GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED
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The purpose of all of this blessing was that Jesus Christ, through Israel, might come into the world. (Note that Rom. 9:5 affirms that Jesus Christ is God.)
These blessings were given freely to Israel and no other nation.
But despite these blessings, Israel failed. When the Messiah appeared, Israel rejected Him and crucified Him. No one knew this better than Paul, because in his early days he persecuted the church. Does Israel's failure mean that God's Word has failed? (The Greek word translated "taken none effect" pictures a ship going off its course.) The answer is, "No! God is faithful no matter what people may do with His Word." Here Paul explains the basis for Israel's election.
It was not of natural descent (w. 6-10).
As we saw in Romans 2:25-29, there is a difference between the natural seed of Abraham and the spiritual children of Abraham. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael (by Hagar) and Isaac (by Sarah). Since Ishmael was the firstborn, he should have been chosen, but it was Isaac that God chose. Isaac and Rebecca had two sons, Esau and Jacob. As the firstborn, Esau should have been selected, but it was Jacob that God chose.
Esau and Jacob had the same father and mother, unlike Ishmael and Isaac, who had the same father but different mothers. God did not base His election on the physical. Therefore, if the nation of Israel —Abraham's physical descendants have rejected God’s son, this does not nullify God's elective purposes at all.
It is not of human merit (w. 11-13).
God chose Jacob before the babies were born. The two boys had done neither good nor evil, so God's choice was not based on their character or conduct.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
is a reference to
2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: Yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, And laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
and refers to nations (Israel and Edom) and not individual sinners.
God does not hate sinners John 3:16 makes it clear that He loves sinners. The statement here has to do with national election, not individual. Since God's election of Israel does not depend on human merit, their disobedience cannot nullify the purposes of God.
God is faithful even though His people are unfaithful.
God’s Righteousness Revealed - Romans 9:14-18
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
The fact that God chose one and not the other seems to indicate that He is unrighteous. "Is there unrighteousness with God?" Paul asked, and then he replied, "God forbid!" It is unthinkable that the holy God should ever commit an unrighteous act. Election is always totally a matter of grace. If God acted only based on righteousness, nobody would ever be saved.
Paul quoted Exodus 33:19 to show that God's mercy and compassion are extended according to God's will and not man's will.
All of us deserve condemnation —not mercy.
The reference in Exodus 33 deals with Israel's idolatry while Moses was on the mount receiving the law. The whole nation deserved to be destroyed, yet God killed only three thousand people because they were more wicked or less godly, but purely because of His grace and mercy.
Paul then quoted Exodus 9:16, using Pharaoh as an illustration.
Moses was a Jew; Pharaoh was a Gentile, yet both were sinners. Both were murderers! Both saw God's wonders. Yet Moses believed God and was saved, and Pharaoh did not believe God and remained lost. God raised up Pharaoh so that He might reveal His glory and power, and He had mercy on Moses so that He might use him to deliver the people of Israel.
Pharaoh was a POWERFUL ruler, and Moses was a LOWLY shepherd, yet it was Moses who experienced the mercy and compassion of God because God’s grace to save those of faith. God is sovereign in His work and acts according to His will and purposes.
So it was not a matter of righteousness but of the sovereign will of God.
God is holy and must punish sin, but God is loving and desires to save sinners. If everybody is saved, it would deny His holiness, but if everybody is lost, it would deny His love. The solution to the problem is God's sovereign grace.
God chose Israel and condemned Egypt because this was His sovereign purpose.
Nobody can blame God for the way He extends His mercy because God is righteous.
Before leaving this section, we need to discuss the "hardening" of Pharaoh (Rom. 9:18). This hardening process is referred to at least fifteen times in Exodus 7-14. Sometimes we are told that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex. 8:15, 19, 32), and other times that God hardened Pharaoh's heart (Ex. 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27). By declaring His Word and revealing His power, God allowed Pharaoh to repent, but instead, Pharaoh resisted God and hardened his heart. The fault lay not with God but with Pharaoh. The same sunlight that melts the ice also hardens the clay. God was not unrighteous in His dealings with Pharaoh because He gave him many opportunities to repent and believe.
God’s Justice Revealed - Romans 9:19-29
This fact of God's sovereign will creates a new problem: "If God is sovereign, who can resist Him? And if one does resist Him, what right does He have to judge?" This is the age-old question of God’s justice as He works in human history.
Most people graciously accepted the tracts, but one man took the tract, crumpled it up with a snarl, and threw it in the gutter. The name of the tract was "Four Things God Wants You to Know."
"There are a few things I would like God to know!" the man said.
"Why is there so much sorrow and tragedy in this world? Why do the innocent suffer while the rich go free? Bah! Don't tell me there's a God! If there is, God is the biggest villain ever lived."
We know that God, by nature, is perfectly just. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25). It is unthinkable that God would will an unjust purpose or perform an unfair act. But at times, it seems that he does just that. He had mercy on Moses but condemned Pharaoh. Is this just? He elected Israel and rejected the other nations. Is this just? Paul gives three answers to this charge.
(1) God’s Power Revealed (w. 19-21)?
