Romans Series: Chapter 9
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Peace to Live By Romans Series Chapter 9 (2023 Re-Record & Update) - Daniel Litton
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Now that we have moved past Romans chapters 5 through 8, we are heading into the last half of this great and glorious book, this letter from the Apostle Paul, which, as we have seen, contains great foundational truths for us, as Christians. Yes, whether it has been essential doctrines of our faith, considering how we can be hopeful, or thinking about our identity and position in Christ, we have discussed quite a bit thus far. Paul certainly isn't’ finished, and we aren’t finished either. Recall, we still have the famous upcoming chapters 12, 13, and 14. Chapter 12 deals with how we are to present ourselves as Christians in living this life. Then in chapter 13 we are going to examine the Christian’s relation to the government and leaders in the government, and how the believer can view those types of things. And finally in chapter 14 we are going to talk about the Christian’s faith and freedom. So, again, we’ve got quite a bit to go over still yet. The fun isn’t done for us.
With this is mind, go ahead and turn in your Bibles, or tap on your mobile devices, to Romans chapter 9. Today, and the next few weeks, Paul is going to refocus on his Jewish brothers and sisters, he’s bringing them back into the spotlight, and he’s going to examine their current relationship with God—the God of all time—and how that needs to change. We know that Paul was a Jew himself, and his heart was definitely for his fellow Jews. We remember that it was when Paul was traveling, perhaps fifteen years or so before this time, he was traveling to Damascus in Syria trying to persecute and even kill more Christians. He was a staunch follower of Judaism, following it to perfection. The newfound Christian faith was posing a real threat to Judaism, and causing problems for the Jews. The Scribes and Pharisees were seeking to get rid of Christianity from the face of the earth. Christianity has always been under persecution in the world ever since it’s beginning, but Jesus warned everyone it was going to be that way. Paul was part of this movement to do away with Christianity. And as we all are aware, he was converted to the Christian faith after he saw a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ along the roadway there on his way to do more damage.
So, that sets up our scene for today’s text. Romans chapter 9, starting in verse 1. We read—this is Paul speaking: “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
Paul starts out by making it clear to his Roman listeners that he’s not just on some emotional high. What he is about to say is not some wishful fantasy he is going through for the moment. No, he wants his listeners to realize that what he is about to say is coming from his heart. It’s what he really believes, for he even says that the Holy Spirit is confirming to him that what he feels is coming from his heart. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever cared about something so deeply that the Spirit of God has confirmed it in your spirit? Those connected and in relationship with God’s power can likely testify to that fact. You know what Paul is feeling here. You understand. And what Paul has to share is that he is in great pain of anguish over the unbelief, the lostness, of his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters.
Surely, all of us have individuals in our lives that we want to see saved, those whom we long to come into personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We all have those people. Usually it’s family members, those whom we are blood-related to. There are persons in our families that we feel aren’t right with God. Maybe even in our immediate family. We long—as Paul does—for those individuals to accept the truth. We desire for them to know God. Year after year we pray for them, as undoubtedly Paul did the same. It can become discouraging at times, when we don’t actually see God working. We feel that God is slacking. Paul said, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” Notice the word “unceasing.” This anguish Paul faced had been going on for a long time. So, for any of us today who are praying for fellow family members or other persons we care about, note this. Paul had to hope they would freely come to a knowledge of the truth; he too had to struggle.
The anguish inside Paul’s heart went so far that he declared he wished he himself could be sentenced to Hell—he wished he could give his life in Hell for there’s. That’s a gigantic statement. Paul displays his heart for his fellow people. Nonetheless, we know that wasn’t possible for him. The sacrifice for sins made by another has to come from someone who his perfect. We know who the perfect one is—the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to the earth, lived a perfect life, and then was able to die for our sins because he had never sinned. His offering of himself was an acceptable payment to God for sin. But Paul couldn’t make that offering for others, and we cannot either. Is there anyone is your life that you wished you could be cut off from your relationship with God and sentenced to Hell for? For family members, for relatives, for friends, for even co-workers? Perhaps there are a few of you out there who would say that—maybe one or two. A lot of us do care, but Paul certainly outdoes us in his caring attitude.
