Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XXII)

Early church scholar Pelagius heard some people saying that Paul is still speaking on behalf of those who they have the right to object to what is happening to them. But how can that be, when opposing the will of God is no different than criticizing God for doing His will. Then there are others who say that from here on the Apostle Paul contends that even if someone felt they had a reason to oppose what God is doing, it must not be done as though there were talking back to their Creator. When compared to God, all of us are like a clump of clay in the potter’s hands.¹ Pelagius seems to be making the case that Paul was not on the side of those who question God’s intelligence for doing what He does, such as those who say, “God shouldn’t have let this happen to me! I don’t think He’s being fair!” Paul was trying to point out that by someone saying, “I don’t think that what God is allowing to happen is right,” is like a spoiled brat sassing God out of disrespect.

Yet others offer their opinions. For instance, one writer from the Roman Catholic point of view states that the Apostle Paul lunges out at the person who was contradicting him in the above verses, letting them know that all of this is part of God’s own will and decision making. Just as the potter makes the decision what to do with the clay, so God is the one who decides what to do with us. The potter can make whatever kind of vessel he wants, and the vessel has no say over it. The clay cannot object and say I want to be this or that. But when it comes to human clumps of clay, some argue that since they have a freewill, they are more likely to resist God’s purpose and find fault with His choice for their lives. Still, who would dare question the will of God.²

Then a Bishop in the Greek Orthodox Church, who was known as somewhat of a maverick, wanted to know how any object could turn around and blame its maker for the way things turned out? In his mind, everyone must be content and enjoy whatever God designed them to be.³ And then another Bishop, who was not afraid to speak out wrote that we are not like inanimate objects such as a clay pitcher. If it were so, then for sure we’d be quiet and accept things the way they are. But we have a freewill and a sense of independence, so why should we be quiet? By being able to reason, we can both describe and express to our Maker what we want to be. That’s why, if a believer is not happy with their status, then investigate the cause and seek to know if that is God’s will for their life.⁴

But Paul insists that the One who makes the pottery can form it anyway He wants, and the vase cannot complain if it is made for common everyday use, not sacred ceremonies. Early church Greek Bible scholar Diodore agrees that no one should dare condemn God or imagine that He showed mercy to one and hardened another by accident. It was all done as a result of the power of His foreknowledge. Nor should we think it wrong that God knew in advance what would happen. Rather, each one who sees what the Divine Potter has made out of their lives, are then responsible for their own reaction, whether positive or negative, good or bad.⁵

Ambrosiaster sees this from another angle. He notes that the substance of the clay is the same; it’s the will of the potter that is different. Likewise God made us all of the same substance and yet we all became sinners. Adam’s sin was not our choice, but it became our curse. The fact that God allowed this is depended on His divine will and purpose. Then according to His will He had mercy on one and rejected another. But He did not do so without proper reason. For He knew who should be shown mercy and who should not.⁶

Chrysostom is convinced that God does nothing at random or by mere chance. Just because we cannot comprehend the genius of His wisdom does not mean that He has no design or purpose in what He does. If a human potter can make different things from the same clump of clay and not be faulted for doing so, then why can’t we grant God the same freedom of expression? How unfair that would be. When vessels are used for honorable or dishonorable purposes, the potter is not charged with the responsibility, that belongs to the users. The same thing is true of God’s creation. He made us creatures of great complexity and ability. What is done with all that potential is a matter of our free choice.⁷ In the same vein, it can be said that the person that invented film is not responsible for how it is employed. Some use it for good motion pictures and misuse it for despicable movies.

Augustine did not remain quiet on this subject. He says that first comes the clay. Some of it fit for use and some only to be thrown away. But it doesn’t stop there. After that, that which is fit is selected, and gradually molded into what the Potter wants it to be. And once it is molded, that’s where it stops. In his mind, God does not use high-level quality clay to make something bad. Neither does He use low-level quality clay to make something good. It all begins with God’s choice in selecting the clay. And as soon as a person realizes what God has formed them to be, the quicker they can offer themselves for use in the role God intended for them, and the sooner they can be called to do what they were meant to do.⁸ But here is the good part, we were all made to serve Him and glorify Him in all that we say and do. So again, it comes down to our choice of being what He made us to be.

In another document, Augustine says that if someone does not understand these matters, who are they then to talk back to God? And if one does understand, they have even less reason to talk back. Once a person understands that the whole human race was initially condemned through Adam by divine judgment on his sin, and if not even one single member of the race were ever saved from it, no one could argue against God’s justice. Not only that, but those who understand this also see that those who are saved were saved on God’s terms. This helps them to see that those who were left unsaved, certainly the greater number, were left to suffer what the whole mass deserved and what God’s merited judgment brought them. Had God’s undeserved mercy not intervened, everyone would have been part of the group rejected. That’s why anyone who might be disposed to brag about their own accomplishments and the merit it brings them should be hushed.⁹ That way, the one who does give glory for their salvation, glories in the Lord¹⁰.¹¹

But a great early church Christian scholar, from Alexandra, makes the point that it is not possible to say on the basis of this verse that Paul is suggesting there are different types of human nature. In fact, neither do the Scriptures claim that some people have been made cruel or obstinate, or even that vessels of honor and purity were fashioned. In addition, there is no hint that such attributes have been made part of their nature. Instead, Bishop Cyril believes it should be understood to mean that all vessels are made from the same clay, it’s how they are used that determines whether they become vessels of honor or dishonor¹².¹³ This is clear from what Paul says to Timothy: “If anyone purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the house, ready for any good work.¹⁴”¹⁵

Martin Luther agrees wholeheartedly with what Augustine said in his Enchiridion (Handbook on Ethics), mentioned in Augustine’s commentary above, and then add that the idea of talking back to God is an important thing to remember. The very idea should both enlighten and frighten us greatly. But that’s not its main purpose. If anything, we should be led to humble ourselves before the Almighty. Paul did not bring this up to cause us fear and despair but to glorify divine grace and destroy our arrogance.¹⁶ This should certainly cause any person to take their salvation more seriously when they realize they have been called, redeemed, chosen, sanctified, empowered, and glorified as one of God’s own. It is more than just confession of sins in a weak moment or joining a group because they share the same religious harmony. It is all a personal choice made by exercising one’s will. This is the result of a divine decision by the Eternal Almighty God.

In talking about the potter and the clay, John Calvin says that the reason why the vessel ought not to contend with the potter is that the potter does nothing other than what he has a right to do. In speaking of the potter’s power, Paul wants everyone to understand that it is not just a matter of the potter doing what he has the strength to do, but that he has the power to decide what to do. Paul does not use this illustration to contend that God possesses or exhibits any power that does not rightly belong to Him. He is not usurping some other power or authority with His decision. And this especially applies to mankind’s freewill. In fact, the potter takes nothing away from the clay when he decides what form to give it. In the same way, God takes away nothing from mankind when He decides in what image to create him. Without the potter’s intervention and ingenuity, the clay would remain just that, a shapeless, formless clump of clay. So it is with mankind. As descendants of sinful Adam, unless God had intervened we would all be still unregenerate forms made out of the dirt of the ground. There is no way to extract any honor from this, there is only the opportunity to give it honor. So whichever God decides to do, the clay has no reason to argue and complain it is not getting what it deserves.¹⁷

Robert Haldane offers this as a guide to understanding the questions from either a real or supposed objector to Paul’s message on God’s gratuitous method of salvation. He writes that the Apostle Paul in dealing with the previous objection and in the two following verses gives his answers. His answer here in this verse is similar to what we find in Isaiah.¹⁸ It is directed against the proud assumptions of those who presume that although they were born like a wild, untamed donkey’s colt, they know nothing of what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow.¹⁹ How can such ingrates presume they can scan the deep things of God, and to find fault with His plan and providence? Even angels which desire to look, find it incomprehensible for their enlightened understanding.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XXI)

Bible scholar Charles Hodge feels that there were too many people who misunderstand the Apostle’s teaching about God’s justice. After all, if what God does hardens us, why does He blame us for being stubborn? On the surface, such perversion by such objectors to the Apostle’s doctrine is gross. First, Paul rebukes the spirit in which God is maligned and then demonstrates how unfounded the objection is. There is no doctrine in the Bible that declares that God first makes people wicked, and then turns around and punishes them for their wickedness. The Scriptures simply assert what we understand and know to be true: God permits people, by exercising their own free will, to sin. If such sins are not forgiven, then they will be punished in proportion to their guilt. God is only acting here as a fair and just judge. He is not blaming anyone for sinning, that is their choice, He is only carrying out the punishment prescribed for that sin. So who can complain that God is not being fair? Would you not want a court of law to act the same? But Paul adds another factor that is not part of human jurisprudence. Our sovereign God as our judge exercises His authority to determine whether or not He will also be our Savior, or allow us to suffer the just recompense for our evil deeds. This He does based on His divine foreknowledge and omniscience.¹

Jewish scholar David Stern gives us something to think about concerning God’s involvement in people’s hearts being hardened, and their excuses: “If what God does hardens my heart, then why should He blame me for having a hard heart?” As Paul sees it, he offers little comfort before answering the question with a question, which was consistent with a Pharisee’s manners and customs. His question is: “Who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God?” In case anyone would think that Paul was being arrogant, he lets God answer the question by quoting what He said to the prophet Isaiah about people who call what’s evil as good, darkness being light, and bitter being sweet.² and then uses the image of the potter and the clay from Jeremiah.³ Stein tells us that traditional Judaism takes the same viewpoint. He points to the weekday morning prayers in the Siddur (Prayerbook) where it reads: “Who is there among all the works of your hands, among those above or among those below, who could say to you [God], ‘What are you doing?’”⁴ There is a strong possibility that Paul knew that the Jewish leaders in the church at Rome were acquainted with this morning prayer.

