Overview of Romans 9
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday February 11, 2009
Romans: Overview of Romans Chapter Nine
Lesson # 290
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This evening we will present an overview of Romans chapter nine, which begins the fifth major section in the book of Romans that ends with chapter eleven.
In Romans 9-11, the apostle Paul teaches his readers that the righteousness of God is vindicated in His relationship to Israel.
Now, in Romans chapters 9-11, the apostle defended the righteousness of God in His dealings with the nation of Israel since the question arises that if God is for the elect and that nothing can separate them from God’s love as Paul says in chapter 8, then why has He set aside His chosen people, the Jews, the nation of Israel.
In this section, Paul attempts to explain God’s dealings with Jews as a vindication of His righteousness.
Paul does it by demonstrating through the Old Testament Scriptures that Israel’s rejection is related to the spiritual pride of the Jews (9,10), that Israel’s rejection is not complete because some are being saved (11), and that Israel’s rejection is not final because it will be reversed before the coming of the Lord (the end of chapter 11).
When approaching chapters 9-11, we must bear in mind that Paul is speaking of Israel in a corporate sense, as a nation rather than of individuals who compose the nation.
It appears that these chapters are an interruption or a parenthesis but rather they are a continuation of Paul’s argument for justification by faith.
In Romans 1-8, Paul presents the great spiritual truths or doctrines of the Christian faith and then in Romans 9-11, he demonstrates how these doctrines or spiritual truths apply to God’s dealings with Israel in the past, present and future.
In Romans nine Paul addresses primarily God’s dealings with Israel with regards to her past election whereas Romans ten addresses Israel’s present rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior and then in Romans 11, he teaches of the future restoration of the nation.
In chapter nine, he is defending the character of God by demonstrating that Israel’s past history actually magnified the attributes of God.
In this chapter, he mentions five attributes: (1) Sovereignty (2) Faithfulness (3) Justice (4) Mercy (5) Omnipotence.
In Romans 9-11, Paul addresses how the sovereign will of God co-exists in history with the volition of men and in particular the individuals who compose the nation of Israel.
In Romans 9:6-29, Paul teaches on God’s sovereign freedom whereas in Romans 9:30-10:21, he teaches that human beings are responsible for their decisions especially in relation to accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior.
In Romans 11, he instructs his readers that all God’s promises to the patriarchs of Israel and the nation itself will be fulfilled.
The teachings in these chapters make clear that the church and Israel are separate entities in the plan of God.
They make clear that the church is not Israel since God has yet to fulfill the four unconditional covenants to Israel.
Therefore, the teachings in these chapters are “dispensational.”
The essence of dispensationalism is the distinction between Israel and the Church.
This arises out of the dispensationalist’s consistent utilization of normal or plain interpretation.
Dispensationalism recognizes distinctions in God’s program in history.
A dispensation is a period of history where God has designed a particular plan for man and man is tested as to whether or not he will be obedient to that particular plan.
It is a stage in a progressive revelation, expressly adapted to the needs of a particular nation or period of time…also, the age or period during which a system has prevailed.
A dispensation is also a stewardship arrangement.
Ryrie, “A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the outworking of God’s purpose.” (Dispensationalism Today, page 29).
The dispensations are economies instituted and brought to their purposeful conclusion by God.
To summarize: (1) Dispensationalism views the world as a household run by God. (2) In this household-world God is dispensing or administering its affairs according to His own will and in various stages of revelation in the process of time. (3) These various stages mark off the distinguishably different economies in the outworking of His total purpose, and these economies are dispensations.
The essentials of dispensationalism are four-fold: (1) A consistent utilization of normal or plain literal interpretation of Scripture. (2) There is a distinction between Israel and the Church. (3) The literal reign of Jesus Christ and His saints in the Millennial Kingdom. (4) Manifestation of God’s attributes throughout history for the purpose of demonstrating His sovereignty over history.
Human history may be classified into six dispensations, which can be grouped into three categories: (1) Theocentric (2) Christocentric (3) Eschatological.
“Theocentric” dispensations are divided into two periods: (1) Gentiles (2) Israel.
The “Christocentric” dispensations are divided into two periods: (1) Hypostatic Union (2) Church Age.
The “Eschatological” dispensations are divided into two periods: (1) Tribulation (2) Millennium.
In Romans 9-11, Paul makes clear that even though the nation of Israel has rejected Jesus Christ as Savior, God is not through with the nation and this is due to the four unconditional covenants that He made to the patriarchs of Israel and the nation itself.
The four great unconditional covenants to Israel: (1) Abrahamic deals with the race of Israel (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:16; 22:15-18). (2) Palestinian is the promise of land to Israel (Gn. 13:15; Num. 34:1-12). (3) Davidic deals with the aristocracy of Israel (2 Sam. 7:8-17) (4) New deals with the future restoration of Israel during the millennium (Jer. 31:31-34).
So in Romans 9, the apostle Paul presents God electing Israel in the past.
In verses 1-3, Paul expresses the intensity of his love for the nation of Israel and then in verses 4-5, he enumerates the various privileges bestowed on his nation.
Romans 9:1-5, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
In Romans 9:6-18, Paul illustrates God sovereignly choosing Israel.
In verses 6-13, he teaches that God elected the nation of Israel and then in verses 14-18, he deals with God’s freedom to elect them.
In verses 6-9, he illustrates God’s election of Israel with the story of Isaac and Ishmael and then in verses 10-13, the apostle reminds his readers that God chose Isaac over Esau.
In verses 6-10, Paul teaches that God’s election of Israel was not according to natural descent and in verses 11-13, he writes that it was not according to human merit as well.
In verse 6, Paul presents the premise that not all Israel is Israel and that God’s Word has not failed and for the rest of the chapter he illustrates this premise.
Romans 9:6-13, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’”
In verses 6-18, the third illustration that Paul employs appears in verses 14-18, which deals with God’s dealings with the unregenerate Pharaoh of Egypt.
Romans 9:14-18, “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”
In Romans 9:19-29, Paul explains the reason why God elected Israel and then in verses 19-29, Paul teaches them concerning God’s mercy toward Israel and then in verses 30-33, he writes concerning God’s mercy towards the Gentiles.
Romans 9:19-33, “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, ‘I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’ AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED. AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM,"YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,' THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED; FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.’ And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.’ What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”