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What Romans 9 REALLY teaches about election

By Jeremy Myers
10 Comments

What Romans 9 REALLY teaches about election
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In a previous post I introduced the concept of what the Bible means when it talks about election. You will want to go read that post, or listen to the podcast, before you read this post, as it forms the foundation for the ideas presented below.

And if you really want to learn more about what I discuss in this article, you will want to get my book,(#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God. It provides more information about how to understand Romans 9:10-24. (And yes, I know the title is strange and the cover is boring, but you can find out the reason for WHY by using the “Look inside” feature at Amazon. This will allow you to read the Author’s Note and the Preface to the book, which explains more.)

(#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God

Here are the texts about election from Romans 9 that we want to briefly consider here:

And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger” (Romans 9:11-12).

For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth” (Romans 9:17).

Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show … wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (Romans 9:21-24).

Brief Overview of Romans (for Context)

It is first of all helpful to recognize the overall message and meaning of the book of Romans.

Despite what some think, Paul’s letter to the Romans is not about justification, or even the righteousness of God. It is not about how great God is or how to go to heaven when we die.

Romans 9 in contextInstead, Paul’s letter to the Romans is about how the gospel “saves” believers and unbelievers alike (Romans 1:16-17) from wrath. This becomes clearer still when we recall that the word “saves” does not mean “justifies” but “delivers” (see my study on the word ‘saved’) and “wrath” does not mean “go to hell when you die” but refers instead to the devastating and destructive consequences of sin

Paul’s letter to the Romans is about how the gospel not only delivers people from the eternal and spiritual consequences of sin, but also from the temporal and physical consequences.

Romans 9 fits squarely within the second part of this theme.

Up to this point in Romans, Paul has argued that although sin is a universal human problem (Romans 1–3), God has a divine purpose and significance for all believers, so that if we live in light of our justification (Romans 4–5) and walk by faith (Romans 6–7), God will bless us and work with us to accomplish His will on earth (Romans 8).

In the last part of Romans 8, Paul sets out to encourage his readers that nothing can get in God’s way of accomplishing His purposes (Romans 8:28-39).

Yet there is one main problem with Paul’s logic up to this point.

Though Paul says that nothing can get in God’s way of Him accomplishing His purposes in us, the biblical record seems to indicate that something got in the way of God accomplishing His purposes for Israel.

Israel too was God’s elect, but by all appearances, God “set them aside” and turned to the Gentiles instead. So if God’s purposes failed with Israel, how can Paul say that God’s purposes will not fail for the church?

Romans 9–11 contains Paul’s response to this objection.

In Romans 9–11, Paul explains that God’s purposes for Israel did not fail, and for the most part, Israel herself did not fail.

Nevertheless, if we understand what happened to Israel, we will then be better able to protect the church from something similar happening to us.

Jacob and Esau in Romans 9

In the first part of Romans 9, Paul uses three biblical examples to show that God’s election of people and groups is to service.

Jacob Esau Romans 9The first example is Jacob and Esau, and it is important to note that both Jacob and Esau were elected, or chosen, by God. It is often assumed that only Jacob was chosen by God, but Paul clearly indicates that God chose the older brother, Esau, to serve the younger brother, Jacob.

This once again proves that election is to service.

Through the way Paul structures his argument and Old Testament quotations, he indicates that that while Isaac and Jacob were chosen to be recipients of the promise, Ishmael and Esau were still chosen by God, but for other purposes and tasks.

God’s choosing and election in Romans 9 is not to eternal life, but to vocation, mission, purpose, and service.

Esau’s election certainly was a different service than the one to which Jacob was called, but it is clearly a call to service nonetheless.

This call to various forms of service was not only true of the individuals, Esau and Jacob, but also to the nations that came from them, Edom and Israel. Just as Israel was chosen to perform a particular type of service to the world, so also Edom was chosen to perform a particular type of service to Israel.

Therefore, just as Paul is not saying that all Israelites have eternal life, so also, Paul is not saying that all Edomites (the descendants of Esau) are destined for eternal damnation.

