Text: Romans 9:1-16
Title: Is God Fair?
Romans 9:1-16 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: "through Isaac your descendants will be named." 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. 9 For this is a word of promise: "At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son." 10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger." 13 Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
I. Paul’s Sorrow Over Israel
II. God’s Promises to Israel
III. God’s Faithfulness illustrated in His Sovereign Will
It’s been a few weeks since we left off in the book of Romans. The last time we finished off chapter 8 and this week we will start into chapter 9. Before we dig in it is absolutely essential that we spend a minute reviewing. Chapter 9 has historically been a controversial chapter. I think a big reason for much of the confusion with this passage has to do with people who take it out of its context in the book and try to twist it into something it’s not.
As I’ve mentioned all throughout our journey through Romans, Paul is building a theological house for us. The book of Romans is popular with theologians because it is one of the more systematic accounts of Christianity. When we finish this book I’m going to give a quiz to see if you’ve been paying attention.
The reason I wanted to study the book of Romans is because I know that many of us have a theological picture in our minds that looks like this…MC Escher painting. We have different theological staircases that lead to nowhere. We have a lot of random ideas that don’t seem to connect. It makes perfect sense as long as you only look at one piece of the picture at a time, but when you step back and look at the big picture it makes your brain hurt.
My goal is to make sure that all of our beliefs about the Bible and about Jesus and about salvation and about God all fit together properly.
The first thing that we talked about that makes up the foundation of our doctrinal house is what?- Revelation. The doctrine of revelation teaches us about the absolute necessity of the Bible. It is through the Bible that God teaches us about who He is and who we are. It is our guide for salvation and living. It is powerful and true and living.
If our belief system is not grounded on God’s word, than everything we believe will be constantly shifting and worthless.
The first wall of our theological house was the doctrine of Sin. Paul spent the first three chapters of this book describing how sinful man is and how that sin affects us. He does this to help us understand our real need for a savior. Paul spends so much time talking about sin so that we will realize that we are unable to do anything to save ourselves. We are dead in sin, slaves to sin, completely debilitated by sin.
With that theological wall firmly in place, Paul is then able to construct the next theological wall- the doctrine of salvation. We know that we are sinners, we know that we can’t save ourselves, so what is it that we need to do to be saved? From the end of chapter 3 all the way through chapter 8 Paul addresses this question. He gives one of the most complete, comprehensive, inspiring descriptions of salvation in the whole Bible.
We saw Paul deal with all three aspects of our salvation- justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification is the process where God makes us righteous and holy in His sight through faith in Jesus Christ.
Sanctification is the process where we are being conformed to the image of the son. It is the process of putting off the old sinful, corrupt man and putting on the new, spirit filled man.
And glorification is all about the promise and the hope that we have that God will complete the work that He has begun in us. It is the hope of heaven.
For the next few weeks as we work our way through chapters 9-11 we will add the roof to our doctrinal house. This is the doctrine of God. Really we have already been interacting with the doctrine of God in some significant ways all throughout the book. The doctrine of revelation teaches us about God’s love for us, His imminence- or His desire to be close to His creation, and His providence.
Through the doctrine of sin we learn that God is holy, just, righteous, and perfect. Through the doctrine of salvation we learn that God is merciful, gracious, and forgiving.
In the next few chapters Paul will defend God’s faithfulness, His fairness, His sovereignty, and His patience.
In the next few chapters Paul is answering one big question- In light of God’s blessing on the gentiles under the New Covenant, what does that mean for all the promises that God made to Israel under the Old Covenant?
Has God failed the Jews? Has He given up on them? Has He revoked all the promises that He made to them? Are the gentiles God’s new “chosen people”?
Even though these questions deal specifically with the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the real issue at stake here is God’s faithfulness. The real question here is if God is trustworthy.
Think about this for just a second… We place all our hope and all our confidence and all our trust in the promises that God has made to us in the Bible. Our hope of heaven, our eternal security, the whole foundation of our theological house is built on the promises of God. What would happen if all of a sudden God said, “Sorry, I changed my mind. I think I’m going to bless this group of pagans over here instead.”
I would be the first one shouting, that’s not fair. I’ve done what you told me to do. I’ve put my faith in you, I’ve done everything you asked me to do, and now your blessing those people who don’t even like you?
That must have been how many of the Jews of Paul’s day felt. They must have felt cheated by God. They must have felt like God had reneged on his promises to them. They must have felt that it was very unfair.
Paul’s focus in the next few chapters is to defend God. This is known in the big theology books as “theodicy” Theodicy means to justify God, or to defend God’s justice.
Ok, with all that background and context in mind let’s take a look at the first 16 verses of Romans 9…
The first thing we see in chapter 9 is Paul’s immense sorrow over the state of his fellow Jews. He says that he has great sorrow and unceasing grief in his heart for his kinsmen. He even goes so far as to say that he wishes he could give up his own salvation in order that they might be saved. This small statement is packed with so much.
What this teaches us about the state of Israel is significant and important.
