“Romans 9:14-33”

Friday, March 02, 2018

“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.

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; 28 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.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

We noted yesterday that God chooses people in exactly the WAY that He does, and for the REASONS that He does, in order to serve His good purposes. God is the “Potter” and the people He created are the “clay,” and He chooses to use them the way that He wills. As the Potter, He has every right to do this. This is not saying that God hand-selects some people and groups to be saved and others to be lost. People are saved by God’s grace through their own personal faith (verse 30).

The point that Paul makes in today’s passage and in most of chapter 9 is actually just the opposite of God’s choosing people to be saved and lost. He is demonstrating to us that, just because God chooses to use a person or a group of people to serve His purposes, that does NOT mean He is required to save them eternally.

The perfect case in point is Pharaoh. God “raised up” this hard-hearted fellow to demonstrate His power and proclaim His name throughout the earth (verse 17). He did this by further hardening his heart in regard to releasing Israel from captivity until God unleashed all 10 plagues on Egypt. This demonstrated the power of the Lord and word of His glory spread throughout the world. God had “mercy” on Pharaoh by using him to serve His purposes and He also “hardened” him in order to serve His purposes (verse 18).

God USED Pharaoh but He didn’t SAVE Pharaoh. And the exact same thing is true for physical Israel. He used them to serve His purposes (to execute His grand plan of salvation—to bring the Christ into the world), but He did not guarantee that each individual descendant of Israel would be saved eternally. So they have no legitimate complaint. Salvation is promised to ALL people, both Jews and Gentiles (verses 24-33), who decide to meet the Potter on His own sovereign, gracious terms.

Jack Cottrell wrote in his commentary: “Like a potter, God has the right to take one lump of clay (the original nation of Israel) and make two completely different kinds of vases from it. One consists of those individuals who are Israelites by physical birth only. Like Pharaoh, they are unbelievers and will ultimately suffer the wrath of God. This is actually the bulk of Israel. So why does God put up with these ‘vessels of wrath’? Because through them He chose to bring into existence the ‘vessels of mercy,’ i.e., spiritual Israel, which is the church—a group composed not only of believing Jews but of believing Gentiles as well.”

The Bible frequently makes mention of God preserving a faithful “remnant” from His chosen people (verse 29). These are the only ones that God promises salvation to. These are not God’s people in name only. These are the people whose hearts belong to God as well. Only this remnant of Israel was promised salvation. Today this “posterity” consists of both the faithful Jews and Gentiles that comprise Christ’s church.

Please read Romans 10:1-13 for tomorrow.

- Louie Taylor

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