Understanding Romans 9, Part 1, Context and Theme

By -

This post was originally published at thegracelings.org

Introduction

There are a lot of passages in Scripture that people intentionally avoid. Usually it is because they have an idea about what it says, and they don’t like that idea. Romans 9 is one of those passages, and there are a lot of jokes at the expense of non-Calvinists because of it. Calvinists use it as a proof text for the idea that God unconditionally predestined some to salvation and some also use it to suggest that the unelect are predestined to damnation. It says things like, “He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens,” and that is assumed to mean that God chooses individuals for each from eternity past and without conditions.

I don’t expect this series of articles to solve the debate about Romans 9, or even to persuade those who are committed to Calvinism. That isn’t the point of this series. What I’m hoping to accomplish is to help those who say, “I’m not sure I understand Romans 9, and I haven’t wanted to spend a lot of time there” to have a foundation to study the passage without fear. It’s an amazing passage that fiercely defends the righteousness of God, and it’s a shame that so many are missing out on it.

A Bit about Interpretation

One paradox of Bible interpretation is that one needs to understand the whole book before he can understand the individual passages, and he needs to understand the individual passages before he can understand the whole book. The way we address this is something called the “hermeneutical spiral,” which is to say we go back and forth between reading the whole book and digging into the individual passage we hope to understand. In this way, we can get a good understanding of individual passages in context as we gain a better-defined big picture of the book.

Context and Themes

I am teaching through Romans at church now, and one of the most important things I discovered through the hermeneutical spiral process is the particular aspect of wrath and judgment that Paul uses as a theme in the book. He sets the definition in Romans 1 when he writes, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” followed by “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness” and “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions” (Rom 1:18, 24, 26). So, the aspect of God’s wrath Paul calls to mind is that as a response to their “suppress[ing] the truth in unrighteousness,” God gives people over to their sinful desires.

This theme continues in Romans (4:12; 5:9; 9:22), but it isn’t just with the term “wrath” it also shows itself in other terms of judgment, such as “death/die/died” (5:21; 6:16, 23; 7:5, 9, 10, 13; 8:6, 13) “condemnation” (5:16, 18; 8:1), and, more explicitly, “hardens” (9:18). The basic idea is that God’s righteous judgment is shown in that he gives people over to sinful passions/desires in response to their rejection of Him. Paul uses Pharaoh as an example of this in Rom 9:17, and this follows what we see in Pharaoh’s story. Pharaoh suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (first, by exalting himself to divinity, then by keeping God’s people enslaved, then again in Exod 5:2, 6-9; 8:15, 32), so the LORD hardened his heart in judgment.

Another interesting thing about the book of Romans is that Romans 9 actually picks up a discussion that began in 3:1-7. After demonstrating that the Jews outside of Christ are just as much under God’s condemnation as the Gentiles (Romans 2), Paul asks, “What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of the circumcision? Much in every way!” (3:1-2a), but he only lists one advantage in that context: “Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God” (3:2b). He doesn’t get to the rest of the advantages until Rom 9:4-5.

There are two other questions posed in Rom 3:1-7 that aren’t answered until Romans 9-11. The first is, “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?” (3:3). The question here is asking if God will still keep His promises to Israel if some don’t believe. Paul answers “Yes!” which is most clearly seen in Rom 11:26a, “And so all Israel will be saved” and 11:29, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” God hasn’t forgotten His love for or His promises to the Jews.

The next question from Romans 3:1-7 that is answered in Romans 9 is: “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?” (Rom 3:5-7). In other words, if God gives people (and, in this case, nations) over to sinful desires as part of righteous judgment, why does God still find fault with those whom He has given over to sinful desires? Who could resist His will? (This is summarized in Rom 9:19.)

