Overview of Romans 9 (Part 1)

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The Faith of Noah (Part 2)

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Alright, if you want to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the 9th chapter of the book of Romans.
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Romans chapter 9 just happens to be one of the most intensely debated passages of Scripture, particularly regarding the issue of God's freedom to save those whom He chooses.
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There are generally two sides of this intense debate.
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Sometimes they are called Calvinism and Arminianism.
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Sometimes they're called Reformed Theology and Arminianism.
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Sometimes they'll make that distinction.
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But more specific, the terms that I want to introduce to you tonight are the terms monergism and synergism.
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So, if you're taking notes, let's go ahead.
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Two terms.
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Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
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My mind is thinking two steps ahead.
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And synergism.
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Monergism and synergism.
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The two sides basically are to be explained like this.
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The term monergism comes from the root word mono, which means one or singular, and the word ergos, which means to work.
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So we say one worker.
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And then, of course, synergism.
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You've heard the word synergy.
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You've heard that used particularly in the business world.
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They'll talk about having synergy in the workplace, meaning all people are working together to come about with a common task.
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So the word synergism means the group or more than one.
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Multiple are working.
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So you have synergism and monergism in the relationship of the issue of salvation.
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When you talk about monergism, you're talking about salvation being a work of God alone, a work of a singular entity.
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Salvation is wholly, singularly, completely, individually of God alone.
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Synergism, on the other hand, is to say that salvation is in some way, even if it be a small way, it is in some way a cooperative act.
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God does his part and you do your part.
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And that's how synergism explains salvation.
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Now, there are many levels of synergism.
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There are some people who are synergists who are extreme synergists.
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Those are the works based salvation people.
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They say God does his part, but you have to work for your salvation.
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You have to do X, Y and Z.
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And in doing X, Y and Z, you establish your salvation based on what you do.
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That's extreme synergism.
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That would be heretical synergism.
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It's way off to the fringe.
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I don't know very many people who call themselves genuine Christians who believe that works cause our salvation.
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All my Baptist brethren who are Arminians generally would not say their works contribute to their salvation.
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However, they would still be synergists because they do believe that there is a point at which their action or inaction influences to some degree their own salvation.
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To put it in maybe a different light, they say I believed or I didn't believe.
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And my belief saved me or my lack of belief caused me to be unsaved.
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I've heard it explained like this.
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God does 99% of the work, but you still have to come along and you still have to put up your 1% and your 1% is faith.
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And as such, even if they are the slightest bit of synergy, they are still synergists.
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Even if it's 99 to 1 or 99.9 to .01, it's still a synergistic viewpoint.
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It's still we have contributed in some form or fashion to our salvation.
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And it's no longer wholly of God.
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So when we talk about salvation being 100% of God, it is of God alone and our only part in salvation is receiving it.
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And by receiving it, we receive it in toto.
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We receive the faith and the grace and in all.
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It is all given to us as a gift.
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We don't contribute to our salvation.
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That is monergism.
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Now, why am I making the point about monergism and synergism? Because I completely believe that the greatest example of the teaching of monergism is found in Romans chapter 9.
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Romans chapter 9 is the watershed passage in regard to this teaching.
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Because it clearly tells us about God's specific and righteous ability to save not only how He chooses, but whom He chooses.
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And most of you have been here.
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I know some of you haven't.
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But most of you have been here in our examination of Romans 8.28-39.
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You have been with us as we've examined all of the passages in regard to election and predestination.
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So those have given you a foundation upon which we are going to build now that we've made it here to Romans chapter 9.
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So, let's turn...
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I guess you're already there because I asked you to turn there earlier.
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Let's look at Romans chapter 9.
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And I want to go ahead and tell you something.
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I want to tell you that we are not going to make it all the way through Romans chapter 9 tonight.
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Obviously.
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But also, I want to tell you this.
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We are going to do an overview first.
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Then we're going to go back and do a specific exegesis of the text.
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I'm not even sure if we're going to finish the overview tonight, though.
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That's the problem.
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I have an overview and then I have another where we go through and look at the Greek and all that.
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We specifically break it down.
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So, let's begin.
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We're going to read Romans chapter 9.
