Romans 9:14-18 - Mercy and hardening

All this produces the inevitable charge "that's not fair". Remember this was written some two thousand years ago, people had the same reactions then as we have now.

See how Paul replies. He quotes Exodus 33:19. The only "fair" action on God's part would be to condemn us all to hell , for that is the judgement that we all deserve. When God forgives someone He is having mercy on them. Everyone else still gets what they deserve. And our reaction still puts us in the position of judge. Only God has the right to be judge. The root of rebellion is thinking that we should decide what is right and what is wrong, it goes back to the Garden of Eden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We need to get it into our heads and into our hearts that God is God, that is the starting point. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 

Then, as far as our modern thinking goes, Paul makes things even worse! For he declares that God raised Pharaoh up for the very purpose of displaying His power. God has mercy on whom He has mercy and hardens the heart of whom He wants to harden.

We will leave it there for today, and come back to this tomorrow. In the meantime, let us meditate upon this truth, instead of rebelling against it, and let the Holy Spirit give us insight, instead of relying purely on human wisdom. When we put the fear of the Lord first our minds will become truly incisive.

Romans 9:6-13 - God's choice

So what is the situation with Israel? Paul looks at the whole situation in a little more depth. First, God's word has not failed. Now this is something we all need to take account of, but especially those who would say that Israel as a nation no longer has a part if God's plans. The Old Testament is stuffed full of promises concerning Israel, and it is quite difficult to ignore them! However, Paul does say that not all Israel is Israel. He is here echoing the words of Jesus when he says that not all the physical descendants are children of Abraham. This might seem to give succour to those who say Israel no longer really matters, but we would do well to read the rest of these three chapters before jumping to that conclusion. 
Paul then goes back to the importance of Isaac (Gen 21:12), stressing the importance of faith as the criterion for inclusion, as indeed he has been doing throughout Romans. It is all based on promise. In Galatians chapter 4 Paul talks a lot more about the two children that Abraham had, Isaac and Ishmael. So physical descent is not enough.
Next Paul talks about Jacob and Esau. They were twins and Esau was born first, yet it was Jacob who gained the inheritance. As it says elsewhere "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (Mal 1:2,3). Now this causes us some difficulties, particularly about God "hating". First, this probably refers primarily to the two nations that sprang from these two men. Now Jesus talked about hating our mothers and brothers. He clearly did not mean hate in the normal sense of the word, but only in comparison to our love for Him. Accordingly, many take this to mean "love less". However, Calvin and others take in a stronger form, of to reject. God chose Jacob, but did not chose Esau.
However, we need to keep in mind here that the key point Paul is making is that it is all down to God's choice, and nothing man does overrides that choice.

Romans 9:1-5 - The place of Israel: not rejected, not forgotten

We now come to three chapters in the Bible that anyone who wants to know and understand about Israel's place in God's plan must read. And any idea that is contrary to what is contained within these chapters is deeply flawed. Moreover, we should not read these chapters as a sort of appendix to the main argument or presentation that Paul is making, but as a key part of it. We tend to think always in terms of "how do I get saved", whereas Paul is thinking in terms of "how has God saved us" or "how does God's plan of salvation workout and what should our response to it be". Because we are fallen creatures we have a terrible tendency to always become self-centred, whereas we need to be God centred. Everything begins with God, and more particularly with Christ.

I am going to make another of my "forget the chapter numbers" statements. What has Paul just said in the previous chapter? And remember that he was not starting a new chapter here, they did not exist when Paul wrote it! "Nothing can separate us from the love of God". What then about Israel? Has their crucifying of Christ  separated them from the love of God? What about all the opposition that Paul faced from the Jews, did he now consider them to be his enemies?

The answer to both these questions is a resounding no. Paul would have sacrificed his own salvation for the sake of Israel. He longed for them to know Christ. Now consider all that they had done to Paul, and Paul's reaction shows us what it means to love our enemies.

Paul then gives a list of "their is". Note the tense, is, not was. Israel is still part of the grand plan. Adoption is theirs. They have still been adopted. They saw the divine glory, both in terms of splendour at various points in history, and in the working out of God's plans. The covenants were given to the, the Law was given to them. The heroes like Abraham and David and Moses were theirs, people who are still heroes in the New Testament. Most of all the human ancestry of Jesus is traced to them. Humanly speaking Jesus is a Jew.  He then closes this section with the word Amen, let it be so.

Israel is still part of God's plan, and in the next three chapters we will learn how this works out.

Romans 8:31-39 - If God is for us

So we now faced with the following situation. On the one hand we have the fact that God is for us. He has forgiven all our sins, He has given us His Holy Spirit, and He has given us an assured future. He has given us new life. On the other hand we face the realities of life. We face difficulties and problems for all sorts of reasons  (some of them due to ourselves!). How do we deal with this situation. Well the way NOT to deal with it is to think "if I have enough faith I won't have any problems". Such thinking is fairy tale Christianity. Paul shows us the right way to deal with things.

The fundamental point is that God is for us. Compared to God, any opposing force or situation or person is as nothing. But, we may think, is God enough for me in this situation? Will He still help through these circumstances? Paul's answer is that God has already given His own Son on our behalf. If He is prepared to do this, then He is prepared to do anything. 