Paul struggles with the fact that even though his Jewish brothers and sisters have so much as it relates and pertains to God—they were God’s chosen people—he struggles with how they could not have recognized the Christ, how they still don’t recognize him. As we discussed in Romans chapter 2, the Jews are without excuse. They should know better because they had relations with God. Why, even Jesus Christ himself came from their race—Jesus was and is a Jew. Yet, as the Apostle John has told us, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10, 11, ESV). And, taking it to our personal lives, certainly some of us can relate to this. We are acquainted with individuals who use to be involved in the church, or those who were raised in Christian communities or homes, who knew all the truth that could be known, and yet, today they are not in personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Even though they should have known better, they didn’t choose Christ. Yes, some of us are aware of how this is unfortunately.
Romans chapter 9, verse 6: “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 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.”
First, let’s consider the statement, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” Bottom line: the Jewish people have the ability to reject God’s salvation for them and many have rejected it. That being said, God has, can, and will continue to fulfill his promises laid out to the Jewish people. We understand that it is the Jews who believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins—those are the ones who really know him. Even after our current world setup ends, after the antichrist has been taken out of power by the Lord Jesus Christ, God will setup a kingdom here on the earth for the Jews, with Christ as King. There is no doubt about it. Those Jewish persons who participate in that kingdom will believe in Jesus Christ then. No, God hasn’t failed the Jews, not by any means. He’s not going to fail them in the future. But as Paul lamented at the beginning of our chapter, they need to realize that Jesus Christ is central to the picture. He is where their real life lies. There are those who have come to understand this reality, and those today, even now, who are coming to understand it.
The point is this: a Jew isn’t a ‘real’ Jew, a God-knowing Jew, since he was raised Jewish. The same is true for the real believer in Jesus. A person isn’t a Christian automatically because he or she was raised in a Christian atmosphere. Folks often make this association in the United States, in that if they were raised a certain religion, they say they are that religion as an adult. That’s not the way it really works, however. A Jew or any other person is right with God because he or she has come into personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and this is by his or her own, personal choice. But in fact there is more to it than that, as we are going to see today. Yes, we choose to come into relationship with God, but that choice comes by a call from God.
Notice in the text, that it is said of Rebekah, “she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Note that God spoke this before any of it would come to pass, “The older will serve the younger.” How is that? This is where we come, again, into the four different views in the Anabaptist and Evangelical world of how God’s sovereignty and free-will cooperate together: that of the Armenians, the Calvinists, and Molinists, and the Open Theists. Was it that God just looked into the future and saw what was going to happen, as the Armenian would say, and so then he just made this statement to Rebekah based on his foreknowledge? But then what would be the point of that? What does God gain by showing off his ability to simply see the future and call things before they happen? Or, was it that God, before the foundation of the world, just choose Jacob and didn’t call Esau, as a Calvinist would propose? Or, was it that God specifically choose this world, following the Molinists line of thinking, in which Jacob is good and Esau is bad since it was the best possible world to choose? Or finally, would we say, as an Open Theist, that even though God choose to work through Jacob beforehand, Esau still had the opportunity to be good. It wasn’t that he was preordained to be bad, but he willingly choose to act in incorrect ways. Is that why the second quotation, ““Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” from Malachi comes some 1,500 years after Paul’s first quotation here in Romans chapter 9?
Verse 14: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 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 depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”
We are reminded of in this section what Paul has been arguing for his whole entire letter. It’s not by works that we come into right relationship with God—an argument that may be comfortable for Jewish individuals. Rather, it’s by our own faith in God that we come into good relations with him. Paul takes things one step further. He clarifies for us that we actually have to make the decision, the decision to choose to believe in his provided way of salvation. That’s the only way a person can be saved. These verses tell us that we if we don’t in fact choose God, we could run the risk, if we get too evil, of God actually hardening our hearts even further. We will have to live with the expectation of judgment. We can accept the joint-effort of our believing in God’s provision that he puts before us, or we can choose to resist and eventually reject that provision.