- First of all this statement teaches us that Israel as a collective nation has rejected Christ. Obviously not all Jews are estranged from Christ. Paul was a Jew, and many other Jewish leaders had come to faith in Christ. But as a whole, the nation of Israel has not accepted Jesus Christ as their messiah. Paul sees this as a huge tragedy.
- Second, Paul has been teaching that salvation is not by works and not by heritage, but through faith by God grace. This means that all of those Jewish people who think they are honoring God by following the Old Covenant are really just spinning their wheels. They are wasting their time.
- Third, Paul understands that there are some who would see the current state of Israel as a failure on God’s part. His desire to give himself up for them is likely based on his desire to defend God’s faithfulness. We will see that theme play out more in a minute.
Let’s look at the next few verses and then tie it all together. In the next few verses Paul outlines some of the promises that God has made to Israel. Look at 4-5 again…
Just look at this list of blessings that they have received:
- They are Israelites- All throughout this book Paul has reefed to the Jewish people as Jews. But here he switches to the term Israelite. He is highlighting the fact that they came from Jacob; they are the people of God’s own choosing.
- They were adopted. He chose them to build a nation of people. It is important to note that they were adopted in the collective sense. The OT refers to God as the Father of the nation of Israel. In the NT the language is of God adopting us individually as sons.
- They saw God’s glory- God’s glory guided them in the desert, it filled the Holy of Holies. God displayed His glory to the Israelites in a unique and special way.
- They received the covenants- In The Abrahamic Covenant God promised to make them into a great nation, bless them with land, and make them a blessing to all nations. In the Mosaic covenant given on Mt. Sinai God established the law and gave them the promise of blessing or cursing. The covenant made with David was that there would be a great king who would rule on the throne of David forever.
- They had the law and temple services. God established how and where they would worship Him.
- They had the promises of God. As if the mention of the covenants wasn’t enough, Paul says that they received specific promises from God. Would God keep His promises?
- They had the fathers. The nation was built on these faithful men of God who God Himslef had chosen.
- Finally, the Messiah came from their bloodline. The promised savior came from their own people.
What exactly is Paul’s point in mentioning all of these ways that God had blessed Israel? Here is the main problem that Paul is dealing with- If God had chosen this nation and blessed this nation, and made promises to this nation, and they are now estranged from God does that mean that God has failed them?
If the nation of Israel as a whole has rejected God and is now separated from Him what do we do with all those promises that God made to them in the OT? Where those promises only temporary? Where they all completely conditional? Where they just wishful thinking on God’s part? Has God reneged on His promises to them? Has God failed in His attempt to bless them?
Paul answers that very critique of God. Like I mentioned earlier, Paul’s purpose here is to defend God. He has spent the first part of the book of Romans outlining this new system of justification through faith by grace. And now he needs to reconcile that with the old system of justification by birth through good works.
This is no minor rabbit trail that Paul ventures down here. This isn’t an unimportant subject. Reconciling the OT and the NT is very important. There are still many who have a hard time doing that. Think about it.
OT- Sacrificial system, strict dietary laws, significant national identity,
NT- No longer the need for sacrifice, freedom from the strict laws, focused on individual accountability
It does almost seem like God has changed the rules in the second half of the game. Paul goes on to explain here that the rules haven’t changed. God has always worked the same way. He is fair and He is faithful to all generations. In the next few verses here we see God’s faithfulness illustrated in His sovereign will. Look at verses 6-8…
First of all, Paul begins by stating that the word of God has not failed. There was apparently a line of argument among the Jewish people that because they had not accepted Jesus as their messiah that must mean that he wasn’t the true messiah. It seems like kind of an arrogant argument, but I guess it made sense to them. If they had refused to accept God’s blessing that must mean that it wasn’t a true blessing. God wouldn’t reject them. He wouldn’t turn His back on them. If God turned His back on the Jews then that must mean He’s unfaithful to keep His promises to them.
They believed that their rejection of Christ was actually defending God’s honor. But they must have forgotten their OT history. This wasn’t the first time that God chastised His chosen people for their unbelief.
Remember being taken into captivity by Assyria? Remember that unscheduled trip to Babylon? Do you notice all the Roman guards everywhere? Israel being punished, cut off, and disciplined by God wasn’t a new thing. This didn’t mean that God had failed them. It didn’t mean that the promises were voided.
Second, Paul illustrates that salvation isn’t about birthright, but about the promise. Just because you are born a Jew doesn’t make you a true child of the promise. Paul starts by using Abraham as the first example. Verse 7 says…
Paul’s point here is that not all of Abraham’s sons received the same blessing. Abraham’s first son was Ishmael, but he was not the one who would receive the promised blessing. God said, through Isaac your descendants will be named. After Sarah died Abraham had more sons, but these sons would not receive the same kind of blessing. The point is that it is not about birthright, but about God’s promises.
Salvation through Jesus Christ is not about being born a Jew, but about receiving the blessings of God. Don’t think that you are a child of God simply because you were born into the right family.
