Does God Love Everyone Equally?

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist.

My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist.

Today is the day.

We are looking at Romans 9.

Now for those of you who have any history or knowledge of Calvinism, then you know why Romans 9 is important, but maybe you don't know.

Maybe this is your first time ever hearing the voice of a Calvinist, and you want to know why I seem so excited to be here.

Well, we've been going through the Bible one chapter at a time, and we have looked at a lesson a day from a chapter a day, and we've been doing this now for several months.

This is our 33rd episode of the series, and we are going through this in the same reading as our church is doing.

We're doing a daily Bible reading.

It's a New Testament Bible reading, and we're reading in the order that we believe the books were written.

We started this back in January of 2020, and it is now, we are in May, and we are to the book of Romans, and we are at Romans chapter 9.

Oh, so much can be said about this very important chapter.

Romans chapter 9 is one of the passages that was used back in 2004-2005 when I was still in seminary, and I was introduced to the concepts of Reformed theology, and I began to be introduced to what it meant to be a Calvinist, and it was really Romans 9 along with a ton of other passages and other verses.

Ephesians 1, John 6, John 10, John 17.

There's so many passages that I could point to, but it was Romans 9 where I would literally sit on my couch with my wife, and I would read, and I would holler out to her and say, baby, doesn't this sound like Calvinism? And she would say yes, and I just remember so much.

There's just so much in this passage that is just very relevant to the subject of God being sovereign in His choices, and being able to choose whom He will.

And the example that we get in Romans 9 is all the way back to the book of Genesis with the persons of Jacob and Esau.

And the question is, how did God choose these two? Did He look down the corridor of time, and did He see that there was virtue in Jacob, and that there was evil in Esau, and that's why He made His choice? No, Paul says the very opposite.

Paul says that God chose Jacob before they were born to show that His purpose and election would stand, not because of works, but because of God's call.

That is so important.

That is so huge when it comes to doctrines like election and predestination, to understand that God makes His choices not based upon foreseen merit in us.

A lot of people believe God chooses us because He looks down the corridor of time.

He sees us as being virtuous.

He sees us as being willing to believe, and therefore that's why He chooses.

But that's not what the text says.

The text says God shows mercy to whom He will, and He has compassion on whom He chooses, and that is such an important truth, and it's one that is oftentimes difficult for people to understand.

And if you're not a Calvinist, I understand.

It's not something that's easy to believe.

It's something that really takes, I believe, a work of God in your own heart to bring you to an understanding of what the Bible says on these issues.

And I want to say this.

Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11 are often misunderstood, and it really comes down to how you understand what Paul is doing in this section of text.

Some people believe that Romans 9, 10, and 11 are Paul's parenthesis, and he's talking all about Israel, and he's taking his attention off of the church, he's focusing on Israel for three whole chapters, and I will admit he does talk about Israel, but not in the way that a lot of people think.

A lot of people think that he's focusing on Israel and excluding the church, that he's taking this opportunity, but that's not the case at all.

What Paul is going to show in these three chapters is that in the same way God chose Israel, in the same way God elects a people for himself, and he never elected all of Israel simply because they were born of Israel, but he chose from Israel his elect.

He chose a remnant, and in the same way that he does that, he chooses people even to today.

And so that's an important point.

I want to recommend something to you, and I'm going to put the link in the description below.

I have a friend, his name is Richard, and he is a Sunday school teacher at a local church, not ours, but he's a Sunday school teacher at a church similar, or in the similar area as ours, and he did a really good lesson recently on Romans 9 and how it is to be understood, and he explains the parenthesis view and the view that the Reformers or the Calvinists would hold, and I think he does a good job.

So I want to recommend that to you.

I'm going to put a link in the description below.

It's a lot longer than a Coffin and Calvinist.

I try to keep these to, you know, 10 minutes or so, but if you have time, I would recommend that lesson to you, and the link will be in the description below.

What I'm going to talk about today is what I consider to be the most misunderstood and the most misused passage in Romans chapter 9, and that is verse 13.

Let's read it together.

As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

Again, we were just talking about the fact that this passage talks a lot about God's making a choice, and God does make a choice.

He makes a choice between Jacob and Esau, and he chooses Jacob, who, even though they're twins, Jacob is the younger twin.

He was birthed second, and therefore in the human sphere, Esau would be the older son.

He would be the one that would be the chosen one.

He's the ancestor, the older child, not ancestor, but the older sibling, and so he is the one that would get the benefit.

He has the birthright.

We know this, we go back to the story, right? He sells his birthright to his brother for some stew, which does show that he was impetuous, does show he was foolhardy, and a lot of people point at that, and they say, see, there's the evil reason that Esau was so bad and Jacob was so good, but think about Jacob was not good either.

Jacob was the one who was willing to lie to his father.

Jacob was the one who was willing to, and essentially purchased birthright for nothing, for a bowl of stew.

He was the one who was willing to, in a sense, go into a situation where he and his mother fooled his ailing father, and so there's a lot about Jacob that one might not say he's the most virtuous.

Certainly he had some personal problems, but yet he's the one God chose, and then we have this passage where it doesn't just say God chose Jacob and he didn't choose Esau.

It says that earlier, but in verse 13 it says, Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated.

That's powerful because a lot of people believe that God doesn't hate anyone, and yet there are passages of scripture that say that God hates those who work iniquity.