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And we're going to look tonight...
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Simply, we're going to read to verse 24.
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That should take us as far as I want to go tonight.
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In an overview.
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Romans chapter 9, verse 1.
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Reading from the English Standard Bible.
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I am speaking the truth in Christ.
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I am not lying.
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My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.
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That I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
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For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.
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They are Israelites.
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And to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
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To them belong the patriarchs.
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And from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever.
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Amen.
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But it is not as though the word of God has failed.
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For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.
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And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.
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But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God.
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But the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
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For this is what the promise said.
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About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son.
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And not only so, but also when Rebecca has conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac.
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Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad.
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In order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of his call.
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She was told the older will serve the younger.
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As it is written, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.
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What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means.
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For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.
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And I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
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So then it depends not on human will or exertion.
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But on God who has mercy.
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For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you.
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And that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
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So then he has mercy on whomever he wills.
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And he hardens whomever he wills.
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So you will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? 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 mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory? Even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.
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And I will stop there at verse 24, because he begins backing up his teaching with Scripture.
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And it's going to take some time going over those passages.
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And that will roll into chapter 10.
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It's going to take some time to go back into the Old Testament and examine how Paul simply teaches this very important truth.
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And then he says, this is in accord with what the Old Testament says.
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And as you can see, he quotes Hosea and then he quotes Isaiah.
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And he gives us a very important thing.
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He shows that what he's teaching is in accord with Scripture.
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Now, Paul is doing something that is very important.
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Paul is here giving what we call in church language, Paul is giving what is called an apologetic.
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What is an apologetic? Does anyone know? It is a defense.
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If you say that something is true, then you ought to be able to defend the truthfulness of what you've said.
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You ought to have evidence for what you have said is true.
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And if what you are saying is true is not supported by the evidence, it's not supported by fact, it's not supported by Scripture, then you ought not say it.
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And Paul in Romans 8, 28-39 has given us one of the most beautiful expressions of the security of God's elect people.
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He says that all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
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That's a beautiful statement.
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And he says, because who God foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
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And whom He predestined, He called.
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Whom He called, He justified.
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Whom He justified, He glorified.
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That's wonderful and that's true.
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And then he goes on to say, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
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Who is it to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who dies much more than that, the one who was raised.
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And he goes into this great exposition about all the security that we have as believers in Jesus Christ.
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We have this wonderful security.
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And now in Romans 9, he comes with a defense.
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Why? Because as soon as you make such a bold statement about the security of the believer, there are going to be people who stand up and have questions.
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Look at Romans 9, verse 1.
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He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ.
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I am not lying.
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My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.
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That sounds like a man who's trying to make a point about the truthfulness of what he just said.
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You know, I've done that before in preaching.
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I'll be saying something and I'll say, I'm not lying.
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It's right here in the text.
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Or this isn't just Keith Mosky's opinion.
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This is what the Bible says.
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That's what a speaker, an orator, a teacher does to reinforce that what they're saying is the truth.
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Yeah.
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Truly, truly, I say unto you.
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Verily, verily, I am speaking the truth.
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Paul is saying that same thing here.
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I am speaking the truth in Christ.
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I am not lying.
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Why would he say that? Because there's going to be people who accuse him of, this is not true.
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But what is it? What is it about his statement that they would say is not true? What is it about his statement that they would say is a lie? It's very simple.
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Paul, if what you're saying is true, that Jesus Christ gives us security, and that in that security we have nothing that will ever condemn us, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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If that is the truth, that God's people are secure, but yet Israel is God's people, how then can that be true? Because so many of them have rejected the Messiah.
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You see, that's the question.
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If your statement is that God is securing His people, and so many that claim to be His people, the Israelites, have rejected Him, how can we say...
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So Paul says, I'm speaking the truth.
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I'm not lying.
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My conscience bears me witness.
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That I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
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Beloved, I wonder sometimes if our heart ever breaks for people that we know, that don't know Christ.
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I wonder if rather sometimes we tend to feel somewhat spiritually superior, or somewhat almost ego-driven.
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Well, hey, at least I'm not going to hell.
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Now, maybe you wouldn't be so brash as to say such a thing.
