The Remnant of Israel: Romans 9:14-18-God Elected Israel By His Sovereign Grace Lesson # 4

In Romans 9:14, Paul begins the third paragraph and reverts back to his diatribe style by asking the rhetorical question.

Romans 9:14 Therefore, what is the conclusion that we are forced to? There is no unrighteousness with respect to the judgment of God (the Father), is there? Absolutely not! (My translation)

He poses this rhetorical question since he anticipates one of his readers coming to the erroneous conclusion that there is unrighteousness or injustice in the judgment of God.

This conclusion is based upon God’s dealings with contemporary unregenerate Israel (Romans 9:6) as well as His dealings in the past when He chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau to be members of His covenant people (Romans 9:7-13).

So in verse 14, Paul emphatically declares that there is no unrighteousness with respect to God’s judgment in rejecting unregenerate Israel in his day and accepting those Jews who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

Nor, was there unrighteousness in God’s judgment with respect to His dealings in the past when He chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau to be members of His covenant people.

In Romans 9:15, Paul supports this argument by presenting the basis for his statement in Romans 9:14 that God is never unfair, which is that God is sovereign and can be merciful and compassionate to whomever He desires.

In Paul’s day, God rejected unsaved Israel and accepted those Jews who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ because He is sovereign to do so and no one has any merit with God to start with.

Romans 9:15 Because, He says to Moses, “I will be gracious to whomever I choose to be gracious to and in addition I will be merciful to whomever I choose to be merciful to.” (My translation)

Then, in Romans 9:16, Paul teaches that experiencing God’s grace and mercy and thus eternal salvation is never dependent upon human desire or effort but rather it is based upon God’s grace policy, which would support his premise in Romans 9:6 and refute those who contend being a true Israelite is based upon racial heritage.

Romans 9:16 Therefore in fact, it is never dependent upon human desire or dependent upon human effort but rather dependent upon the One who is gracious, who is God. (My translation)

Next, in Romans 9:17, Paul cites Exodus 9:16, which records God’s confrontation with the unregenerate Pharaoh of Egypt to illustrate further his statements in Romans 9:14-17 that God is never unfair.

Romans 9:17 In fact, the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose, I raised you up in order that I myself may demonstrate My power through you and in addition that the reputation of the character and work of my Person may be proclaimed publicly everywhere throughout the entire earth.” (My translation)

In Romans 9:15-16, he viewed God’s sovereignty and righteousness in the positive sense but now in Romans 9:17 he views them from the negative side.

In this passage, Paul wants his readers to see the relationship that exists between God’s dealings with Pharaoh and His dealings with unregenerate Israel in his day.

In the same way that God was glorified among the Gentiles through Pharaoh’s disobedience in the past so in the same way in Paul’s day God was being glorified among the Gentiles through the nation of Israel’s disobedience to his gospel.

So in this passage Paul views God’s righteousness from the negative side to further illustrate why God is never unfair for rejecting those Jews in Paul’s day who rejected Jesus Christ as Savior as well for rejecting Ishmael and Esau.

In Paul’s day, God rejected unsaved Israel and accepted those Jews who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ because He is sovereign to do so.

However, we must qualify this by saying that those whom God rejected for rejecting His Son as Savior, God desired for them to be saved but they refused His offer of salvation in His Son and so God only rejects those who reject Him.

Therefore, grace and mercy was extended to all men, both Jew and Gentile on the basis that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross propitiated the Father’s holiness, which demanded that sin and sinners be the objects of His wrath, i.e. His righteousness indignation.

Thus, those who experienced the grace and mercy of God are those who accepted God’s free gift of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone and those who did not did not were those who rejected Christ as Savior.

Also, God was never unjust in the past when He chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau to be members of His covenant people because God is sovereign.

He chose to extend grace and mercy to Isaac and Jacob by making them members of His covenant people since He has that right to do so.

This is not to say that Ishmael and Esau were never extended grace and mercy in the sense that they could not get saved since God desires all men to be saved.

So God extended grace and mercy to these two but Isaac and Jacob not only received grace and mercy in the form of the offer of salvation but also they received it in the form of being made members of the covenant people of God.

Neither earned it or deserved it since no man has any merit with God.

Nor, did Ishmael and Esau not merit being chosen to be members of the covenant people of God.

Romans 9:18 closes the third paragraph and summarizes Romans 9:14-17 by teaching that God extends grace to whomever He chooses to extend mercy to and He hardens whomever He chooses to harden.

Romans 9:18 Therefore, in fact He does extend grace to whomever He does choose however on the other hand, He does harden whomever He does choose. (My translation)

Those whom He extends grace to are those sinners who appropriate His grace by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and those whom He hardens are those sinners who fail to appropriate His grace by rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior.

Thus, God is never unrighteousness in His dealings with sinners as Paul argues in Romans 9:14 and if so then He was certainly not unrighteousness when rejecting the nation of Israel for rejecting His Son Jesus Christ as Savior.

Neither is He unrighteous or unjust in exercising His wrath towards unregenerate Israel, nor is He unrighteous or unjust for exercising grace in the form of the forgiveness of sins towards those who Jews who accept His Son as Savior.