Having previously observed the answer to the question of whether God’s Word had failed to deliver on His promises, we continue now in our study of Romans 9 to arrive at a second objection to divine election: Is God Unjust? Recall that Romans 9 addresses a twofold problem with the primary being if both Jews and Gentiles are condemned under the guilt of sin and both Jews and Gentiles can be justified by faith on the basis of union with Christ and nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39), then have God’s promises to Israel failed? Has Israel been replaced or superseded by Gentiles in God’s plan? In order to answer this question Paul resorts to a discussion on God’s purposes in divine election, which had originally been introduced in Romans 8. This of course introduces a separate issue as he works through his argument because election is not reduced to corporate Israel, instead it is THE plan of God’s salvific purpose through the person and work of Jesus Christ to both Jew AND Gentile.
After laying out God’s plan of election from the beginning to have children of the promise within children of the flesh, this brings up a second perceived question concerning the justice of God,
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
Romans 9:14
Again, the question that arises on the one hand comes about by means of the Jewish objection to the argument that God had never intended to save all Israel by stating that not all Israel, is Israel and on the other hand a general objection to election that to choose one over another brings the very justice of God into question. As with before, Paul provides support from the Old Testament, this time not by appealing to the father of Israel, Abraham, but to the mediator of the Old Covenant, Moses.
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
Romans 9:15
The passage above is a citation from Exodus 33:19. There, the occasion is Moses’ intercession of the people of Israel and his appeal to God to know His ways, a request that Moses presses further to a petition to see God’s glory. The Lord’s reply is that He would make all of His goodness pass before Moses as He proclaimed His name, “The LORD”. This is then followed up by the statement that in God’s freedom and sovereignty as Yahweh, He has mercy and compassion on whom He wills.
This might bring up the very natural question of how God revealing Himself as Yahweh and then declaring His freedom to be merciful and compassionate to whom He wills is an answer to Moses’ request to see the LORD’s glory. The answer, at least in part, is that God’s very name and His actions which proceed from His character are His glory in operation. In other words, the expression of His mercy and compassion upon whom He wills, being example of His sovereign freedom and divine will, are evidence of His glory on display. This will be an important point to tuck away when Paul advances the argument into Romans 9:22-23.
Continuing with the context of Exodus and Moses’ request, we know that God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock as He passed before him and declared, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6-7 With God’s own declaration of Himself, certainly we can answer the question of, “Is God unjust?”, by simply reading and believing His own statement. NO!, He is not unjust but He is free, merciful, gracious, patient, loving (hesed) and faithful. We see then very clearly that in God’s revelation He is both merciful AND just. Often times we forget that if God simply swept away sin with no regard for His holiness, it wouldn’t be merciful, it would be injustice. In God’s very own character, and certainly as we see in the death of Christ on the cross, both mercy and justice are attributes of God.
Turning back to Romans 9, Paul has led us to these conclusions by referencing Exodus 33 and anticipating the revelation of God to Moses in Exodus 34 as we have seen. Having read the passage referenced for ourselves, we can now clearly concur with Paul’s supplied answer to the question that was raised concerning the justice of God of a resounding, “By no means!”. This statement confers in the strongest language possible of an absolute denial to any possibility of God being unjust. After citing the occasion with Moses, Romans 9:16 provides for us a summary statement
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Romans 9:16
Whereas the earlier proposition for divine election removed any notion of it being based on genealogy, birth order, or moral actions, here any possibility of human autonomy, or free will, is removed as well as exertion, which is better conveyed by the translation, runs. In other words, salvation in general and divine election in particular is not based on either a person’s will, meaning their own internal desires or wishes, nor on the basis of running, or trying to overcome obstacles and earn it. Election is entirely based on the mercy of God.
