Romans 9:19-33

Having made the gospel of Jesus Christ the focus of his writing to the Roman Christians, Paul has centered on the fact that all are sinners condemned to die (1:18-3:20), all can be declared righteous through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (3:21-5:21), and all who have believed will be changed through the power of the Holy Spirit (6:1-8:39). Respectively, we have labeled these things as condemnation, justification, and sanctification. In Romans 9, Paul begins to further uncover the work of God in salvation as he exposes God’s dealings with the nation of Israel. The children of Israel were God’s chosen people whom He used to bring about Jesus Christ and provide salvation to the entire world (Jews and Gentiles); however, the Jews became hardened toward Jesus and ultimately put Him to death. As the Jews began to reject God’s plan for salvation, the Gentiles began embracing it. This sudden “favor” on the Gentiles caused the Jews to wonder if God had abandoned His people, Israel. So, Paul explained that God is sovereign in the work of salvation and concludes that “He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (9:18). Hardens does not mean that God hardens the heart, but that God allows that man to seek his own lustful desires without divine intervention.

In response to Paul’s teaching, some may arrogantly ask how God can blame the individual when they have no choice in the matter (9:19); in other words, some would claim that God cannot hold an individual guilty who supposedly has no control over his sinful nature. Paul answers this possible objection by writing, “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (9:20-21) Since God is the creator (potter) of man (clay), He has every right to do as He purposes and man has no right to question His sovereignty. Paul then provides three possibilities for God allowing sin to come into the world: to show His wrath (9:22a), to make His power known (9:22b), and to demonstrate his mercy (9:23-24).

In case his readers thought that Israel’s disobedience was outside God’s purposes, Paul quickly reminded them of the words of the prophet Hosea (9:25-26; Hosea 1:9-10, 2:23) and Isaiah (9:27-29; Isaiah 10:22-23, 1:9). Through these prophets, God foretold Israel’s disobedience and that the Gentiles would be included in God’s redemptive plan; however, this did not mean that God would completely turn His back on Israel (9:27).

Paul brought closure to this issue of God’s sovereignty in salvation by revealing the real reason that Israel was receiving God’s judgment (9:30-33). The Gentiles had embraced righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, while the Jews clung to righteousness through the law (9:30-31). The Jews failed to see the impossibility of obeying the law perfectly. Their knowledge of the law should have exposed their inability to keep it and motivated them to seek righteousness through God’s Son, Jesus. Quoting from Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16, Paul declared that the Jews “stumbled at the stumbling block” (9:32). The stumbling block was Jesus Christ, whom the Jews rejected as Savior, and they would not be saved until they admitted their sin and turned in faith to Him. So, being the recipient of divine judgment is not God’s doing, but the reality of a man refusing to believe in the gospel (Christ died to pay for sin). Therefore, we can conclude that, yes, God is sovereign in the work of salvation; however, man is responsible for his reaction to revealed truth. The offer of mercy and forgiveness is available to all, but only bestowed upon those who repent of sin and seek righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.

Dear God, help us to accept the fact that we will not always understand Your ways and may we trust that You know best. However, make us aware of our sinfulness before You that we might respond to the mercy and forgiveness offered to all through faith in Your Son, Jesus.