The passage is not about eternal destinies at all.

Any Edomite has just as much opportunity to believe and receive eternal life from God as any Israelite. God chose Israel so that they might be a blessing to the surrounding nations, and God chose Esau and the Edomites to help Jacob and Israel in this task.

The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart in Romans 9

The same truths are then applied by Paul to why God raised up Pharaoh during the Exodus events.

The way Paul structures his argument in Romans 9:14-18, Paul shows that Pharaoh too was chosen, or elected, by God. But this says nothing about Pharaoh’s eternal destiny.

Romans 9:14-18 is not referring to where Pharaoh will spend eternity.

did God harden Pharaohs heartInstead, God raised up Pharaoh and solidified the proud and stubborn rebellion that was in Pharaoh’s heart so that those who witnessed and heard of what happened in Egypt would know that the God of Israel alone was God. Could not God, in His gracious sovereignty, do such a thing with Pharaoh without affecting whatsoever Pharaoh’s ability to believe in God’s promises and thus become part of God’s redeemed people?

Of course He could!

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, whether it is done by God or Pharaoh, or by some symbiotic combination of the two, has absolutely nothing to do with Pharaoh’s eternal destiny.

Even if the Exodus account laid all the responsibility for the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart upon God Himself, and none upon Pharaoh, this still would tell us nothing about whether or not Pharaoh concluded His life as one of God’s redeemed.

Pharaoh’s eternal destiny is not under discussion in Exodus or in Romans, and so Pharaoh’s heart can be hardened so that God’s purposes are achieved, while still leaving plenty of room for Pharaoh to believe in God’s promises and become one of God’s people.

When Pharaoh’s kingdom came crashing down around him through the Ten Plagues and the destruction of his army in the Red Sea, one wonders if Pharaoh learned the lesson God had sought to teach him, and had returned back to his empty throne room where he threw himself upon the mercy of the One True God, recognizing God’s sovereignty and power over all—even over Pharaoh himself.

The Bible does not say this happened, but we can hope.

The Potter and the Clay in Romans 9

Paul uses the image of the potter and the clay from Jeremiah 18 as his third example of how election works. There are numerous interpretive issues with this portion of Paul’s argument, which I explain in more detail in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God. In that book, I propose that the following translation of Romans 9:22-24 best summarizes Paul’s point:

What if God, wanting to reveal wrath for what it is and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of dishonor which were headed for destruction, so that He might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of honor—which is the plan He has prepared beforehand for glory—and He did this not only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles?

potter and the clay Romans 9Read this way, God does not create two classes of people, one to destroy and one to bless. God does not create vessels for dishonor, but instead, endures with patience those who are dishonorable in the hopes that they would see His mercy and become vessels of honor.

God is longsuffering toward those who are in rebellion so that He can display His grace and mercy to them, with the hope that the vessels headed for destruction might instead become vessels headed for glory.

Either way, God’s creative wisdom enables Him to use honorable vessels for honorable purposes and dishonorable vessels for dishonorable purposes.

Once again, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the eternal destiny of these vessels, but instead concerns their role, function, and purpose within this life.

Romans 9 and Election

So Paul believes that election can be both corporate and individual, and that election is not to eternal life, but to service in this life.

Paul illustrates this teaching on election by pointing to Jacob and Esau and the nations that came from them, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, and God’s choice to use both honorable and dishonorable vessels to accomplish His purposes of blessing, reconciling, and redeeming the world.

Romans 9 is not about some strange act of God whereby He chooses some to receive eternal life while others get damned to hell by God’s sovereign eternal decree.

No, the point of Romans 9 is that God sought to bless the entire world by raising up Israel to be a light and a blessing to others. Having completed this task, God did not set Israel aside.

Instead, He transitioned from having an elect group of people in part of the world to calling all people in the world to join Him in the new elect people. So although Israel was elect, she fulfilled her task and became a non-elect nation so that the non-elect world could become elect.

This is what Paul continues to explain in Romans 11 as he answers the objection about how God’s promises and purposes do not fail even if God’s elect people do.