Verses 20-21: Don’t ask such questions! You are only a human and have no right to question God. A clay jar does not question the one who made it. It does not say, “Why did you make me like this?”⁵ The one who makes the jar can make anything he wants. He uses the same clay to make different things. He might make one thing for special purposes and another for daily use.

There are many people, even today, who raise the same questions found here. Some to find an excuse, others who earnestly want to know more. We must, first of all, consider that no human is capable of judging God’s actions. We know little – He is omniscient; we are restricted in scope – He is omnipresent; we are pitifully weak – He is omnipotent. How can we judge when we do not know one billionth of the facts that He knows? Furthermore, since He is God and has made all that exists, it is His right to do as He pleases with His creation. This does not imply fatalism on our part, but rather to acknowledge His sovereignty and His decrees. He has proven not only to be a God of Might but also a God of Mercy; He was willing to sacrifice His only Son, we are not asked to sacrifice ours. Only a fool would go around feeling sorry for themselves because they weren’t chosen when it was a case of them making the choice in the first place. One of the horrors of hell is that there is no consolation there.

So Paul’s concern is that the leaders of the congregation in Rome might opt to continue in the path outlined by the old understanding of God’s Word and not be open to the new revelation that Paul had been chosen by Christ to bring them. One of Job’s advisers made it clear that God does not need to defend His words.⁶ Furthermore, even though God may say something twice, still, there are those who will miss the point.

Even the Apostle James encountered those who were unwilling to give up the old way of thinking. He told his readers: “There still some among you who hold that ‘only believing’ is enough… When will you ever learn that ‘believing’ is useless without doing what God wants you to?”⁷ Finally, God grows weary of all the debate between Job and his friends and interrupts them by asking: “Why are you using your ignorance to deny My providence? …Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying?”⁸ God goes on for the next two chapters offering evidence of His superior knowledge and intellect. Finally, He asks: “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you – God’s critic – have the answers?”⁹

Paul then uses an illustration to frame his point by supposing a clay pot speaking back to the potter asking, “Why did you make me this way?” Perhaps Paul remembered reading the Talmud where we find the story of Rabbi Eleazar son of Rabbi Simeon who was traveling from Migdal Gedor,¹⁰ after visiting his teacher. He was having a leisurely ride along the river on his donkey, so happy at what he had learned from the Torah. As he rode along, Rabbi Eleazar encountered an exceedingly ugly man who greeted him, but the Rabbi did not return the greeting. Instead, he called the man a fool and told him how ugly he was, and wanted to know if all the people where he came from were as ugly as he was? But then the Rabbi suddenly realized how insulting he had been and immediately apologized. But the man told him, he need not apologize to me, apologize to the One who made me. Likewise, if a vessel is asked why they are so ugly, they may calmly respond: “I do not know, but go and tell the craftsman who made me, ‘The vessel you have made is ugly’.”¹¹

Paul wanted the Roman believers to know that when they talked back to him and tried to criticize his message, they owed an apology to the One who gave him the message in the first place. As King Solomon put it, God has a purpose for everything He’s made.¹² In other words, God possesses no garbage can for items He considers a mistake. By using the potter as an illustration, perhaps Paul was reminded by the words of Isaiah: “Adonai, you are our father; we are the clay, you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands.”¹³ Also, the Apostle may have had the Lord’s instructions to Jeremiah in mind: “’Get up, and go down to the potter’s house; there I will tell you more.’ So I went down to the house of the potter; and there he was, working at the wheels. Whenever a pot he made came out imperfect, the potter took the clay and made another pot with it, in whatever shape suited him.”¹⁴ God goes on to tell Jeremiah that this was an example of how He takes a vessel and does not stop until He fashions it to be what He wants it to be.

That leads Paul to his next point. By acknowledging that God as our Potter; has complete control over how He fashions the clay, we need to be careful that we do not resist His work in our lives. After all, even though God had Israel’s best interest at heart, yet we find them described in Hosea as a nation lying among other nations as a broken pot.¹⁵ Paul himself wanted the Roman church to know that he too was one of God’s vessels, and wanted to be used for the purpose God made him. This was not just his imagination, this is what God told Ananias in Damascus: “Go and do what I say. For Paul is my chosen vessel to take my message to the nations and before kings, as well as to the people of Israel.”¹⁶

Then Paul finishes his point by making note that God fashions assorted vessels for various uses. So when He takes a lump of clay, only He may determine if that vessel will be one of honor or dishonor. This is in line with what Paul told young Timothy: “In a wealthy home there are dishes made of gold and silver as well as some made from wood and clay. The expensive dishes are used for guests, and the cheap ones are used in the kitchen or to put garbage in. If you stay away from sin you will be like one of these dishes made of purest gold—the very best in the house—so that Christ Himself can use you for His highest purposes.”¹⁷

By Paul asking and then answering his own question, early church scholars have a lot to say about their view of this method. Origen excuses Paul of any intended rudeness since this rebuke is not for them. It is intended rather for those who are unfaithful and living an ungodly lifestyle.¹⁸ And for those who see this as God being dictatorial by choosing whom He favors and whom He does not, Chrysostom preached that Paul says this in order not to do away with freewill but rather to show to what extent we ought to obey God. We should be as reluctant to question God as a piece of clay is to quiz a potter. There is no need for us to go on complaining or questioning every negative thing that happens in our lives. In fact, it should not be part of our conversation at all. Instead, we should become like that chosen piece of clay in the potter’s hands, letting ourselves be shaped in whatever way the potter wills. That way we will be known as His work, not ours.¹⁹

Then we have Augustine and Pelagius offering their points of view. First Augustine says that as long as we are part of God’s creation we are like a lump of clay. We have not become a new creation so, therefore, we have not been introduced to spiritual things. As a spiritual person, are we to judge all things but be judged by no one? Is it right for anyone to hold back from hearing this kind of inquiry and not give God an answer? If anyone wants to know God’s plan, they must first become friends with God, and this is only possible for spiritual people who already bear the image of the heavenly Potter.²⁰

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XX)

Verse 19: I’m sure one of you will ask me, “If God controls what we do, why does He blame us for our sins?”

No doubt Paul was expecting such a push-back from the congregation in Rome. This is not the first time that he had his message questioned. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminded them: “Tell me this! Since you believe what we preach, that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying that dead people will never come back to life again?”¹ Then later, Paul took issue with them because they quibbled over what kind of resurrected body they would have.² These Jewish members of the Roman congregation were much like the Corinthians and Christians today. They not only seek to be guided by God’s Word but are aware of all the concepts and philosophies of the world around them. And while it is proper to question the philosophies of men, Paul is agitated that any believer would dare question God’s Word. It seems today that this concept has been completely reversed because some accept man’s humanistic discipline while questioning God’s spiritual discipline. This is fatal to our faith because God’s Word contains His will, while man’s philosophy harbors his wants.

