Romans 9.14-God Is Not Unjust In Relation To Unregenerate Israel Or For Choosing Isaac And Jacob
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 17, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:14-God Is Not Unjust In His Dealings With Unregenerate Israel Or For Choosing Isaac And Jacob
Lesson # 307
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This evening we will begin a new paragraph in Romans chapter nine by noting Romans 9:14 in which Paul reverts back to his diatribe style by asking the rhetorical question “there is no injustice with God, is there?”
He answers this rhetorical question emphatically, me genoito, “absolutely not!”
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).
Let’s read Romans 9:1-18 and then concentrate on verse 14 for the rest of the evening.
The first paragraph in the chapter appears in the first five verses.
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.”
These verses serve as preface for Paul’s statements in verses 6-18.
The second paragraph appears in verses 6-13, which contains two illustrations that serve to support Paul’s premise in Romans 9:6.
He presents the story of God choosing Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau to be members of His covenant people, which serve to illustrate God sovereignly choosing the nation of Israel over the nations of the earth.
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.’”
The third paragraph in verses 14-18 presents a third illustration that serves to support Paul’s premise in Romans 9:6.
In these verses, Paul presents the account of God dealing with Pharaoh of Egypt, which helps to further illustrate God sovereignly rejecting the nation of Israel for rejecting His Son Jesus Christ as Savior.
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.”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 14.
Romans 9:14, “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!”
By posing rhetorical question, “there is no injustice with God, is there?” Paul anticipates those Jews who would come to this erroneous conclusion from his teaching in Romans 9:6-13.
That God is unjust in His dealings with contemporary unregenerate Israel and in selecting Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau is a ludicrous conclusion since the entire human race are sinners before a holy God and have absolutely no merit with God, thus they have no claim on God.
Furthermore they have a distorted view of God since God does not seek to condemn any to the lake of fire but desires to show mercy to all men and give all an opportunity to come a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
However, God has given all men, both Jew and Gentile a volition to choose to accept or reject His offer of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ.
Those who reject Christ are under His wrath and those who accept Christ are graciously made a part of His family.
God desires all men to be saved but does not determine who is saved.
Human beings determine their eternal destiny since they are commanded to trust in Christ as Savior to receive eternal life and failure to do so results in eternal condemnation.
However, though God has given man a choice to make, God is the one who initiates the salvation of men and seeks out sinful mankind since they have no capacity whatsoever to seek out Him because they are spiritually dead.
Thus, God remains sovereign even though men have to choose to accept or reject His Son since He initiates salvation.
In His foreknowledge, which is based upon His omniscience, God can see if a person is going to accept His Son or reject Him.
God could see that the majority of Jews throughout history would reject His Son and that only a remnant would believe and thus the latter, He made a part of His covenant people, they are the true Israel from God’s perspective.
At no time is God ever unjust because He selected those who will accept His Son since every Jew has to make a decision and is responsible and accountable for his own decisions.
The fact that God rejects those who reject His Son and accepts those who accept His Son is not injustice on God’s part but rather just!
Nor, is God playing favorites by doing so since the offer of salvation is held out to the entire human race who have no merit with Him.
Thus, election does involve human will since God will not elect anyone who does not accept His Son Jesus Christ!
Romans 9:14, “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!”
“What shall we say” is a rhetorical question that demands a negative response, which Paul provides emphatically with the expression me genoito, “may it never be.”
“Then” is the “inferential” use of the post-positive conjunction oun (ou@n) (oon), which denotes that what is introduced at this point is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching contained in Romans 9:6-13.
“Injustice” is the nominative feminine singular form of the noun adikia (a)dikiva) (ad-ee-kee-ah).
The noun adikia is used with reference to God and refers to actions that are not consistent with His own character and are not upright, honest, perfectly whole, thus leaving them in an unsound, impaired and in a bad condition.
It describes God’s actions as having no virtue in the sense that they have no moral excellence and goodness and do not conform to His own perfect standards.
It indicates that when dealing with Israel in Paul’s day and with the individuals in the ancient past, God has been consistent with His promises that appear in the Old Testament.
Paul is saying that there is no “injustice” with God’s judgments because in His sovereign grace and apart from any human merit He selected Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau to be members of His covenant people.
Simply put, God is not unfair because He chose some to be members of His covenant people and others He did not.
He is not unfair because He considers those Jews racially who have accepted His Son through faith as being true spiritual Israel.
He is not unfair for rejecting those Jews who reject His Son as Savior.
Paul is saying that God has not been inconsistent in His relationship contemporary Israel and His relationships with the patriarchs in the past as attested to by Old Testament Scripture.
Romans 9:14, “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
“May it never be!” is the strongest negative Greek expression emphatically denying any possibility or thought of God being unrighteous in His judgments with respect to unregenerate Israel in Paul’s day and those in the Old Testament.