The text presents us with the example of Pharaoh. Paul indicates that God hardened Pharaoh even further since God wanted to show his power in him (really, against him). It wasn’t that Pharaoh was just some random leader and God said to himself, “I am going to go against this guy by randomly hardening his heart to accomplish my plan.” No, it wasn’t that way. The Scripture says that God pointed out to Moses he could have just cut him and the Egyptians off for their disobedience to God, but rather, God left Pharaoh in place and hardened his heart even more than it was already hardened. This was to accomplish his purposes. It seems Pharaoh had hardened it to the point of no return, and God hardened it even more.
Paul makes the big statement, “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.” This is a blessing to us, who are believers in Jesus Christ, but a warning to all others. Keep going against God, keep disbelieving when he presents the truth to you, and eventually there will be a price to pay. The price to pay will be that God gives you over, and you may no longer have the chance to believe in him—to be able to look forward to Heaven after this life. The Christian has mercy, not only at the moment of belief, but also continual mercy throughout life. Any future sins will be forgiven. There can never again be separation from God. The person who doesn’t believe doesn’t have any of these guarantees.
Jesus stated, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44, ESV). God has to draw a person to himself. Perhaps God tries to draw all humans to himself at one point or another, and when they don’t show the response he desires, perhaps at some point God hardens the person’s heart. That’s one way to look at it. We know for sure that God’s not a mass murder. It is stated by God in Ezekiel 18:32 “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live” (ESV). God doesn’t rub his hands together and desire to hurt human beings—to throw them into Hell. He certainly will do that for anyone who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus, but that’s not what he really wants.
Again, a person has to hear a word from God in order to respond to God. We are going to go over this next week, in Romans chapter 10. The conversation experience is brought about by a word from God, through the Spirit of God. Indeed, God draws a person to himself. Now, a person may be seeking for God, or a person may not necessarily be seeking him. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit cuts through the clouds of darkness that surround the person and are truly in the person. God’s Word shines light where people cannot see.
But, a person through continual resistance may in fact get to the place where they can no longer accept the truth. Due to this continual resistance, the person doesn’t end up seeing through the dark clouds in his or her mind and heart. And, it may get to the point where God doesn’t allow them to perceive the truth at the end of the day. As Paul explained in verse 14, this doesn’t make God unjust. Remember, it is his creation, and all belong to him. It may seem paradoxical, but he’s not unjust since the world actually belongs to him, which includes every person, whether they understand that reality or not. This can rake the gears of our freedom-based American mindset. It’s really not a pro-Thomas Jefferson statement. Some of our trannys are smoking right now. Yet, this is the truth nonetheless.
We can recall from Romans chapter 1 that God gave individuals up to their sins who did not believe in him, but believed in other religions. We know today that in reality God has done this for whole groups of people. Certain groups of people believe in this or that false religion. God has collectively given those humans up to their sin, and this is a multi-generational thing. (Yes, God still does execute his punishment on down multiple generations, but we don’t have time to get into this). Nevertheless, we note then that the humans who have gone after false gods have made the choice to do so. Somewhere back in the line, individuals rejected the true God and he gave them up. This doesn’t mean these individuals can’t be saved; quite to the contrary. We share the Gospel with everybody. God calls people from all nations, from every race. It also doesn’t mean that God won’t permanently harden a person’s heart if they don’t eventually choose to come to him.
Verse 19: “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 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? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called sons of the living God.’”
Once more, the sharing of the Gospel gives individuals the opportunity to choose God. Paul’s calling of the questioner, “O man,” seems to indicate that he is talking to those who are unjustly accusing God of not being fair, just like he used this phrase at the beginning of Romans chapter 2. It’s not that God belongs to the world. Unbelievers don’t get to create how they desire him to be. Now, the text says God may make a vessel for “dishonorable use” and that certain vessels of wrath have been “prepared for destruction.” And by whom are the prepared? The text doesn’t say for sure (we could assume themselves or even Satan), but notice the contrast with the other prepared group. The verses states that “he has prepared” them. It doesn’t say that about the other group of people, the unbelievers.
This phrase of “dishonorable use” could also mean that after unbelievers have had the chance to believe, that God then gives them over, so to speak, and hardens their heart at some point. The writer of Hebrews has told us, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25, ESV). In Romans chapter 1, recall, Paul told us that persons can know there is a God through observing the creation. But, too, we are aware that not everyone hears the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why missionaries are sent all over the world to share the message.