Unfortunately, this disputing and questioning of God’s messengers was not new. That ancient man of faith, Job, had this to say: “Can anyone teach God knowledge? After all, He judges those who are on high.”³ Later, Job would tell his erstwhile friends that God has no equal, that He is beyond the influence of those who want to change Him; His mind is already made up about what He wants said and done.⁴ For those who dared to question God’s plan and purpose, He had this to say: “At the beginning I announce the end, proclaim in advance things not yet done; and I say that my plan will hold, I will do everything I please to do.”⁵ And Daniel tells us that King Nebuchadnezzar learned this about his God: “All the people of the earth are nothing when compared to Him; He does whatever He thinks best among the angels of heaven, as well as here on earth. No one can stop Him or challenge Him, saying, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’”⁶

Chrysostom observes that Paul does everything he can to embarrass any questioner. But instead of him rebutting such critics right away, he shuts them up with further questions. Good teachers use this method all the time. So instead of being led off on a tangent and into other areas not under discussion, they stay on course. It is like a gardener who pulls up the weeds, breaks up the ground before the seed is planted so it can grow much better. Too often some teacher tries to plant a full grown tree so the student has no work to do to make it grow.

Paul is obviously aware that many will form the opinion that God is responsible for our wanting to sin. Early church scholar Origen resists this idea. For sure, no one should resist God’s will for their lives because His will is fair and proper. But whether it turns out for our good or bad things result depends on how we respond with our will. We work with what we know. Only God knows if a person’s attitude will destine them for punishment or direct them to glory.⁷ Origen doesn’t say God will send that person to be punished, but that unless the bad person accepts God’s offer of salvation they are bound to go to their punishment by choice. Then Ambrosiaster states that Paul first teaches us that God is in control because He is more powerful than anyone else. Next, he teaches us that God is the Father of all and, therefore, does not want anyone to suffer evil. So what God has made us to be He wants to remain as He has designed us.⁸ So why worry then if God is going to go against His own will. What, if anything, will make us change us from doing good to doing bad? It’s certainly not God. So there’s only one other left, that’s us.

Again, reformer Martin Luther gives strongly worded support to Paul’s opposition to anyone who might question God’s intentions. For him, the Apostle poses this question to point out those who might argue with God in an ungodly and arrogant way. In the wilderness, the people of Israel raged against God and Moses as though they were the criminals. They treated them as though they were on the same level as they. Here the Apostle Paul means to say, “Do you dare dispute with your Creator, defy Him, and judge Him? Are you unwilling to yield to Him at least on one little point?” It is certainly not a sin when a person asks God in a spirit of reverence, humility, and respect: “Why have you made me this way?”⁹ It is also understandable that in the midst of trials and under extreme pressure a person might utter a word of doubt or question God’s tactics. That’s why their conscience may not immediately condemn them. That’s because our God is not an impatient tyrant or cruel master. In fact, He’s not even that way with the wicked. Luther feels this is good advice for those who are constantly troubled by irreverent thoughts and are greatly alarmed by their weakness in this area.¹⁰

John Calvin points to what he feels is the main reason such people would be so upset, and that is when they hear that those who perish have been destined to do so by the will of God. As Calvin sees it, once again Paul adopts the role of an opponent. He saw that it would be hard to stop the mouths of the ungodly from arrogantly complaining that God was being unfair. Paul clearly exposes their thought process in that they were not satisfied with defending themselves, they wanted to make God guilty instead. And once they assigned their blame and condemnation to Him, they then became indignant that God had such great power. They feel like they are being forced to yield to God’s will, so instead, they rebel. That’s because they just cannot give in and acknowledge His sovereignty. So what do they do? They accuse God of tyranny.¹¹

Then Calvin applies the situation that Paul faced to his own time during the Middle Ages in Europe. He claims that the philosophers of his day in their schoolroom classes foolishly dispute what they call God’s absolute and infinite authority to judge and convict. They forget that they are talking about God’s own vow to be fair and equal to all. They accuse Him of exhibiting His unlimited power by throwing all those who disagree with Him into confusion. Calvin then paraphrases what he thinks Paul would have such people say: “Why should God be angry with us? Didn’t He make us what we are? Doesn’t He lead us wherever He wants us to go? What else does He want? Doesn’t He know that by destroying us He is destroying the very thing He Himself made? We don’t have the power to fight back against Him. It doesn’t matter how much we try, He will still have the upper hand. That will make the outcome all that more unfair if He ends up condemning us. That makes it all the more obvious that we are outmatched by all the power He has.”¹² We can take this one step further and quote these words as being similar to the philosophy we hear in our world today. That’s is, except for one caveat: today’s philosophers would not ascribe as much power, control, and authority to God as those did back in Calvin’s and Paul’s day.

Adam Clarke also comments on those who, like Adam, blamed their fall into sin on Eve who in turn, blamed it on the snake. Clarke sees the Apostle Paul introducing a Jewish critic to make an objection similar to that in Romans 3:7: “How can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights His truthfulness and brings Him more glory?” In other words, if God’s glory can best be seen and recognized when we are obstinate and rebellious, and He then allows us to become more and more hardhearted and hardheaded, why should He turn around then and find fault with our behavior? Furthermore, why would He then punish us for doing the very thing out of which He gets so much joy and pleasure?¹³ It’s like accusing God of making a death wish for everyone in spite of the fact that He says He’d rather keep them alive. These are clearly the corrupt thoughts of degenerate individuals, all meant to somehow delegitimize and discredit God as the sovereign ruler of the universe.

In this verse, we have a question that the Apostle does not answer until the next several verses. Robert Haldane sees this and notes that here the Apostle Paul confronts a third objection or deflection on the part of these objectors. The first one was that God is unfaithful, (verse 6). The second was that God is unjust, (verse 14). This third is that God is severe and cruel, (verse 18). So if God were to show mercy, or if He were to harden according to His sovereign pleasure, why, then, it may be asked, would He find any reason to accuse someone else for what’s going on? So here in verse 19, Paul formulates the only response based on the logic that such people who think this way can come up with. Their question is simple: How can God find any fault in what we did since it was His will? Who can He point at that resisted His will? So in other words, if God wants people to sin, and if He is all-powerful, is He not then the author of sin? Haldane finds the objection raised here in the Scripture to be the same he was hearing in his day. And it could not have been written more clearly than the way Paul wrote it here. Paul will answer much of this in the coming verses. But it involves pointing out how people with such disrespect for God can dare argue with Him who is in effect, their Creator.¹⁴

H. A. Ironside sees the questions asked here as being those of a fatalist. Especially one who has come to the conclusion that God’s will is irresistible and they are being moved around by His will, not theirs. So as far as they are concerned, they have absolutely no responsibility for what happens to them. Today they call it Karma and others say it’s fate.¹⁵ That’s why they see it as unfair that God would find fault with them. How can God judge them when they have no say over their lives. If God’s will is irresistible, then let God be responsible for what happens. So they would say to Paul, “Where does my moral responsibility come in?”¹⁶ In other words, if God is responsible for all that takes place then why should I suffer if things go wrong? Likewise, if someone decides that since they are not interested in religion or the Bible or salvation, they should not then be held responsible for their immoral actions the same way as those who are inclined to believe in God. In so doing, they dismiss the idea that there are universal rules of conduct established by an Almighty God to which all believers and unbelievers will be held accountable.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XIX)

This idea of God, not man, making the call to repentance is no doubt hard for many who believe that God’s grace is an unending, indiscriminate source to cover all sin and rebellion. One may ask this question to counter that idea: If that be so, then why hasn’t the devil been saved? This recognizes that this same godless spirit and attitude of Satan can infect people’s hearts and minds. Therefore, it becomes God’s choice in choosing whom He sends His Spirit to and calls them to repentance. If one cannot accept this truth, then it would be easy to call God an unrighteous deity. God forbid that anyone would fall to that level of irreverence and disrespect for Almighty God.

Robert Haldane’s main interest here is to make sure these verses are kept in context. So he states that verse 17 about Pharaoh stands connected to verses 13 and 14. For in verse 13, God’s love for Jacob and His hatred for Esau are declared. That’s why in verse 14 a demand is made to determine if this proves God is not fair or just. Then in verses 15 and 16 the answer is given regarding the preference and love of God for Jacob. Now in verse 17 the Apostle replies to the question involving God’s hatred for Esau. And the answer here is very similar to that given respecting God’s love for Jacob. That is, God’s love for Jacob already existed before he had done anything good. This was God’s normal plan of procedure. And on that same basis, His hatred for Esau existed before he had done anything wrong. So we find here Paul’s doctrine, drawn from the example of one person to whom, in Divine sovereignty, God acted according to justice without mercy, being that God decides, not mankind. After all, doesn’t the Scripture say that God raised up Pharaoh for the very purpose of manifesting His own glory in light of Pharaoh’s hardness and his punishment?¹

Robert Haldane then goes on to contextualize verse 18 in this narrative. He says that here we see a general conclusion drawn from all that the Apostle has said in the three preceding verses. There he denies that God acted unrighteously by loving Jacob and hating Esau. In doing so, it exhibited the way God deals with both the elect and the reject. It makes it clear that His own sovereign pleasure is at play with respect to those whom He receives inside the Kingdom, and those He leaves outside the Kingdom. His love and grace softens one and hardens another. He does so without reference to anything but His own sovereign will. And it is all in accordance with His infinite wisdom, holiness, and justice. “Yes, Father, you did this because it’s what you really wanted to do.”² God cannot be charged with injustice just because His method of salvation selects some and rejects others.³ In reference to the statement that God’s offer of pardon softens one and hardens another, we must understand this by comparing it to the sun. The exact same rays of the sun that shine down on an object with the same intensity and heat, will melt the one and harden the other. That is because the makeup of the object is what causes it to either melt or harden. So it is with men’s souls, minds, and will.

