Folly and Faithfulness

Series on Romans

XIII Election and Grace

A The Aspect

Text: 9:1-13

Introduction

Here in Romans 9 we have the most penetrating and illuminating explanation of the doctrines of predestination and election in the Bible. That may sound scary to you, but let me ask you an important question. Do you believe in salvation by grace alone through faith? Then according to Paul you must believe in absolute predestination and election. There is no choice. Many years ago I sat as a student at Westminster Seminary and I heard transforming truths. I loved the classes of Professor John Murray and I wrote down as much as I could of what he said in class. He may also have said this in some of his writings, but here it is, “The denial of unconditional election strikes at the heart of the doctrine of the grace of God. The grace of God is absolutely sovereign and every failure to recognize and appreciate the absolute sovereignty of God in His saving grace is an expression of the pride of the human heart. It rests upon the demand that God deal differently with men in the matter of salvation only because they have made themselves to differ. In its ultimate elements it means that the determining factor in salvation is what the man himself does, and that is just tantamount to saying that it is not God who determines the salvation of men, but men determine their own salvation ; it is not God who saves, but man saves himself. This is precisely the issue.” In other words it i either salvation by works or salvation through predestination and election. So here Paul begins his discussion of this awesome and vital doctrine with two thoughts, the folly of Israel, and the faithfulness of God.

I The Folly

The folly of Israel is exposed and lamented in verses 1-5, I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. Paul’s heart is breaking over the delusion, confusion, and disastrous mistake made by the nation of Israel, his people. Paul is experiencing the same emotional upheaval as many followers of Christ have endured when they were compelled to leave family and friends in order to be faithful and obedient to Christ. The Apostle reminds his readers of all the glorious privileges of Israel which the nation had despised. Behold how the mighty have fallen is something we expect to be written over this present evil age. In fact in Revelation 18:10 the city of this world, called Babylon, is so denominated, Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “ ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’ That this should be written over Israel overwhelms Paul, but they have fallen, and so the enumeration begins. They are Israel, descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and they are the chosen nation, adopted sons of God as we read in Jeremiah 31:9, I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son. Something of the height of this privilege is conveyed when the Matthew says of Joseph in 2:14 and 15, So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” That they possessed the divine glory is indisputable because God dwelt in their midst and set up His worship at the center of their camp. Also at different times God entered into covenant with the Jews and their forefathers, by which he secured for them innumerable blessings and privileges. Covenants to us are usually mutual agreements, but in the ancient middle east rulers frequently made covenants. They were one-sided. These covenants were called suzerainty treaties, and the ruler dictated the terms, and requirements and also the punishments for disobedience. Such are all of God’s covenants. He sovereignly administers them, but with them come His blessings and protection. The possession of the law was the great distinction of the Jews, and one on which they especially relied. They were the only nation on earth to possess the divine law. In fact the generations of Jesus’ time had “built a hedge” around the law to protect it, by endlessly multiplying commandments to insure that they could keep the law, although ultimately they failed. The temple, like the tabernacle that preceded it was at the center of their worship. The whole ritual, the pompous and impressive religious service of the tabernacle and temple was ordained by God as the only acceptable way of worshipping Him. So greatly did they regard the temple that they viewed it superstitiously and placed confidence in its presence in their midst instead of in the Lord. In Jeremiah 7:4 they are warned, Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” Then finally, Israel had the promises. The Jews had received the promises, both temporal and spiritual, especially those that related to the Messiah. In Galatians 3:16 we read, The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed; and in 3:21, Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God?” And in other places in the New Testament the word “promises” is used especially for the predictions of the great redemption through Christ. Paul sums it up in II Corinthians 1:20, For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. This brings to the fore the folly of Israel in despising the promises because they rejected the Messiah, the Christ, who was the fulfillment of all the promises.

II The Faithfulness

Now in verses 6-13 the Apostle turns from the folly of Israel and contrasts it with the faithfulness of God, It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” At the beginning of this section Paul is countering a mistaken idea which is a presumption that somehow the fall of Israel is God’s fault for not keeping His promise implying that they are a sorrowful people abandoned by God. This is not due to God’s failure as they might surmise. People today reach the same faulty conclusion. They make God’s treatment of the physical biological Israel a test of whether he is keeping His Word. In fact it is all too often that people fail to perceive the true nature of God’s promises. In this case Paul says the promise was never made to the biological children of Abraham and his descendants. Isaac was the seed of promise, Ishmael was not. Jacob was the seed of promise, Esau was not. Jacob had 12 sons, but the promise was narrowed down to one of them, Judah. From Judah came David, and from him came Christ according to the flesh, and Christ inherited the promise for all the saved in the Old and New Testaments. This is why Paul says in Galatians 3:16, The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. Jesus was always the heir, and now that he has fully received his inheritance in glory, all of his true people, from all times and places, those who believe in Him, are joint heirs with him. As we read in question and answer 31 of the Westminster Larger Catechism, “With whom was the covenant of grace made? The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.’ Jacob and Esau are set forth as examples of this, in verse 13, Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” This is a quotation from Malachi and the words were spoken when the prophet was reproving the Jews for their ingratitude. As a proof of his special favor, God referred to his preference for them from the first. Since Esau did receive blessing from God because we read in Hebrews 11:20, By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. Thus the expression, “Esau have I hated,” is not to be understood in absolute human terms but as an expression that God favored Jacob. It is similar to Jesus remarks to His disciples in Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. It is nevertheless a clear expression of God’s sovereign intent in that Esau is excluded from the covenant and therefore from God’s saving mercies. This again demonstrates that though the nation Israel was chosen, every individual in it was not, and so all Israel was not true Israel and all Jews, though belonging to the nuclear family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not saved. Only those who truly believed inherited the blessings of Abraham. Thus both John, the Baptist, and Jesus warned them not to take refuge in being Abraham’s literal descendants, but rather to do the work of Abraham which was to believe on the Lord. God kept His Word.