Romans 9 - He Is the Potter We Are The Clay!
Though we know Paul is called the apostle to the Gentiles, in chapter 9 we see his love for the people of Israel. Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin, and a Pharisee of Pharisees, but when he met Jesus he realized it was not about being a religious Jews. He realized one could only be justified by faith in Jesus.
Paul’s Anguish Over Israel
9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
Paul is so passionate about his fellow Jews that he would be willing to be cut off from Christ for the sake of His people, Israel. It is so hard when you have received the grace of God in Christ Jesus when others don't seem to understand or don't want to understand. This is especially true with family and close friends. In the case of the Jews, they were the recipients of the promises of God and from them came the Messiah. God clearly chose the Israelites, but we will see they did not choose God.
God’s Sovereign Choice
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
It wasn't that God's promise had failed. Though the Jews were the chosen people, not all of them believed in the promise according to God's sovereign plan. We always wonder why some people are chosen and others aren't. This is true whether we are talking about the Jews or the Gentiles. The bottom line is some will accept God's promise of salvation through His Son, Jesus, and others will not.
We know that God desires all people to be saved but some reject God and some don't. This was the risk God took by giving people free will.
The children of the promise are also called the patriarchs, the first three being Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Let's not forget their wives, Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, who also believed in God's promises unflinchingly.
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”[d] 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
In God's sovereign will, before Esau and Jacob were born, God chose Jacob over Esau, something Esau deeply resented. But who are we to question God. If God made all things doesn't He have the prerogative to do what He wants. Maybe we shouldn't spend as much time wondering why others aren't called, but spend more time being grateful we are.
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For 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.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
At the end of the day none of us can take credit for being saved. God chose to have mercy on us. Mercy is getting what you don't deserve. God leaves it up to His own mercy so that he can show His power. God glorifies His love and character and that he is by nature merciful. As it says in
"God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Exodus 34:6
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
I think we have all have questions like this that we will be anxious to hear answers from God when we get to heaven. But the reality is there are some questions we will never have an answer to in this life. Paul uses an example from the potter's wheel to point out that a lump of clay doesn't have any right to question the potter. The potter fashions the clay according to His purpose. Since God is the potter and we are the clay, we simply trust God's design for our lives and the lives of others.
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
Paul points out that just as God's wrath is poured out on both Jews and Gentiles, so it His mercy. God is fair and just and merciful to all people.
25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” 26 and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”[j] 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
Though God called the Israelites His own children, and as such He loved them, so he calls and loves those who are "not his people". This means the Gentiles, which is most of us. Here is where Paul introduces the idea of "remnant". Only a faithful remnant of Jewish people will be saved. There are many views about what this means. It has been argued in many ways over the years. It also comes up in the book of Revelation in terms of how the Israelites are including at the end of time.
"God has always dealt with a remnant. “It was stupid to think that, since the whole nation had not entered the blessing, the promise of God had failed. The promise had not been made to the whole nation and had never been intended to apply to the whole nation.” (Morris)
The merciful promise is clear: “But if only a remnant will survive, at least a remnant will survive, and constitute the hope of restoration.” (Bruce)
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[m] 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”[k] 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”[l]
You see how many times Paul quotes the Old Testament. He is addressing a massive issue about the fate of Israel. If they were God's chosen people what is their future. Has God tossed them aside and now favors the Gentiles. It is clear in chapter 9, that Paul says it is anything but that. Once again the reason the Gentiles have been saved is that they are believing in Jesus by faith. It might be easier for them to realize they could never measure up to the Law because they never had it in the first place.
The stumbling block to the Israelites was that the only thing God requires is faith. They were so used to trying to measure up to the Law that it seemed alien to them. Them stumbled because of pride. They could not receive a free gift they wanted to earn it.
Do you have a hard time receiving gifts? If so, you might have a hard time receiving God's gift of Jesus by faith? Had you stopped trying to earn God's love? It is humbling to realize you cannot do anything to earn God's love?
God wants you to be saved. He has given you everything you need to be saved, including His only Son. All he wants from us is to trust in Him and His promises!
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