The Bible answers the 3 most
fundamental questions that every human being asks: “Who am I? Why am I here?
Where am I going?” Once we understand that we are God- created beings we
will also begin to ask this question: “What is the nature of the God who
has created us?” We will also ask
this question: “What is wrong with this world?” Paul in this letter has told us what is wrong:
“All are under sin!” (Rom.3:9-12). This also begs the question: “How
will I stand before my Creator”? Romans Chapters 1 - 8 deal with the doctrine of salvation and the
nature of the gospel, answering the question, How will I stand before my Creator? In the gospel God’s way of justifying sinners is revealed
In Romans Chapters 9 -11 Paul pauses
to consider the plight of his own people - the Jews. The Jews, by and large refused to believe the
gospel. The gospel is not simply a message. It is a person. They refused to
hear the Christ (the Messiah) when He came among them. In so doing they refused
God’s gift of salvation. Although they were a religious people, and although
they considered themselves as children of Abraham, the love for the God whom
they claimed to worship was absent. They were merely religious. Although in
possession of the holy Scriptures they
twisted the Scriptures given them by Moses and the prophets to make it conform
to their human standards[1]. Their
hearts have grown dull. Their ears can barely hear. They have closed their eyes
(Matt. 13:15à Isa 6:9,10). And very often in their
history, they left the God sanctioned worship and worshipped the gods of the
surrounding nations. When, in the fullness of time, God came in the
flesh (Gal.4:4,5), they hated His teaching. They rejected Him and conspired
to kill Him[2].
Then they hated His disciples.
Paul, before his conversion, was one
of them. He became a persecutor of those that loved Jesus. But when Jesus sovereignly met him on the road
to Damascus (cf. Acts 9), he became one of Jesus’ most eloquent and
outspoken disciples. Wherever he went, he preached to the Jew first, and only
then to the gentiles (Rom.1:16).
That was his pattern everywhere he went in Asia Minor[3] –
wherever the Jews had been scattered among the nations. When they refused to
listen, he went to the gentiles.
In Rom. 9: 1-5 we see how the hardness of the hearts of his Jewish
compatriots grieved Paul. He tells us of his desperate desire for his own
people to be saved from the wrath of God. Paul’s heart is genuinely broken by
the general lack of response of the Jews to the gospel.
The time has now come for him to talk
about the theological perspective behind this rejection of the Lord Jesus
Christ by the Jews.
OUTLINE
1.
9:6a - Assurance: The Word of God has not failed
2.
9:6b-7a - An astonishing assertion:
Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.
3.
9:7b-13-Amazing grace rather
than ethnic heritage: Two Old Testament illustrations
(i) 9:7b-9 - Isaac vs. Ishmael:
Both were physical sons of Abraham. Isaac (and not firstborn Ishmael) was
chosen by God as the child of the covenant promise.
(ii) 9:10-13 - Jacob vs. Esau: Paul
narrows the argument by using the example of twins born to Isaac and Rebekah.
Before the twins were even born, or had done anything good or bad, God
declared, "The older will serve the younger"- “Jacob I loved, but
Esau I hated”. God’s choice is not based on human merit, but entirely of
God’s grace and calling.
1. 9:6a ASSURANCE - God’s word has not failed!
The people of whom everything in 9:4-5
is true are those who have by and large rejected the gospel about Jesus. Humanly speaking this causes Paul unceasing
anguish- so much that he wished that he could take their curse upon himself. The
Lord God has endowed them with so many privileges – and look at the meagre
returns! So, if most Jews reject God’s Messiah and God’s salvation, does it
not mean that God’s word has failed?
Paul answers: No! It is not as
though the word of God has failed, and then he makes this astonishing
remark:
2. 9:6b “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel”. This is an astonishing statement. What is he saying here? Simply this: The true definition of an Israelite is not linked to those belonging to a certain race group or to a certain religious group. To be sure, there is such an entity as political Israel, BUT within that realm there is a true Israel - a spiritual Israel.
· This is not the first time that Paul has said this - see Rom. 2:28-29 !
· This distinction is also made by Jesus when He deals with the Jews of his time – see John 8:31-47. We will return to this shortly.