Regardless, Paul stated, God “has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” The truth that God endures with patience seems to indicate that the persons would have a chance to believe. It seems to show that God waits and waits for people to make the right choice. It’s as Peter said, “The Lord… is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:9, 10, ESV). So, both Paul and Peter emphasize God’s patience in his hope that individuals come to him—that they come to saving faith in Christ. Both point out that ultimately destruction will come for anyone who does not repent. God is going to judge sin, and that’s why it’s so necessary for us to have a payment through Jesus Christ—to make sure we are covered by his blood. Without his covering, we are in tremendous trouble.
The text says, God is going “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.” Thus, that includes everybody who believes. God is going to make known the riches of his glory to us. That’s an incredible thing. We have a lot of good things coming to us. Really, we all are rich—no matter who we are—if we know Jesus. Interestingly, in a way we get to decide how rich we are going to be in the life after this one. Jesus said, “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20, ESV). How do we lay up treasures for ourselves? Well, of course, it’s through the acting out of our gifts before God and others. But it’s also from simple obedience. It’s from obedience in living a righteous life, and it’s from disciplining our thoughts, words, and behaviors so that they are pleasing to God. By this we understand that Christian discipline is not only for our earthly lives. Developing our character so that it is more like Christ means we are accumulating rewards in Heaven. It’s a double benefit. It not only makes our lives better in the here and now, but it will also make our lives better for the future.
Back in our text, Paul continues. Verse 27: “And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”
Circling back around to what he was discussing at the beginning of this chapter, Paul brings back into focus the Israelites, his fellow Jews. He makes the point that God is predicting only a small group of them is going to believe in him. He’s going to call many, but only some of them will believe. That’s what the text says. Paul notes that had a remnant not believed, all would have been lost like the inhabitants of the Old Testament cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. We understand that God destroyed those cites, and the surrounding cities as well, completely and entirely due to their gross sin against him. Well, God has been upset with the circumstances of which Israel has so definitively and repeatedly rebelled against him. And he has given them over to their sin. We are going to see more on this subject in Romans chapter 11.
Finishing up Romans chapter 9: “What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
In Israel’s case, as we all are familiar with, Jesus Christ has become the problem for them. He came to the earth and was their Messiah. Yet, they have rejected him as he was not the type of Messiah they were looking for. He didn’t immediately reign as king and bring the Jews wealth and prosperity. He was not of the noble crowd. For them, Jesus is the rock of offense—he is the stumbling stone. Besides, the Jews want to be justified in and of themselves. They do not want to count on the righteousness of another in order to be saved. They believe they are the ones who are righteous before God. Bring to mind the conversation between the Jews of Jesus’ day and himself, in John chapter 8. It says of the Jews, “They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father” (John 8:33-38, ESV). Notice Jesus cuts straight to the heart. He bypasses the Jewish situation altogether and goes to the subject of sin.
Let’s not only consider Israel since church members can do this too. Church-going individuals can believe that they are righteous before God and each other because of good works that they do, things they perform for God. They don’t base their righteousness before God on faith—that is faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for them which makes them righteous. Rather, they base their righteousness on mainly what they do not do—on the fact that they don’t do this, and they don’t do that, that they don’t do certain sins—that they abstain. They believe this earns them credit before God, that God is approving of them as they avoid this and that in the world. This is another way to stumble over the stumbling stone, to stumble over Jesus.
Realize too that taking pride in considering yourself unrighteous before God and thinking that you are personally awesome since you consider yourself unrighteous can also be a problem. It’s like the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, but in the reverse. Sometimes believers take pride in the fact they admit they are a great sinner, like the Pharisee in the parable took pride in the fact that he thought he was righteous. God isn’t just looking for a person who will recognize his sin, but one who while counting on Christ’s righteousness seeks to follow God as an outward act of counting on that righteousness, not one who says, “Oh, I’m too bad. I cannot do anything for God,” or one who says, “Yes, I’m awesome because I recognize how bad I truly am.” Personally, that last one has been so many times.
Therefore, anyone who is willing to recognize their need for a Savior can come into personal relationship with God today through Jesus Christ. Yes, that includes you today. Count on Jesus’ righteousness instead of your own. Confess your sins to God, and believe in Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the cross and resurrection from the dead. If you will do that, you can gain new, real life today. This includes anyone. Just tell God you want this.
