God Calls the Shots
Romans 9
May 10, 2009
We left Romans 8 on a note of triumph: “who shall separate us from the love of God?” And the conclusion, “Nothing!” Our spirits are soaring as we finish the first half of Paul’s great treatise on justification by faith, for whereas he began by examining the depth of degradation that is true of all of us, he has explained that God has chosen to give us the gift of eternal life through Jesus, Who died on the cross in our place, such that dirty, rotten, natural-born sinners can spend an eternity as the children of God enjoying Him and glorifying Him forever. Wow! Now Paul begins a three-chapter discourse on the people of Israel. We could read the preceding chapters in Romans and come away with the impression that Paul is hard-hearted toward his own people. He has outlined how salvation, being right with God, does not come about as a result of the formulas that Israel was following, that good works and law-keeping didn’t get it done in the sight of God. But in each of these chapters we’ll be looking at, Paul identifies himself with his people and expresses his heartfelt concern for them. And so Paul goes from that exhilarating confession to a depressing one: “I’m desperate that my own people, Israel, might come to know the Messiah.” There’s that unmistakable, sobering hint of longing, of frustration, of compassion toward his people, so much so that he says he’d be willing to forfeit his own salvation if thereby, somehow, all Israel could experience the grace of God. There’s nothing hard-hearted in these words, but rather, they evidence a man of genuine compassion for others…an example we could all learn from.
Paul begins by talking about
I. The Dual Nature of Israel – :1-13
First, he is speaking of
A. Flesh-and-blood Israel
Note the many advantages Paul lists which are true of his countrymen:
• “Adoption as sons” – Exodus 4:22 (“Israel is my firstborn son”) and 29:42-ff (“I am Israel’s Father”). True, as we’ve said in the past, these words are applied to Israel as a nation, rather than as to individuals. Still, collectively, Israel as a nation was said to be the “sons of God”.
• “Divine glory” – the splendor of God’s presence seen among them in the tabernacle and in the temple (II Samuel 6:2).
• “The covenants” – God’s foundational covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12), its reiterations and elaborations as given to Abraham’s son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob, as well as to Moses and David.
• “The giving of the law” – God’s unique revelation of Himself, as given vocally and with the writing of His own “finger”.
• “The worship” – This involves all the prescribed regulations for the “Levites and priests”.
• “The promises” – The main one being the promise of the coming of Christ, the Messiah.
• “The patriarchs” – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; leaders of the 12 tribes; other great figures of Jewish history.
• “From their race, according to the flesh, is Christ, God over all” – Matthew traces Christ’s genealogy back to Abraham; Luke traces it back further, to Adam! God graced the human race with His only begotten Son, Jesus; how much more did He honor the Jews by having Him born into the human race through a Jewish woman, Mary?
Now, with these many significant blessings and privileges, isn’t it reasonable to suggest that Israel would be well-positioned to welcome the Messiah? What would explain their predominant reaction of rejection of Christ as Messiah? The answer is that there is in reality a second Israel; “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel”, Paul says. Let’s call this second “Israel”
B. Spiritual Israel
Wait a minute…if the Jews are God’s people, and not all the Jews are going to be saved, then hasn’t God failed? Paul answers: “no!”
Ishmael/Isaac. Question: were both of them children of the promise, and thus Israel? No! Only Isaac; Ishmael was Abram’s son conceived through ordinary human means, whereas Isaac was the supernatural fulfillment of God’s promise. Translation? God’s chosen people were supernaturally initiated, not the mere children of the flesh.
Esau/Jacob – Just as God chose Isaac to be the child of the promise, and not Ishmael, so He also chose Jacob, and not Esau—and this choice was God’s prerogative, not because Jacob was a better person than Esau (because Jacob was a conniver, remember?). It is in the mind and purpose and plan of God to make these distinctions, and that’s the only answer we get. God gets to be God—whether we particularly like it or agree with it or not. He does what He pleases. This ought to remind us once again that our salvation doesn’t take place because of us somehow earning or deserving it.
We are left with this fact: God does what He pleases. The doctrine of election is at times perplexing, and to suggest that we have it all figured out is futile. Nonetheless, there is no Biblical way to question the fact that in some way, mysterious as it is and unknowable in its fullness, God chose us to be His. Jesus said the same thing in John 13, 15, and 17. It’s not ours to claim to know things we cannot know, but rather to obey God.