· Historically, following the great divide under Rehoboam’s reign, the apostate part- the northern 10 tribes were called Israel. They had become an apostate nation worshipping at false altars.
This may be an appropriate moment to draw a parallel to the NT church. There are those who belong to the church and for them it is simply a tribal affiliation. They are cultural Christians because they are not Hindu or Moslem. And then there are those who truly love God and trust in God. They abide in His word (Jn 8:31). This is the true church.
What makes them to be the true church?
3. Two
Old Testament illustrations
(i) 9:7-9 “… not
all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through
Isaac shall your offspring be named…”
Abraham’s first physical offspring
was Ishmael. He was conceived by Sarah’s servant, Hagar. And
then he had another son, Isaac, born according to promise and in a
miraculous way to his covenant wife, Sarah, who had been barren. Not all the children of Abraham would be godly
offspring.
Now remember the text in John
8:31-47. The Jews prided themselves in being sons of Abraham. They saw
themselves favoured by God on this ground. But Jesus told them in 8:44 whose
seed they were: You are of your father
the devil... He is saying in effect,
“You may be physical descendants of Abraham, but you are not his spiritual
offspring- if you were his offspring, you would be doing the works Abraham did…
(8:39) . You are not trusting God. You are not trusting me; you
are the devil’s offspring! You have no
grace in the soul !
9:8 “This means that it is
not the children of the flesh
(i.e. physical descendants) who are
the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted as offspring”. The Kingdom of God is not
inherited by virtue of physical decent. Growing up in a Christian culture, having
Christian family attachments, church membership, baptism does not make you a
member of God’s kingdom. You must be
born again from above – flesh gives birth to flesh – the Spirit gives birth to
the spirit. You must be born again (John 3:1-8)!
So, have the promises of God failed
in regard to the Jews as a whole? No, because God had never planned to include every Jew
in His saving purposes. This becomes even more apparent in the next (second)
illustration, regarding the offspring of Isaac and Rebekah.
(ii)9: 10-
13: Here we find that not all are children of God, even if they come
out of the same womb, even twins (the
example of Esau and Jacob)- “though they were not yet born and had done
nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might
continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The
older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I
hated.”
God chose
Jacob in order that God’s purpose and election might stand. Even before birth God
predestines (cf. 8:29,30)
those who will receive His saving grace. Jacob was chosen. Esau was not. Therefore
ultimately, because of God’s choice, His Word cannot fail. That is the logic of
Paul’s argument.
Now for
many this is a hard teaching. But this
is the plain teaching of Scripture. This
is Jesus’
teaching in John 10 (the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep)
and in John 17 where He prays for all those whom the Father has given to
Him out of the world. This is also the pattern of the Old Testament. There is a
clear doctrine of election that runs like a golden thread through the Bible.
If you must disagree with the
doctrine of election, you must argue with God’s Word. I remember that I did
argue with Him, and God won! My heart was settled in this doctrine in 1987, in
my second year at Seminary. I am fully convinced that my depravity is so deep
that if God had not chosen me to believe, I would never have believed myself.
NEVER! I can now truly sing of amazing grace that saved a wretch like me
Paul knows that this is hard doctrine
for you and so he gives you proof from Scripture that the subjects whom he
saves are weak. Abraham
was not a great man of faith to begin with. He was a pagan moon worshipper from
Mesopotamia. By grace God called him, and He was given grace to believe. Isaac was chosen against all odds. Jacob and Esau had the same
mother. Yet before they were born, before they had either done good or evil,
God chose Jacob. Period!
Paul’s meaning is unmistakable. God’s election is not based on anything in the
elect themselves, but on the free mercy of God. You may think this is unfair, and Paul anticipates objections in 9:14
and 9:19 and so I must ask you to be patient and humble as we pursue
this biblical doctrine in greater
detail next time.
The principle is this: Salvation is by Grace, and not by Race: Membership in God's family is never an automatic inheritance through bloodlines. It is a gift of free grace.
This grace extended to undeserving sinners is the finished work of Jesus. This is what we
celebrate now as we come to the Lord’s table!
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