God's Will Part 23
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Romans 9:6-8 .
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 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.
Why would Paul’s audience think that God had failed in regards to the people of Israel?
It is because the majority of Israel had rejected the Messiah and were persecuting the church, composed of both Jews and Greeks.
What distinction is Paul making between these two Israels?
He is stating that there is an ethnic Israel - one from fleshly decent, and there is a spiritually ethnic Israel. Heritage is not enough. Israelis must place their faith in God, which is by his choice.
What does Paul mean by children of the promise?
Paul is referencing the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 15
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Does anyone know how many sons Abraham ended up having?
He had eight sons; Isaac, Ishbak, Ishmael, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Shuah, Zimran.
Which of these sons did God choose to be the child of promise?
He chose Isaac, contrary to the Muslim claim that he chose Ishmael. Also, it is misinformation that Arabs, or the Muslim faith, came from Abraham through Ishmael. For the journal article that details that, scan this QR code.
Romans 9:10-13 .
10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
11 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—
12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Paul quotes two OT passages to further emphasis God’s choice in singling out Jacob over Esau.
The first is Genesis 25:21-23, which illustrates God’s choice before they are even born when he says, “the older will serve the younger”.
The second is Malachi 1:1-4, which drives God’s choice of Jacob, who is later named Israel, and his rejection of Esau, whose descendants become Edom, which the LORD destroys in judgement.
Why do you think we struggle with the idea of God hating or rejecting an individual?
How does this example illustrate God’s sovereign choice?
Romans 9:14-18 .
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
17 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.”
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
What governs God’s choice in choosing Israelis or Gentiles?
His compassion and mercy governs that choice. If these were not governing his choice, he would not choose anyone. We must remember Romans 6:23.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is the state of the human heart without the intervention of the Spirit of God?
Without the work of the Spirit, man’s heart is hard against God.
Why do you think we struggle with the idea of God exercising sovereign choice?
It is the slow creep of our society’s ideas of the condition of humanity and personal autonomy.
We all know the condition of humanity without the work of Christ. We are dead in our trespasses and sins.
I think personal autonomy is a little less recognized. Immanuel Kant was instrumental in forming western philosophy and theology. He defines autonomy of the will as “the faculty that the will possesses of being its own lawgiver, of being itself, by its own nature, the source and substance of the moral law, the moral law itself. (Eugène Ehrhardt, “Autonomy,” ed. James Hastings, John A. Selbie, and Louis H. Gray, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics (Edinburgh; New York: T. & T. Clark; Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908–1926), 256.)
Is this the kind of will that Paul presents in his letters according to Galatians 5:1, 13?
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
No. Scripture does not present autonomy of the will. It presents that the will is either in bondage to sin and serving the devil, or the will is set free from sin to serve God through loving one another.
God is the source of morality and the source of our wills pursuing him. We have choice, but it is not independent of God’s choice, from Scripture’s perspective. The teaching of Kant has crept in and affected our interpretation of Scripture. We need to continue to be aware of the lenses that are influencing our understanding.
Next week we will discuss God’s will and moral culpability.
I pray that we are able to rest in God’s choice expressed to us in his compassion and mercy, finding peace in his work through even bad things going on in our lives.
