plan or plans of man by bringing forth the example of Pharaoh. Although the scriptures indicate that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart on numerous occasions in conjunction with the conscience and willful intent of Pharaoh (Exodus 7:13, 14; 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35), the illustration of the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt is a lesson teaching that man’s redemption is strictly by means of the mercy of God, a manifestation from God that has no connection whatsoever to man’s self-efforts. It is meant to show that that no matter how powerful man may become, God’s purpose in redemption comes solely from God, cannot in any way be influenced by the works of man, and may only be apprehended through the instrument of faith.
Pharaoh refused to obey the Lord (Exodus 5:2) and hardened his heart (see Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 32:9:7). God used Pharaoh’s sin to demonstrate His power and magnify His name. . . . God only gave Pharaoh over to what Pharaoh had already chosen to do. Nevertheless the fact remains that God sovereignly chooses to have mercy on some and to withhold it from others. (The Nelson Study Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997)
It is indeed true that God will have mercy upon whom He wills, and, conversely, He will harden whom He wills. But this phrase must be taken contextually with all of God’s Word and His dealings with man. And the whole of Scripture presents God as one who has allowed His mercy and grace to override His justice and wrath; that is, until God has determined that there is no longer hope for true repentance on the part of man. This is illustrated countless times throughout the Scripture. God gives man the opportunity to choose Him over evil in all its forms. God has declared Himself in variety of ways to man, so that man can make the choice.
And most importantly, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to answer God’s demand for a truly righteous substitute and to be the propitiation (satisfaction) for man’s sin. This was accomplished on the cross when Christ became the sin of the world and suffered spiritual death (separation from the Father) for a 3-hour period of time in order to accomplish the penalty-payment for all of man’s sin. He then submitted Himself to physical death, but arose the third day in order to prove to the world that He was whom He said He was — deity — and that His message of salvation was true. And God has made His grace-gift of salvation absolutely free (apart from any works by man) to all who will apprehend it by a decision of faith alone in Christ alone.
But once man has had ample opportunity to repent (turn by faith to God from all other means of achieving the approbation of God), there comes a time that God will give him over to the error of his way. God’s mercy will not last forever.
Romans 9:19-26 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.” “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
The last statement by Paul brings forth the rhetorical question of how anyone could be blamed if in fact God’s purpose (will) cannot be opposed. And Paul uses the image of a potter and his clay to illustrate the truth that God has the right to do whatever He wishes regarding His creation.
Yet the Calvinist will insist that this passage teaches that God is the one that “prepares” some for destruction, with which position this commentator disagrees. God indeed “prepares” all humans for self-awareness and awareness of God. He further prepares them for the opportunity to decide their own eternal destination once they learn the gospel message. In this sense God does indeed prepare individuals both for wrath and for mercy.
But the choice, contextually within God’s complete Word, is that of the individual once salvation’s message is known. Yet there are times, in order to show His mercy on some, God will endure with much longsuffering the rejection of others. This was the case with Pharaoh, and with two quotes from the prophet Hosea, so also it is with His chosen people, Israel.
These two quotes portend the theme that Paul later introduces in chapter eleven, which is the influx of Gentiles (and Jews) to comprise the Church (the new creation) — the body of Christ — during Israel’s temporary rejection, followed by Israel turning back to God as a nation to once again be called “sons of the living God.”
Romans 9:27-29 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.” And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.”
Paul quotes from Isaiah 10:22, 23 and 1:9, both from the Septuagint (LXX — Greek version of the Old Testament), to demonstrate that in God’s sovereignty and mercy that even though Israel rebelled against Him, which led to their captivity and exile and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, He would save a remnant. Otherwise, Israel would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah, totally extinct.
The remnant was being saved in the days of the early church (11:5) and down through the centuries, but will most noticeably be delivered at the end of the Church Age, the dispensation of grace, when Christ returns in the air to rapture (snatch-up) from the earth His Body — a theme taken up by Paul in chapter eleven, verses twenty-six and twenty-seven.
Romans 9:30-33 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
In this passage and by another rhetorical question, Paul returns to the object of God’s sovereignty regarding salvation. Whereas Israel (and man in general), in terms of human “logic,” comes to the determination that it is by works (self-effort) man achieves the approbation of God, i.e., His eternal favor resulting in eternal salvation, Paul affirms that this is definitely not the case. God determined, predestined if you wish, before time that His merciful and grace-gift of salvation offered to man, would never be apprehended by man’s self-efforts. Simply speaking, man in his depraved (spiritually dead) state, would be unable to achieve his own salvation.
In one sense, the free-gift of salvation does come by a “work,” but only by the work that God could produce, i.e., the work of Christ on the cross.
Absorbed in their own efforts, the Israelites did not recognize in Christ the stone of their prophetic Scripture and they fell headlong over Him. By failing to receive Him, they denied their own election of which He was the fulfillment and crown. Paul’s quotation of Isaiah 8:14; 28:16 here demonstrates that the Lord Jesus Himself, though provided as a foundation stone for faith and life, was actually to become for Israel a stumbling stone. This became especially true with respect to His cross (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23). The misdirection of Israel’s thinking became painfully clearing that the preaching of the cross, the event that was at once the quintessence of her sin and the sole hope of her salvation, left her defiant in her self-righteousness. (NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 2: New Testament, Hodder & Stoughton, 1994)
Such was the state of Israel in Paul’s day, which remains today. But the “stumbling stone” and “rock of offence” for them remains, in large part, the “stumbling stone” and “rock of offence” for all mankind today. Religion is by far the chief tool of Satan in keeping mankind apart from God. It is “religion” that promotes “works” (man’s self-effort) as the answer to achieve the approbation (favor) of God. This concept has trickled into the most “fundamental” of denominations and ministries via “lordship salvation,” and “front-loading” or “back-loading” the pure gospel message.
It is a matter of urgency that the reader understand that a spiritually lost person may only apprehend God’s eternal (spirit) salvation solely by faith alone in Christ alone, which is the person’s decision to place his total trust in Christ and His work on the cross at Calvary instead of trusting any other means (person, organization, ritual, personal prayer, method, activity, etc.). |