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But how often times do we just say, well, I know where He's going.
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You might not say it with your mouth, but sometimes you say it with your mind or with your heart.
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There's very little concern.
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But Paul here describes to us a different attitude, doesn't he? He says, I have unceasing anguish in my heart.
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Why? Because so many of His brethren, according to the flesh...
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Who is Paul? Paul is of the tribe of Benjamin.
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He is a Pharisee.
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He is a Jew.
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And Paul, when he talks about his kinsmen according to his flesh, he's not just talking about whatever brothers or sisters or mother and father he has.
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He's talking about the nation of Israel.
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And he's talking about his Jewish brethren.
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And he says, I have unceasing anguish in my heart over these people, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
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They are Israelites.
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And to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises.
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To them belong the patriarchs.
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And from their race, according to the flesh, is Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.
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Amen.
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Now, if you want to make note of this, right there in verse 5, where it says, To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.
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Amen.
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If you have a King James Bible, it will read differently there.
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Most of the modern translations read Christ, who is God over all.
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However, the King James Bible will say something to the effect of Christ.
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And then it will have a comment.
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It will say, God blessed over all.
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Amen.
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And it separates Jesus, the Christ, and it separates him from God.
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And it makes it a two individual sentence.
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Rather than saying Christ is God, it talks about Christ and God.
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And it kind of separates the two.
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If that's the way your Bible reads, know that this is one of those times where it's not as much a textual variation.
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And we've talked about textual variants and what those are.
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This is not a textual variation.
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What this is, is a place wherein the Greek grammar is not as specific as we might like it to be.
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And it can be interpreted one of two ways.
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The King James Bible chooses to interpret it one way.
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Most of your modern translations choose to interpret it the other way.
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And I tend to agree with the grammatical construction here.
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It does describe Jesus as being God over all.
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And we know that Jesus is, according to John 1, 1 and many other passages, that describe Jesus as being divine.
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But be that as it may, if you heard it read and it read differently in your Bible, that's why.
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All right.
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So let's move on.
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Some make the claim that because Paul here has such a fervor for the salvation of his brethren, that he cannot possibly be teaching the sovereignty of God in regard to salvation.
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But this is based on the false assumption that a belief in election is somehow incompatible with evangelical zeal.
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We can have evangelistic zeal and still believe in election.
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We do.
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We should.
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We should desire the salvation of people.
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We should long for the salvation of our lost brothers and sisters and friends.
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And we should go to them and we should share the gospel with them.
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But we should never forget that the salvation that is going to come to them is not going to come from the wisdom of our words or the articulate nature of our presentation.
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But it is going to come to them because the Spirit of God opens their heart to believe it.
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That doesn't make me lack zeal.
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That actually gives me confidence, knowing that when I share the gospel, I can't mess it up.
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All I have to do is tell the truth.
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All I have to do is proclaim the gospel and leave it to God to bring the increase.
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One of the most common arguments against the monergistic view of Romans 9, and this is important.
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One of the most common arguments against the monergistic view of Romans 9 is that Paul is not talking about individual salvation in this passage.
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People will say that what Paul is actually talking about here is national blessing.
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And as such, they'll say, you can't really talk about Romans 9 in election because Romans 9 is about national blessing.
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It's not about individual salvation.
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However, to make that argument, you have to throw away everything Paul just said.
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Because the immediate context of what Paul is saying is he's talking about the individual salvation of his kinsmen.
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His brothers, according to the flesh.
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He's talking about their salvation.
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And what is he saying? He says, I would gladly give up my own salvation.
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I wish myself to be accursed for the salvation of my brethren.
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Beloved, don't ever forget that.
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Because that little piece of information that Paul is saying there sets the stage for what he's about to go ahead and continue saying.
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Verse 6, he says this, But it is not as though the Word of God has failed.
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For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.
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What does that mean? What's he talking about? Right there in that passage, it shows that he's talking about individuals, not nations.
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Because if he were to say, it's not as if the Word of God has failed.
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For not all who are descended from the nation of Israel belong to the nation of Israel.
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That doesn't make sense.
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He's talking about individuals at this point.
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It is clear that he's about to address individuals, and he is.