What about accusations? And when going through trials guilt often comes in, whether it is merited or not. But God has justified us, He has declared us to be in the right. Christ died for us and was raised from death. So we need to set all the accusations against what Christ has done for us. Moreover, Christ is at this very moment interceding for us at the right-hand of God. We read earlier that the Holy Spirit prays for us as well. We have a great intercession team, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, working on our behalf!

So we do not deny the things that come against us, we do not pretend they are not there, we do not long for some fantasy land where there are no difficulties. Rather we set those things that are for us, and compare them to those that are against us, and it is no contest. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and in all things we are more than conquerors.

Romans 8:29,30

Having looked at predestination in general in the previous post, let's look at it in the context of Romans 8. For, as mentioned yesterday, Paul talks about predestination for a purpose, not for a debate.

When we go through trials of various sorts and for various reasons we often wonder why things are happening, how it is all going to end, and how we are going to get through it.

We can be absolutely confident of God's purpose. His purpose is that we become more like Christ. And God's purposes will win through in the end. Christ was raised from the dead to be the firstborn of many brothers (and this includes sisters). We are part of God's plan, it will not fail.

Then we read of the pattern in verse 30. We were predestined, we were called, we were justified, we are glorified. How do we know we have been predestined (and remember, do not read this as though it is fate)? We know it because God called us. Through the cross we have been justified, and we will be glorified. We are not living this life alone, we are not living it as products of random chance, but as people who are part of God's plan.

Let me just once again give a warning about silly interpretations of predestination. Sometimes people wonder well if God has already decided who has been saved what is the point of anything. This is an utterly unBiblical way of approaching things. We are called to live our own lives in a way that is worthy of the calling, and we are called to make disciples of all nations. So we should just get on with it.

Romans 8:29 - Predestination

How do we know that everything works together for good? It is because those whom God foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now that raises a question or two! Pre-destination is one of those topics that causes enormous controversy and misunderstanding. It is probably fair to say that the response of most is to ignore it and hope it will go away. We will not do that here. Let's look at it first from a philosophical perspective, and then from a Biblical perspective. The philosophical part will be based on the Bible, so don't panic. In fact we will do the Biblical perspective first.

Our great fear with pre-destination is that we confuse it with fatalism. Ie we think that it means that because God has decided that something is going to happen then that means that all that we do is irrelevant. This causes many to reject pre-destination. Conversely, those who are ardent pre-destinationists fear that if what we do influences what happens then that somehow negates the sovereignty of God. Both of these fears are unfounded, and the extreme positions on pre-destination are unbiblical.

First we need to accept the limits of our human intellect, and use the Bible as both our guiding light, and as a boundary setter. Ie warning us when we are in danger of straying off in a wrong direction.

Now every book, probably every single chapter, in the Bible makes it clear that what we do matters. There are also numerous incidents where what God has done has been influenced by what men or women have done. He ejected Adam and Eve from Eden because of their sin. He relented in destroying Nineveh because they repented. In the gospels Jesus interacted with people, He responded to faith, or to lack of faith.

Now consider the passages where pre-destination crops up. Why does the writer (often Paul) raise the matter? It is definitely not to start an academic argument. Rather it is always done so as an encouragement to us, an encouragement for us to serve the Lord with more enthusiasm, dedication and confidence.

Now let's take a philosophical view. God is eternal, He exists outside of time, indeed He created time. So when God makes a decision in eternity how does that map onto our temporal world? Not in a nice neat manner! Look at God's promises and plans in the Bible. Two things are clear: (i) God's plans are always fulfilled in the end; (ii) they are rarely fulfilled in a straightforward manner! Was Abraham's or Moses' or David's life stories straightforward and simple? Definitely not. Has life been simple since the cross and resurrection? I don't think so. 

God knows the beginning and the end, along with everything in between as well. So maybe decisions He makes are based on everything that happens. 

So, do not ignore pre-destination, do not be confused by it, but be encouraged. Our lives take all sorts of twists and turns, but we can be sure that God's plans will be fulfilled. So we should be all the more dedicated to Christ, and live and serve with ever greater faith.

Romans 8:28 - All things work for good

So in the midst of difficulties we know that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf. He does so perfectly in line with the will of God, and God hears His prayers perfectly. That is the first encouragement. The second encouragement is this. We know that the Lord work through all things for the good of those who love Him. 

There are several things to focus on here. 

First is that it does not say that all things that happen to us are good, only that God works through all of these for good. Some things that happen to us are bad, some things are utterly evil, but whatever does happen, God will triumph in the end, and we will triumph in the end as well.

Next it applies to those who love God. We quite rightly focus on the fact that our forgiveness and new life is totally undeserved, we did nothing to deserve it, and could do nothing to deserve it. However, the fact that we love God makes a difference. We are in a relationship with God. Now the degree to which we love God does not affect how much He loves us, but it does affect how that love impacts our lives. Every relationship is two-way, and what is possible depends upon both sides of the relationship.

Finally we are called according to His purpose. It is not just about me, and it is not just about you. God has called us to a purpose, there is purpose and meaning to our lives. And God will work through events in our lives to achieve that purpose.