This set of scripture messes with my mind..
Every time I read it I have a different opinion.
Some times when I read it I feel like the Jews.
Some times when I read it I feel like the Jews.
Others I feel like the Gentile.
Some times I think it is completely bogus.
Others I understand more so that He is God.
Today-- I wanted to be enraged.
Why are some not called?
Or are they called but He knows they will refuse Him?
Either way-- I fall on my face and say thank you, thank you... thank you for choosing me. I don't really know what else to say. That and thanks again for the wake up call.
10Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
2 comments:
Ah! You left out the best part of the chapter...RIGHT AFTER!
22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very PATIENT with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23 He does this to make the riches of his glory SHINE EVEN BRIGHTER on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.
The statement, “I will show mercy to whomever I choose; I will have pity on whomever I wish” (Romans 9:15) seems to be saying that God blindly chooses to save some people.
This implies that God also blindly chooses to condemn others to hell. St. Paul has quoted Exodus 33:19 for that statement. The quote is following the Golden Calf incident of chapter 32. God chose Moses over firstborn Aaron. It was not blindly that God chose Moses, but because of Aaron’s sin in forming the idol for the people to worship. The inclusion of this story by St.
Paul in Romans 9 continues his motif of the firstborn being passed over in favor of the younger brother. In v. 9 Isaac is chosen over Ishmael and in v. 13 Jacob is chosen over Esau. St. Paul’s point is not that God predestines to heaven and hell, but rather that God will pass over the unrighteous firstborn (the Jews) in favor of the righteous younger brother (the Gentile).
God did not do this arbitrarily. He did this because the Jews hardened their hearts against the acceptance of Jesus. They refused to accept the obvious fact that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees on this very subject. “If you were blind there would be no sin in that. But 'we see’, you say, and your sin remains” (John 9:41).
“But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep” (John 10:26). St. Paul then introduces the example of Pharaoh as one who refused to believe something that was obvious (vv. 17-18). Some have wrongly concluded that these verses prove that God arbitrarily makes some people hard-hearted against the Gospel.
It is important to note that when Scripture says that God hardened someone’s heart it means that God let that person suffer the consequences of his freely chosen action. “And Pharaoh seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded” (Exodus 8:15; see also 8:28 & 9:34).
God deals with individuals according to their decisions. If one refuses God then God may let that person suffer the consequences of his own freely chosen action. “And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire” (Romans 1:24 GNT [Good News Translation]).
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