The Inscrutable God of All Things

The climax of Romans’ theology

It’s been a while since we continued our series on Paul’s letter to the Romans, and today we finally come to the theological climax of Romans. Chapters 9 to 11 conclude Paul’s great theological presentation, and from chapter 12 he moves into the application section of his letter.

How does Paul conclude? What great conclusion has he been moving towards?

I think it’s helpful to consider Paul’s final words of theology:

Romans 11:33–36 ESV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

This seems a strange conclusion: “God is too big for us to understand.” I don’t know about you, but I would rather have a more positive conclusion than “God is mysterious.”

I was struck by the word the English Standard Version uses about God’s ways here: “inscrutable.” The original Greek it translates means “not able to be tracked.” We cannot follow in God’s footsteps because his ways are so far above our own that we can’t keep up with him. God is infinite and we are finite and we cannot expect to comprehend him.

This doesn’t mean that God is unknowable, but knowing God is not like knowing calculus or how to ride a bike. We cannot master God. He is personal, and we know him in the same way we know any person—by being with them. Through these mysteries we are about to explore, remember that we encounter God as a person.

So, why would Paul end on this mysterious note? Let’s go back to chapter nine to figure it out. But first, let’s refresh ourselves on what Paul has told the Romans so far.

Romans so far

Terminology

Let’s do a quick refresh on the words Paul uses.

Remember that when Paul speaks of Jews, he is referring to God’s chosen people, descended from Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. Paul sometimes calls the Jews “Israel.”

When Paul speaks of gentiles, he means all the people who are not decendants of Jacob, people who are not originally part of God’s chosen people.

When Paul talks about the law, he means the Law of Moses, which is the law God gave to the people of Israel—you can read it for yourself in the first five books of the Bible.

Sin is a major topic of Romans, and it is both the action of rebelling against God (disobeying him) and the state of being in rebellion against God.

Paul also talks a lot about faith, but I won’t define that yet, because our passage addresses it.

Overview

Now, Paul summarises his letter to the Romans in his introduction.

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Paul wants the Roman church to understand the gospel—the good news of salvation—especially in the context of the tension between Jew and gentile. Why is it important for Christians to be thinking about the difference between Jews and gentiles? Because there are only three different attitudes to God: complete rebellion (which the majority of the world engages in), trying to work your way to God (represented by Israel), and via faith in Jesus’ work. Paul’s argument is that the only means of salvation is faith.

Paul unpacks this by describing how completely lost the people of the world start out as, gentile and Jew. When the first human being, Adam, rebelled against God, the whole world was cast into rebellion, sin. The inevitable consequences of sin is death, and so all people are now condemned to death. We need saving. The Law of Moses, which God gave to his chosen nation of Israel, turns out to do nothing but provoke our sinful nature on to greater sinfulness. The righteous Law simply shows us how to rebel against God in more hurtful ways. We cannot work our way back to God and life.

Fortunately for us, God knows this, and rescued us by sending his son, Jesus, to die for our sins. We can claim this free gift through faith, and faith alone. There is nothing we can do to restore ourselves into right relationship with God. Faith is not a new thing, however, but something that has always worked to put people right with God. God treated Abraham as righteous, not because of his works, but because of his faith. So both Jews (who descend from Abraham according to the law and nature) and gentiles (who share Abraham’s faith) are the children of God’s promise to Abraham.

So we have a choice: we can stay lost in our sin, trying to please God but only able to disobey him, or we can give our hearts to Jesus and live under the power of his Holy Spirit, who sets us free from sin. We can choose to be slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness. God offers us the opportunity to become his adopted children, joint heirs of his kingdom along with his son, Jesus. What an amazing offer! The whole of creation looks forward to joining us in being renewed to live eternally with God. And while we wait, nothing can separate us from God—we are secure in his hand.

And now the conclusion.

God is in control

Romans 9:1–5 ESV

1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Israel’s relationship with God has been a major theme in Romans, and now Paul reveals his deep anguish for his people. Despite all that God has given them, they have rejected him. Instead of accepting the death of God’s son as payment for their sins, they insist on trying to work their way into God’s graces, which is impossible.