There's passages that say that, but they'll say, no, those are exaggerations, they're anthropomorphisms.

God truly doesn't hate anyone, and the way that people usually try, who take that position, usually try to explain Romans 9 13, is they'll say God doesn't hate anyone.

God loved Esau less.

They say the word hate here doesn't mean to hate like we would think of like creaturely hatred, but it simply means God loved Esau less than he loved Jacob, and they usually base this upon Jesus's words when he said, if any man come to me and hate not his mother or father, then he has no place with me, and they say, see here, Jesus is not teaching that we need to hate our parents, but that we need to love them less than we love him, and I agree with that.

I don't think Jesus was teaching hatred of parents.

I think that would be a violation of the commandments of God that tell us to love and honor our father and mother, and so if we truly hated our parents, I think it would be difficult to honor them if we showed hatred towards them, and so when Jesus said, if any man comes to me and hates not his father and mother, I do think that that instance, the word hate means to love less, and so if you want to translate Jacob I have loved, Esau I've loved less, and base that upon the use of hatred in the Gospels with Jesus, then I'm not going to argue with you, but here's where the point becomes an issue.

Oftentimes when I'm having this conversation with people, I will do sort of a roundabout in the conversation.

I'll let the conversation go whatever direction it's going to go, and then at a certain point I will say, do you believe God loves everyone equally? Oh yes, they'll say, oh God loves everyone the same.

God loves everyone absolutely equally, and I say, but wait, you just said Jacob I have loved, Esau I've loved less.

You see, that's where you really get to an issue, because if the word hate doesn't mean hate, and I do believe that God's love and God's hatred is divine, and therefore it is not the same as our human love and our human hatred, and creaturely love and creaturely hatred is certainly going to be different than divine love and divine hatred.

I do think there are different categories at play here when the Bible says Jacob I loved, Esau I've hated, but if you're going to interpret it as Jacob I've loved, Esau I've loved less, then you have to agree with me and all Calvinists who would say that God does not love everyone absolutely equally.

That God sets his affection on certain people in a way that he does not set his affection on other people.

Think about just for a moment the nation of Israel.

Amos chapter 3 verse 2.

The prophet says, you O Israel have I known of all the nations of the world.

He's speaking for God, and the word know there doesn't simply mean knowledge, because God knows all nations perfectly, but when he says you I have known of all the nations of the world, he's saying you I have loved in a different way than I have loved all other nations.

God loves Israel different than he loves other nations.

We see this in the Old Testament.

God loved Abraham different than he loved his relatives, because he called Abraham out.

He gave Abraham a blessing.

He gave him a covenant that he didn't give anyone else, and so does God have a different love for his elect than he does for the rest of the world? As a Calvinist, I would say absolutely.

God does not love everyone the same.

God has a special affection, a love that he gives to those to whom he chooses, and if your response to that, well that's not fair, then I invite you to continue reading Romans 9, because that's the exact response that Paul anticipates in Romans 9, because in Romans 9 he says in the very next verse, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means.

You might say, well he's going to clarify it.

Yes, this is how he clarifies it.

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 how does Paul clarify God's choosing? It's his right to choose.

How does God clarify showing mercy to Jacob and not to Esau? It's God's prerogative to choose, and so this is what's funny is I've done Coffee in the Calvinist now again 32 episodes in, and honestly this is probably the first time I've really addressed the subject of Calvinism in this way.

I mean we've looked at a little bit in Romans 3 at total depravity, and we've looked at a few passages, but in all honesty this is the heart of the difference between Calvinism and non-Calvinistic systems, Arminianism, whatever you would be, is we believe in God's freedom to choose.

We believe in God's, you see a lot of people want to talk about man's free will, but the one who truly is free is God.

God has freedom to choose to show mercy to whom he shows mercy, and Romans 9 expresses God's freedom to choose, and some people think well this is all about nations, and again I point you to my friend Richard, but I want to say this.

If you think that Romans 9 is just about nations and it's not about individuals, then I would point you to go down a little further in Romans 9.

He says, let me pull it up here because I'm pulling up the passage.

He says in verse beginning at verse 22, what if God desiring to show his wrath and to make his power known has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

So he's talking about two different vessels, those prepared for glory, those prepared for destruction.

So again the elect and the non-elect, and he says in verse 24, even us whom he has called not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles.

This isn't about nations, this is about God choosing individuals, not the nation of Israel, not the nation of any other nation, but he's talking about individuals, those whom he has called from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

The Bible says the elect are made up of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

So I would encourage you, read Romans 9.

Ask the hard questions.

Spend some time with it.

Chew it up.

And be prepared for it to move you as it did me so many years ago.

This is a powerful passage.

Spend some time with it.

I encourage you to go listen to that other message I just mentioned, and I've also preached on this passage very recently at Sovereign Grace.

I was speaking on this passage, and I'm going to link to that as well.

If you have any questions about the subject of Calvinism, I encourage you to send me a message.

You can leave me a question in the comments below.

Again, I hope you enjoy Coffee with a Calvinist.

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Again, to remind you, my name is Keith Foskey.

I'm here every morning at 630 a.m., every weekday morning with another Coffee with a Calvinist episode, and we're going through the Bible one chapter at a time.

I look forward to seeing you next time on Coffee with a Calvinist.

I'm Keith Foskey, and I've been your Calvinist.