Romans 9
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The following material is adopted from John MacArthur’s commentary on Romans and his Study guide. Additional material taken from sources listed at the end
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The Tragic Unbelief of Israel ( 9:1-5 )
( Romans 9:1–5 ) “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
— Throughout church history this passage of scripture has been misunderstood
— Many commentators all but ignore it
— Others treat chapters 9-11 as a parenthesis that has little if any connection with the rest of the letter
— They see a logical sequence between chapter 8:39 and 12:1
— They say that these 3 chapters really have nothing to do with the major subjects
— It is just something Paul wanted to deal with so he put it here
— As logical as that sounds, that is not the case
— Paul anticipated the argument that, if the gospel was offered to Gentiles, then God must have forsaken Israel
— Before Paul can move on to chapter 12 he has to deal with this important subject
— Near the end of Romans 11 Paul asserts with divine authority that “all Israel will be saved,” just as the prophet Isaiah had declared ( Rom 11:26; cf. Isa 59:20-21; 27:9 )
— Early in His ministry Jesus told the Samaritan women that “salvation is from the Jews” and that He was the promised Messiah who offered salvation not only for the Jews but to all mankind ( Jn 4:22-26)
— Paul anticipates and answers a second question: Why did the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attain righteousness?
— But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law
— Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works
— They stumbled over the stumbling stone - of salvation by faith ( 9:30-32 )
— The apostle later asks rhetorically, “I say then, they [Israel] did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous”
— Paul reminds his readers that, just as Isaiah prophesied, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved” (Rom 9:27; Isa 10:22 )
— Paul also answered a question he knew would arise in the minds of the Gentiles believers
— If God did not keep His promises to His chosen people Israel, how can we expect Him to keep His promises to us as Gentile believers?
— The problem, of course, is in the question.
— God did not fail in His promises to Israel or to individual Jess
— His promises were given to faithful Israel and to faithful, believing Jews, those who were spiritual, not simply physical, descendants of Abraham
In the first of these three chapters, Paul focuses
— First on the tragedy of Israel’s unbelief ( Rom 9:1-5 )
— He then declares that this unbelief is part of God’s eternal plan of redemption ( vv. 6-13 )
— And demonstrates that this divine plan for Israel’s unbelief is not unfair but perfectly just ( vv. 14-29)
Paul’s Personal Connection with Unbelieving Israel ( 9:1-3 )
( Romans 9:1–3 ) “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”
— Paul had once been the most zealous persecutor of Jews who named the name of Christ, relentlessly “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” ( Acts 9:1 )
— Now he has been completely transformed, gladly counting himself among the disciples of Christ and strongly condemning the legalism and false security of traditional Judaism.
— To unbelieving Jews, Paul utterly contradicted the teaching of Moses
— He preached such things as, “Let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him [Christ] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39)
— Paul, a former Pharisee (Acts 23:6; Phil 3:5) and zealous defender of traditional Judaism (Acts 8:1, 3; (:1-2) was now considered the traitor of traitors to his people
— He was more despised than a pagan Gentile
— He was the great betrayer, the Judas of Judaism
— Still today, Jews look upon Christianity as inherently anti-Semitic
— When they hear Jesus proclaimed as their long-awaited Messiah, they become highly incensed
— Instead of seeing the gospel as the perfect fulfillment and completion of Judaism, they see it as a threat
— Paul says I am not lying
— He was not trying to entice his Jewish readers to accept what he said by flattering them
— He was not making insincere or exaggerated claims about himself
— Next he calls his own conscience as a witness
— When he defended his life before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem he said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” (Acts 23:1)
— It was not that his conscience itself was reliable
— It was that his conscience as consistently clear because he lived in consistent obedience to the Lord
— Far from the common advice “Let your conscience be your guide,” the conscience is not a reliable guide
— It can be seared ( 1 Tim 4:2 ) and covered with insensitive scar tissue
— It can be tainted and corrupted
— Paul told Titus: “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” ( Tit 1:15)
— Even a believers conscience can become insensitive and unreliable through neglect to fellowship with God and disobedience to His Word
— All believers should be able to say with Martin Luther, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God”
William Hendriksen
—In the expression, I could wish that I myself were accursed, Paul means every word of it
— This is all the more striking because it is issued from the heart and lips of the very man for whom the impossibility of being separated from Christ meant so much ( 8:38, 39 )
— This is clearly the language of a Christian
— The person who is unconcerned about those who are perishing may well wonder whether he is a Christian
Paul’s sentiment reminds us of Judah, who, as Surety for his brother Benjamin, said, “Please permit your servant to remain here as my lord’s slave in the place of the lad” (Gen 44:33). It recalls to us the thrilling words of Moses, as he interceded for his people, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin —; but if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written” (Ex 32:32). It brings back the memory of David’s agonizing cry, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Sam 18:33). But most of all, it fixes our attention on him who really became his people’s Substitute ( cf. Rom 3:24, 25; 8:32; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13; 1 Tim 2:6; and see also Isa 53:5,6,8; Matt 20:28; Mark 10:45).