When it comes to the purpose for which God put Pharaoh in power so that He could deliver His people in a way that only He could do, Albert Barnes explains that there are several ways we can understand what God intended by using Pharaoh this way. First, God intended to use him to accomplish great miracles by keeping him alive. Secondly, the only reason God kept Pharaoh alive was just for that reason. Thirdly, God thereby exhibited His total control over this haughty and wicked monarch. He could take his life at any moment, or He could let him live as long as he was useful to carry out God’s will for His people. Furthermore, by having control over all things that could affect the pride, the feelings, and the happiness of Pharaoh, God had control over the man himself. Fourthly, God placed Pharaoh in circumstances suited to his character. He left him in those circumstances until he was ready to be used by God for His purpose. Fifthly, God did not try to change Pharaoh’s mind by exerting undue pressure on his mind. Sixth, that’s why in all this Pharaoh acted freely.

As a result, as Barnes sees it, Pharaoh chose to do what he did by his own volition. He pursued his own course. He voluntarily pursued his own schemes in oppressing the Israelites. It was his decision and his alone to be in opposition to God. He personally decided to pursue the Israelites to the Red Sea. In each case, Pharaoh chose to do what he did, and did so, even though He knew it was wrong. As a result, there was no warning or action that could turn him away from his goal. This explains then, what it means when it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.⁴ One other thing, neither could Pharaoh nor can any other sinner blame God for the circumstances they find themselves in. They got to where they are on their own and it is there they develop their own character, and show what they are. So don’t blame it on God, it’s their own fault. No one compels any sinner to sin. At the same time, God is under no obligation to save them just because the sinner thinks it’s a great idea.⁵

On Paul’s assertion that God has full control over whom His mercy will lead to acceptance and whom it will lead to rejection. Henry Alford sees no difficulty in the assertion that God allows His mercy to harden the heart of whom He wills. We must remember this is an ongoing process in the daily course of God’s dealing with mankind. We have all seen how this hardening process develops, especially among ungodly people who are prosperous. The facts are clear, whether discovered by research or revealed openly in history. At the same time, looking for any solution to such hardening is also part of every human’s responsibility. Once they are aware of their hardness, they must take steps to change. No one will ever be perfect, no matter how much they try. However, every attempt must be made to refine a person’s attitude and outlook on life. Without such an attempt, everything will continue downhill.⁶

H. A. Ironside also shares some thoughts on this subject. He writes that it is evident that we cannot accept what the text says about those who are hardened by God’s interaction with this world without logically concluding that it does appear God gives some up to their own destruction and leaves them to perish in their own sins. In Pharaoh’s case, he was a Gentile, a hardhearted oppressor of Israel. In his view, when God sent His servants demanding that he submit to His commands, it riled up his pride and haughtiness. Thus he became brazen and audacious. He exclaimed, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?’ As we see, Pharaoh in his arrogance dared to challenge the Almighty. But God was not intimidated, He is ready to accept Pharaoh’s challenge.

Ironside goes on to say that when God told Pharaoh that He allowed him to come to power in order to that His own power could be heralded around the earth, God was not speaking to a helpless babe. These words deal exclusively with the outstanding position that God gave Pharaoh in order that succeeding generations might see the folly of fighting against an Almighty God. Ironside tells us that the Greeks had a saying: “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”7 It was a principle that even heathens had no trouble understanding. We see the same principle alive in such personages as an Emperor, a Caesar, a Napoleon, a Kaiser, a President, a Prime Minister who are permitted to climb to the very summit on human ambition alone, only then to be hurled down into the depths of loathing and being laughed at. In each case, God stands by to have mercy on those who repent and let those who seek no rescue to harden by their resolve to remain unrepentant. Since God is the moral governor of the universe and He works all things according to the counsel of His own will. “No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”’8 This should be a warning to anyone who thinks they can assault God without consequences. In fact, to do so would justify God’s punishment to fall on them with righteous wrath.9

Preacher Octavius Winslow preached on how and who God uses to accomplish His will. In his way of thinking, we should never write off individuals who themselves are living without grace from being used by God for His purpose. In the same way, someone without holiness in their life is still not disqualified from speaking up about the value of holiness in a person’s life. Also, there is nothing that keeps a person who is still in an unregenerate state from being used by God for a spiritual purpose. Anyone who has studied the Bible and Church History has seen how again and again God has employed both sacred and secular agencies in carrying out His will and purpose. The reason He can do this is because all things are subject to His sovereignty.10

Douglas Moo focuses on the subject of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and informs us that the Greek word skleryno, meaning “harden,” refers to being in a state of insensitivity to God, His Word, and His work. Then he asks, to what do God’s “having mercy” and “hardening” refer? Could it be the same options are available here as they are in verses 7-13 on God’s election? And could it also be that Paul is referring here to the roles of Moses (and Israel) and Pharaoh (and Egypt) in salvation history? Or is it that what Paul says here has direct attachment to the issue of personal salvation? In other words, it is God who determines who is to be saved and who is to be kept in a state of spiritual blindness.11

Jewish theologian David Stern tells us that in Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 9:12, and especially 14:4 we read concerning God’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart. In Stern’s mind, Paul is witnessing history repeating itself. Pharaoh’s rejection of Moses is like Israel’s rejection of Yeshua. It provides the circumstances for God to demonstrate His power through an act of delivering Israel from the Egyptian bondage in the same way that He delivers the believer from sin’s bondage and death. The knowledge of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt became known through the Tanakh [Jewish First Covenant] and the annual reading of the Haggadah [Guide to Seder meal] at Pesach [Passover]. Likewise the Messiah’s atoning death and resurrection are being made known through the Gospel [Christian Last Covenant] and preaching of the Apostles in the Last Covenant.12

Having had the privilege of preaching to audiences as small as five and as large as 20,000, I never ceased to be amazed at how the same message, anointed by the Holy Spirit and empowered by His presence could cause some to stand for salvation, even running to the altar to seek forgiveness, while others left immediately or fidgeted nervously until the benediction was said and they could go out. How could the same call be received by some and rejected by others. Often, my immediate response was to question if I did a good enough job in delivering the message. But in the end I realized that it was their decision based on whether God’s Word melted their resistance to surrender their lives, or hardened their pride in maintaining their status as masters of their fate, and captains of their soul.13 So the only question left is this: Did God already know this? The answer, “Yes, He did.”

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XVIII)

By the time Joshua and the children of Israel reached the crossing point at the River Jordan and sent spies into the city of Jericho, the reputation of the Mighty God of Israel had already reached the inhabitants there, for when the spies encountered the prostitute Rahab she said to them: “I know perfectly well that your God is going to give my country to you. We are all afraid of you; everyone is terrified if the word Israel is even mentioned. For we have heard how the LORD made a path through the Red Sea for you when you left Egypt!”¹ And when the Psalmist called on God to defeat the enemies of Israel, his prayer ended this way: “Let them know that you alone, whose name is Adonai, are the Most High over all the earth.”²

Again, Paul is reiterating that not only is God in charge, but God manages events to fit His purpose and will. When Moses faced a hardheaded and belligerent Pharaoh, it was no surprise. God already told him: “Adonai said to Moshe [Moses], “When you get back to Egypt, make sure that you do before Pharaoh every one of the wonders I have enabled you to do. Nevertheless, I am going to make him hardhearted, and he will refuse to let My people go.”³ So when Moses and Aaron became frustrated because things didn’t go the way they had hoped, it is said: “Pharaoh was made hardhearted; and he didn’t listen to them, as Adonai had said would happen.”⁴ It goes on to say that the LORD pointed out to Moses that Pharaoh’s heart would continue to remain unmoved and that he would not let His people go. Was this a setback? Was the intervention by Moses and Aaron a mistake? No! It was all part of God’s plan to set the people of Israel free in such a way that when they looked back on it they would have to say: Only God could make something like this happen.

