What makes
me a Christian? Is it because I am human that I am
automatically a child of God?
Or is it by descent, the fact that I am born into a certain religious
circle - a Christian home, having undergone Christian rites, and being a
member of a Christian church? Romans 9 helps us to understand what it takes to
become a member of God’s people. The Divine
Potter (9:21) has the last word on this matter.
To get to
this conclusion, let us follow Paul’s logic.
9:1-5: Paul expresses deep sorrow and unceasing anguish over the rejection by his people of the Jewish Messiah. Despite their rich spiritual heritage and being the physical lineage of the Messiah, most have missed the gospel. This raises a huge question: Did God’s saving promises to Israel fail? The answer is NO! How so? Paul answers that not all who are descended from Israel belong to the (true) Israel. Not all are children of Abraham because they are his physical offspring.
9:6-29: Here Paul clarifies that being a physical descendant
of Abraham does not make you a member of God’s people, God’s covenant family. Using
Old Testament examples like Isaac and Jacob (over Ishmael and Esau), he shows
that God chooses whom to show mercy, based on His own divine purposes, rather
than human effort or birthright. Paul argues that as the Creator, God has the
absolute right and sovereign freedom to show mercy to whoever He wills – from
the Jews and from the Gentiles.
9:30-33 is a summary and here Paul shows that, while many Gentiles came
to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, most of Israel stumbled over the
person of Christ. Their system had degenerated into a legalistic framework.
They rejected God’s way of saving people – by faith in Jesus. Jesus became a
stumbling stone to them (Isa 28:16; Isa 8:14). “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to
shame” (9:33)
This is a general outline of Chapter 9. We have previously dealt with Romans 9:1-5, describing Paul’s own anguish over the unbelief of His people. We have also considered 9:6-18, the question of election, God’s sovereign choosing of some as His covenant children, saving them from the consequences of his wrath (cf. Romans 1:18ff)) whilst leaving others in their sin.
Many have objections to this doctrine on two
grounds:
1. The
thought that a person is unable to bring themselves to God by self- effort.
2. The
thought that God chooses to elect some (e.g. Isaac and Jacob) and bypasses
others (Ishmael and Esau).
On this account some have called God unfair or unjust (see 9:14).
Others who read their bibles just glance over such
passages and ignore them as too difficult to understand, or perhaps pretending that this
doctrine does not exist. That is not helpful at all. The Bible requires us to
think, ponder, meditate, enquire, study, pray.
Still others try to explain this doctrine by saying that God’s election is based on His foreknowledge, in that He foreknew who was going to choose Him. This argument cannot be sustained because of Rom. 9:11. There we learn that God sovereignly reserves the right to choose or reject whomever He wills: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated “ (9:13). “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion (9:15). “So, then it does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy“(9:16). “He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills (Case Study: Pharaoh - 9:17,18).
The Bible clearly teaches that people become Christians not because they choose, but because God chooses His people. [See also John 1:12,13]
Once again Paul anticipates an objection (as in
9:14) : “You will say
to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who can resist his will?” (9:19).
To this Paul answers: see 9:20-21.
Who are you to answer back to God? How dare you, a created being, made from the dust of the earth, an earthen vessel, a claypot, put the eternal, uncreated, self-sustaining, glorious, holy, righteous Creator of the Universe on trial? God is the Great Unanswerable![1] Who are you to stand in judgement over the One who made you? Paul puts it like this: He is the Potter, you are clay! And as such He has the right to make from that clay whatever He chooses. Some vessels are made for honourable use; others for dishonourable use.
9:22-24: “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Here is a sobering
assessment: since the fall into sin all people have become marred clay pots (Rom. 3:23). There is only one thing a potter can do
with a spoiled vessel. Throw it away! Every person (every lump of clay, disfigured by sin) deserves to
be thrown out on to the cosmic rubbish dump.
But no! This is not what the Divine Potter does. He
endures these vessels with much patience. How true! How patient God is with this world!
- How patient He was with Adam and Eve. Following the fall they were thrown out of the garden of Eden, but they were
not consumed by the fiery wrath of God.
On the contrary, God made a covenant of grace with them.
- Think also of the Canaanites. Abraham is told that his descendants are going to be in Egypt, away from the promised land of Canaan, for four hundred and thirty years. Why? Because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete (Gen. 15:16). The Amorites (Canaanites) were godless, child sacrificing pagans. By rights God could have wiped them all out, and He would have been just in doing this. But He endured their sin for four hundred and thirty years that they might have the chance to turn to the one true God. His wrath did finally come upon them in the days of Joshua.