To support this conclusion, Paul provides yet another Old Testament passage indicating for us once again that the nature of God was revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures as well as God’s plan of election and predestination. In this citation from Exodus 9:16, Paul references Pharoah and particularly how the Scripture’s speak to God’s plan for him, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Turning over to Exodus 9 in order to find the context of this citation, we see that it is in reference to the seventh plague, hail, that God has brought on Egypt. There Yahweh is speaking through Moses instructing him to warn Pharaoh that if the Israelites are not let go, then all of His plagues will be brought against him and so that Pharaoh would know that there, is “none like [God] in all the earth.” The LORD then follows up with a very clear statement that He could’ve killed Pharaoh, but kept him alive on purpose, according to His own freedom and will, in order to make him know God’s power and for His name to be proclaimed throughout the earth. What we have before us once again is that God’s own freedom to enact justice or mercy on whom He wills, when He wills, and for what purpose He wills is completely independent of any outside influence. This is at the heart of God’s sovereignty to do anything that His hand desires.
Before turning back to our passage from Romans 9, if we reflect for a moment on the heart and actions of Pharoah we find an interesting study of both God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. In the opening call of Moses to march into Egypt and declare that Pharoah let God’s people go, we find an interesting statement to Moses that God will, “harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Exodus 4:21 This presents and interesting conundrum. On the one hand God has commanded Moses to confront Pharoah and demand that he let the Israelites go. On the other hand, it appears He is actively working against this plan by hardening the heart of Pharaoh such that He refuses to let the people go. Throughout the events with Pharaoh, we read over and again how God hardens his heart and how Pharaoh hardens his own heart. On the surface this might seem duplicitous, and we would ask if God has the power over the heart like this, why not simply soften Pharoah’s heart such that he lets the people go on the very first request. Why go through all of the ups and downs including the Ten Plagues. The answer is found in the reference from Exodus 9 that was cited in Romans 9, God’s plan and purpose to make Himself known to Pharaoh, to Egypt, to the Israelites, to Moses, and throughout the ends of the earth. In other words, the entire plan of Israelite exodus from Egypt was for the glory of God from beginning to end and to put his sovereignty on display. If this occasion would display God’s power and glory, how much more so would the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross, which was no less ordained and brought to pass by the sovereign hand of God orchestrating every detail?
Turning once again to Romans 9 in order to finish out the answer to the original question concerning the justice of God, we once again find a summary statement from Paul, “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.” Romans 9:18 By using the example of Pharaoh as he did, who is outside the genealogical line of Abraham, we see that this discussion of election rooted in the mercy and justice of God, is not limited to national or corporeal Israel, rather it extends to Gentiles as well. Said simply, God is sovereign over all mankind. The summary statement lends itself to that understanding by once again grounding election in the very mercy of God. Not only that, but just as we saw from Exodus 9, we see again by extension that the hardening principle is likewise under God’s sovereignty and freedom as He hardens whom He wills. This doctrine, or principle within election, has often been summarized as predestination and reprobation, both sides of the same coin. While it may be difficult for us to understand or reconcile election within our own human reasoning, it’s probably doubly difficult for us to understand reprobation, or hardening as exemplified with Pharoah. For both of these the answer as supplied by Paul and all of Scripture for that matter is simply the freedom of God to distribute both mercy and justice as He deems fit. All mankind deserve the judgment and condemnation of God because of sin, that would be justice. That some of mankind do not receive this judgment and condemnation isn’t unjust, it’s mercy. God leaves some in their inherent condition while others He imparts grace and extends mercy. That is the plan of divine election, and it is God’s prerogative to do so.
Our conclusion then must be the same as what we have seen from the passages above. God’s choice of children of promise instead of children of the flesh within Israel, as His plan of divine election from the very beginning, upholds His covenant promises and reveals God’s mercy as in direct contrast with any notion of being unjust. Likewise, election and reprobation aren’t limited to within Israel, rather as with the case of Pharaoh and as we will see in the remainder of Romans 9 it is extended to all mankind. This is exactly what we would expect to find as it corresponds with the flow and context of the entire letter which began with the universal condemnation of all men in Adam and the universal redemption of all men who are in union with Christ, a product as we have seen of God’s mercy in unfolding His plan of unconditional election.
Soli Deo Gloria.
