Romans 9
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Having presented his premise that salvation is by faith (chapters 1-8), Paul now proceeds to answer an objection to that premise: Did it mean the promises concerning ethnic Israelites had somehow failed? did the emergence of the predominantly Gentile Church mean God's promises to the Patriarchs, and through the Prophets, had been anulled?
No - it's just that not all Israelites were meeting the conditions.
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Descendency from Abraham alone was never to be the intended criteria. Right from the start, God gave His promises on another basis altogether - a different basis of His choosing.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
That other basis was not ethnicity - it was another basis of God's own choosing.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
By one: God's purpose was narrowed down even further - on a basis of God's own choosing - irrespective of descendency from Abraham.
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
God's plans for Israelites were never to revolve around the person's works - but from the very start of God's dealings with their forefather Jacob, God's relationship with them was to be on another basis entirely - another basis of God's own choosing. Paul had revealed, and was now defending, that that other basis today is by grace through faith.
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
In context, the above verse, quoted from the Old Testament, was stated after Jacob and Esau had lived, not before. It wasn't a prophetic statement about the individuals Jacob and Esau's future - it was a prophetic explanation about God's response to both individuals - or better still, about God's purposes for the nations which descended from them. In the same way, it's God's own prerogative to make plans to save people on the basis of faith rather than ethnicity or works - and then to treat those people in accordance with whether they had believed or not.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Is it unrighteous of God to treat people in accordance with no other basis other than whether or not they believe? Of course it isn't.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
God has shown us the basis upon which He has chosen to show mercy and compassion - and that is, upon those who believe.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Salvation therefore does not originate with a man's own will (nor ethnicity), nor does it come as a result of a person's running (nor his works in the Law - but it's only on the basis of God's mercy. And God has shown us that He extends His mercy through Jesus Christ to those who believe.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
The existence of an ethnic nation didn't automatically indicate God's saving-favour: God has other purposes. In the same way, the existence of ethnic Israel wasn't necessarily an indication that all ethnic-Isralites would be saved on that basis.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
He has chosen to have mercy on them that believe. And to those who won't believe, it's His prerogative to reserve their judgment for a future time - it's His prerogative to let their unbelief takes its course - for His own purposes.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Does this mean He can't hold individuals accountable?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Answer: no. If God has chosen to save on teh basis of faith, we can't argue with Him and say that He should have granted salvation on a different basis of our own choosing (such as ethnicity, or attempts at keeping the Law).
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
It's God's own merciful prerogative to honour one vessel and to dishonour another vessel, upon His own basis - and His chosen basis is the basis of faith in Jesus.
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Just because an ethnic nation had survived to that day, did not mean God had granted every individual in the nation salvation. The nation may by-and-large have already qualified itself for wrath and destruction - but God has His own purposes for reserving them until a future day of judgment.
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
His vessels of mercy, are those vessels to whom He has chosen to show mercy, upon the basis of His own choosing - with is the basis of their faith in Jesus. He has already prepared heaven for those who are believing in Jesus.
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
He has called those who believe - irrespective of nationality.
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
The emergence of a Gentile-church was an outcome that was already foreseen by the Prophets.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
The outcome that only few Jews - rather than all Jews - would be saved, was an outcome that was already foreseen by the Prophets.
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
The exclusion of ethnic Jews - because of their failure to comply with a condition of God's own choosing (that is, the condition of faith in Jesus) - was a scenario that had already been foreseen by the Prophets.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Paul sums it up: faith in Jesus was always intended to be the basis upon which Israeli individuals could be saved - and Gentiles are also mercifully included in that opportunity.
The five-points of Calvinism do not even feature as part of the topic Paul was addressing in this chapter.
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