- Think also of how Jesus dealt with Judas. Jesus knew the heart of Judas whom He chose to be His disciple. He lived with him for three years. He knew that he was going to be His betrayer and yet He knelt to wash his feet that He might open the gate of repentance to him. But of course Judas would not, because his natural unconverted inclination would not lead him to do that. But it illustrates the point God is very patient with sinners. This is a display of His grace and mercy.
And now in 9:23 we learn that God has determined that not all of these marred clay pots should end up on the cosmic rubbish dump: He is determined “to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory”
RECEIVING MERCY AND GRACE
Mercy
is not getting the punishment you do deserve, while grace is getting the
blessings and favor you do not deserve. To illustrate: Imagine you are speeding and get pulled over by the traffic police. The
officer has mercy on you by not issuing a ticket. That is mercy: the
withholding of a deserved penalty. Continuing the analogy: Imagine that same traffic officer not only has mercy on you by not issuing a ticket, but
does so much more for you : he gives you
a gift voucher for a free dinner. That is grace: the granting of an unearned,
generous blessing.
The
point made here is mercy : God has mercy on you
by not insisting to pay the price for your sin. He forgives you by
imputing Christ’s blood to cover
your sin, and then on top of that He blesses you, because you have become His
beloved child.
This undeserved mercy, says Paul, is extended to all those elect, predestined people not only from the Jews, but also from the gentiles.
3 OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES : GRACE SOVEREIGNLY EXTENDED
In 9:25 -29 Paul quotes three OT texts illustrating how God’s mercy is sovereignly extended on whom He wills- even the gentiles!
- 9: 25,26. See Hosea 2:23: “Those who were not my people, I will call my people”. God would do this through Paul’s ministry, because Paul became the great apostle to the gentiles. Paul sees this text in Hosea as a fulfilment that God had another people, other sheep not of the fold of Israel (see John 10:16). These Gentiles were idolaters, they deserved judgment, and yet, like the Jewish people with their own idolatrous background, God in mercy chooses some of them to be His children. Now stop and think again! Paul teaches us two great truths : a. Judgment is always just. We get what we deserve. b. God’s mercy is always undeserved. So please, do not accuse God of being unfair! Rather be amazed that He has... a. allowed sinners to live so long under His sun b. that He has chosen from among these sinners to love an elect bunch of sinners in Christ, redeeming them by the death of His Son!
- 9:27,28: See Isaiah 10:22,23. This applies to Israel. Here Paul affirms that along with mercy shown to some gentiles there is also, by God’s mercy, a remnant of Israel that will be saved! And again, we affirm that the root of salvation is always the free undeserved mercy of God. The root of condemnation is in ourselves. Apart from God’s mercy we are hard hearted sinners.The surprising thing then is that God is merciful to a multitude that no man can number made up of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages (Rev. 5:9; 7:9). Marvel and stop being offended by the fact that God does not choose everybody. Marvel that He has mercy at all! Marvel that you are one of His beloved children !
- 9:29 : see Isaiah 1:9 If God had not intervened, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah – total annihilation. So too, if God had not sovereignly chosen to preserve a remnant among the Jews, they would have not had any representatives before the throne. As it is, a remnant of Jews are being saved until this very day.
- If we confess Romans 9 to be an integral part of the inspired, holy Word of God, this will cause us to think deeply and more profoundly about the ways in which God thinks of this world, and deals with this world.
- Following a proper consideration of this doctrine , the primary response for a believer is worship. We stand in awe of the severity and the mercy of God. He is not a tame Deity in our hands. God is the Sovereign God, not only as Creator - but also as Savior (Re-Creator).As such, believers look at their standing with God with profound thankfulness, realizing they are saved purely by unearned mercy.
- The next proper response ought to be agony over our unconverted countrymen (see Rom 9:1-5). We are now approaching Romans 10 were the importance of preaching the gospel is highlighted. The doctrine of election does not mean that we can abandon evangelism. Our example is Paul who ‘prayed without ceasing’ (I Thess. 5:17) and who laboured in evangelism ‘harder than any of the other apostles’ (I Cor. 15:10).
- We will be moved to forsake all confidence in human efforts and cast ourselves in prayer upon God, preaching the gospel wherever we get an opportunity, knowing that in every generation and among all nations God has a people. Evangelism is not dependent on human persuasion alone but is empowered by God's capability to draw hearts.
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