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He's going to begin with Isaac.
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And he's going to begin then and talk about Esau and Jacob.
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In one of the most controversial passages in all the Bible, he's going to say, Jacob God loved, and Esau God hated.
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That's a pretty difficult passage for a lot of people to understand.
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But if you understand the context and the building up, you'll see it's not really hard to understand, it's just hard to believe.
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It's hard to believe how God operates.
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Because it says, in verse 6, it says, It's not as if the Word of God has failed.
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What's he trying to say there? He's saying it's not as if God had a plan, and that plan has just fallen apart.
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Because that's what some people were trying to say.
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Well, wait a minute.
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If God planned to save all of the nation of Israel, and all the nation of Israel, by and large, has discarded Jesus Christ and have rejected Him, then that means God's plan has failed.
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If God had a plan to save all national Israel, and all national Israel is not saved, that means God's plan has failed.
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But you see, that's the argument Paul is having to deal with.
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He said it's not as if God's plan has failed.
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But it's not as if the Word of God has failed, because not all of those who are descended from Israel are actually of Israel.
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And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.
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Beloved, get that in your mind, because it is absolutely talking about individuals.
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He says not everyone who was ever an offspring of Abraham is a son of Abraham.
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Wait a minute, doesn't that sound kind of contradictory? No, because what is he talking about here? The offspring of Abraham is talking about the promised offspring.
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Abraham had multiple children.
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Who was his first? Prior to Ishmael, he did have an adopted son, because at one point he says to God, he says, I don't have anyone to give all...
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you're giving me all these things, the only one I have is this one who's not even a member of my family, who I've taken as a son.
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I forget his name right off, I don't have the verse in my head, but I know the passage because I've cited it before.
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He says there's this one who's going to receive everything if I were to die.
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And God says, no, you're going to receive a son.
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So what happens? He doesn't receive a son in the time that he thinks he ought to, so what does he do? His wife comes up with a plan, right? It's a great plan according to them, they thought it was a good idea.
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She had a handmaiden named Hagar.
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And Hagar, he went and his wife had the idea, lay with my handmaiden and make a child for yourself, and that will fulfill God's promise.
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Did it fulfill God's promise? No, because that wasn't the promise God made.
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God had made the promise that he would have a son through Sarai, not through Hagar.
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So you have Hagar who has the son named Ishmael.
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That is Abraham's first biological son.
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Was he the son of the promise? Was he the son God had promised him? No.
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So along comes the fulfillment of the promise.
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Who is the fulfillment of the promise? Isaac.
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Now there has been a divide between the Ishmaelites and the sons of Isaac, which we would call the Israelites, even down to today, hadn't there? Who are the modern day representation of the Israelites? Israelites, I tricked you.
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I tricked you.
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I did that on purpose.
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Yes, the modern day Israelites are the Israelites.
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They're still there.
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But the modern day representation of the Ishmaelites would be Arabs.
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Not necessarily Muslims.
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Muhammad was an Arab.
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Muhammad was a Muslim.
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But there are a lot of people who are Muslims who are not of Arab descent.
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There are Arabs who are Christians, yes.
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But the Arab people claim descendancy from Abraham through Ishmael.
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So you have the Ishmaelites who are the modern Arabs and the Israelites who are the modern Jews.
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The point here in verse 7, he says, Not all are children of Abraham because they're his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
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The point right there is simple.
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God has chosen the line of Isaac to be the one through whom the blessing would come.
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God had not chosen Ishmael.
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God had chosen Isaac.
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Then he goes on in verse 8 to say, This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
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So the point is this.
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Just because you're a child of Abraham doesn't mean you're automatically a child of God.
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Where do we see that argument made? Wasn't that argument made to Jesus? Didn't the Pharisees say, Hey, look, we're children of Abraham.
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And Jesus said, If you were children of Abraham, then you would believe in me.
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For Abraham longed to see my day.
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But you are not of Abraham.
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You do not have Abraham as your father.
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You're of your father the devil.
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Now, all of them could have called Abraham their physical father.
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But Jesus made the point, You are not of Abraham.
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You might be physically, but you are not spiritually of Abraham.
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You're of your father the devil.
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So Jesus agrees with Paul.
