If nothing can separate the called of God from love of God, why is God’s chosen nation, Israel, cut off from his love? If Israel can be cut off, could the same thing happen to a believer in Christ? Why are there not more Jews who believe in Christ if they are the chosen nation?
Is Israel a contradiction of Romans 8:38-39? We explore this and arrive at the same conclusion in Romans 11:28-29.
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Read Matthew 20:1–16.
In Chapter 8, Paul wrote that for whom God foreknew, He predestined; those He predestined He called; those He called, He justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. This is the order of things; the way God works salvation. Paul then went on to say he was persuaded that nothing could separate him from the love of God which is in Jesus. This is a great promise to 'the called'. The question arises, "Who are the called?" The Jews would have claimed the title of 'the called' since they were God's chosen people. As Christians, we could all ask, what happened? God's chosen didn't seem to choose Him. One might ask or wonder, "If nothing can separate us from the love of God, what happened to the Jews?"
As Paul continues to move believers along in this system of belief he doesn't shy away from the hard questions. These next 3 chapters are an aside; they are to further explain the order of salvation and what that looked like for the Jew. One could move right from chapter 8 to chapter 12 without any interruption in thought. But Paul anticipates questions that can stumble that need dealt with so as not to leave anyone confused. As we move into chapter 9, we'll find that the next 3 chapters deal with Israel and the questions that arise. It's not as if there is a different path of salvation for the Jews. In fact, it confirms there is but one way.
I’m reminded of Peter’s words to the Jewish council. Some of the Jews were trying to require the gentiles to become as Jews, primarily circumcision. In chapter 15 of Acts, they are discussing this when Peter spoke up and told of how God was saving the gentiles and working miracles. In addition, the Holy Spirit came on the gentiles very much like it had for them on the day of Pentecost. Peter had no doubt about the salvation of the gentiles and wrapped up his speech to the council by saying:
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” (Acts 15:11)
Peter was so sure he set the gentile salvation as a baseline from which to compare their own salvation; by grace alone through faith and this not of works. Paul will confirm this in Ephesians 2:8. This topic of legalism comes up again and again in scripture and throughout history and is alive and well today.
The early Jewish Christians struggled with salvation by grace since they were raised in the traditions of the law, a gentile taking this all in might ask, "If Israel is God's chosen, then did God un-choose them? If God can un-choose the Jews, will He someday un-choose me?" The answers to these questions concern both Jew and Gentile alike.
Romans 9:1-5
Paul went from a spiritual high chapter 8 to saying that he has great sorrow and continual grief here in the beginning of chapter 9. He is pouring out his heart and showing his great frustration that he couldn’t reach the Jews for Christ. Paul was a Jew and it pained him that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to reach his own people. He wanted them to be more than conquerors also. This to be one of the types of suffering discussed in chapter 8. Paul’s sorrow and grief comes from seeing the descendants of Abraham, totally miss out on salvation.
In Paul's travels, at every opportunity, it appears he went to the synagogue to preach Christ. Paul, being a Pharisee and student of Gamaliel gave him these opportunities, at least until he began to preach Christ. Speaking at the synagogue was Paul's opportunity to reach out to his own brethren.
Some of these Jews over which Paul grieved were the same Jews that were so blinded by their hatred that they beat and stoned him and ran him out of town. They didn't just reject what Paul said but they pursued him to beat, imprison or kill him. Now Paul says, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren.” We see that Paul has the heart of Jesus here; a desire to sacrifice himself to save others. Galatians 3 says Jesus became a curse so the blessings of Abraham might come to the gentiles. The promise of Abraham was that his descendants would be a blessing to the world. Christ, a descendant of Abraham, is that blessing to the world. Even if he could, it would do no good for Paul to become accursed for them. Jesus had already done so and they rejected the offer. How could another man being accursed open their eyes?
Israel was a nation and people called by God to reveal Him to the world.
- "You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod. 19:6)
They were to be priests to the world. Instead, they found a false righteousness in the law and failed at their calling to the point of not recognizing their messiah.
- "The chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death” (Matt. 27:1).