What will happen to the people of Israel? Has God’s great salvation plan simply dumped them into the “too hard” basket, thrown them out with the rubbish?

Romans 9:6–8 ESV

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.

Paul takes hope in the reality that Israel is not simply the result of nature, but rather of God’s soveriegn choice. He describes how God chose Isaac over Ishmael before either was born, and then chose Jacob over Esau while they were still in the womb. God chose his people—it wasn’t them who chose him.

But...

Romans 9:14–23 NLT

14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. 17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. 19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” 20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.

Woah! That is a tough thing for us to hear, isn’t it!

It’s hard for any human being to hear how God is actually in charge, because it strikes at the very heart of our sinful nature: we want to be in charge. Indeed, we think, we deserve to be in charge.

But the reality is, when finite beings like us put ourselves in control, disaster is guaranteed. Even if we had the best of motives, our limited perspective will result in inevitable conflict and chaos. And, when you understand that, you can see how the attitude that “I must be in control” comes from a very ugly place—a place of radical selfishness. Even people that appear to be doing good works, if they are guided by their own wisdom, will cause immense pain further down the road. We look back at our ancestors and judge them, but at the time many thought they were doing the right thing. Without God’s perspective we will never be able to do something truly good, except by accident (and can we count an accident as good?). In fact, it is only God’s ongoing grace, what we call his providential grace which he works throughout the entire world, which makes this place livable.

When we realise that all the good things we have in our life—our jobs, our kids, our homes, our nation, and so on—come from God, then can we begin to understand. Just as Pharoah’s position as leader of Egypt was a gift from God, not something that he earned or deserved, and God could use Pharaoh as he desired, so too for us.

I did not earn my place in my Christian family, which led to my faith in Christ. I did not learn the ability to think and reason that God gave me which allowed me to do well at school. I did not earn my place in Australia, which allowed me to study at Uni and get a great job. I did not earn the relationships that allowed me to travel overseas to great job opportunities. I did not earn the dot-com boom that saw our company successful, and on and on. My life is a blessing from God, not just my life itself, but the details of my life, too. The same is true for all of us.

Peace

When we understand that it is not our striving that gains us anything, but rather God’s gifts, we can relax. We can be at peace, because we know that God cares for his creation, and especially for us human beings. We can simply ask God for his love and blessings and accept that he is giving us what is best for us.

Sometimes that’s harder to do than at others. In the last twelve months I have had the joy of being part of four weddings. I’m grateful for that. I have also had my father die, the first of my cousins die, and very soon my best friend since grade three will leave this world. That, too, is from God. And because of that, I can be at peace with that.

Fatalism

So, we can take encouragement from the idea that God is completely in control of the world—he has not failed Israel, he will not fail anyone.

But there is a problem—if God is in control, what do we have to contribute? Why shouldn’t we just sit back and let God do whatever he wills. We see this attitude emerge within Islam, because of the sovereignty of Allah, and so almost every declaration ends with inshallah, “if God wills.” This can lead to a sense of fatalism: it doesn’t matter what I do, God’s will is going to be done, anyway, so I’ll do nothing. A similar attitude is the result of radical atheism, which leads to nihilism.

Within Christianity, hyper-Calvinism struggles with this. But, generally, it is rare for Christians to succumb to fatalism. Why?

Everyone who believes

Because God’s sovereignty is not the only perspective that is available to us.

In chapter 10, Paul turns to the other great perspective of Christianity: the perspective of our belief.

Romans 10:5–13 ESV

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

While Israel got stuck on the idea that they could work their way to God, which was never going to succeed, God was preparing in them a new way: the way of faith. We can never work our way up to heaven (as Paul says, “to bring Christ down”), and nor can we reach into the world of the dead (“to bring Christ up from the dead”). Rather, God has already done everything necessary for our rescue, all we need do is to accept the ride. How do we do that?

Paul quotes from Deuteronomy, saying that “the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” Accepting God’s rescue doesn’t require something of us that we don’t have, or that we can’t reach. Salvation is right there, ready to be seized.