-Daniel Litton
Now that we have moved past Romans chapters 5 through 8, we are heading into the last half of this great and glorious book, this letter from the Apostle Paul, which, as we have seen, contains great foundational truths for us, as Christians. Yes, whether it has been essential doctrines of our faith, considering how we can be hopeful, or thinking about our identity and position in Christ, we have discussed quite a bit thus far. Paul certainly isn't’ finished, and we aren’t finished either. Recall, we still have the famous upcoming chapters 12, 13, and 14. Chapter 12 deals with how we are to present ourselves as Christians in living this life. Then in chapter 13 we are going to examine the Christian’s relation to the government and leaders in the government, and how the believer can view those types of things. And finally in chapter 14 we are going to talk about the Christian’s faith and freedom. So, again, we’ve got quite a bit to go over still yet. The fun isn’t done for us.
With this is mind, go ahead and turn in your Bibles, or tap on your mobile devices, to Romans chapter 9. Today, and the next few weeks, Paul is going to refocus on his Jewish brothers and sisters, he’s bringing them back into the spotlight, and he’s going to examine their current relationship with God—the God of all time—and how that needs to change. We know that Paul was a Jew himself, and his heart was definitely for his fellow Jews. We remember that it was when Paul was traveling, perhaps fifteen years or so before this time, he was traveling to Damascus in Syria trying to persecute and even kill more Christians. He was a staunch follower of Judaism, following it to perfection. The newfound Christian faith was posing a real threat to Judaism, and causing problems for the Jews. The Scribes and Pharisees were seeking to get rid of Christianity from the face of the earth. Christianity has always been under persecution in the world ever since it’s beginning, but Jesus warned everyone it was going to be that way. Paul was part of this movement to do away with Christianity. And as we all are aware, he was converted to the Christian faith after he saw a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ along the roadway there on his way to do more damage.
So, that sets up our scene for today’s text. Romans chapter 9, starting in verse 1. We read—this is Paul speaking: “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
Paul starts out by making it clear to his Roman listeners that he’s not just on some emotional high. What he is about to say is not some wishful fantasy he is going through for the moment. No, he wants his listeners to realize that what he is about to say is coming from his heart. It’s what he really believes, for he even says that the Holy Spirit is confirming to him that what he feels is coming from his heart. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever cared about something so deeply that the Spirit of God has confirmed it in your spirit? Those connected and in relationship with God’s power can likely testify to that fact. You know what Paul is feeling here. You understand. And what Paul has to share is that he is in great pain of anguish over the unbelief, the lostness, of his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters.
Surely, all of us have individuals in our lives that we want to see saved, those whom we long to come into personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We all have those people. Usually it’s family members, those whom we are blood-related to. There are persons in our families that we feel aren’t right with God. Maybe even in our immediate family. We long—as Paul does—for those individuals to accept the truth. We desire for them to know God. Year after year we pray for them, as undoubtedly Paul did the same. It can become discouraging at times, when we don’t actually see God working. We feel that God is slacking. Paul said, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” Notice the word “unceasing.” This anguish Paul faced had been going on for a long time. So, for any of us today who are praying for fellow family members or other persons we care about, note this. Paul had to hope they would freely come to a knowledge of the truth; he too had to struggle.
The anguish inside Paul’s heart went so far that he declared he wished he himself could be sentenced to Hell—he wished he could give his life in Hell for there’s. That’s a gigantic statement. Paul displays his heart for his fellow people. Nonetheless, we know that wasn’t possible for him. The sacrifice for sins made by another has to come from someone who his perfect. We know who the perfect one is—the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to the earth, lived a perfect life, and then was able to die for our sins because he had never sinned. His offering of himself was an acceptable payment to God for sin. But Paul couldn’t make that offering for others, and we cannot either. Is there anyone is your life that you wished you could be cut off from your relationship with God and sentenced to Hell for? For family members, for relatives, for friends, for even co-workers? Perhaps there are a few of you out there who would say that—maybe one or two. A lot of us do care, but Paul certainly outdoes us in his caring attitude.