God’s Personal Connection with Unbelieving Israel ( 9:4-5 )
( Romans 9:4–5 ) “who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
— In these two verses the apostle sets forth nine privileges that belong to Israel
(1) They privileged simply to be Israelites
— They have distinguished themselves in virtually every field of human endeavor
— When God prepared His special earthly vineyard, “He planted it with the choicest vine,” namely Israel (Isa 5:2)
(2) It is Israelites to whom belongs the adoption as sons
— Jews are privileged to have adoption as God’s sons
— God commanded Moses to say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Israel is my son, My first-born’” (Ex 4:22)
(3) God blessed Israel by revealing to her His own presence in the Shekinah glory
— In the wilderness, “the glory of the Lord appeared [to Israel] in the cloud” (Ex 16:10)
— His presence was manifest in the Holy of Holies between the wings of the cherubim on the ark of the covenant ( Ex 25:22; 40:34; 1 Ki 8:11 )
(4) Israel was privileged to have been given the covenants
— The first covenant was with Abraham (Gen 12:15-17) the physical father of all Jews and the spiritual father of all who believe (Rom 4:11)
— Moses was given the covenant of law at Mount Sinai (Ex 19-31; cf. Deut 29-30)
— David was given the covenant of an eternal kingdom (2 Sam 7:8-16)
(5) Israel was privileged by the giving of the law of God to them through Moses
— They were taught not only the ten commandments but countless other principles and standards
— They were shown the way of blessing and prosperity, not only morally and spiritually but also materially
(6) Isreal was uniquely blessed by being entrusted with the temple service
— The temple service refers to the entire ceremonial system — sacrifices, offerings, cleansings, and other means of worship and repentance administered by the priests and Levites
— When Israel obediently and sincerely worshiped the Lord, He promised to meet them there at the tent of meeting ( Ex 29:43-46 )
(7) Israel was given the promises of God in a distinct and unique way
— Paul is likely referring to the promised Messiah who would come out of Israel
— Peter reminded his audience at Pentecost saying, “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:39, 13:32-34; cf. 2 Sam 7:8-17)
(8) Paul reminds his readers that it was from Israel that God raised up the fathers beginning with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
— It was through those men that that the foundation of all the blessings were laid
(9) Israel was privileged to provide the lineage of Christ according to the flesh
— Christ was preordained to be a human descendant of Abraham and of David
— It is for this reason that Matthew and Luke provide such an extensive genealogy ( Matt 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38)
— In his closing Paul declares that Jesus Christ - by far their greatest blessing, the blessing in whom all the others find their full meaning - is over all, God blessed forever. Amen
Going Deeper
The secular view is that the only Messiah that will ever come is the state of Israel itself. The very secular affirm that the state of Israel is in fact the Messiah.