How do we seize it? When you “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That sounds pretty simple, right? And that’s the point: it is simple. God has done the work. We don’t have to.

There is no special formula to confessing Jesus as Lord. It is simply an outward, public expression of our heart belief in God’s work of salvation. Of course, if we truly believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection has set us free from sin, we are not going to be able to stop declaring that Jesus is Lord. That’s the point.

This perspective takes into account God’s sovereignty—we cannot save ourselves—but it also recognises that we have a part to play—we must believe, and believing confess. We must each make a choice; all of us, regardless of our ancestry. As the saying goes, “God has no grandchildren.”

But there is an even greater part for us to play in God’s salvation plan, beyond simple belief and confession. Paul assures us that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Which raises the question:

Romans 10:14–17 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Is Paul placing a burden on us, as Christians, to share the gospel? Yes, he is. For if we don’t share the gospel, people won’t be able to respond by placing their faith in Christ, and so will remain lost.

God has chosen to make those of us who accept Jesus as Lord, what we call the church, key to his plan to save the world. Rather than simply informing everyone directly of how they can be saved, God has given that task to the church. Paul himself is one of the great founders of that task as the apostle to the gentiles. We continue his work today.

Of course, we do not transform people’s hearts from stone to flesh—the Holy Spirit does that. Sometimes, in places where the preaching of the good news is outlawed, the Holy Spirit even gives people dreams and visions that draw them to God. Nonetheless, he still uses Christians to share God’s word by smuggling Bibles, or holding secret meetings, or talking privately.

Our activity, our choices and labours, are a key part of God’s own work of salvation.

The great paradox

But doesn’t this create a paradox? Isn’t God in control? How then can we choose whether to believe in him, or even whether to share the good news about him? How can we make a difference?

Paul doesn’t even try to resolve this paradox. He simply lets it be. But down through the centuries, theologians have not been satisfied with that, of course.

There have been at least three solutions to this paradox offered. Let me briefly introduce them.

Reformed theology

Reformed theology is based on the sophisticated theology of the early sixteenth century Genevan reformer, John Calvin. It focuses on God’s sovereignty—God’s choice of human salvation from before the beginning of the world—and resolves the conflict with human choice by insisting that human choices will always be “compatible” with God’s will.

For Reformed believers, this seems like a good solution, but for many Christians, the Bible’s constant insistence on holding people entirely responsible for their choice to obey or disobey God, this answer seems too pat.

Arminian theology

One influential attempt to clarify Calvin’s apparent failures in this regard was made by the late sixteenth century scholar Jacob Arminius. Arminius argued that God’s choice of the elect—those whom he saves—was based on his foreknowledge of who would choose to obey him. This places human free choice at the centre of God’s salvation plan, and fits with the Bible’s general perspective on human moral responsibility and choice.

However, to achieve this, Arminius, and therefore Arminian theology, must limit Paul’s teaching of God’s sovereignty somehow—Arminius taught that Paul’s explanation of God’s choice of Jacob over Esau, for example, was talking about Jacob as a “type” rather than an actual individual human being.

Molinism

The late sixteenth century Jesuit Luis de Molina was an ally of Arminius, and he offered a third approach, which has evolved into an approach called “Molinism.” This approach involves something called God’s “middle knowledge” which allows him to see what could be, and so create a world full of human beings who have freely chosen for or against him, while at the same time ensure that his great purposes are fully worked out exactly as he wills.

Confused? Yes, this is the most difficult and speculative of the approaches, and that is its great flaw.

Mystery

There is one final approach, and that is to simply leave this paradox as a mystery. Because Christian theology is dealing with an infinite God who transcends our own world to an extent that we can never comprehend, it is full of mysteries and apparent conflicts which we must hold in tension.

Why can’t this be one of them?

A non-anxious presence

However we resolve this, it is important to be aware of the consequences of believing both that God is in control, and that we have a say in our future.