The Jews were called to be ambassadors, but separated themselves to a false religion. Remember, Paul had lived life as the most ardent Jew in the Jewish life, persecuting Christians. He personally knew of the blindness these folks experienced. He remembers the scales falling from his eyes.
God had given the Jews so many blessings and privileges. These were the people through which God revealed Himself. Paul said as Israelites they had:
- The adoption: The adoption here is a reference to God’s selection of Israel in the Old Testament.
- The glory: God manifested His glory before the Israelites, particularly as He led them out of Egypt.
- The covenants: Noah – God would not flood the earth again. Abraham – promise of land, people. David – The throne would remain in the line of David.
- The giving of the law – the law was brought down Mt Sinai to the Israelites.
- The service of God – They were called to conduct temple sacrifice and worship.
- The promises – the promise of restoration, the promise of a messiah.
The Jews seemed to have every advantage but failed to see it. They lacked the eyes to see or ears to hear; they didn't have a heart to perceive what God placed right in front of them. This spiritual blindness tore Paul's heart out.
Imagine Paul’s frustration. He knew all this theology and doctrine and he understood scripture and saw how all of scripture pointed to the Jesus Christ, yet was unable to make the Jews understand. The scales had fallen from his eyes and it all made sense to him, but he couldn’t make the scales fall from their eyes.
The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7)
Romans 9:6-9
Abraham knew nothing of foreknowledge, election or calling. He didn't know all these doctrines and feel as though he had to figure them out. He simply believed the promises of God and it was credited to him as righteousness. He wasn't chosen because of any work or any qualification. He was chosen out of God's sovereignty.
If you look at all the advantages of being a Jew and all that God has done through these people, you might be left with the question, “Has God’s word and ways had no effect on the Jews? Paul said it’s not that it hasn’t had an effect. Israel means ‘governed by God’ or a ‘prince of God’. Not all who call themselves Israel are governed by God or consider themselves princes of God. Just because they call themselves Israel and are descended from Abraham doesn’t make them a Jew. The real Jews are the children of the promise. Therefore, God’s plan didn’t fail, but the Jews failed to be God’s people of Promise, by faith.
Ishmael was a son of Abraham just like Isaac was. The difference was Ishmael was a son of the flesh. He was the result of man’s working; it was Abraham and Sara’s plan to help God give them a descendant. Isaac was the son of promise. Paul is saying our sovereign God works through His promise. Both children were from the same faither, showing that being a descendant of Abraham didn’t make you a Jew or a son of promise. Ishmael was a son of Abraham and he was considered neither a Jew nor a son of promise. No one was ever saved by being a descendant of anyone. No one was ever saved by being born into Israel or any other nation.
“God is holy and must punish sin; but God is loving and desires to save sinners. If everybody is saved, it would deny His holiness; but if everybody is lost, it would deny His love. The solution to the problem is God’s sovereign election” (Warren Wiersbe)
Romans 9:10-13
Paul carries the thought through another generation, each like a sieve through which only a few pass; Isaac and Rebecca had Jacob and Esau. In this case, they had same father and mother and shared the womb. There was virtually no difference. They had not drawn a breath, let alone sinned, yet it was declared that the older would serve the younger. Jacob was loved.
Election is of God and is not swayed in any way by man. These 2 babies, still unborn had done nothing good or nothing evil. They couldn’t earn their way to favor with God when they hadn’t been born. It’s clear their works and deeds had nothing to do with election.
We might read verse 13 and feel as though God's not fair; after all, 'hate' is a strong word. But the point isn't the hatred it's the love God has for Jacob. This is God's mercy at work. Both sinful men deserve the wrath of God. God's mercy is played out in Jacob's life in a undeserved birthright from God; and Esau's heart is revealed as one who would despise his birthright. The language is poetic and comparative, not an absolute statement of hatred. Jacob was chosen for God’s purpose. Esau was ‘not chosen’ also for God’s purpose, not because of hate.
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
Romans 9:14-18
Is it fair that some come to faith and others do not? Is it right that we are saved and heaven bound when many Jews are still blinded today? Is it right that by God’s election, some will be saved and others won’t? From man’s perspective, these become a concern. However, Paul vehemently dismissed this with, “Certainly not!”