Paul struggles with the fact that even though his Jewish brothers and sisters have so much as it relates and pertains to God—they were God’s chosen people—he struggles with how they could not have recognized the Christ, how they still don’t recognize him. As we discussed in Romans chapter 2, the Jews are without excuse. They should know better because they had relations with God. Why, even Jesus Christ himself came from their race—Jesus was and is a Jew. Yet, as the Apostle John has told us, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10, 11, ESV). And, taking it to our personal lives, certainly some of us can relate to this. We are acquainted with individuals who use to be involved in the church, or those who were raised in Christian communities or homes, who knew all the truth that could be known, and yet, today they are not in personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Even though they should have known better, they didn’t choose Christ. Yes, some of us are aware of how this is unfortunately.
Romans chapter 9, verse 6: “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 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.”
First, let’s consider the statement, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” Bottom line: the Jewish people have the ability to reject God’s salvation for them and many have rejected it. That being said, God has, can, and will continue to fulfill his promises laid out to the Jewish people. We understand that it is the Jews who believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins—those are the ones who really know him. Even after our current world setup ends, after the antichrist has been taken out of power by the Lord Jesus Christ, God will setup a kingdom here on the earth for the Jews, with Christ as King. There is no doubt about it. Those Jewish persons who participate in that kingdom will believe in Jesus Christ then. No, God hasn’t failed the Jews, not by any means. He’s not going to fail them in the future. But as Paul lamented at the beginning of our chapter, they need to realize that Jesus Christ is central to the picture. He is where their real life lies. There are those who have come to understand this reality, and those today, even now, who are coming to understand it.
The point is this: a Jew isn’t a ‘real’ Jew, a God-knowing Jew, since he was raised Jewish. The same is true for the real believer in Jesus. A person isn’t a Christian automatically because he or she was raised in a Christian atmosphere. Folks often make this association in the United States, in that if they were raised a certain religion, they say they are that religion as an adult. That’s not the way it really works, however. A Jew or any other person is right with God because he or she has come into personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and this is by his or her own, personal choice. But in fact there is more to it than that, as we are going to see today. Yes, we choose to come into relationship with God, but that choice comes by a call from God.
Notice in the text, that it is said of Rebekah, “she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Note that God spoke this before any of it would come to pass, “The older will serve the younger.” How is that? This is where we come, again, into the four different views in the Anabaptist and Evangelical world of how God’s sovereignty and free-will cooperate together: that of the Armenians, the Calvinists, and Molinists, and the Open Theists. Was it that God just looked into the future and saw what was going to happen, as the Armenian would say, and so then he just made this statement to Rebekah based on his foreknowledge? But then what would be the point of that? What does God gain by showing off his ability to simply see the future and call things before they happen? Or, was it that God, before the foundation of the world, just choose Jacob and didn’t call Esau, as a Calvinist would propose? Or, was it that God specifically choose this world, following the Molinists line of thinking, in which Jacob is good and Esau is bad since it was the best possible world to choose? Or finally, would we say, as an Open Theist, that even though God choose to work through Jacob beforehand, Esau still had the opportunity to be good. It wasn’t that he was preordained to be bad, but he willingly choose to act in incorrect ways. Is that why the second quotation, ““Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” from Malachi comes some 1,500 years after Paul’s first quotation here in Romans chapter 9?
Verse 14: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 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 depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”
We are reminded of in this section what Paul has been arguing for his whole entire letter. It’s not by works that we come into right relationship with God—an argument that may be comfortable for Jewish individuals. Rather, it’s by our own faith in God that we come into good relations with him. Paul takes things one step further. He clarifies for us that we actually have to make the decision, the decision to choose to believe in his provided way of salvation. That’s the only way a person can be saved. These verses tell us that we if we don’t in fact choose God, we could run the risk, if we get too evil, of God actually hardening our hearts even further. We will have to live with the expectation of judgment. We can accept the joint-effort of our believing in God’s provision that he puts before us, or we can choose to resist and eventually reject that provision.
The text presents us with the example of Pharaoh. Paul indicates that God hardened Pharaoh even further since God wanted to show his power in him (really, against him). It wasn’t that Pharaoh was just some random leader and God said to himself, “I am going to go against this guy by randomly hardening his heart to accomplish my plan.” No, it wasn’t that way. The Scripture says that God pointed out to Moses he could have just cut him and the Egyptians off for their disobedience to God, but rather, God left Pharaoh in place and hardened his heart even more than it was already hardened. This was to accomplish his purposes. It seems Pharaoh had hardened it to the point of no return, and God hardened it even more.