When commenting on Paul’s use of Pharaoh of Egypt to prove how God uses both destruction and construction to conform to His will, early church scholar Ambrosiaster commented that this particular Pharaoh was guilty of a great many misdeeds and should have been gone a long time ago. He had no intention of repenting for what he had done and had no interest in pleasing the God of the Israelites. But if anyone thinks that God made a mistake by not taking revenge on Pharaoh right away, let them listen to what God said to Pharaoh: “It is for this very reason that I have kept you alive – to show you My power, and so that My Name may resound throughout the whole earth.”⁵

By all rights, Pharaoh should have been dead a long time ago, but God kept him alive for a short while so that all those who doubted who the God of Israel really was and what He could do would see it with their own eyes. Furthermore, by experiencing these plagues, they became aware of what punishment and torment could be inflicted on those who refused to confess the One True God. Early church writer Ambrosiaster sees a comparison between them and the way ancient physicians did autopsies on the bodies of people who had been condemned to death, even while some were still alive. They wanted to know what diseases they had so they could study their causes. Some saw this as one way to punish the dying in order to bring saving health to the living.⁶

Pelagius has an interesting response as well as a good illustration. He says that the Jews explain this passage quoted by Paul in the wrong way. Most Christian interpreters see it in one of two ways. First, since all of us will be punished in the end after all our sins are counted, it was a case of Pharaoh exceeding his limit. So God wanted to make him an example for others to see. That was also in order that God’s people might see God’s justice on display, and thereby discourage any of them from sinning. But most of all, never to fear their enemies who were also God’s enemies.

Pelagius then makes reference to what Ambrosiaster said about doctors in Egypt who sought cures for illnesses, discovering a remedy in the course of experimenting on someone already condemned to die. But Pelagius tells of those who believe that although Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by God’s patience, once the plagues were over and his firstborn had died, Pharaoh’s heart became even harder. God knew that Pharaoh had no intention of repenting, nevertheless, wanted to show His patience even toward him, which He did up until Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the Red Sea.⁷

Early church scholar Origen comments that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened when God decided not to punish him immediately and completely because he thought he was getting away with refusing to obey this God of Israel. Although Pharaoh’s wickedness was enormous, God in His patience did not eliminate the possibility of his conversion. That’s why through the plagues He touched Pharaoh lightly at first and then gradually increased the blows. But it appears that God’s patience only hardened Pharaoh’s heart. It is odd that Pharaoh was hardened by that very thing that should have made him pliable in God’s hands to become a better person. Instead, he became even angrier with God and more contemptuous of Him. To put it another way, when the sun shines upon an object, it can either be softened or hardened. That’s why it all depends on what the object is made out of. So it is not God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it was what was in his heart that hardened it.⁸

Augustine also speaks to this factor in several of his writings. For instance, in his commentary, Augustine says that when God has mercy on someone it makes them capable of doing something good. But the one who is hardened by His mercy He leaves them to do evil. He goes on to contribute that when mercy brings the good out of people it is due to their belief in God. But when God’s mercy results in the hardening of their heart it is due to their unbelief in God. Yet, in neither case is a person’s freewill taken away whether they believe in God so His mercy may follow them, or disbelieve in Him so that punishment may fall upon them.⁹

In another document Augustine questions why God the Father does not teach all people the proper way to Christ? Could it be that those who do receive the Gospel which shows the way to Christ comes to them out of God’s mercy? Perhaps those who do not receive the message of salvation are predetermined for judgment.¹⁰ But that is not all. It must be accepted that those whom God permits to go astray to become hardened in their hearts, deserve this curse. Meanwhile, in the case of the person upon whom He has mercy, they must acknowledge without question that it is only because of God’s grace. This does not mean God is rendering evil for evil, but good for evil.¹¹

Pelagius, a contemporary scholar of Augustine’s, argues against anyone who simply says that God has mercy on whom He wills and hardens whom He wills because there is so much wickedness. When we look at the very nature of God’s justice, such thinking makes no sense. As he sees it, such a statement fails immediately because it’s not what the sinner does but what God wills to do that counts.¹² In other words, whether or not a person’s heart becomes soft or hard may depend on “cause and effect,” or “effect and cause.”

To put this in perspective, if a young deer is caught out in the open during a deep winter cold snap and is unable to find shelter because of a fence they will freeze. So the cause is not being able to find cover in the icy cold weather, and the effect is death. However, if that young deer freezes to death because it foolishly decides to wait out the cold and not seek shelter even if there is no fence, then the effect is death and the cause is going against their instincts. The same is true in how we perceive what Paul says here. Those who believe like Augustine put the responsibility on God, but those who follow Pelagius’ reasoning see it as man’s responsibility for choosing to stay in their lost condition rather than seeking shelter in God’s arms. When they turn away from God and His message of grace, their hearts will harden. But if they turn toward Him, then His love will melt their hearts to receive His grace. So that leaves a person to decide whether the outcome is their responsibility or God’s?

Martin Luther understands God’s reason for using Pharaoh to display His power, and believes that what God was really saying was this: I desired to show you that the power of deliverance lies alone in me and not in the ability, merit, and righteousness of any other. For his reason, I hardened your heart and freed Israel. Luther then goes on to say God’s ultimate power of choice is illustrated by Paul in the case of Esau and Jacob, is an example of the divine election of grace that saves. This guarantees that those who are elected will surely be saved. God does not select at random, neither does He elect in error. No one would ever have known about this knowledge of divine grace if God had not acted on it as Paul shows. Not to do so, would have left everyone in delusion to draw the arrogant opinion that they possess the right to saving righteousness based on their merit. It would be like giving God an ultimatum: You must save me because I want it and you must redeem me because of all the good I’ve done. Such thinking fulfills the Scripture that reads: “Those who called themselves wise, became fools;¹³ those who called themselves righteous, became sinners; those who called themselves truthful became liars.”¹⁴

John Calvin feels that Paul is now talking about God’s rejection of the ungodly Pharaoh because He knew in advance that he was without contrition or conviction and therefore unreachable by love or grace. That’s why God chose to raise him up so that by his being overcome and subdued by God’s power to deliver, it would prove how invincible the arm of God is to save, something no human power is able to do. Calvin says there are two things to be considered here. First, that Pharaoh was predestined to ruin. This can be referred to as having already been done, although it was still hidden from mankind in the mind of God. Second, it was predestined to make known the name of God. Not only to Israel but to Egypt as well. This is what has Paul primarily dwelled on up till now. And part of this predestination plan was for Pharaoh’s heart to be hardened. Not because God hardened it, but that God knew what type of heart Pharaoh had. Furthermore, that it would be hardened as God foreknew so that God could then act as He did so that He and His power could be demonstrated.¹⁵

Pastor Rick Warren, author of the book, Purpose Driven Life, once asked: “Why is there so much evil in the world?” This echoes the question posed in the book by Rabbi Gabriel Friedman who inquired: “Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People? This question is not new. The writer of Psalm 73 tells how he was envious because the arrogant and wicked prospered while he and other righteous people were trying to keep their hearts pure and prevent their hands from doing wrong.

If there were an easy answer, surely someone would have found it by now. We know that our loving God exists in heaven, so why is there so much evil in the world? We might have a paradigm shift if we look at it another way. Why does a caterpillar go through so much of a struggle trying to become a butterfly? Why do Olympians have to train so hard under adverse conditions in order to compete for the gold medal? Why are young men and women pushed to the limits in their training just to see if they can survive just to become a Navy Seal? It’s all because you must find your weakness and strengths in order to learn how to keep going when things get tough. As the old saying goes, “No pain, no gain.”

As Pastor Warren says, “God could have made us like robots who do nothing more than say, ‘I love you. I love you. I love you.’ But we’d be forced to do that, and that wouldn’t be real love. Love is a choice. And if you have a choice you have to be able to choose not to love, and that in itself is the nature of evil. Evil is choosing not to love. So when God gave us the freedom to choose, he gave us not only our greatest blessing, but he also gave us our greatest curse because we can choose to do right or choose to do wrong.”

Some people may find this hard to believe, but one reason God may allow so much pain and discomfort in our marriages that lead to heated arguments and sharp disagreements as a way of testing whether or not we really love one another as we said we did. Or will we find out that it was just infatuation, or “puppy love,” as we used to call it. The same is true of our love for God. How would He really know if we love Him if everything went our way, no problems, easy sledding through the snowstorms of life? Jesus could not have made it plainer than when said that if we really loved Him, we’d pick up our cross and follow Him. I don’t know what the word “cross” means to you, but to Him, it involved pain, suffering, and even death so that we could be spared everlasting separation from God. How could we ever doubt that He loved us?