Romans 9:19–29 (KJV 1900)
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
This is a logical argument. God is the Potter, and we are the clay. God is wiser than we are, and we are foolish to question His will or to resist it. (The reference here is to Isa. 45:9. To be sure, the clay has no life and is passive in the potter's hand. We have feelings, intellect, and willpower and can resist Him. (See Jeremiah 18, where this thought is developed.)
Neither Moses nor Pharaoh nor anyone else could choose his parents, his gene structure, or his time and place of birth. We have to believe that these matters are in the hands of God.
However, this does not excuse us from responsibility. Pharaoh had treated opportunities to learn about the true God and trust him, and he chose to rebel. Paul did not develop this aspect of truth because his theme was
Divine sovereignty, not human responsibility, the one does not deny the other, even though our finite minds may not fully grasp them.
(2) God’s Purposes Revealed (w. 22-24).
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
We must never think that God enjoyed watching a tyrant like Pharaoh. He endured it. God said to Moses, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people ... and have heard their cry .. for I know their sorrows" (Ex. 3:7).
The fact that God was long-suffering indicates that He gave Pharaoh opportunities to be saved (see 2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The word fitted in Romans 9.22 does not suggest that God made Pharaoh a "vessel of wrath." The verb is in Greek grammar call the middle voice, making it a reflexive action verb.
So, it should read: "fitted himself for destruction."
God prepares men for glory (Rom.9:23), but sinners prepare themselves for judgment.
In Moses and Isaac, God revealed the riches of His mercy; in Pharaoh and Egypt, He showed His power and wrath. Since neither deserved any mercy, God cannot be charged with injustice.
Ultimately, God's purpose was to form His church from Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 9:24). Believers today are, by God’s grace, “vessels of mercy" that He is preparing for glory, a truth that reminds us of Romans 8:29-30.
3. God’s Prophesy Revealed (w. 25-29).
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
First, Paul quoted Hosea 2:23, declaring that God would turn from the Jews and call the Gentiles. Then he cited Hosea 1:10 to prove that this new people being called would be God's people and sons of the living God." He then quoted Isaiah 10:22-25 to show that only a remnant of Israel would be saved, while the more significant part of the nation would suffer judgment. Romans 9228 probably refers to God's work of judgment during the tribulation, when the nation of Israel will be persecuted and judged, and only a tiny remnant is left to enter into the kingdom when Jesus Christ returns to earth.
But the application for today is precise: Only a remnant of Jews is believing. And they, together with the Gentiles, are the called of God (Rom. 9:24).
The final quotation from Isaiah 1:9 emphasizes the grace of God in sparing the believing remnant.
Now, what does all of this prove?
God was not unjust in saving some and judging others because He only fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies given centuries ago. He would be unfair if He did not keep His Word. But even more than that, these prophecies show that God's election has made the salvation of the Gentiles possible. This is the grace of God. In the Exodus, God rejected the Gentiles and chose the Jews so that, through the Jews, He might save the Gentiles. The nation of Israel rejected His will, but this did not defeat His purposes. A remnant of Jews believe that God's Word has been fulfilled.
So far, Paul has defended God’s character by demonstrating His faithfulness, righteousness, and justice. Israel's rejection did not cancel God's election; it only proved He was faithful to His character and purposes.
4. GOD's GRACE REVEALED
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Paul moved next from divine sovereignty to human responsibility. Paul did not say "elect" and " non-elect," but instead emphasized faith.
Here is a paradox: The Jews sought righteousness but did not find it, while the Gentiles, who were not searching for it, found it! The reason?
Israel tried to be saved by works and not by faith.
They rejected "grace righteousness” and tried to please God with "law righteousness." The Jews thought that the Gentiles had to come up to Israel's level to be saved, while the Jews had to go down to the level of the Gentiles to be saved. "For there is no difference for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:22-23).
Instead of permitting their religious privileges (Rom. 9:1-5) to lead them to Christ, they used these privileges as a substitute for Christ.
But see the grace of God: Israel's rejection means the Gentiles’ salvation.
Paul's final quotation was from Isaiah 28:16. It referred to Christ, God's Stone of Salvation (see Psalm 118:22). God gave Christ to be a Foundation Stone, but Israel rejected Him, and He became a stumbling stone. Instead of "rising" on this Stone, Israel fell (Rom. 11:11), but, as we shall see, their fall made possible the Gentiles’ salvation by God’s grace.
We need to decide what kind of righteousness we seek, whether depending on good works and character or trusting Christ alone for salvation. God does not save people based on birth or behavior. He saves them "by grace, through faith" (Eph. 2:8-9). It is not a question of whether or not we are among God's elect. That is a mystery known only to God. He offers us His salvation by faith. The offer is made to "whosoever will' (Rev. 22:17). After we have trusted Christ, then we have the witness and evidence that we are among His elect (Eph. 1:4-14; 1 Thess. 1:1-10).
But first, we must trust Him and receive by faith His righteousness, which alone can guarantee heaven.
No one will deny that many mysteries are connected with divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Nowhere does God ask us to choose between these two truths because they both come from God and are a part of God's plan. They do not compete; they cooperate. The fact that we cannot fully understand how they work together does not deny that they do.
But the main thrust of this chapter is clear: Israel's rejection of Christ does not deny the faithfulness of God. Romans 9 does not negate Romans 8.
God is still faithful, righteous, just, and gracious, and He can be depended on to accomplish His purposes and keep His promises.