Romans 11 Supports this Reading of Romans 9

Paul returns to discuss election in Romans 11. Here are the pertinent texts:

Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5).

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded (Romans 11:7).

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers (Romans 11:28).

As seen in the discussion above about Romans 9, the entire discussion in this part of Romans is about how God’s promises to the church can be trusted, since God’s promises to Israel seem to have failed.

Since Paul argued near the end of Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from God’s loving plan for us, the natural objection to this is, “But what about Israel? Weren’t they separated from God’s plan due to their sinful rebellion and failure to serve as a blessing to the world?”

Paul’s initial response in Romans 9 is that election is not to eternal life and glorification, but to service in this life.

divine electionHaving made this point, Paul goes on to argue in Romans 10 that Israel did not fail, but actually succeeded, and in fact, can continue to be elect by joining the elect people of God in the church. This is why Paul calls the church to proclaim the gospel to the Jews as well.

If the church does her job of proclaiming the gospel, any Israelite who believes in Jesus will become elect and join God’s plan and purposes in this world. This is what Paul goes on to describe in Romans 11.

The church has not replaced Israel in God’s plan for the world, but has been grafted in to supplement God’s plan, which, as it turns out, was God’s plan from the very beginning.

Even within Israel as a whole, there is always a remnant of believers who carry on the original task and purpose which God gave to the people of Israel (Romans 11:5). Though most of Israel is blinded, those Israelites who believe in Jesus for eternal life are thus part of the church and elected to participate in God’s purposes for this world (Romans 11:7).

Furthermore, a day is coming when Israel will return to her true calling, thereby bringing about the resurrection of the world (cf. Romans 11:12-15). Though many Israelites are antagonistic to the gospel, they nevertheless continue to serve role in God’s plan, and will do so in the future as well. In this way, though they are “enemies” to the gospel, they are beloved friends regarding election (Romans 11:28).

Note that, once again, nothing in this part of Romans 11 has anything whatsoever to do with people’s eternal destinies.

Paul is not talking about whether or not people can lose their eternal life. He is talking about positions of service in God’s plan for the world. God wants to bless the world, and while He chose Israel for this purpose, He now seeks to do it through the church, until ultimately all will be blessed by God (Rev 21:23-26; 22:2).

Just as God elected Israel to serve His purposes in the world, God chose the church for similar purposes.

God’s election of Israel and the church is not His choice of who will receive eternal life, but His choice of who will serve Him by being a blessing to this world.

Such an understanding helps make sense of some of the notoriously difficult verses in Romans 11. For example, Paul writes in Romans 11:17-21 that the elect branches were cut off so that non-elect branches could be grafted in, which in turn will lead to the elect-which-became-non-elect to be re-grafted back in and become re-elect.

If Paul is referring to eternal life when he speaks of election, none of this makes any sense. How can a people or a nation whom God elected “to eternal life” before the foundation of the world go from being elect to non-elect and then re-elect?

Romans 11:17-21 makes perfect sense, however, when we recognize that election is not to eternal life but to service. God wants to bless the world through His people. Israel accomplished their role in this, which led to the birth of the church.

But this does not mean that the church replaced Israel in God’s plan, but that God grafted Gentiles into His overall plan, and now invites all Israelites to be included in this ongoing plan, just as God invites all Gentiles as well.

branches grafted in Romans 11 electionIn this way, when Paul writes about branches being cut off so others can be grated in which will lead to the cut off branches being grafted back in again, he is not talking about people losing and regaining eternal life, but about losing and re-gaining places of privilege and purpose in God’s plan for this world. God’s plan of redemption started with Israel, shifted to the church (consisting of both Jewish and Gentile believers), so that “of Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Romans 11:36).

Israel, the elect nation, became non-elect once she had completed her task of bringing Scripture, the Messiah, and the elect church into the world.

God now joins believing Gentiles with believing Israelites together to form the church so that as the elect people of God, they will be a blessing to the world.

God’s plan did not fail, but simply transitioned from one group (Israel) to another (the church), so that the second group (the church) could be a blessing to the first (Israel) as well as to the whole world.

