Israel's Election

Romans 9 and the Nation of Israel Continued

I started to elaborate on how it is important to look at the references that Paul is using in Romans 9 to fully understand what exactly he is trying to communicate. In this way we can let scripture speak for itself. There is no better commentary for scripture than scripture itself. I focused on two key passages Romans 9:13 quoting Malachi 1:3 and Romans 9:12 quoting Genesis 25:23. I now am looking at the other quotes in Romans 9.

Romans 9:7 CSB

Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac.

The statement “your offspring will be traced through Isaac” is a clear focus on Israel. Isaac is inheriting the promised covenant that God has given to Abraham.

Genesis 21:11–13 CSB

This was very distressing to Abraham because of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac, and I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”

Sarah asked Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham was understandably distressed by this request. However, God was going to use this for good. Notice the quote your offspring will be traced through Isaac. This is a reminder to Abraham about God’s promises (Genesis 15:4-6). It is a promise to Abraham that is repeated multiple times in Genesis (Genesis 12:7, 15:18, 17:8, 24:7). On each occasion the promise was related to Israel not individually to Isaac.

Also notice that God is fulfilling his promise to Abraham by saying Ishmael will be a nation as well (Genesis 21:13). So this quote is dealing with Israel and decedents of Ishmael. Interestingly Ishmaelites are often associated with Arabs and even the Islamic religion considers Ishmael a patriarch of their religion.

The next quote is when God and angels visit Abraham and Sarah before she is pregnant with Isaac (Romans 9:9 and Genesis 18:10-15). This particular quote is dealing with the promise of Isaac. It focuses on the fact that Sarah was in disbelief that she could have a child of her own. She had been through menopause and recognized that she would never have children. And so when God said that she would have a baby she laughed.

We move forward to Moses with the next quote. In this quote he is referencing when Moses asked to see God’s face.

Exodus 33:18–20 CSB

Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.” He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.”

The graciousness was Three fold. God was promising that the goodness of His presence and rest (Exodus 33:13-17). God was also protecting Moses from His consuming glory (Exodus 33:20). Specifically notice the larger context of this quote. Moses in not asking for favor on himself alone he also is asking for God’s grace toward the nation of Israel (Exodus 33:13). He is interceding for the nation (Exodus 32:30-33). God has already promised to care for Moses, but Moses wants God to show grace (undeserving) to Israel. It also is interesting that the the renewal of the law covenant immediately follows in Exodus 34:1-10. Even in this case though the covenant is with the nation of Israel (Exodus 34:10).

As mentioned in the previous blog posts it is important to understand the context of the quotes that Paul is using here to fully understand his intended meaning. There are several other quotes in Romans 9. One way to think about this in the modern sense is Paul is providing hyperlinks for us to explore. In the time of Paul giving a snip it of a quote was the same as providing a reference as I have in these posts. My intent is to give you the opportunity to go look these passages up. In the same way Paul is inviting us to look at the passages that he is quoting.

The only way to interpret that Paul is referring to saving election is to ignore the contexts of the verses that he is quoting and say Paul is not talking about Israel as a nation and that he is talking about individuals. Someone who holds to this view I would ask, “So is Paul proof texting the Old Testament?” When contemporary pastors string together a set of verses out of context to make a point in sermon we rightly criticize this. However, to take Romans 9 as evidence that God salvifically chooses some individuals and condemns other individuals is to believe that proof texting is OK if Paul is the one doing it.

Clearly I do not think that is Paul’s intent here. I believe that Paul’s focus in the part of the letter to the Roman church is on the election of the Nation of Israel as the nation of promise, covenant of the law, and the seed of salvation.