Election: A Survey of Romans 9:1-29
Author’s note: This blog post is part of an ongoing series about the book of Romans. To see other Romans resources, click here.
Paul was the apostle to the gentiles, and his ministry was uniquely directed toward non-Jewish people. Despite this, Paul was a Jew himself and he claimed to believe in the Hebrew Bible which spoke of the Jewish people as God’s covenant nation. In the first eight chapters of Romans, Paul has shown that there is ‘no distinction’ between Jews and gentiles. But all of this raises questions: Does Paul no longer care about the Hebrew people that he is part of? And how can God be faithful to his covenant people if he is now working primarily among gentiles rather than Jews?
Paul’s Grief over Hebrew Unbelief (9:1-5)
In chapter 9, Paul begins with an abrupt change of topic. He lets us into his internal struggle: an intense grief over the unbelief of his fellow Israelites. Lest anyone doubt his sincerity, he describes it in the most emphatic terms, calling on the Holy Spirit to back up his statement. Paul even claims that he ‘could wish’ to be accursed and ‘cut off from Christ’ for the Hebrew people. This is not something that Paul is actually desiring, because he is too theologically literate to consider it within the realm of possibility. He knows the story of Moses, who desired the same thing from God, only to learn that God would not grant it. Still, it shows the intensity of his affections for his native people.
What is heartbreaking about the Jews is that they are a divinely favored people who are squandering their unique spiritual blessings. Paul enumerates a list of six things that belong to them before he goes on to mention their ancestry and remind readers that the Messiah comes from them.
The six items listed in verse 4 go together in groups of two, based on the Greek words that Paul uses. The Israelites were blessed with “the adoption” and “the giving of the law.” This is a reference to the time of the Exodus, when God chose the people as his own covenant nation and gave them the Torah. They also have “the glory” and “the worship,” references to the unique form of worship which God instituted with Israel, including the Temple and the different regulations for how God was to be served. They also have “the covenants” and “the promises,” general references to the covenants which God made with the nation and the many promises he bestowed on them.
Then, of course, the nation has its favored ancestry. The Jews received unique promises and relationship with God. And finally, from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. Paul identifies this Christ as “God over all, blessed forever.” It’s a spectacular finish to a star-studded list that no other ethnicity could lay claim to. And it’s because of Israel’s unbelief in the face of all these blessings that Paul is heartbroken.
Clearly this is not a man who has given up on his people. Nor is he someone who is unaffected by their lostness. Paul functions as an exemplar of one who cares about the lost.
God’s Choice of Children of Promise (9:6-13)
All of this begs a question: has the word of God failed? Since God adopted the Hebrew people and gave promises to their forefathers (that they would be his people and He would be their God), then is God unfaithful to now be working among the gentiles, while Jewish people who reject him are being left to damnation? Such a question must be answered, because it makes us wonder if God is faithful to his promises.
Paul’s simple answer is that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” In short, not every ethnic Jew is part of God’s chosen people. Therefore, we can’t accuse God of injustice because he is not saving every ethnic Jew.
This is illustrated by two pairs of figures from Jewish history. Both of these pairs show that God chooses some, but not others, to be included within his covenant people. This illustrates, as Madsen says, that “the history of Israel is the history of forks in the road, where God keeps choosing, choosing, choosing.”
The first pair is Isaac and Ishmael. Paul points out that Isaac was chosen rather than Ishmael, showing that not everyone who is descended from Abraham is included in God’s promise. He quotes from Genesis 21:12 (in verse 7) and Genesis 18:10 and 14 (in verse 9).
If this illustration doesn’t make the point, Paul then turns to an even more persuasive pair of people: Jacob and Esau. Before pointing out their differences, Paul points out their similarities: they are both the products of Rebekah’s conception by one man, Isaac. In this way there is nothing to distinguish them. Further, God’s choice happens “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad.” All of this is to show that God’s choice (his ‘election’) is “not because of works but because of him who calls.” They literally play no part in the choice.
God’s choice, however, sets these two men on radically different paths. Prior to their birth, God chooses the one over the other, as Paul notes from Genesis 25:23 (quoted in verse 12). This is confirmed, generations and centuries later, in Malachi 1:2-3 (quoted in verse 13).
We must be careful not to undercut the full shock of what Paul is affirming. God did not say that he loved Jacob more, and Esau less. Instead, God actually ‘hated’ Esau, and this hatred was so strong that fifteen hundred years later, in the time of Malachi, the Edomites (descendants of Esau) were still suffering God’s wrath, such that he had “laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert” (Malachi 1:3)
God’s Justice and Mercy (9:14-18)
What Paul is saying causes many people to step back. “Is there injustice on God’s part?” This is a natural question when we learn that God has chosen certain individuals for salvation and others for damnation. We may respond emotionally by saying this is ‘unjust.’ Yet Paul counters strongly. “By no means!”