Election, Romans 9-11, and the Theme of Romans

This understanding fits perfectly with Paul’s overall theme in Romans about the gospel as the power of God unto salvation for all believers.

Remember, salvation is not about believing in Jesus for eternal life (though that is a central part of the gospel), but is also about living with purpose and significance as members of the new creation in this life.

This is Paul’s message in Romans, and Romans 9–11 fit perfectly into this overall theme. The gospel is good news for all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile.

It tells believers that our God is on the move in and through us; that His plan is moving forward. If we follow Him in faith, we will play a thrilling part in His plan for this world.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: divine election, election, election is to service, Esau, gospel dictionary, Jacob, One Verse Podcast, Pharaoh, potter and the clay, Romans 11, Romans 11:17-21, Romans 9, Romans 9:1-12, Romans 9:17, Romans 9:21-24

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Understanding the Potter and the Clay in Romans 9

By Jeremy Myers
10 Comments

Understanding the Potter and the Clay in Romans 9

potter and the clayWestern theology has committed a terrible disservice to this imagery of a potter and clay by making it seem as if God is a deterministic puppet master up in heaven pulling the strings of people and nations down here on earth.

This is exactly the opposite of what Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul meant by using this terminology.

The Potter and the Clay in Jeremiah 18

In Jeremiah 18, for example, while God is equated with the potter, God calls upon Israel to turn from her wicked ways and obey His voice so that they, as the pot which God is fashioning, will not be marred (cf. Jer 18:8-11).

God calls upon Israel to come into conformity to the work of His hands. If they do not, they will become marred, and He will have to reform the clay again into another vessel (Jer 18:4). He does not destroy or discard the clay; He simply forms it into another pot which will be used for a different purpose.

A similar understanding is seen in Isaiah 54 and Romans 9.

The Potter and the Clay is not teaching Determinism

There is no deterministic message in the image of the potter and the clay in Isaiah 54, Jeremiah 18, or Romans 9. If we accept the deterministic perspective of these texts, just imagine for a moment what sort of God is being portrayed. H. H. Rowley sums it up best:

Neither Jeremiah nor Paul had in mind an aimless dilettante, working in a casual and haphazard way, turning out vessels according to the chance whim of the moment … To suppose that a crazy potter, who made vessels with no other thought than that he would afterwards knock them to pieces, is the type and figure of God, is supremely dishonoring to God. The vessel of dishonor which the potter makes is still something that he wants, and that has a definite use … The instruments of wrath … were what the New Testament calls ‘vessels of dishonor,’ serving God indeed, but with no exalted service. They were not puppets in His hand, compelled to do His will without moral responsibility for their deed, but chosen because He saw that the very iniquity of their heart would lead them to the course that He could use (Rowley, Doctrine of Election, p. 40-41)

potter and the clay

Neither Isaiah, nor Jeremiah, nor Paul had in mind a potter who purposefully created pots just so that He could smash them. No potter would do that, then or now. Instead, God is the wise potter who works with the clay to form useful tools. The vessels of “dishonor” are not vessels which are destroyed, but vessels which will be used in “ignoble” ways. They still serve important purposes and help with vital tasks, but they are not vessels of honor.

Typically, vessels of dishonor do end up being destroyed (which is not necessarily hell!), but this is not because the potter made them for such a purpose, but because unclean vessels, when they have served their purpose, are usually not useful for anything else.

potter and the clayAnd what makes one vessel clean or unclean? As H. H. Rowley pointed out above, God allows humans to determine what kind of vessel they will be, and then He uses those who have made themselves vessels of dishonor.