As I already explained, recognising God’s sovereignty gives us a sense of peace, but if we have no input, that peace can become fatalistic. With our free choice to worship a God who is in control, we find ourselves able to be what rabbi Edwin H. Friedman called a “non-anxious presence.” We are able to avoid anxiety because we know that God is in control. And we value presence or relationship because we recognise that God has called us to speak into people’s lives the good news of Christ.

The big picture of salvation history

Paul concludes the theology of the letter to the Romans by reflecting on the destiny of Israel. For Paul, God’s actions are not the result of some abstract principals. Rather, they are the result of relationships. So when Paul talks about the big picture of God’s work to save humanity, he doesn’t see it abstractly. Rather he sees it as a living complex of relationships, which he represents as an olive tree. God’s originally chosen people, Israel, are the root of the olive tree.

Romans 11:17–23 ESV

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

As individualistic Westerners, we tend to see our relationship with God as one-to-one. I (regardless of my race, sex, intelligence, class, etc.) have a relationship of love with God. So when we think of the big picture, we tend to think of a cloud of many individuals who all have that sort of relationship with God.

Paul, on the other hand, is more in touch with how humanity really works. We are part of something bigger than ourselves. And that’s why Paul has these images of branches (groups, maybe nations of gentiles) being grafted into the foundational tree of the nation of Israel. While people within larger relational groupings do make individual decisions about whether to give their lives to God, those larger groups are still discernable within God’s great plan of salvation.

Israel’s destiny

This is what helps Paul be sure of Israel’s destiny, though it lies far in the future.

Romans 11:29–32 ESV

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

God still has a relationship with the nation of Israel—his calling has not been revoked. Even though God used the rebellion of Israel to open up his salvation plan to the gentiles, he will in future graft them back into his plan using the same means of faith that he used for us: faith in Jesus. After all, as Paul constantly reminds his readers, everyone has sinned, and this means that God’s mercy is necessary for, and available to all.

Every person is in desperate need of Jesus’ blood, and everyone can receive it if they just have faith. That is the gospel.

Conclusion: God is beyond us yet available to us

And so we come back to Paul’s joyous conclusion, recognising God’s transcendance and wondrous nature.

Romans 11:36 ESV

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

You might wonder how we can join Paul in this joy. You might be puzzling out how you can share Paul’s drive to share the good news of salvation.

There are, of course, lots of resources. But the greatest resource of all is God himself. Remember that God is personal, and you come to know him by being in his presence. Of course, that leads directly to the question: how do I spend time with God?

One of the extraordinary things about Christianity is how much we can do privately. But there are two particularly potent ways to spend time with God which Burleigh Church is offering right now.

One is prayer, spending time talking with God, bringing yourself before him and recognising his sovreignty, your love for him, and our shared desire to rescue the world. Burleigh is participating in the 24-7 Prayer Global Week of Prayer, which is a worldwide, week long opportunity for the church around the world to join together in sustained prayer. I mentioned before how as individualistic Westerners it can be hard for us to understand how we are anything more than merely a vague cloud of individuals all connected to God. But God sees us connected in so many ways, and this global week of prayer is an opportunity for that connection to go global by connecting us all to God in a very real and immediate way.

To sign up you can use the PC at the back entrance to the auditorium, or you can talk to Mable, Lynne, or Carol.

The second way to spend time with God is to soak in his presence in his word, the Bible. God’s word given to us in the Bible is an incredible gift. It’s objective, apart from ourselves, and yet also personal, speaking directly to our hearts. The Holy Spirit illuminates God’s word when we read it with him, but we can also grow in training and skill to read the word more effectively. Burleigh Church has a Monday night class called “Foundations of Christianity” that teaches that skill, and you can join in person here at 7:30PM tomorrow night, or online on teams. Talk to me or Graham afterwards.

God has given us the wonderful responsibility to be his hands and feet, his mouth and ears in this world. Let’s joyfully join him in his great rescue plan.

Let’s pray,

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of you, God! How unsearchable are your judgments and how inscrutable your ways! “For who has known your mind, oh Lord, or who has been your counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to you that he might be repaid?” For from you and through you and to you are all things. To you be glory forever. Amen.