Paul makes the big statement, “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.” This is a blessing to us, who are believers in Jesus Christ, but a warning to all others. Keep going against God, keep disbelieving when he presents the truth to you, and eventually there will be a price to pay. The price to pay will be that God gives you over, and you may no longer have the chance to believe in him—to be able to look forward to Heaven after this life. The Christian has mercy, not only at the moment of belief, but also continual mercy throughout life. Any future sins will be forgiven. There can never again be separation from God. The person who doesn’t believe doesn’t have any of these guarantees.
Jesus stated, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44, ESV). God has to draw a person to himself. Perhaps God tries to draw all humans to himself at one point or another, and when they don’t show the response he desires, perhaps at some point God hardens the person’s heart. That’s one way to look at it. We know for sure that God’s not a mass murder. It is stated by God in Ezekiel 18:32 “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live” (ESV). God doesn’t rub his hands together and desire to hurt human beings—to throw them into Hell. He certainly will do that for anyone who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus, but that’s not what he really wants.
Again, a person has to hear a word from God in order to respond to God. We are going to go over this next week, in Romans chapter 10. The conversation experience is brought about by a word from God, through the Spirit of God. Indeed, God draws a person to himself. Now, a person may be seeking for God, or a person may not necessarily be seeking him. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit cuts through the clouds of darkness that surround the person and are truly in the person. God’s Word shines light where people cannot see.
But, a person through continual resistance may in fact get to the place where they can no longer accept the truth. Due to this continual resistance, the person doesn’t end up seeing through the dark clouds in his or her mind and heart. And, it may get to the point where God doesn’t allow them to perceive the truth at the end of the day. As Paul explained in verse 14, this doesn’t make God unjust. Remember, it is his creation, and all belong to him. It may seem paradoxical, but he’s not unjust since the world actually belongs to him, which includes every person, whether they understand that reality or not. This can rake the gears of our freedom-based American mindset. It’s really not a pro-Thomas Jefferson statement. Some of our trannys are smoking right now. Yet, this is the truth nonetheless.
We can recall from Romans chapter 1 that God gave individuals up to their sins who did not believe in him, but believed in other religions. We know today that in reality God has done this for whole groups of people. Certain groups of people believe in this or that false religion. God has collectively given those humans up to their sin, and this is a multi-generational thing. (Yes, God still does execute his punishment on down multiple generations, but we don’t have time to get into this). Nevertheless, we note then that the humans who have gone after false gods have made the choice to do so. Somewhere back in the line, individuals rejected the true God and he gave them up. This doesn’t mean these individuals can’t be saved; quite to the contrary. We share the Gospel with everybody. God calls people from all nations, from every race. It also doesn’t mean that God won’t permanently harden a person’s heart if they don’t eventually choose to come to him.
Verse 19: “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 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? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called sons of the living God.’”
Once more, the sharing of the Gospel gives individuals the opportunity to choose God. Paul’s calling of the questioner, “O man,” seems to indicate that he is talking to those who are unjustly accusing God of not being fair, just like he used this phrase at the beginning of Romans chapter 2. It’s not that God belongs to the world. Unbelievers don’t get to create how they desire him to be. Now, the text says God may make a vessel for “dishonorable use” and that certain vessels of wrath have been “prepared for destruction.” And by whom are the prepared? The text doesn’t say for sure (we could assume themselves or even Satan), but notice the contrast with the other prepared group. The verses states that “he has prepared” them. It doesn’t say that about the other group of people, the unbelievers.
This phrase of “dishonorable use” could also mean that after unbelievers have had the chance to believe, that God then gives them over, so to speak, and hardens their heart at some point. The writer of Hebrews has told us, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25, ESV). In Romans chapter 1, recall, Paul told us that persons can know there is a God through observing the creation. But, too, we are aware that not everyone hears the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why missionaries are sent all over the world to share the message.
