God's Will, Part 25
Notes
Transcript
Handout
It is God’s will to reveal his power in wrath and mercy, to display his glory to all peoples.
Romans 9:22-24 .
22 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,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
How do we know anything about God?
God, in his will, has chosen to reveal himself to us.
This revelation happens in two ways.
There is his natural revelation.
There is his special revelation.
What is meant by natural revelation?
What is meant by special revelation?
What kind of revelation is being made in Romans 9:22-29?
What is being revealed by God to us?
He is a God who wants to reveal himself.
He is a God who is patient.
He is a God of power.
He is a God of wrath.
He is a God of mercy.
He is a God who wants to display his glory to all peoples.
What value does mercy have without judgement?
Why does God have wrath?
Why does God have mercy?
Why is God patient?
Romans 9:25-26 .
25 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.’ ”
26 “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.’ ”
There is a struggle with Paul’s use of the OT. He seems to be using these passages from Hosea 1:10; 2:23 to make an argument for the inclusion of the Gentiles. These passages, in their context, are clearly about Israel being rejected by God and him accepting them back.
How is Paul getting away with using the OT Scripture out of context?
The simplest answer is that he is not focusing on the context, but emphasizing the play on words. God is making those who are not his people, his people, and those who are not beloved, beloved.
If Paul was focused on context, he might have quoted Isaiah 49:6.
6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Romans 9:27-29 .
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,
28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”
29 And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”
Where do vessels of wrath reside?
Where do vessels of mercy reside?
According to Paul, is God discriminating his wrath and mercy based on a people group?
What are some applications we can make from this passage?