God is not getting this present world ready for a transformation into Paradise until first all the evil it has spawned is destroyed, along with the devil who is its chief sponsor. Satan knows it, the demons know it, that’s why their rebellious spirit grows stronger every day. But our Lord gives us all the hope we need by telling us that those who endure until the end will be saved. So the next time you are disheartened by the evil in this world just say to yourself, “That’s why I’m a believer, a Christian to the core because I know when this is all over I’ll be among the saved forever.” – Dr. Robert R Seyda

GOD’S GUARDIAN ANGEL ON DUTY

Having worked in a hospital as a Chaplain, when I read this story it brought back many memories. Let it inspire you to believe that God never sleeps, His eyes are on His children day and night. The lady who wrote this did not sign her name. But that doesn’t matter because all glory and honor and praise goes to our God.

She told how she received a phone call one evening from the pediatric ICU at Presbyterian Hospital, in Charlotte, NC, where she worked as a child life specialist. Usually, when being called at night, it means something bad has happened. This, however, was different. Her coworker told her that the most amazing thing had just happened and she just had to call to tell her about it.

They had a young patient who had grown up while coming in and going out of this hospital. All the staff knew her and her family. She had been in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for about a month now and was intubated and on life support. Her prognosis was not good. The doctors approached her mother about taking the girl off life support a few days earlier. It had been a long struggle, and after much prayer and consultation, her mother finally said it was okay. Her daughter had been through so much and if was her time to go she wanted to honor that. So they had her taken off.

But four days later she was still alive. Amazing! The doctors approached her mother about taking off her daughter’s oxygen mask. It was a painful idea, but the mother was supportive and began praying over her daughter. The mother of another young patient who was in the bed next to her began joining her in prayer. The nurse practitioner went to the nurses’ station to chart that the girl’s oxygen mask had been removed. In the process of writing in the chart, she glanced up at the security monitor that videotapes the double doors leading into the PICU. It records anyone who may be waiting outside the doors to get in since it is a secure unit. She noticed a man standing there, and he looked a little strange to her, so instead of pushing the button to let him in, she decided to walk down the hall to the double doors to check personally. When she opened the doors, no one was standing there.

She went back to the nurse’s station to finish charting, assuming he had walked away. But as soon as she looked at the monitor to make sure he was gone, he was still standing there in plain view. So she quickly opened the doors with a button near the nurses’ station and leaned over to see him walk in, but again, no one was standing there. She pulled another nurse over and both stood staring at this man on the monitor and opening the doors to find no one there. The nurse practitioner got close to the monitor and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! That looks like an angel! Do you see his wings!” At that moment, the whole PICU was strangely filled with light. He appeared to be a tall man and you could see his wings behind him.

The rest of the staff of the PICU, along with the two praying mothers came running to stare at this figure on the monitor, while opening the doors only to find no one there. Crying, everyone pulled out their camera phones to take pictures, but no one could get it to show up on their camera. The mother of the girl pulled out her camera phone and finally got a picture of the angel who was guarding the doors to the PICU. He turned out as a man of light. Miraculously, the girl was discharged from the hospital a few days later to go home.

A Miracle! This story makes me so grateful for the way that God reveals Himself to us, and how Great He really is.

Living in a world that has no time for God, with people rushing around as though He doesn’t exist, it’s good to know that now and then He sends one of His angels just to let us know He is still there watching over us. If He did this miracle for this lady and her daughter, just remember, He may have an angel waiting for you. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XVII)

Nineteenth-century evangelical pulpiteer Octavius Winslow preached that free grace under which the Holy Spirit operates is intimately connected to God’s Divine sovereignty. No matter how worthy a person may feel they are, that will not draw Him to embrace a sinner. In fact, no amount of worthiness that a sinner may suppose exists within themselves, they must not forget that they are an adjudged criminal, an outlawed rebel, a morally bankrupted individual whose mind is hostile to God, whose mind is cluttered with good works, but whose heart is swollen with treason against God. There is nothing within them or anyone around them that can offer sufficient payment for their salvation. None whatsoever.

Furthermore, the fact that the Holy Spirit should enter the heart of such a wretched person, convict them of sin, quiet their hostility against God, neutralize their rebellion, and lead them willingly to Jesus where they can receive a sealed pardon and have peace rule in their conscience, reveals the depth of His merciful Grace, the effect of His Sovereign Love, and the power of the Gospel to bring them out of darkness into His marvelous light. But there is something we must keep in mind: in exercising His sovereign will to call and convert a sinner, let no one suppose that God was influenced in His decision to select the one He did call by seeing anything that was more worthy, or more lowly than what He sees in every sinner. Not at all! God may select the poorest, the vilest, the most depraved, and fallen of sinners, as if to rule out any idea there exists any source of human merit, so that everyone can see the full riches and immense volume of His Grace in their heart.¹

There is nothing that impresses preacher Winslow any more than the Grace of the Holy Spirit’s operation. To see how He arrives – He knocks – He waits for the heart door to open – He enters and creates all things new, irrespective of any merit of the person, and even if they are so wretched and poor that language fails to adequately describe them. Winslow exhorts: “Oh the riches of His grace! How it is magnified – how it is illustrated – how it shines in the calling of a poor sinner!” Anyone called by the Spirit who is in such a horrible condition might cry out, “O Lord, what did you see in me?” They are moved by such love and compassion. They wonder why God was so caring, why He reached out to them, what affected Him to make then the temple of His Holy Spirit? They can be assured that it was nothing on their part, not even God feeling sorry for their poverty, wretchedness, and misery. None of those things cause God to reach out to redeem a sinner more than His own love, sovereignty, and unmerited favor. No one should feel offended by this glorious feature of the blessed Spirit’s operation. While it humbles mankind, it exalts Jesus as the one who was willing to die so that people like them could live.²

Charles Hodge also makes the theological point that if the basis for deciding the choices for love and mercy are in God’s hands and not in man’s, as asserted in verse 15, it is a conclusion drawn from all Paul’s previous declarations. It all has to do with the attainment of the divine favor, or more definitely, admission into Messiah’s kingdom. If that is achieved, we cannot attribute it to the wishes or efforts of any person but only to the mercy of God. Did not Jesus point this out clearly when He said that one will be taken and the other left behind?³ This is clearly the idea behind the Apostle’s thinking. There are those who have said that what is declared here is a vain thing to be acquired by the self-righteous. Some say that what Paul is referring to here is that the Jews, by fulfilling the demands of the law, can attain the favor of God. But Hodge sees no such sentiment in Paul’s expression. Paul is talking about admission into the kingdom of Christ. He is pointing out there is nothing in us that makes us worthy of that on our own. Paul says it is in God. It is neither the will nor the efforts of men which determines their admission into Christ’s kingdom. It depends on the sovereign will of God.⁴

Frédéric Godet’s interpretation of what Paul says here is that when God gives, it is not because of what the person wants (“he that willeth” KJV), or what a person has tried to do (“he that runneth” KJV) that places Him under any obligation to act, and forces Him to give in. God does not need to do that just to keep from being thought of as unjust or unfair. The initiative comes from within God Himself. Therefore, it is from Him who wills, not him who wishes, and from Him who does, not him who tries that the gift of grace and mercy flows. God is not giving a person something due to them, but something that can only be described as an undeserved gift. As such, we cannot say that God does this arbitrarily, He does it on purpose. Such suppositions are excluded, precisely because the giver in question is God. The principle that must be kept in mind as the key to understanding why some Gentiles are called and some Jews are not is this: God had the right to call the Gentiles to salvation when He decided it’s time to grant them this favor.⁵

Jewish Messianic scholar David Stern points to how non-Messianic Judaism understands God’s attribute of mercy as even greater than His attribute of justice. While this may be a beautiful idea, Stern says it can lead to the false hope that God in His mercy will somehow overlook the punishment that sin deserves. Looking for such an accommodation on God’s part is not hard to figure out why. Since they do not have Yeshua to satisfy God’s demand for justice by being the “kapparah” (atonement) for their sins, they know that they desperately need God’s mercy. Under those circumstances, their hope is nothing more than a wish that God will somehow overlook their sins so He can be better known as a merciful God. But those Jews who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah, have no need to ask God to be more merciful than forgiving. That’s because Yeshua combines in Himself God’s willingness to forgive with His willingness to have mercy. So it is no wonder why Paul quotes Exodus 33:19 as an answer to the question about God’s justice. This makes God’s mercy equal to His justice, not above it.⁶

Verses 17-18: In the Scriptures God says to Pharaoh: “I made you king so that you could do this for me. I wanted to show my power through you. I wanted my name to be announced throughout the world.”⁷ So God shows mercy to those He wants to show mercy to and makes stubborn those He wants to make stubborn.