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Obviously.
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OK.
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We'll say the writers of Scripture are the Scripture itself is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
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So it's all cohesive.
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It all agrees.
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Jesus agrees with Paul.
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Paul agrees with Jesus.
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They all agree.
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That just because someone's born of Abraham, does not mean that they are necessarily chosen by God.
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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
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The promises of God have always been for the elect remnant, those whom God chooses.
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And in the following verses, verses 9 and 10, he provides an example.
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He says, alright, you have Ishmael and Isaac.
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Isaac was chosen.
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And here's the story.
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He says, For this is what the promise said.
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And this is quoting.
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He says, About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son.
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And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac.
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That's verses 9 and 10.
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Now verse 11.
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This is where the part, it gets difficult for people to hear.
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Because he says, Look, Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac.
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So he takes it down a level.
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You have Ishmael and Isaac.
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God chooses Isaac.
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Of the children of Isaac, you have Jacob and Esau.
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And they are twins.
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They are together in the womb.
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They are as close as any two individuals could be.
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They are born together on the same day.
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Raised by the same parents.
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They are twins.
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And he says in verse 11, Though they were not yet born, and had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue.
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I like it better to read this way.
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In order that God's purpose of election might stand.
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In order that it might be demonstrated.
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Not because of works, but because of him who calls.
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She, speaking of Rebekah, Rebekah was told the older will serve the younger.
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Now before we get to Jacob I loved Esau, but hey, let me just write here.
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Paul is belaboring the point that God's choice of the younger twin was not on the basis of works.
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Why is that important? That is true.
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That is true.
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But the point is, there are always going to be people who try to claim that God's choice of one person, and not of another person.
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God's election of an individual and God's choosing to not elect an individual will be something in them.
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There was something in them that God found to be more precious or more redeemable.
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That there was something about them that made them better.
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I told you about that conversation that I've had.
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Oftentimes when I'm trying to explain election to people and I try to have this conversation, here's the thing that I often tell people.
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I say if you have two individuals that come to church and they both start church on the same day, and they both sit in church for five years together, and they both hear the same amount of sermons, they sing the same amount of songs, they say the same amount of prayers together, but one of them comes to Christ and the other one does not come to Christ.
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The one who came to Christ, did he come to Christ because there was something in his heart or something in himself, something in his mind that made him more spiritually sensitive than the other? That's the question you have to ask.
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Was God's choice of Jacob over Esau because Jacob was a better person? I would submit to you, Jacob was worse than Esau.
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You say, wait a minute now, Pastor.
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Pastor Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.
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What kind of person could be worse than that? How about the guy who made the stew? How about the guy who presented it to him and said, hey, coming in from the field all day, you're hungry? I made this good stew.
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You know, I'm Mama's favorite, so I can cook real good.
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And he said, I'm going to make this bowl of stew, but you can't have it unless I have your birthright.
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And of course, he said, what good is my birthright if I'm going to die of hunger? Give it to me now.
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And he sold him his birthright for a bowl of stew.
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Which one is worse? The one who's willing to give it up for the stew or the one who's willing to take it? Esau was not somebody to be emulated naturally, but neither was Jacob for the most part.
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Jacob was the one who not only conned his brother, but he conned his father.
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Remember? Well, with his mother's help.
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She was a rascal herself.
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But what did she do? She's a rascal.
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What did she do? Or what did he do? The father was going to give the blessing to Esau.
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The father said he couldn't see.
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The father said, son, I want some food.
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I want you to make that good meat that you make.
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Because he was a hunter.
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Esau was the hunter.
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He said, I want you to go out and get some food and bring it back and cook it for me and we'll have a meal to celebrate the blessing.
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Of course, his brother Jacob was listening in on the conversation, heard the story, and what did he do? He goes to his mom and says, Mom, Dad's going to give him the blessing.
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It's supposed to be for me.
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So mom takes and she puts the hair on his arm from the animal because they said Esau was the hairy of the two.
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He was the more burly.
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He was the manly man.
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I kind of imagine Jacob sort of being the homebody, kind of stayed home.
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They were twins, but obviously not identical.