Now others of them are waiting for the Messiah. They really believe there is coming a Messiah. They believe the eastern gate which is now sealed, was sealed by the Turks, will split wide open at the coming of the Messiah and He will again enter the city of Jerusalem to take His throne to reign and rule forever and ever. Only that's not going to be the Second Coming of Messiah; for them it's going to be the first coming because He's not been here yet.
Both of these camps reject the fact that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
Israel’s Unbelief is Consistent with God’s Plan - Part 1: It is Consistent with His Promises ( 9:6-13 )
( Romans 9:6–13 )“But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
— Many religious Jews in Israel are still awaiting the first coming of the promised king, the Messiah
— They look forward to a man who will come as their deliverer from human oppression, not from sin
— They believe he will someday triumphantly enter the eastern gate of Jerusalem and that he will establish his throne in that city, setting in place their nation’s supremacy from which he will rule the world
— Questions that Jews might express to Christians could be phrased like this: “How could His ancient chosen people not recognized and accepted him?”
— Because they assume that this dilemma disproves that Jesus was the true messiah, they conclude that Christianity is a perversion of the true, God-given religion of Judaism
— A second reason that Jews do not accept Christianity is that it supersedes the Old Covenant and opens the door for Gentiles to come directly to God on the same terms as Jews
— Third, to accept Jesus Christ is to accept that it fulfilled and replaced the Old Covenant and that it completely nullified the ceremonies and all the man made rabbinical transitions
— The Jews conclude, therefore, that the gospel is blasphemous heresy
Paul gives four reasons why the gospel is not blasphemous heresy and in particular why its rejection by most Jews does not impugn God’s righteous and just character
(1) Israel’s unbelief is consistent with God’s promises (9:6-13)
(2) It is consistent with His Person (9:14-24)
(3) It is consistent with God’s prophetic revelation (9:25-29)
(4) It is consistent with God’s prerequisite of salvation by faith (9:30-33)
(1) It is Consistent with His Promises ( 9:6-13 )
— Cutting off unbelieving Israel was perfectly consistent with His covenant promises to them
— Chastening and punishment are elements of His divine faithfulness, integrity, and love and are not to be questioned
Our own day has witnessed irrefutable proof that, although God has punished the nation for its unbelief, he has not allowed the many trails and dispersions of His people - the deportation of Jews from Israel, first by Assyria in 722 BC and by Babylon in 586, and subsequently by Rome, partially in AD 70 and all but entirely in 132 - to obliterate Israel as a distinct people. After nearly two thousand years (by 1948), the Lord reestablished her in her own land and she was recognized by the world community as an independent and sovereign state
— Not all physical Israelites are true heirs of the promise — For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
— God never intended that all Israel woudl be redeemed
— Spiritual Israel is contained within physical Israel
— The nation was elected to privilege but only individuals are elected to salvation
— The fact that not every individual was chosen for salvation does not cancel the promise
— Ishmael, as Abraham’s son, would receive his own special blessing from God ( Gen 17:18 ), but he was not and never could have been the heir of God’s promise
— After Sarah died, Abraham had six other sons by a new wife Keturah (25:1-2); but, like Ishmael, none of those could have been the heir of promise
— God has always known that the Jews would be spiritually dead and cut off from the promise and from salvation
— Because some Jews reject Jesus does not prove He is not the Messiah, not does it denigrate the integrity of God
— During the time of Elijah the vast majority of Israel was thoroughly and openly pagan (Rom 11:3-4; cf. 1 Kin 19:10, 18)
— Even before Jesus met Nathaniel, He said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” ( Jn 1:47 )
— “indeed” translates alethos, which means genuine
— In other words, of the multiplied thousands of Jews in Israel at that time, Jesus identified Nathaniel as a true Israelite
— He declared by implication that most other Jews were not, no matter how impeccable their genealogy from Abraham
— Paul provides the illustration of Jacob and Esau as an illustration
— Instead of allowing the twins to be equal heirs of Isaac, the Lord sovereignly chose Jacob above Esau
— God did not chose both sons to continue the physical line of promise but elected Jacob and passed over Esau before they were born
— Esau was not concerned with the things of God, married pagan, forbidden wives out of the Canaanites
— He was pagan; he was incestuous
— Hebrews 12:16 “Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau”
He was a fornicator and a profane person who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know how afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected and then it says he found no place of repentance though he sought it with tears. He was so corrupt and so evil, so profane that even when he intellectually wanted to repent, he couldn't find a place for repentance. He couldn't even bring himself to repent he was so evil.