Paul now uses another illustration to show how God is in charge, even among the heathens. It all started back with Abraham. In so doing he turns to the Scriptures. This is why a Rabbi would always start with: “The Scriptures say,” or, “It is written.” It was their way of pointing to facts while proving an important truth. For instance, in the Talmud, while discussing sacrifices we read where the Rabbis state: Scripture says you should not break its bone, implies the bone of a fit sacrifice but not of an unfit one.⁸ Also, when discussing how things are to be confirmed, that a man should take off his sandal and give it to his neighbor. When it was questioned why one Rabbi replied that it was because Scripture says “his sandal;” implying, only “his sandal,” but nothing else.⁹ And in another place Rabbi’s were discussing how to proceed when a burnt-offering animal was slaughtered under a different designation, one Rabbi said that if they wanted him to, he could say that it only makes sense, but if he needed to, he would say that it is because Scripture says.¹⁰

So it is no surprise Paul told the Galatians: “The Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would save the Gentiles also, through their faith. God told Abraham about this long ago when He said, ‘I will bless those in every nation who trust in me as you do.’¹¹ And so it is: all who trust in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received.”¹² It didn’t mean that this transition would be easy, but it was part of the plan to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. These are the instructions and message God gave Moses to deliver to Pharaoh: “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Here is what Adonai says: “Let my people go so that they can worship me.”‘… it is for this very reason that I have kept you alive — to show you my power, and so that my name may resound throughout the whole earth.”¹³

In this we see that Moses just didn’t happen to walk by Pharaoh’s palace and had this brilliant idea on how to get his fellow Hebrews freed from slavery, nor were the Hebrews unlucky enough to have this Pharaoh on the throne at that time. This was all part of God’s divine design. Hannah recognized that in her prayer when she said: “He raises the poor from the dust, lifts up the needy from the trash pile; He gives them a place with leaders and assigns them seats of honor.”¹⁴ And we also know that when Esther was uncertain about what to do when the King of Persia called her into the palace, she was told by Mordecai: “Who knows whether you didn’t come into your royal position precisely for such a time as this.”¹⁵ Also look at what God told Jeremiah about King Nebuchadnezzar.¹⁶

And in every case, it was intended to get the word out about the Mighty God of Israel. As hard as it may have been for the Israelites to fathom why God would free them from Egyptian slavery one day, only to have them cornered between a mountain and the Red Sea three days later with the Egyptian army closing in on them, the Lord had this answer: “I will make the Egyptians hardhearted; they will march in [to the Red Sea] after them; thus I will win glory for Myself at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, chariots and cavalry. Then the Egyptians will realize that I am Adonai when I have won Myself glory at the expense of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his cavalry.”¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, confirmed this when he told Moses: “Blessed be Adonai, who has rescued you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh, who has rescued the people from the harsh hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that Adonai is greater than all other gods.”¹⁸ Should we ever doubt then after we are told: Scripture says?

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XVI)

Reformer Martin Luther believes that this verse is intended to show that while God does not exclude our willing and running, no matter how much a person wills and runs, they do not owe any progress to their own strength, but to the mercy of God, since it is He who gives them the power to will and to run. Luther then recalls what Paul told the Philippians: “God is at work within you, helping you want to obey Him, and then helping you do what He wants.”¹ Luther then goes on to admonish his readers by saying that no one should get all wrapped up in speculation about what God insists on or what He will allow them to do through their freewill. Luther says, that if your mind is not yet sanctified you may end up in a pit of anxiety and despair. One should begin by putting everything negative and doubtful out of their mind and concentrate on what Jesus went through and the wounds He received by doing God’s will. This is the best theology, in the sense that we understand and use that word².³

John Calvin has two points to make on this verse. First, he says that any doubt or controversy about our election and adoption as children of God have nothing to do with God’s choice. Neither will our determination, nor to our trying hard, nor to our efforts effect that calling. It rests solely on the counsel and wisdom of God. That way, none can proudly think of themselves as having been elected because they deserved it. Also, no one can give themselves credit for winning God’s favor. In other words, it is wrong to think that one has even the tiniest bit of worthiness that might impress God. Why else would Paul say that Christ died for us while we were still in sin?⁴

Simply put, it depends neither on our will or our efforts, we were counted among the elect solely because of God’s goodness and mercy. Furthermore, those who would try and reason from this passage that any striving or effort on our part is useless has missed the point. Calvin says that Paul does not touch on what is in us, he concentrates on what God put in us to affect His will with our own willing and running. Therefore, it is a misconception to insist on willing and running because Paul says clearly we cannot make it happen on our own.⁵ Whatever God saw that caused Him to call us into His family, that is the only thing that counts and will affect our willing and running. When you see this phrase of willing and running, think of what Paul said about how he had finished the course.⁶

Calvin then comments on the two statements from Augustine and Pelagius we included above to show the difference in their thinking: He writes that Pelagius attempted to use very sophisticated logic to get around what Paul is saying here by advocating, “It is not only of him who wills and runs but also because God will assist him.” Augustine acutely counters this in his rebuke by saying, that if man’s freewill is not denied as having any role in their election, it is not the only cause but only part of it, then we might as well say that it takes a combination of man’s mercy and God’s mercy working together in mutual agreement because one reciprocates to the other. It’s another way of saying that when God says,”I love you,” we, in turn, say, “I Love You,” then we agree to love each other mutually.

Such a concept immediately falls apart because of its absurdity. Let us be clear, the salvation of those whom God is pleased to save can only be attributed and ascribed to His mercy. Nothing a person can do or say will change that.⁷ If I would have been present at this time, I may have been bold enough to ask both Augustine and Pelagius to explain their view based on the following Scripture: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”⁸ For me, it does take some cooperation on a person’s part to accept Christ’s invitation. But I would adamantly refuse to believe that Christ saw anything in that house, the door to that house, or that person who answered the door in that house that gave Him any reason to be there because they deserved a visit. He was there by His own design and according to His own will.

However, Adam Clarke draws from the First Covenant to make his point on this subject. He concludes that from what he reads here, the calling and making of anybody as part of the body of Christ is determined only by the will and wisdom of God alone, not because it was someone’s idea, wish, hope, or dream. Look at Isaac’s desire to give the birthright to Esau who ran out to hunt for venison to please his father. But Jacob got it instead, and that by deception. Both Isaac and Esau were disappointed. But it proved to be God’s sovereign will, not man’s will. And it was nothing that Isaac, Esau, Jacob, or Rebecca did that convinced God to do it this way. It had been decided a long time ago before any of them existed. God was planning on raising up a great people, not just a great person. There are many other examples that can equally prove this point.⁹

So where does this put us? It is more than a case of semantics, it is a case of selection. Pelagius says that man does play a part in responding to the call of the Holy Spirit to salvation. Because, unless he desires to be saved and responds to God’s offer, salvation cannot be received. On the other hand, Augustine insists that man’s will or desire to be saved plays no role in his salvation, that it is God’s call because man can do nothing to persuade God to offer salvation. Then Clarke maintains that the offer of salvation must come from God, but even though man does nothing to seek it, and in some cases even resists it, God’s love, grace, and mercy will continue the effort for all mankind to be saved. So when a person does come to accept salvation, they can’t turn around and say I’m glad I sought God until I found Him, nor can someone else say I’m sure glad God found me and saved me even though I didn’t know what was going on. Rather, they thank God for saving them, even when they were obstinate at first. Rather, God said to them: When you came to your senses, your willingness to be saved was the reason I selected you. But without God’s help in bringing them to their senses, they would still be lost. This seems to be the point Paul is about to make.

In light of the argument being pursued by Paul defining the rock-solid foundation upon which salvation is built, Robert Haldane shares his view that salvation is not the result of man’s freewill, nor from any effort he may exert in trying to achieve it on his own. It is entirely the result of God’s mercy granted to whom He pleases. So the question is, is there a principle found in God’s Word that supports the idea of self-righteousness? Is the Bible the Word and Will of God, or a self-help book? Can a person really decide to do it on their own or opt out and let God handle it? The truth is, neither one. God decides and those who are called must then reply. No salvation can be ascribed to a person’s good will, good intentions, good character, or good works. It is solely dependent on God’s purpose according to His election of those who will be saved. It is not accomplished by man’s deeds, but by God decision¹⁰.¹¹ Did not the Apostle John tell us about Jesus: “He came unto His own, but His own received Him not?”¹²

Albert Barnes also examines this topic. As he sees it there is no effort more intense and persevering, no struggle more arduous or agonizing, than when a sinner seeks eternal life. Even if they design the best plan the human mind can conceive, salvation will elude them. The facts are if someone is pardoned it will not be based on their own effort. This has nothing to do with trying, it’s simply because God is the one who chose to pardon them. All the grieving, crying, anxiety, prayers, and agony is not enough to pressure God to forgive them. They are forever dependent on God’s mercy to either save or not save them at His will. Nothing sinners can do, and no matter how hard they may try it does not make God obligated to pardon them any more than a guilty, convicted, criminal. Even though they tremble with the fear of execution and the embarrassment of their terrible crime, no judge or jury is under an obligation to acquit them out of pity.