Conclusion

Romans 9 (and 10 and 11) is about defending God’s righteousness in regard to His dealings with Israel, and the subject is nations, not individuals. Even in the example of “JACOB I HAVE LOVED, BUT ESAU I HAVE HATED” (Rom 9:13), the nations of Israel and Edom are in view. We know this because, in Rom 9:12, Paul recalls Gen 25:23: “And the LORD said to her [Rebekah]: ‘Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.’” Esau, the individual, never served Jacob. In fact, it was the opposite (Gen 32:4), yet the fate of these nations was set.

The reason so many can’t see this is because for more than a thousand years, the church, for all intents and purposes, universally rejected the idea that God would fulfill His promises to Israel. Instead, they believed that God had rejected Israel and instead will fulfill His promises allegorically in the Church. With that basic foundation missing, Romans 9 can’t be understood literally. To try to make sense of it, people read into Romans 9 the idea of God choosing individuals for salvation and damnation, but that idea isn’t there unless we put it there.

What is there is a look at the advantages the Jews have as God’s chosen nation, a defense of God’s righteousness relative to His keeping His promises to Israel, and a defense of the righteousness of God’s judgment.

In the next article, we will look at the reasoning behind God’s choice to show mercy or to harden. Some say it’s a mystery that is only known to God, but it’s not. It’s right there in the text.
If this is interesting to you, you might enjoy this book, Dispensationalism and Free Grace: Intimately Linked.

Popular posts from this blog

Antinomianism and Free Grace Theology

By -
By Dr. Roger Fankhauser, FGA Executive Council member and the pastor of Burleson Bible Church in Burleson, Texas.  Dr. Fankhauser can be reached at rsfankhauser at bellsouth dot net.   Antinomianism.   A fancy word meaning “lawless”.   Many who don’t get the free grace message accuse us of practicing and teaching antinomianism. They think – wrongly – that the free grace message is light on sin and light on obedience. The author of a recent best-selling book describes the message that he alleges some present this way: “We have been told all that is required is a one-time decision, maybe even mere intellectual assent to Jesus, but after that we need not worry about his commands, his standards, or his glory. We have a ticket to heaven, and we can live however we want on earth. Our sin will be tolerated along the way….” Another well-known author put it this way: “What is no-Lordship theology (the author’s name for free grace theology) but the teaching that those who died to sin can
Read more

A Change of Mind about Repentance: Do you Dare?

By -
By Dr. Fred Lybrand   Repentance has been a sticky issue and has been around as a major conversation piece since the Reformation. I know, because ‘my view’ (which I found out I share with Dr. Elliot Johnson of Dallas Theological Seminary) has been labeled an error by those involved in the Marrow of Divinity Controversy way back in the 1600s! Of course, no need to get excited, every view on the planet and throughout history is an error to someone or some group.   So, the issue of concern here --- is repentance necessary to get saved (as in from-hell-to-heaven)? If it is necessary, then is it a part of saving faith? These are the essential questions. There are many views, often being represented as repentance meaning the necessary turning from all known sin (and interest in future sin, usually) to ‘believe’ in Christ. In this regard, some purveyors of salvation make repentance as much of a part of faith as they do works (see http://www.backtofaith.com ).   I have a bit of an uncom
Read more

Understanding Hebrews 10:26: Is Christ’s Sacrifice Sufficient for Me?

By -
Image
(Originally posted at thegracelings.org) Bible wasn’t given to us as a bunch of unconnected verses that all make perfect sense on their own. Sometimes, without the context, verses can sound like they mean the opposite of what the authors meant by what they wrote. It’s a terrible thing, but many times people take advantage of this fact and use isolated verses in a way that hurts people and devastates their walk with Christ. (Sometimes it’s out of ignorance. Sometimes it’s malicious. It’s always tragic.) It’s especially common for people to cite Scripture out of context in order to cause believers to doubt Christ’s love for them or the security of their salvation. This article is about one verse that is often used this way. It’s Hebrews 10:26, which reads, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (NKJV, same throughout the article). Often, people throw this verse out there on social media like a grenade wi
Read more