God said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” This is from Exodus 33:19. Moses was meeting with God, not clear on what he was to do. He asked God to show him His way that he might know Him. This is when God revealed His glory while Moses was in the cleft of the rock. I believe Moses came to a fuller understanding of God's holiness in that he couldn't even gaze upon Him but also God's sovereignty in that God would have mercy on whomever He would have mercy.
Our first response might be that’s not fair! We sometimes believe God should be fair and equal to everyone. This is particularly true in our day where we get equality and equity confused.
- Equity is the strict letter of the law. Equity gets all of us what we deserve, eternal separation from God as eternal punishment for our sin. Equity is equal access to opportunity and benefit. We should all believe in this.
- Equality is where we all get the same outcome no matter what. Equality tends to draw us all down to the lowest common denominator. Equality in this context is trying to twist God’s arm to give everyone election. If God grants mercy to all, then He is not just.
But remember what the definition of Mercy is. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. What do we all deserve? We have no righteousness; we are all sinners. We all deserve God’s wrath. We don't want fair; we don't want justice. It is God’s right to have mercy on whom he will have mercy. It is not our right to fair and equal mercy.
All of humanity is sinful and awash in a sea of sin, destined to sink to the dark pit of death. God reaches in and snatches some from the sea of sin and saves them. If He had saved none, justice would have been served. God’s mercy can’t be acquired by the will of men, nor can we run after it and acquire it. God’s mercy falls on who He chooses for His purpose. This says that God alone is responsible for salvation, yet it doesn't relieve us of our responsibility for our sin.
And here is the example Paul gives us; God raised Pharaoh up for the purpose that He could show His power through the Pharaoh. This deliverance of His people from Pharaoh was one of the acts God identifies himself through. The focus isn't the lack of mercy towards Pharaoh, but the mercy and compassion towards Israel. God's name would be declared in all the earth in the work He does saving His people out of Egypt.
Now God didn’t take a poor innocent, kind hearted Pharaoh and force his heart to be hardened. The answer here is that all men are hard hearted. God, in His mercy, by His Holy Spirit softens the hearts of some, but the Pharaoh was left to his nature. Pharaoh wasn't acting against his will in any way.
Romans 9:19-21
Paul imagines someone asking the question, “If God is sovereign and everything is ordained before the foundations of the earth, and my election (or reprobation) has already been decided, how can God hold me accountable to anything? In Pharoah as the example, the question that might sound something like this, "How can God hold Pharaoh accountable if it was God who hardened his heart?" If everything had already been decided what responsibility did he have? If God has already decided what I will be before I was born, how can He be mad at me when I turn out exactly that way?
Paul asked how we would ever think we have the right to look to God and question Him about how he made us? Who are we to argue with God? The potter has power over the clay. God has different purposes for us all; some of us for common purpose and some for Noble. While it seems that none of us can resist what God made us for, we are, however still responsible for our own decisions along the way.
If God is sovereign over election, how can find fault in men? Answering the question is not Paul’s concern as much as addressing the audacity to ask such a thing. At what point did we, as people, determine it was okay to question God about his use of mercy? And who are we to question Him about who He elects and doesn’t elect? We might read the parable of the landowner in Matthew 20:1-16 with this thought in mind. Indeed, many are called, few are chosen.
In this potter and clay analogy, we might be left with the idea that some of the clay pots are sitting around bemoaning that God had created them for dishonor. When in reality, the pots of dishonor aren't acting against their will and complaining about it. They are like Pharaoh in that they are doing exactly as their heart desires; acting in rebellion towards God. Imagine the rankest atheists sitting around complaining that God hadn't included them in his election.
Romans 9:22-29
God endured Pharaoh, the vessel of wrath, that he might make his power known through him. And by enduring the Pharaoh, God showed his riches and glory to Moses, his vessel of mercy. Can we question God’s ways? Can we question God's use of His mercy? Some folks were prepared as vessels of mercy; prepared beforehand for glory and others were not.