Regardless, Paul stated, God “has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” The truth that God endures with patience seems to indicate that the persons would have a chance to believe. It seems to show that God waits and waits for people to make the right choice. It’s as Peter said, “The Lord… is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:9, 10, ESV). So, both Paul and Peter emphasize God’s patience in his hope that individuals come to him—that they come to saving faith in Christ. Both point out that ultimately destruction will come for anyone who does not repent. God is going to judge sin, and that’s why it’s so necessary for us to have a payment through Jesus Christ—to make sure we are covered by his blood. Without his covering, we are in tremendous trouble.
The text says, God is going “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.” Thus, that includes everybody who believes. God is going to make known the riches of his glory to us. That’s an incredible thing. We have a lot of good things coming to us. Really, we all are rich—no matter who we are—if we know Jesus. Interestingly, in a way we get to decide how rich we are going to be in the life after this one. Jesus said, “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20, ESV). How do we lay up treasures for ourselves? Well, of course, it’s through the acting out of our gifts before God and others. But it’s also from simple obedience. It’s from obedience in living a righteous life, and it’s from disciplining our thoughts, words, and behaviors so that they are pleasing to God. By this we understand that Christian discipline is not only for our earthly lives. Developing our character so that it is more like Christ means we are accumulating rewards in Heaven. It’s a double benefit. It not only makes our lives better in the here and now, but it will also make our lives better for the future.
Back in our text, Paul continues. Verse 27: “And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”
Circling back around to what he was discussing at the beginning of this chapter, Paul brings back into focus the Israelites, his fellow Jews. He makes the point that God is predicting only a small group of them is going to believe in him. He’s going to call many, but only some of them will believe. That’s what the text says. Paul notes that had a remnant not believed, all would have been lost like the inhabitants of the Old Testament cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. We understand that God destroyed those cites, and the surrounding cities as well, completely and entirely due to their gross sin against him. Well, God has been upset with the circumstances of which Israel has so definitively and repeatedly rebelled against him. And he has given them over to their sin. We are going to see more on this subject in Romans chapter 11.
Finishing up Romans chapter 9: “What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
In Israel’s case, as we all are familiar with, Jesus Christ has become the problem for them. He came to the earth and was their Messiah. Yet, they have rejected him as he was not the type of Messiah they were looking for. He didn’t immediately reign as king and bring the Jews wealth and prosperity. He was not of the noble crowd. For them, Jesus is the rock of offense—he is the stumbling stone. Besides, the Jews want to be justified in and of themselves. They do not want to count on the righteousness of another in order to be saved. They believe they are the ones who are righteous before God. Bring to mind the conversation between the Jews of Jesus’ day and himself, in John chapter 8. It says of the Jews, “They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father” (John 8:33-38, ESV). Notice Jesus cuts straight to the heart. He bypasses the Jewish situation altogether and goes to the subject of sin.
Let’s not only consider Israel since church members can do this too. Church-going individuals can believe that they are righteous before God and each other because of good works that they do, things they perform for God. They don’t base their righteousness before God on faith—that is faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for them which makes them righteous. Rather, they base their righteousness on mainly what they do not do—on the fact that they don’t do this, and they don’t do that, that they don’t do certain sins—that they abstain. They believe this earns them credit before God, that God is approving of them as they avoid this and that in the world. This is another way to stumble over the stumbling stone, to stumble over Jesus.
Realize too that taking pride in considering yourself unrighteous before God and thinking that you are personally awesome since you consider yourself unrighteous can also be a problem. It’s like the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, but in the reverse. Sometimes believers take pride in the fact they admit they are a great sinner, like the Pharisee in the parable took pride in the fact that he thought he was righteous. God isn’t just looking for a person who will recognize his sin, but one who while counting on Christ’s righteousness seeks to follow God as an outward act of counting on that righteousness, not one who says, “Oh, I’m too bad. I cannot do anything for God,” or one who says, “Yes, I’m awesome because I recognize how bad I truly am.” Personally, that last one has been so many times.
Therefore, anyone who is willing to recognize their need for a Savior can come into personal relationship with God today through Jesus Christ. Yes, that includes you today. Count on Jesus’ righteousness instead of your own. Confess your sins to God, and believe in Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the cross and resurrection from the dead. If you will do that, you can gain new, real life today. This includes anyone. Just tell God you want this.
-Daniel Litton