So he was the one who was first born. He was not chosen of God. And his life confirmed that, didn't it?
You see, when God chooses that's only part of it. God rejected Esau as the line of promise. And Esau also rejected God. And you can be sure that God only rejects those who reject Him and only chooses those who choose Him. That's the divine mystery.
— And just as He chose them without any regard for what they would do in their lives, but purely that God’s purpose .... might stand with no regard for any human work
— So God has chosen some Jews, not all, for salvation
RC Sproul
— Notice Paul’s use of the words “purpose” and “calls” —that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls
— In both instances He is referring to the One who elects
— The decree came before the boys were born, before they had done any good or evil, to make certain that the purpose of God according to election might stand
— Their election was based not on what they boys would do but on what God does
— The decree was issued according to the purpose of God so that His purpose would be exalted and established
— His purpose is the ground of election
Inevitable discussions of predestination come down to the free will of the creature, but bringing the notion of free will into this text is humanistic. The idea of a human will not enslaved by sin is an unbiblical understanding. As the heart of this text is indeed profound affirmation of free will. It teaches that our salvation rests ultimately and eternally on free will, but it is not our free will; it is God’s. It is the free will of the Creator, the Redeemer, who, in His sovereign grace, pours His mercy upon those He chooses. In this case, God distinguishes between Jacob, and Esau, the younger and the elder.
—What Paul says next summarizing what he has just written seems shocking
— Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” ( Mal 1:2-3)
— But just as God’s prediction that the elder would serve the younger was directed at their descendants not the individuals
— The Lord’s declaration about loved and hated should be understood the same way
— The most reasonable interpretation of the prophet’s statement would seem to indicate that the Lord’s hatred is against Esau’s idolatrous descendants
William Hendriksen
What Paul is saying, then, in verses 6-13 is this: In the final analysis the reason why some people are accepted and others rejected is that God so willed it. The divine, sovereign will is the source of both election and reprobation. Human responsibility is not canceled, but there is no such thing as human merit. God’s eternal purpose is ultimately not based on human works.
Israel’s Unbelief is Consistent with God’s Plan - Part 2: It is Consistent with His Person ( 9:14-24 )
( Romans 9:14–24 ) “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured…”
(2) It is consistent with His Person (9:14-24)
— If God only chose some to be heirs of the promise, and not others, people will say He is unfair
— That accusation has been raised throughout the history of the church and still heard today when the doctrines of election and predestination are discussed
— How can God elect one persona and reject another person before they are born?
— In light of human wisdom and standards, especially democratic societies, where all people are considered equal before the law, the ideas of election and predestination are repulsive and unacceptable
— Paul defends God’s person and says, May it never be!
— Paul uses the strongest Green negative (me genoito, γενοιτο) May it not be!
— The idea is that of No, no, a thousand times no!
Going Deeper
R.C. Sproul
When we consider divine sovereignty, we generally looks at it in three specific domains.