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And he puts the hair on his arms and he takes the food in that he had slaughtered from among the field and the father blesses him.
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And then what happens? Esau comes back.
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Esau's got the food.
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And the father realizes, Oh, I've been had.
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I've been bamboozled.
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Again, that's not a direct quote.
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But he says, I've been tricked.
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But at this point the blessing is given.
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There's no changing the blessing.
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Why did I tell you that story? Most of you knew the story.
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Because I'm trying to prove a point about the nature and character of both.
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The nature and character of both is that one did not have a naturally righteous state and the other had a naturally unrighteous state.
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It wasn't as if God looked at them and said the righteous are good, this one's righteous and this one's wicked.
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In fact, Paul makes the point, he says, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or evil, honestly, could you make it any clearer? Could Paul make the point any clearer? Here's the thing that is ironic to me.
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I was listening to a sermon preached on this very text by a man named Ergen Kanner.
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Ergen Kanner is opposed to Reformed theology.
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He was the dean of Liberty Seminary, but he is no longer.
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And I don't really want to go into why, but he's no longer the dean of Liberty Seminary.
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And for whatever reason, he is no longer there.
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But he was asked to preach opposing Reformed theology.
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So he preached a sermon opposing Reformed theology.
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And he said, the thing about Romans 9, and I'm quoting, he says, people get all excited because God hated Esau and He loved Jacob.
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But what they forget is that God hated Esau because of what Esau did.
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That is a direct quote.
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He said, God hated Esau because of what Esau did.
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I don't know how Paul could have made it any clearer.
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But that is obvious eisegesis.
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He is reading into the text something that is not there.
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Because the text says the exact opposite.
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The text says that God made the choice before they were born to demonstrate that He wasn't choosing based upon works.
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He made the choice before they were born to demonstrate that He wasn't choosing based upon one being righteous and one being wicked.
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He says, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who called.
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She was told, the older will serve the younger.
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And then it goes into verse 11, as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I hated.
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Beloved, he was wrong.
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Ergenkanner was wrong.
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Many pastors who preach this passage have been wrong because they fail to allow the text to speak for itself.
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Now some people say, I had a conversation about this last night, some people say it's not nice to say somebody's wrong.
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They say it's too mean to say that somebody's wrong.
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Well, yeah.
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But at the same time, we have to be able to speak the truth.
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And sometimes the only way to demonstrate truth is to shine the light upon error and say this is the wrong thing, this is the incorrect thing.
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And if your theology does not allow for God to love Jacob and hate Esau, then might I tell you your theology is undiblical.
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If your theology does not allow for that, then your theology is based on a God who is too small because He's a God that only exists in your mind.
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That's hard to hear and a lot of people don't want to hear it, but truth is truth.
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I once had a very interesting conversation with someone.
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I wanted to share this as I got to this point.
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I'm going to go a little long tonight, but this will start circling the plane anyway.
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There was one conversation I had one time with a person who wanted to argue that God's love is omnibenevolent, meaning that it is universal and undistinguishable.
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I don't know if you know what that is.
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Let me explain.
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Basically, that God loves every person absolutely equally.
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There is no diminishing or rising of His love that everyone receives the absolute equal amount of love and grace from God.
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That was the argument.
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And by that, they called the argument omnibenevolence, that God is all-loving and His love is extended to all people equally and without any degree.
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I said, well, that is your position.
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They said, yes.
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The Bible says God loved the world.
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Now, we talked about that last week.
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We talked about what world means.
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But I don't want to go there.
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I said, is that your position? And they said, yes.
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So I let them sit with their position for a while.
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I didn't want to just automatically jump.
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I wanted to let them sit.
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I waited until the next time I saw them.
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Next time.
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I said, I got a question for you.
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I said, I was reading the Bible the other day.
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I do that every once in a while.
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I was reading Romans 9.
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And Romans 9 said, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
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Now, you told me that God's love is absolute, indistinguishable, indiminishable, that it is to each person equal.
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That is your definition of omnibenevolence.
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Now, based on your definition of omnibenevolence and Romans 9.11, which says, 9.13, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.
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How do you define it? And they said, well, that means God loved Jacob more.
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I said, wait.
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Because now my hair hurts.