II. The Divine Nature of God – :14-18
First, God is
A. Just
God always does what is right: always. He will punish sin; His scales are always right. But Paul quickly adds that God is also
B. Merciful/Compassionate
Paul raises then the question that must be in the minds of some: if God chooses us to salvation—and some others are not so chosen—does God play favorites? Is He being unfair? Paul’s answer is to proclaim God’s mercy. God does not give justice to those whom He saves; He shows mercy. A man would be an utter fool to ask God for justice. I don’t want God to give me what I deserve. I don’t want to stand before His judgment bar and said, “just give me what I’ve got coming to me.” Why? Because for all our efforts at making good appearances, we are sinful through and through, and those of us who are honest enough to take a good, hard look at the truth are compelled to admit that.
C. Sovereign
Ultimately, it’s up to God; He gets to call the shots. He does what He will. He is not obligated to you or me.
III. The Disputing Nature of Man – :19-21
We want a God Who will explain Himself to our satisfaction—but we are promised no such thing. Paul uses some practical examples to demonstrate this:
A potter has the right to shape the clay
Who are we to speak back to God, the Creator and Sovereign God? What is the nature of our relationship to Him? We are as clay in the hands of the potter; He calls the shots, and we do not.
Question: is it wrong to ask sincere, perplexed questions of God? People in the Bible do it; David does it in the Psalms; Job does it. No…but this is not what’s in view here; in view here is a “You’ve got it wrong, God!” shaking of the fist in the face of the Almighty, a haughty spirit rather than one that recognizes its place.
God reveals Himself as He is (and not necessarily as we want Him to be)
All of us, by our sin, prepare ourselves for our own destruction—but God has determined, in His own counsels in eternity past, to prepare some for glory, to save some. He is not described as the One Who prepares people for their own destruction, by the way, but rather is described as God Who patiently deals with those who by their destruction demonstrate an aspect of His character, namely His righteous wrath over sin. At the same time, He reveals Himself as a God of grace and mercy, Whose amazing grace is seen more clearly contrasted against the background of the destruction of those who left in their sin, never find forgiveness in Christ. We must, as it were, allow God to be God.
IV. The Displayed Nature of God’s Purpose – :22-29
Paul says that God told us ahead of time, in Scripture, that this was the way He would deign to act, with mercy toward some—Jews and Gentiles—and with wrath toward others, both Jews and Gentiles. Note
A. The Display of His Wrath
B. The Display of His Power
God will one day show all that He is a God Who punishes sin, and He will do so powerfully. Sometimes, we can believe, if we’re not careful, that God isn’t in control, that the evil prosper and will continue to, that there’s no ultimate reckoning. Don’t believe it! The Psalmist wondered the same thing out loud, as well as the martyrs mentioned in Revelation 6:10, who cry out, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” The answer is, “all in His time”; for now, we see
C. The Display of His Patience
His plan is to make His wrath and power all the more evident by reserving the outward display of His wrath against sinners until the end of history. He could zap sinners at any moment, if He chose, but rather He determines to wait in order that His judgment against sin might be most evident, set against the backdrop of His grace and mercy.
D. The Display of His Glory
This is the bottom line: God is working to display His own glory. Everything leads to this, points to this, contributes to this. And notice what the text says: He has prepared His “vessels of mercy” for “glory”. God is demonstrating His glory, and He is also preparing us to share in His eternal glory as His redeemed people.
E. The Display of His Effective Calling
God calls both Jews and Gentiles to salvation, and even though Paul began the chapter talking about his fellow countrymen, Israel, as N.T. Wright says, “what counts is grace, not race”. God is free, for the sake of His glory, to call both Gentiles and Jews into His kingdom. And the passages from Hosea and Isaiah that Paul quotes indicate that God’s eternal family consists of all types of people, Jew and Gentile alike. It’s because God gets to call the shots! Finally, note
V. The Disconcerting Nature of Salvation – :30-33
Paul has been describing the people of God from the standpoint of God’s sovereign choice to show mercy to some—while others are hardened in their sin. Here, Paul looks at salvation from the other side, contrasting those who trust God with those who work to try to establish their own goodness and right standing before Him. Perhaps we take for granted the disconcerting nature of salvation. Though we’re told in life—regularly—that we need to work for what we earn, that we don’t get anything for free, that a hard day’s work merits a day’s pay, salvation in Christ doesn’t work that way. It’s faith—alone. That’s God’s way. And in fact, this whole chapter is about just that: God’s way. And so we’re faced with that question again: are we willing to love and serve the God Who is, to take the Bible’s witness to heart and life even when we may not understand or even like it—or will we attempt to remake God into an image that better suits our tastes?