(1) God’s sovereignty is the universe. He exercises His sovereign authority over the stars, floods, and the rivers; He exercises it over history and all things
(2) God’s sovereignty reigns is law. He has the sovereign right to legislate the manner and behavior and response that His creatures should render to Him. God has the authority to command you to do what He says is right
(3) The sovereignty of God’s disposition of grace
— At this point 90% of Christians get off the train
— To them, God is not sovereign in His disposition of grace because if He were, He would have to show the same mercy to everyone
— Scripture paints a different picture of God’s exercise of Grace: I will show mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion
— The very essence of Grace is its voluntary character
— God reserves to Himself the sovereign, absolute right to give grace to some and withhold that grace from others
The First Anticipated Question Answered ( 9:14-18 )
( Romans 9:14–18 ) “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”
— In response to the accusation that God’s sovereign election is unfair, Paul cites two texts from the OT
— First he cites Exodus 33:19 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
— Next he cites Exodus 9:16 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
— Harden metaphorically means to render stubborn and obstinate
— The Exodus account of Moses confrontation with Pharaoh speaks ten times of God’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart
— That same passage also informs us that Pharaoh hardened this own heart confirming God’s act by his own
— Jesus clearly revealed that God’s choosing of men always precedes their choosing Him
— “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn 6:44)
— “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (Jn 15:16)
Going Deeper
R.C. Sproul
Jesus faced His enemies. There was Caiaphas the high priest; there were the members of the Sanhedrin. Jesus was condemned by Pontius Pilate, who spoke on behalf of the Roman magisterium. However, the most vicious and hateful opponent of Jesus on the pages of the New Testament was the man who wrote the very words we are studying. The apostle Paul had hated Jesus more than Pilate or Caiaphas or the scribes and Pharisees. There was never a day when Paul walked along the street and said, “Maybe I had better think this over a bit more clearly,” and after giving it further scrutiny changed his mind and decided to exercise his free will and become a disciple of Jesus. No, Paul became a disciple while breathing out animosity and hostility. Jesus knocked him off his horse, blinded him with the brilliance of His glory, and called him to be His apostle. Jesus intervened in the life of Paul in a way he did not do for Pontius Pilate or Caiaphas or for the scribes and Pharisees.
If we read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we see that God does not treat everybody the same way. If He did, we would all have the same place in hell, but He exercises mercy on some so that the glory of His purposes may be known.
The Second Anticipated Question Answered ( 9:18-24 )
( Romans 9:18–24 ) “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
The Bible clearly teaches that God is sovereign particularity in the matter of salvation:
— Jonah 2:9 “Salvation is from the Lord.”
— Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
— Acts 13:48 “...and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
— Titus 1:1 talks about “the faith of God’s elect”
— John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit" (c.f. Eph 1:3,4,5)
— 2 Thessalonians 2:13 “...because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”
— 2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,” (c.f. 1 Peter 1:2)
RC. Sproul
We read that God has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. On the surface it sounds once again as though there is a balance, a symmetry, in which God melts the hearts of the elect and calcifies the hearts of the reprobate. The Bible does say, not only here but throughout the exodus account, that God repeatedly hardens the heart of Pharaoh. How are we to understand that? First, both Pharaoh and God were involved, so in a very real sense God was actively involved in the hardening of the heart of a human being, but how exactly did God harden the heart of Pharaoh? How does He harden anybody’s heart? He does so not by mere permission but by divine decision that we see again and again, particularly in the book of the prophet Jeremiah, where God deals with impenitent sinners by giving them over to their sin.
In the book of Revelation we find that the final disposition of the wicked is through this very means: “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him by filthy still” (Rev 22:11). God does not have to crate any new evil in the human heart. To make somebody more wicked than he already is, God need only to remove His restraints. One of the great mercies God gives us is keeping us from being as sinful as we possibly could be.
— Paul anticipates the follow up question, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
— How can human beings be held responsible?
— How can they be blamed for their unbelief and sin, when their destiny has already been determined?
— Again, such reasoning challenges God’s justice and righteousness
— As Israel was conquering Canaan, the Lord hardened the hearts of the Canaanites in order that they might go to battle with Israel ( Josh 11:18-20)
— Later in the book of Romans, Paul tells his readers: “What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened;” ( Rom 11:7 )
Many critics of such doctrine, supposedly coming to the defense of God’s justice, fail to acknowledge that every human being since the Fall has deserved nothing but God’s just condemnation to eternity in hell. If God were to exercise only his justice, no person would ever be saved. It is therefore hardly unjust if, according to his sovereign grace, He chooses to elect some sinners for salvation.
