Is There Unrighteousness With God? Romans 9:14-18

IS THERE UNRIGHTEOUSNESS WITH GOD?

Last week we looked at God sovereignly will save those who he has chosen. Israel who were given the promises of God have rejected the Jesus Christ as their Messiah (promised savior), but that didn’t mean that God’s promises had failed. Paul shows that not all those who claimed to be Israel were of Israel. Israel felt that since they were God’s chosen people who were descendants of Abraham all of them would be guaranteed salvation. Paul points out that not all of Abraham’s descendants received the promise, Ishmael and Keturah’s children didn’t receive the promise, God chose that Isaac would receive the promise (Rom 9:7-9). The same holds true with Isaac and Rebekah’s twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Long before Jacob had stolen his brother’s birthright, and before Esau’s plan to kill his brother for what he did, God sovereignly chose Jacob (whom he loved) over Esau (whom he hated) before these twins were born and not having done any good or evil.

Paul now defends against those who would then say that God is unrighteous or unjust because He sovereignly chooses people apart from works and before people are born.

Romans 9:14 “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!”

God was not unrighteous for choosing Jacob and and rejecting Esau apart from works. God is just in all of his dealings with humanity (Gen 18:25; Ps 119:137; Jer 9:23, 24).

Paul then gives an explanation why God is not unrighteous by choosing one over the other in the next verse.

Romans 9:15 “For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion”” (Ex 33:19).

God is sovereign and he has the freedom to determine to have mercy on whoever he wants and compassion on whoever he wants. He has every right to choose have mercy on some people and to reject others.

In fact, the truth of the matter is that nobody deserves God’s mercy. God choice of Isaac over Ishmael, and Jacob over Esau was by God’s mercy. Paul’s argument is not that God rejected Ishmael and Esau, but that he chose Isaac and Jacob to begin with since they didn’t do anything to deserve his mercy and grace. God would be just to send all us to hell because of our sins. But because of His mercy and grace He chose to save us through His Son Jesus Christ.

Romans 9:16 “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” God’s mercy is not determined by what anyone does. There is no amount of effort that a person can muster up to earn God’s mercy of salvation. Not by the will of man (so much for free will). Humanity’s will is constrained to their fallen sinful nature, they will reject God and Christ, they will harden their hearts until the day of judgment, But it is by the will of God who shows mercy to save those who He has chosen. God alone chooses and draws those to Jesus for salvation (John 6:37, 44). God mercy and grace of Salvation is by His grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, not by any works.

Paul continues to prove that God is sovereign over those he chooses for judgment and mercy.

Romans 9:17 “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth”” (Ex 9:16).

God raised Pharaoh to be the king of Egypt for His purpose. In God’s providence “He removes kings and establishes kings (Dan 2:21; 4:17).

God raised Pharaoh to power so that God’s power would be revealed, by bringing down Pharaoh and his mighty Egyptian army in judgment, and by His mercy in delivering His chosen people Israel, so that His name would be declared to all the inhabitants of the earth.

Romans 9:18 “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”

Paul points out that God will have mercy on those who He wants to, and he hardens people’s hearts as He chooses. Such as the case of Moses and the Israelites, Moses had a sin nature, as a sinner he had committed murder, but God chose to extend mercy to him, the Israelites had rebelled against God, but chose to extend mercy to them when he saved them from their bondage in Egypt. On the other hand it was God’s will to harden Pharaohs heart.

When God spoke to Moses He had predicted that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart in the future (Ex 4:21; 7:3).

Pharaoh had a sin nature and his heart was already harden as a sinner. When he rebelled against the word of God and refused to free Israel he continued to harden his own heart (cf. Exod 7:13–14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34–35), before God is said to have hardened it (Ex 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8).

God’s first hardening came after boils the sixth plague (Ex. 9:12). Pharaoh hardened his own heart six times by his refusals. Then later he hardened it again in response to Hail the seventh plague, and God hardened his heart after each of plagues 8–10.

God’s hardening the heart of Pharaoh is him sovereignly removing his divine restraints from Pharaoh and allowing him to do what his sinful harden heart wanted to do in the first place. God gave him up over to his own sinful inclinations, just as he did with wicked in Romans 1. No where in Scripture do you find God hardening anyone who had not first harden themselves (Deut. 2:30; Josh. 11:20; John 12:40).

God is sovereign in his choosing to harden people’s heart. Well, some will say God is at fault for them to do evil. James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

God Himself cannot do evil and cannot be blamed for evil even though it is part of His sovereign decree.

Each person are responsible for their actions. James 1:14–15 “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

Therefore, there is no unrighteousness in God.