Again, we catch ourselves thinking God is not fair or this is cruel in some way. However, consider Pharaoh, all the chances he had. It is not like He was pleading with God for salvation; in fact, he is far from it. Once again, we return to the fact that we are born with sinful proclivity and deserve death, judgment and hell. Why would we think it evil for Him to further harden the hard and rebellious heart to save others?
Paul has to look at the actions of Pharaoh and consider his own hard heart in light of that. This must’ve brought him to praise of the Lord. Paul had persecuted Christians viciously and was involved with the stoning of Stephen. Paul himself would agree that he did nothing to deserve salvation but that it was God who saved him.
Paul quoted Hosea 2:23. Hosea named one of his kids Lo-ammi which means ‘not my people.’ God was judging His people for turning their back on him. But it wasn’t forever, it was for a time. Paul uses the ‘not my people’ to refer to gentiles who He would call ‘sons of the living God.’
He then quoted from Isaiah 10:22-23. God’s promise to Abraham was that the children of Israel would be as the sand of the sea. But not all of Israel are sons of God; in fact, very few are. God always preserved a remnant through the numerous bouts with apostasy. Every generation seemed to act as a filter where very few find their way to God. It was no different after the death of Christ, very few found it through the blindness, deafness and hardheartedness to meet their messiah and trust in Him.
Paul’s point, using the first passage of Isaiah was that they can’t rely on ethnicity for salvation. It didn’t save in Isaiah’s day and it wouldn’t save in the present days.
Paul quoted Isaiah a second time. It was God who left a seed or a remnant when they really deserved to be obliterated like Sodom and Gomorrah. The remnant of God’s people was 8 in Noah’s days! It is by God’s grace and purpose that Israel survived as a nation. By their very survival, God shows His glory and power and purposes. The question at the beginning of this chapter was, “What about the Jews? Why aren’t they saved?” Paul says they have been preserved for God’s divine purpose. They should have been wiped out like Sodom and Gomorrah, but they weren’t because God’s hand protects them. Yet, He protects them while they are blind to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
So, is God unrighteous? No, He is merciful. In God's sovereign plan of calling and election, is there anyone who was forced to act against their will? The hard heart of man, both Jew and gentile, are naturally in rebellion against God.
Romans 9:30-34
Paul knew their question; “How can we fit this all together? What does it all me mean?” Were they to believe that the gentiles had attained righteousness, but Israel had not? The gentiles didn’t even pursue after righteousness and they found it. The Jews pursued after it in their works of the law and righteousness was lost to them. Paul would have confirmed that they were spot on.
The Jews did not seek their righteousness by faith. They sought after it by works of the law. They were trying to be good. Because of this, they stumbled at the stumbling stone. Jesus offended the Jewish culture with His actions and ministry. He didn’t meet their expectations. He didn’t live up to their standard. He was offensive.
Jesus was this stumbling stone in Zion and He was the rock of offense. Paul said that whoever believed on Him would not be put to shame. Does this seem like a contradiction of what we just said earlier in the chapter? God said he would have mercy on whom he would have mercy. Does this say God will have mercy on those who cry out to him? Does he know who will cry out because He put that in their heart to do so? Is it God's mercy that leads a person to the understanding that they need to cry out to God?
There is a mystery in this election and calling. It is beyond us to fully understand it. God saves the elect. It is our job to proclaim the message to a lost and dying world, even though we don’t know specifically who are the elect. This is God's business. Paul knew that and pursued that call on his life.
It offends us to think some would not be elect, unless it is someone we perceive as evil and then we are okay with it. Our problem isn’t so much election or not. The thing that bothers us is that we have no control over it. It’s not based on anything we can know or understand. There is no allowance to pray a prayer and change things or do a work and get a different outcome. We have to take it 100% on faith.
Let's remember 2 verses as we attempt to balance our understanding of God's election with our responsibility:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
(John 3:16)
The American preacher and journalist Henry Ward Beecher said: “The elect are whosoever will, and the non-elect, whosoever won’t” (Ward, p. 162).
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
The evil desires of a fallen heart leave us in our sin and apart from God. God sent Jesus to save us from that sin. He calls to us, we are to respond to this call; and then point others to the same bread of life and living water that saved us.
Amen.
©2008, 2014, 2021 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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