It is not, of course, that we can fully understand what God reveals about His sovereign election and predestination. It can only be accepted by faith, acknowledging its truth simply because God has revealed it to be true. As believers, we know that, in ourselves, we deserve only God’s rejection and condemnation. But we also know that, for His own sovereign reasons, God has elected us to be His children and, in His own time and way, brought us to saving faith in Jesus Christ. On the other hand, we also know that our human will had a part in our salvation. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me.” That is the choice of God’s will. But Jesus immediately went on to say that “the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” ( Jn 6:37 ). That is the choice of man’s will, which God graciously accedes to for all who believe in His Son.
William Hendriksen
—The objection (Why does he still find fault…) from our failure to distinguish between God’s secret (decretive) and his revealed (perceptive) will
— Man can, of course, do nothing about God’s secret will
— But man is certainly and rightly held responsible for what he does about the later
— This two-fold fact is clearly set forth in two easy-to-remember passages ( Deut 29:29; Luke 22:22 )
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”
Luke 22:22 “For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
MacArthur
— Again taking from the OT, Paul continues his rebuke of presumptuous unbelievers by showing the absurdity of anyone questioning God’s rights
— The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
— Isaiah used a similar analogy ( Is 64:6-8 )
— As did Jeremiah ( Jer 18:3-16 )
— Although it is to an infinitely greater degree, God is the creator of men much as a potter is the creator of his clay vessels
— To his humanist friend Erasmus, Martin Luther wrote:
Mere human reason can never comprehend how God is good and merciful; and therefore you make to yourself a god of your own fancy, who hardens nobody, condemns nobody, pities everybody. You cannot comprehend how a just God can condemn those who are born in sin, and cannot help themselves, but must, by a necessity of their natural constitution, continue in sin, and remain children of wrath. The answer is, God is incomprehensible, must be incomprehensible. It is on this very ground that St. Paul exclaims, “O the depth of the riches of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” Now, His judgments would not be past finding out, if we could always perceive them to be just (See Martin Luther on the Bondage of the Will, trans. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston [Westwood, N.J.:Revell, 1957], pp. 314-15)
— To fully understand God, we would have to be equal to the God who made us
— That is even more absurd than a clay pot’s being equal to the potter who molded it
— Whatever God’s sovereignty may mean in its fullness, it does not mean and cannot mean that He chose for men to become sinful
— James declares “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” (James 1:13, cf. Hab 1:13)
— Paul provides two reasons why God allowed sin to contaminate His creation
(1) It gave God the opportunity to demonstrate His wrath
— God is glorified in displaying His wrath
— His wrath along with His other attributes comprise His divine nature
(2) God allowed sin to enter the world in order to make His power known
— His power is manifest in His judgment and punishment
— God’s power originally displayed in creation, will be equally glorious in destruction
William Hendriksen
It is exactly to hardened sinners, men like Esau (9:13), Pharaoh (9:17,18), and Judas the traitor (Luke 22:22; John 13:18, 17:12; Acts 1:15-20, 25), impenitents all; that is, to those people who to the very end refuse to respond favorably to God’s patient appeals, that God shows his wrath and makes known his power.
It was exactly God’s great patience with Pharaoh and his people, his delay in pouring out upon them the full measure of the punishment they had deserved, that provided the opportunity to make known the riches of God’s glory lavished on the Israel of that early day. If Pharaoh had been immediately destroyed, who would have become aware of God’s mercy toward Israel? But as the ten plagues followed each other, one by one, that mercy became increasingly evident. Note the following:
fifth plague: “But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die…All the livestock of the Egyptians died, not of the animals belonging to the Israelites died no one” (Exod 9:4, 6)
seventh plague: “Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel lived, was there no hail” (Exod 9:26)
ninth plague: “No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Exod 10:23)
tenth plague: “There was a loud wailing throughout all the land of Egypt…but among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egptians and Isreal…The blood will be a sign for you on the houses were you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exod 11:6,7; 12:13).
— Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction
— This is surely one of the most tragic verses in all the bible
— I think of dear friends who have rejected Christ and it brings me to tears
— As already noted, it is not that God make men sinful but that He leaves them in their sin unless they repent of it and turn to His Son for deliverance
Going Deeper (vv. 20-21)
R.C. Sproul
I want to look at this passage more closely in light of a classic controversy within the Reformed tradition, that between supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism. This controversy has been labeled as an arcane principle of theology, but as difficult and controversial as the issue has been historically, it is not without significance. It makes a big difference which side we come down on, and I address it here because the controversy is provoked by the text before us.
Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
The debate between supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism has to do with the relationship of God’s decrees to election and the fall, particularly to the fall — the lapse of the human race into sin — hence, the root of both terms lapsarianism. Both supra and infra deal with God’s involvement with the fall and the order of God’s decrees with respect to it and to election.
Some think that those who hold to the doctrine of infralapsarianism claim that God’s decree of election came after the fall, and those who hold to supralapsarianism claim that God’s decree of election came before the fall. That is a false distinction. Both sides understand that God’s decrees regarding election and reprobation are rooted in eternity. God did not issue a decree to save people as a plan B, as if His original purpose in creation had been ruined by Adam and Eve’s sin. In other words, God did not have to remedy the mess of the fall by coming up with a plan of salvation. Both sides agree that God’s sovereign plan of salvation was determined before the foundation of the world — before Adam and Eve existed. The question is not when the decrees were executed by God in His eternal plan but rather the order of the decrees.
The infralapsarianism position, held by the vast majority of historic Calvinists and Reformed theologians, claims God’s decrees of election was made in view of the fall. When God makes from one batch of clay vessels fit for destruction and from another vessels fit for honor, it does not mean that He planned from eternity to make some people bad and other people redeemable. God applies His redeeming grace to a mass of humanity completely dead in sin and trespasses. The decree of electing grace is made in light of the fall. In fact, if it were not made in light of the fall, it would not be a decree of grace
On the other side of the coin is the supralapsarianism position, which teaches that God decreed the fall in light of His doctrine of election. God first elected certain people to salvation and others to reprobation, and in order to accomplish that eternal purpose, He decreed the fall of humanity. The purpose of the fall was to provide the necessary clay for God to choose some to salvation and others to reprobation. Supralapsarians say that God planned to save some and condemn others, and in order to make that possible, He consigned the whole world to ruin. Therefore, the purpose of fall was to provide the necessary condition through which God shows His grace and wrath. That is problematic because it violates what we call the biblical apriori — God is not the author or creator of sin. God does not choose to create people in a fallen condition so that He can condemn them to eternal damnation. It is not God’s purpose to force people to sin and then punish them for that sin.
I do not believe that God creates people wicked and then punishes them for their wickedness, not is Paul teaching that here in Romans . At the same time, as Augustine said, in some sense God did ordain the fall. There are two reasons why I believe that God, in some sense, did ordain the fall. God’s sovereignty is one reason. God is sovereign over nature and human history. He rules all things by His power and authority. He is sovereign over the disposition of His grace. Nothing can happen apart from God’s sovereign action. If I plan to steal a car tonight, my evil intentions might be a secret from the car’s owner, but they are not hidden from God. He knows what I am going to do before I do it, and He knows what I am going to say before I say it. Before a word is even formed on my lips, he knows it all together (Ps 139:4). God knows my intentions, even though others do not unless I tell them.
God has the power to stop me from stealing a car, but does he have the authority to stop me? He does. God has the authority and power to prevent anything from happening that does, in fact, happen. God can exercise his authority and power and sovereignty by stopping something from happening or by not stopping it. those are God’s options always in every way. Since the fall happened, God knew it was going to happen, and He could have prevented it, but chose not to. His purpose in not stopping it, however, was not to provide Himself with a wicked batch of clay on which to exercise His sovereign decree of reprobation. Why God allowed it is something we cannot fully know. The answer Scripture gives is that somehow the lapse of sin, which produced a batch of fallen humanity and fragile, corrupt clay, was for His glory.