“8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.”
Next, Paul offers the example of Jacob and Esau. Look at verses 10-13…
This Illustration serves two purposes. First it reinforces the fact that blessing isn’t a birthright. In the story of Jacob and Esau we have two children who both cam from the same mother and father, they should have both received the exact same blessing. However, it wasn’t the bloodlines that determined who received the blessing, but God’s choosing. Before they were even born God announced that the younger one would serve the older one. It didn’t have anything to do with bloodlines, but God’s gracious choosing.
Paul is saying to those Jews who think that God owes them a blessing just because they were born Jews that they are wrong.
Second, this illustration shows that God’s blessing isn’t in any way based on our works. Salvation is a gracious act of God. It is a gift from Him. It is not something that is deserved by anyone at anytime. God doesn’t bless us or save us because of what we have done for Him, but because it is in God’s nature to bless. As we study through the rest of Romans 9 we will see this truth over and over again. It is in God’s nature to bless us, even when we don’t deserve it.
God’s choosing of Jacob over Esau was not based on anything they did, or were going to do. If you have read the account of their lives you know that they were both pretty rotten dudes. And it wasn’t based on their ancestry; they both had the same parents.
The reason that God chose Jacob and not Esau is clearly stated in this passage. “in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand”. Why did God chose one and not the other? Because that was His will. It was a part of His divine plan. Because God is sovereign. God is in control God is God and we are not.
This is a truth that we know is true with everything in our new Spirit filled heart. But it is also a truth that enflames and enrages everything in our old sinful nature. The heart of the first sin was the desire to be like God. But we are not like God, at all. God is holy and perfect and totally in charge. Even though I want to be in charge, I’m not.
Before we move on let’s take a closer look at verse 13…
13 Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
This is a verse that has been misread, misunderstood, and misused in a number of different ways. Some have used this verse to teach that God doesn’t really love everyone. (I think I’ve told the story of the time I was doing an internship at a church when I was in college. A guy came in to meet with the pastor there and told him that he doesn’t believe that God loves all people and he cited this verse as his proof.)
Some believe that this verse teaches that God chooses some people to go to heaven and some to go to hell. Both of these ideas are completely false. They miss the whole point of the passage.
First of all this quote comes from Malachi 1:2-3 and it clearly refers to the nations that came from Jacob and Esau. He isn’t referring to the individual people but to the nation of Israel which came from Jacob and the nation of Edom which came from Esau. God chose the Jacob to establish His people. He didn’t choose Esau. Compared to the blessing and grace that God showed Jacob, it looks like God hated Esau.
The use of the world “hate” as a hyperbole comparative is not uncommon. Luke 14:26 26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
Obviously Jesus isn’t saying that we need to hate our relatives. But we are to love Him and be devoted to Him so much that by comparison our relationship with our family seems like hatred. We are to put Him first in all things.
In the same way Paul is merely saying that God graciously, sovereignty chose to bless Jacob over Esau.
Let’s look at 14-16 and then we will tie it all together. 14-16…
If you are like me, when you hear the story of Jacob and Esau you think, that doesn’t seem fair. Why would God pick one and not the other? Why does God choose some and not all? Why did God show grace to me and not to that guy over there? It just doesn’t seem fair. Even Paul anticipates this question because he asks and answers it in 14. The word here for injustice can also mean unrighteousness, or even unfairness. What can we say in light of God’s divine sovereignty? Is God acting in a way that is arbitrary, unfair, or even wicked? The answer is obviously, no way.
The main point of this passage is to demonstrate that salvation is not about us, but about God. It isn’t about ancestry, but about God’s grace. It isn’t a result of works, but a result of a merciful God.
In verse 15 Paul quotes from Exodus where God says, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” This is in the context of Moses interceding for the people. They had fallen into idol worship and were about to be destroyed by God. God had mercy on them, even though they didn’t deserve it.
God’s grace is not about us, it is always about God. Verse 16 says…
“16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”
It does not depend on us, but on God. It isn’t about our actions, but God’s grace.
OK, let’s nail this all down. What does this passage teach us about he nature of God?
1. God is loving. Over and over again God’s love can be seen in how He interacts with His people.
2. God is forgiving. This whole passage shows us that God has been hard at work all throughout redemptive history to bring His people back to Him.
3. God is gracious. God has poured out His blessing on His people even though they didn’t deserve it.
4. God is merciful. He doesn’t give us what we all do deserve.
5. God is sovereign. He is in control. He has a perfect plan. His choices are perfect, His will is holy, His desires will prevail.
6. God is faithful. He doesn’t renege on His promises. He will always act in a way that is perfectly consistent with His character. His choice to open the way of salvation to the gentiles and reject the Jews isn’t a contradiction.
7. God is fair. This is something that Paul has worked hard at explaining. The way of salvation is open to everyone. It is available to all.
There are still a lot of questions that are unanswered. What does the future hold for Israel? How can we understand human free will in light of God’s sovereign election? You know, easy questions like that. We will get to these in the weeks to come.