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My brain hurts.
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But now it's out into the hair.
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I said, you told me last time that God's love is indistinguishable.
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But now you're saying, because this is what I asked them.
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I said, what does it mean when it says he hated Esau? And they said, well, hate means to love less.
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I don't know if you've ever heard that before, but I've heard that expression.
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Hate means to love less.
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That's what they will define.
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Hate is love less.
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And that's when I hit it with Romans 9.
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I said, wait a minute.
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If it's love less, and last week you said it was indistinguishable, how do you connect the two? And, of course, the wheels fall off the cart at that point.
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It doesn't make any sense.
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The incoherent nature of the argument is displayed.
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But I do want to talk about the word hate is important.
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It is not improper to use the term hate to describe a lesser level of love.
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I will agree with this.
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There are times where when the Bible talks about hate, it is describing in hyperbole a lesser form of love.
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Can anybody think of what passage I might be thinking about? Yeah.
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He who follows after me must hate his mother and father.
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Jesus said that.
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Alright? We know the Bible clearly is not as if that's a textual variation.
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It's not as if that's a mistranslation.
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Jesus said, any man who will come after me must hate his mother and his father.
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And you say, well, wait a minute.
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Is Jesus advocating us breaking the fifth commandment? What's the fifth commandment? Thou shalt honor your father and your mother.
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This is the first commandment with a promise that you shall live long in the land.
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I love the finishing of that commandment because I always say, you know why it says you're going to live long in the land? Because if you don't honor them, they'll kill you.
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The fifth commandment.
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Thou shalt honor your father and your mother.
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And this is the first commandment with a promise that thou might live long in the land.
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Now, based on that text.
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And Jesus said, you must hate your mother and father.
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How do we understand the word hate there? The word hate must be understood at least in a hyperbolic sense to be describing a lesser form of love.
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If you come after Jesus Christ and you line up after Jesus Christ and you follow after Him, and your parents, your family rejects you, you cannot let the love that you have for your parents, that familial love, overtake the love that you have for Jesus Christ.
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The love for Him must supersede all relativistic or familial connections.
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Any relatives, any family that we have that would reject Christ, we cannot allow that to cause us to reject Christ.
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Our love for Him must so outweigh our love for anyone else that in a hyperbolic sense, it would be tantamount to hate.
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The comparison to our commitment to Christ versus our commitment to them.
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In that sense, you could say it's a form of lesser love.
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But, in this passage, even if you allowed that, even if you said, God loved Jacob, but He loved Esau less.
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Let's say we allowed that.
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That destroys the argument of the omnibenevolence, doesn't it? That destroys His initial argument, which was that God's love is equal to all people.
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Now, that's hard.
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It's hard to accept.
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It's hard to believe.
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It's hard to deal with.
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But it's not hard to read, and it says it right there.
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Jacob I have loved.
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Esau I have hated.
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God has chosen one.
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God has not chosen the other.
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Now, that's tough.
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It's hard to believe.
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It's hard to accept.
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But let me tell you something.
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Paul spends the rest of the...
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from here to verse 24 giving an apologetic for this.
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Because the very first thing, the very first question you ask, the very first question anybody asks when they're presented with that, is this, wait, doesn't that mean God's unfair? Don't that mean God's unfair? And then look at verse 14.
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What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Let me give you the southern version of that.
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Don't that mean God's unfair? That's the translation of that term.
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Paul is about to ask the question that everybody asks when they're told God loved Jacob and hated Esau.
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They say that means God's not fair.
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And Paul says, what shall we say? Is there injustice with God? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means.
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Now you would think if all us reformed guys are crazy, well, some of us are, but if all us guys who teach election are crazy, then what you would expect is for Paul to say, he'd ask the question, what shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? By no means.
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You misunderstood me.
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I wasn't saying God chose according to His will.
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You misunderstood me.
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See, you would think if we're wrong, that's how Paul would have to respond.
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But instead, this is what he says.
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Is there injustice with God? By no means.
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For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
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Wow! Because all he did there was simply reiterate the fact of everything he just said.
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I said God does it His way according to His plan, His power, His preeminence, and His predestination.
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And I said it again.