Israel’s Unbelief is Consistent with God’s Plan - Parts 3: It is Consistent with His Prophetic Revelation ( 9:25-29 )
( Romans 9:25–29 ) “As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ” “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.” And just as Isaiah foretold, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, We would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.””
(3) It is consistent with God’s prophetic revelation (9:25-29)
— Paul uses two quotations from Hosea and two from Isaiah to show that Israel’s unbelief and rejection of the Messiah fit what the prophets had predicted
— Paul declares that He, that is God, says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ “ ( Hos 2:23 )
— In the first chapter of Hosea we read the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.” ( Hos 1:2)
— It is not clear from the text whether Gomer was a harlot before she married him or became one after the marriage
— In either case, the Lord commanded the prophet to keep her as his wife, despite her adultery — or more correctly, because of it
— Gomer’s moral unfaithfulness to Hosea provided a vivid analogy of Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness to God
— The Lord goes on to promise that His people will not be permanently forsaken
— Until that time, God not only will treat Israel as not being His children but will treat Gentiles, who were not His people, as His people
— Paul says that truth in a paraphrase of Hosea 2:23 “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ” “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
— Paul is referring to Israel’s rejection of the Messiah
— Drawing from the same passage, Peter wrote, “for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” ( 1 Pet 2:10 )
— Pau next quotes Isaiah saying, Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved (Isa 10:22)
— The Greek term krazo (cries out) is often used of a scream of despair, great emotion
— This truth tore at the prophet’s heart - he doubtless wept for his brethren
— Paul then quotes from the next verse in Isaiah 10 for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.” ( Is 10:23 )
— When God used the Babylonians to judge Israel only a few escaped
— The same was true of the destruction of Jerusalem and devastation of Palestine in A.D. 70
— And just drive the truth home, Paul quotes from Isa 1:9 about Sodom and Gomorrah
Israel’s Unbelief is Consistent with God’s Plan - Parts 4: It is Consistent with His Prerequisite of Faith ( 9:30-33 )
( Romans 9:30–33 ) “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.””
(4) It is consistent with God’s prerequisite of salvation by faith (9:30-33)
— God’s demand for faith on the part of man is in no way inconsistent with His sovereignty
— God will not save a person who does not believe in His on, and a person cannot save himself simply by the act of his won will, no matter how sincere and heartfelt
— Both God’s gracious provision and the exercise of man’s will are required for salvation
— Again Paul quotes from Isaiah “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” ( see Isa 28:16; cf. 8:14; 1 Pet 2:8 )
— Long before the Messiah came, the Lord predicted that Israel would reject Him
— She tripped over the stone of stumbling because He did not fit their understanding of the Messiah
— And, as a rock of offense, He declared their works worthless
RC Sproul
The doctrine of God’s sovereign election is not an arcane item found rarely in obscure passages of Scripture, not does it require the pursuit of a diligent scholar to uncover it. The doctrine of election appears on virtually every page of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. No section of Scripture sets it forth, however, more definitively and persuasively than Romans 9
Additional Resources
MacArthur, Romans. Romans 1-8. Moody Press, 1987.
MacArthur, Romans. Romans 9-16. Moody Press, 1991.
MacArthur, John. New Testament Commentary. Moody, 1985.
MacArthur, John. The Sorrowful Unbelief of Israel, Part 1. gty.org. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/45-69/the-sorrowful-unbelief-of-israel-part-1
MacArthur, John. Is Israel’s Unbelief Inconsistent with God’s Plan? Part 1. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/45-71/is-israels-unbelief-inconsistent-with-gods--plan-part-1
William Hendriksen. Exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995.
Horton, Michael Scott. Putting Amazing Back into Grace: Embracing the Heart of the Gospel. Baker Books, 2011.
Sproul, R.C. Romans: The Righteous Shall Live by Faith. Romans an expositional commentary. Ligonier Ministries. 2019.