His justification for God’s actions comes from Exodus 33:19. This is the passage where God declares his name to Moses and grants Moses to see his glory. In other words, Paul is referring to the very nature and essence of God to back up this claim.
The argument itself is simple: God has complete freedom to be gracious and to show mercy on whomever he wills. What is noticeably absent from this verse is any reference to his withholding of mercy or grace. Why? Because the absence of mercy is the baseline. God’s justice is the baseline; God’s mercy is additional. Like a presidential pardon, no one deserves anything more than strict justice (which means damnation because of our sins). But God is free to be merciful to those to whom he wishes to bestow mercy.
From here, Paul refers to Pharaoh as another example to back up his point. This is an interesting choice, since Pharaoh is not an example of someone who receives God’s mercy. Instead, Pharaoh is noted because God’s power hardens him in order to aid the salvation of God’s people. In other words, God’s power is at work in the elect to save them, and in the damned to help affect the salvation of the elect.
To understand Pharaoh, we have to remember Romans 1-3. All people are naturally dead in sin, dishonoring God and willfully evil. Hence, when God hardens Pharaoh, he is not taking an innocent man and causing him to be hard-hearted. He is taking a sinful man and hardening him in that sin. Pharaoh’s rejection of God is confirmed by God through the process of hardening. This reminds us of the way in which God’s wrath is revealed in Romans 1— by letting people run farther and faster into their natural sin.
And so, in both the positive and the negative, we see that “he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”
God’s Absolute Sovereignty (9:19-23)
By this point, some may be tempted to cry out “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” In other words, “How can God condemn people to hell if they were not among the elect and they aren’t able to do anything to gain his favor?”
The apostle responds sharply to this criticism. He retorts by accusing such a person of ‘talking back’ to God, for that is the idea of the word “answer back” that he uses. In other words, Paul does not view this as a mere intellectual objection. Instead it is a glimpse of human rebellion flashing to the surface for a moment in a quarrelsome protest against God. Paul’s implicit response to this is “diagnose yourself: your pride and desire to be like God is what is causing you to quibble with the Almighty’s perfect plans.” In short, Paul roots this objection in human pride.
Nonetheless, he still provides several answers to this question. In vv. 20-21 he refers to the potter, an example drawn from Isaiah (chapters 29 and 64) and Jeremiah (chapter 18). His point is that since God is sovereign, he has the right to run the world as he desires.
Another justification which Paul gives is that God is running the world in this way in order to magnify his own mercy, for his own glory. Philosophically, this makes sense: God being the greatest being, it is his duty to highlight the greatest goodness—himself. Hence, God is running the universe in a philosophically consistent way. Of course, Paul does not describe this philosophical undercurrent in verses 22-23, but he does show that by enduring the vessels of wrath, God is underlining, highlighting, and starring his own mercy – making it stand out around the damnation which surrounds it.
In verse 24, Paul will provide another justification: it is in this way that he is accomplishing his multi-ethnic purposes of grace, since the hardening of Israel is creating a gentile contingent of believers. We will flesh this out in the section below.
Before moving on, it is useful to point out another Pauline response to this question, although it is not verbalized by Paul at this moment. Instead it is implicit in Paul’s teaching throughout the book of Romans this far. In modern philosophical terms, Paul is a compatibilist. He believes that divine sovereignty and human responsibility are compatible and not logically contradictory. The apostle does not try to explain how the two work together, but he clearly believes both concepts. Time and again Paul has indicated that God’s grace is available to all who believe in Jesus. His ministry was characterized by ‘persuading’ men to believe. Paul never thought of humans as automatons or unable to make morally significant decisions, and yet he still holds to an Old Testament framework where “the king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he wills” (Proverbs 21:1).
God’s Choice of Jews and Gentiles (9:24-29)
In verses 24-29 Paul continues the theme of justification of God’s election, arguing that God’s choice results in the creation of a multiethnic community. The emphasis in these verses is the inclusion of the gentiles.
God’s mercy is on display because the very people that God had previously thrown out of the house and locked the door on, the very people whom he gave the pejorative title ‘not my people’ and ‘no mercy’ (in Hosea 2:23 and 1:10), are now being invited into God’s home and made part of his family.
Israel, on the other hand, is mostly excluded from this outpouring of God’s grace. The purpose of the quotation in verses 27-28 (from Isaiah 10:22-23) is to highlight how few of Israel are being saved: “only a remnant.” This is in accordance with God’s purpose, which is always accomplished thoroughly and effectively. In other words, God has kept his promise about saving the remnant, and only a remnant. Indeed, if it were not for this gracious remnant, there would not be any believing Jews at all (quoting Isaiah 1:9)!
In summary, then, Paul argues that God is faithful to keep his promises throughout salvation history, even if a great number of Jews are currently unbelieving. God is not unfair to elect some rather than others, because he is sovereign and he is doing this to reveal his character.
But, as Paul will go on to argue, God is still working with the Jewish people.
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