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I didn't ask for anyone to approve.
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Paul is simply saying, you ask the question, is God unfair? I say this, by no means, because God has the prerogative to choose whom He will, how He will.
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That's tough to hear.
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But I do want to make a point.
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And it's sort of a Greek point.
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And don't say it's all Greek to me.
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I've heard a lot.
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About grammar.
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Because in this passage, and this is where we're going to end tonight.
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In this passage in verse 15, he says, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion, right? In the English language, when we see the word mercy there, it comes to us in what part of speech? Hmm? It's a noun.
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Thank you.
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It is a noun.
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I will have mercy.
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To have something, to have it, that mercy then is a thing.
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I will have mercy.
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No.
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Now, have is not no.
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Have is the verb.
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Mercy is a noun.
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I will have mercy.
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Okay? I know.
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I can hang with you there.
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I will have mercy.
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It says, I will have compassion.
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That's the way it reads in English.
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That is not the way it reads in Greek.
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This must be understood for nothing else but for you to understand that sometimes the English cannot properly translate exactly what the Greek says.
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And some of you are excited.
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You're like, well, maybe it doesn't go as far as this.
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No, it goes further.
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So they're making it easier.
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In the Greek, it says, I will mercy whom I will mercy.
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Because in Greek, mercy is a verb.
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We do not have a verb form of mercy.
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I would never say, I mercied you.
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I would say, I had mercy on you or I extended mercy to you, but I would never say, I mercied someone.
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As such, we would never translate Romans 9 that way to say, I mercy whom I mercy.
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Likewise, the word compassion is also a verb in the Greek.
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So if you think of it that way and you read it that way, this is what it says.
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For he says to Moses, I will mercy whom I will mercy and I will compassion whom I will compassion.
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Why is that important? It is important because it demonstrates God's active purpose.
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God is actively mercying someone.
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He is actively compassioning someone.
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Yes.
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On whom I will.
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To demonstrate that he goes, you go back.
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He had mercy.
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He mercied Jacob.
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Did Jacob deserve it? I think we've already gone heads and tails to demonstrate that he didn't deserve it.
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Did Isaac deserve it over Ishmael? I will go further.
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Did Abraham deserve it over Terah? Who is Terah? His dad.
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Abraham's father Terah.
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Why Abraham? Why not Terah? Because God has said, I will mercy whom I will mercy.
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What were you going to say, Bruce? But God spoke specifically to Abraham.
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God spoke specifically to Isaac.
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God spoke specifically to Jacob.
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God spoke specifically to Joshua.
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How many brothers were there? There were 12 tribes of Israel.
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God spoke specifically to Joshua.
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God said, I will mercy whom I will mercy.
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I will compassion whom I will compassion.
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And honestly, as I said before, if our theology will not allow for this, then our theology is not biblical.
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And if our God does not do this, our God is too small.
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Now, starting at verse 16, he starts talking about another interesting set of characters in the Old Testament.
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Pharaoh and Moses.
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And he goes on to verse 24 to talk about the cups and their maker.
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And we get into the subject that is called reprobation.
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Because of lack of time, there's no way I'm going to be able to get there tonight.
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So I will put a big X next to verse 15.
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That is where we left off in the overview.
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And next week we will complete the overview of verses 16 through 24.
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Does anyone have any questions? Oh, dangerous.
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Anybody have any questions? Good.
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Alright.
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Well, I want to encourage you.
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Read Romans 9.
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Read it multiple times.
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Get it into your mind so that when we're studying it, if you do have questions, you can ask and we can deal with those questions.
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With that being said, let's pray.
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Father God, as we come to the conclusion of our lesson tonight and we thank You for this opportunity to have examined Your Word, we pray that You would just continue to encourage us into not only reading the Word, but also believing it, applying it to our lives.
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And Lord, when we come to these difficult passages, Romans 9, which for so many in the Christian community, these verses are just ignored or worse, they are denied.
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Let it be, O God, that we are not afraid to stand up and preach them, to teach them, and to proclaim them as truth, knowing that Your Word is truth completely.
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There is no part that is to be left unpreached.
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I thank You again, Lord, for this opportunity to be in Your house.
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We praise You for it.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.