A careful reading of Romans 9:22 reveals this very point. W. E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, says that the word “destruction” is used “metaphorically of men persistent in evil (Rom 9:22), where ‘fitted’ is in the middle voice, indicating that the vessels of wrath fitted themselves for destruction” (Vine’s Expository  Dictionary, 2:165)

None of this Relates to  Person’s Eternal Destiny

Again, none of this has anything to do with whether or not a person goes to heaven or hell after death. The way a vessel is used refers primarily to how God uses individuals, kings, and nations in this life. Marston and Forster add this:

The basic lump that forms a nation will either be built up or broken down by the Lord, depending on their own moral response. If a nation does repent and God builds them up, then it is for him alone to decide how the finished vessel will fit into his plan … God alone determines the special features / privileges / responsibilities of a particular nation (Forster & Marston, God’s Strategy, 74).

To read more on Romans 9, get my book The Re-Justification of God.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, election, potter and the clay, Re-Justification of God, Romans 9, Theology of Salvation, TULIP, Unconditional Election

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The Re-Justification of God (Romans 9)

By Jeremy Myers
15 Comments

The Re-Justification of God (Romans 9)

I have just published a book called The Re-Justification of God.

Here’s the cover:

The Re-Justification of God

The Justification of GodIt is probably the ugliest book cover I have ever designed, but if you compare it with the cover from John Piper’s book on the right, you’ll see why I created the cover as I did.

Why did I write The Re-Justification of God?

Ever since I read John Piper’s The Justification of God about twenty years ago, I have wanted to write a book in response called The Re-Justification of God.

Why?

I believe that Piper’s book does more to malign the name of God and His character than uplift and glorify it. To put it bluntly, I don’t think Piper’s book does anything to accomplish “The justification of God” but actually does the opposite!

So I wanted to write a book which explains Romans 9 in a way that presents God in light of Jesus Christ, in a way that does not make God responsible for hating Esau, hardening Pharaoh’s heart, and condemning a large majority of mankind to everlasting damnation in hell.

Look, I have great respect for John Piper, but much of his theology really gets my blood boiling, and this book of his  on Romans 9 was no exception.

But it wasn’t just his book. Most of the explanations of Romans 9 I have read from Calvinists seem to be completely off track and do more to undermine the character of God than glorify it.

So in light of all the bad theology that has been taught from Romans 9, I wanted to write a book that explained the text of Romans 9 in a way that truly presents God in the light that Paul presents Him, as a God of light, love, mercy, grace, and longsuffering toward all.

That would be a great book, right?

Well, guess what?

Despite appearances, the book I just published is not that book. My The Re-Justification of God is not a point-by-point refutation of Piper’s The Justification of God. My book is not even a point-by-point refutation of the typical Calvinistic understanding of Romans 9. That is the book I set out to write, but it is not the book I am announcing here.

…Sorry to disappoint you.

However…

…My book IS the first draft in what will hopefully become that book.

While I believe my new book does provide an overall big-picture analysis of Romans 9:10-24 that is neither Calvinistic nor Arminian, and while I believe my book provides logically and theologically sound explanations for why God “hated” Esau, why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and how God treats the “vessels of wrath” destined for destruction, I was not able to provide ALL the scholarly and exegetical details that a book like this requires.

So this book is the brief summary of the book I initially set out to write so many years ago. It is not finished, however. It is less than half-way done. Oh, the ideas are all there, but the book contains very little of the exegetical evidence which is needed to defend the ideas.

So why am I publishing this book now if it’s not done?

In the opening pages to this new book, I explain why, but in a nutshell, the reason is that if I didn’t publish it now, it would probably never get done. Also, having the book out there allows people to respond to it and interact with it so that in a future edition I can correct or attempt to better explain the ideas I present in the book.

And following the theme in the cover image above, here is an image of some of the edits I performed on this manuscript:

re-justification of God

As with many of my books, there are probably still several typographic mistakes in it. If you find some, please send me an email, or use the “Contact Me” section on my About page to let me know where they are so I can correct these mistakes in future editions of the book.

So how can you get and read this book?

This book is available for purchase on Amazon.

Re-Justification of God

Once you have read it, let me know what you think by leaving a review on Amazon.

And hey, would you let others know about this new book by using the share buttons below? Thanks!

God is Redeeming Books, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, Esau, Pharaoh, potter and the clay, Romans 9, Romans 9:10-24, Theology of Salvation, TULIP, Unconditional Election

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