This is the message that the Gospel must deliver to every sinner. Otherwise, they will not wake up and know how hopelessly lost they are. Yes, the sinner should be deeply anxious, but distress does not guarantee delivery. Prayer is good, but not when the effort is to get God to feel sorry for them. Regardless of what the sinner seeking to find God on their own may attempt to do, and no matter what evidence they may offer as grounds for a pardon, they must realize and accept that any forgiveness and pardon is dependent solely on God’s sovereign mercy. To be saved is God’s will, to be lost is their will.¹³ So when we connect this to the role any person plays in their ultimate salvation, it is not a case of their freewill, but upon their will to be free.

On the subject of man’s freewill versus God’s elective sovereignty, Henry Alford reminds his readers that he purposely did not enter all the commentaries on this part of Scripture which attempt to reconcile the sovereign election of God with our freewill. Alford says he did so because the reader will find that when the time comes Paul will assert the purpose of man’s freewill for edifying purposes. At the moment, he is declaring God’s divine Sovereignty as He looks down on earth from above. Alford also is uncomfortable with those who insist that there is no hint in this passage related to the salvation of individuals. He agrees, that the main subject is the rejection of the Jews as a nation, but we must reserve our opinions if we do not recognize that God’s sovereign power and free election extend to every act of His mercy – whether temporal or spiritual – whether in Providence or in Grace – whether national or individual. Alford warns that it is in Scriptures like this, that we must be very careful not to miss what is actually written. We should not allow ourselves to compromise the plain and amazing words of God’s Spirit just out of caution. This is not what Christ Himself taught us.¹⁴

H. A. Ironside taught that apart from God’s sovereign grace no one would ever be saved because mankind has forfeited everlasting life to live in sin. As a nation, Israel owed all her blessings to God’s mercy and compassion. Had they depended on their own righteousness, they would have never made it out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. Furthermore, if it pleased God now to open His arms to the Gentiles to show them mercy, on what grounds does Israel have the right to complain? By doing so, God is not discarding man’s freewill to choose; He is not declaring that people have no responsibility for what they do or what they have become. Rather God is declaring that, apart from His sovereign mercy, no person would ever be saved or have the opportunity to find out His will and destiny for their lives.¹⁵

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XV)

We must stop and take in the wonders of God’s sovereign grace. He was willing to suspend His judgment, but only because it pleased Him to do so. And so He exclaims, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”¹ By sparing these rebellious people in His mercy, God made them a witness to His grace. Without such sovereign grace, no one would ever be saved. Israel as a nation owed all their blessings to God’s mercy and compassion. Had God done what was right they would have been cut off from the land of the living forever. So, if it pleased God to do that for these ungrateful Israelites, why would He not be allowed to show mercy and grace to the Gentiles? Based on God’s mercy and forgiveness to them, why was Israel complaining?²

F. F. Bruce gives us his insight concerning God’s mercy and compassion. He also goes back to where God agreed to let Moses see His goodness,³ as a result of his intercession for the people who had sinned by worshiping a golden calf. The force of God’s words in declaring His mercy and compassion draws power from no other source than His own sovereign grace.⁴ This truth is not only held sacred by the Jews, but the Muslims in their Qur’ān have a similar saying: “And if it had not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy… and because Allah is Kind and Merciful.”⁵ In light of the atrocious actions on the part of some radical Islamic jihadists in their terrorist endeavors, it shows that they do not exhibit the same qualities and virtues of their Allah.

One Messianic Bible scholar notes that Paul points his readers’ attention to the fact that God’s current dealing with Israel is similar to the way He dealt with Abraham’s children in the past. He does so to stop any false conclusions being drawn at this point, namely, that God had been fair to one and unfair to the other. How could He take away what was destined for Israel and turn around and give it to the Gentiles? Paul wanted them to learn that no one can influence or control God’s mercy. There is no one group who holds exclusive rights to it. He is God of all, and His mercy is equal to His justice.⁶

Verse 16: So, God chooses those He decides to show mercy to, and His choice does not depend on what people want or try to do to deserve it.

Paul’s statement here is a sobering message, yet so neglected in our practice. Man’s salvation does not depend on where, what, why, who, when, or how it’s done. Sometimes we place more emphasis and have more faith in the form used in getting someone to accept Christ than we do in God’s promise that “He will have mercy on whom He wants to have mercy.” If this verse is not true, that the man let down through the roof to be healed and forgiven, and the thief on the cross next to Jesus were never truly forgiven because it wasn’t done in the same fashion it is today. Growing up in a fundamental Pentecostal church I thought people could only get saved on Sunday nights down at the altar. I learned later that a person could accept the Lord as their Savior on an airplane, in a restaurant, even in a bar. Yes, whosoever will may come, but it is all because of the mercy, grace, and compassion of God drawing them.

That’s why we didn’t get saved: we were saved. That’s also why we didn’t find Christ: Christ found us; that’s why we don’t go to His door and knock without an invitation, He came to our door and knocked with an invitation to the kingdom of God. That’s why when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, it’s not that we are accepting Him, but we are acknowledging that He has accepted us to be one of God’s children. This is all done because we are convinced by His Word and believe that He is our Savior, which truth we accept by faith.

So Paul states very clearly, it does not depend on the choice we make but the choice God makes. The Living Bible renders verse 16 this way: “So God will choose anyone he decides to show mercy to, and his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do.” Paul may have had in mind more than just the message he was giving, but against what the Greek philosophers taught about man’s will. For instance, Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus, in his handbook on ethics, says that when facing any set of circumstances that require action or a decision: “First acquire a distinct knowledge that every event is unimportant and nothing to you, of whatever sort it may be, for it will be in your power to make a right use of it, and this no one can hinder [you].”⁷

John tells us in his Gospel that even though many Jews rejected Jesus’ claim to be the Son of Man sent from God as the Messiah, and although there were some who did accept His message, still it was up to our Lord to give them the right to become children of God.⁸ Then, in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, the Master made this point: “Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom He will next bestow this life from heaven.”⁹ So when Paul wrote the Philippians he told them that they are affected by God working within them, helping them to want to obey Him, and then helping them carry out the things He wanted them to do.¹⁰ So it does take cooperation. God has no interest in making robots out of us. It is that act of our will to obey that God takes as our, “Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul.”

So Paul’s statement that God’s choice of those to whom He shows mercy is not dependent on what they try to do to impress Him, but on what He sees in their hearts, inspired Origen to say that we must understand this in light of David’s words: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”¹¹ It is clear that the builder is not sitting around waiting for God to build his house for him. Rather, he is involved and works hard to lay the foundation, build the walls, put on the roof, etc. Since he is a believer and everything he has is dedicated to God, he prays for God to help him so that it can be done properly. When he is finished and someone looks at the house and complements him, he will say, “If the Lord had not helped me I could have never gotten it done.”¹² Likewise, Paul sowed and Apollos watered but God gave the increase, “so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”¹³ In the same way, Paul says here, “It depends not upon man’s will or exertion but upon God’s mercy alone.¹⁴”¹⁵

Early church theologian Jerome says that we should understand from what Paul says here about how the will and motivation must also be ours. But recognize that to put into effect what we want and are motivated to do will depend on the goodness and mercy of God. All we must do is look at the many testimonies found in Scripture to show that when God’s children call out to Him for help, it is not only to supply their needs but to keep them healthy and holy to complete the job they are involved in. When we read through the Psalms we will find that effort was always accompanied with prayer.¹⁶ This makes it clear then that we can either allow God’s mercy and grace to be part of our lives, or we can try to do everything without God’s help. When we take that attitude in trying to find and fulfill God’s will, it will guarantee failure. It isn’t that God wants His children sitting around doing nothing because they are afraid they will offend His will for their lives. Instead, He wants them to think, plan, and decide as they pray for guidance and strength. That way the believer’s will and God’s will can work together.¹⁷

Augustine also notices that Paul does not eliminate the freewill factor, but says that exercising our free will is not enough to do what God has in store for us to accomplish. No matter what we do or how much we do, unless it is done with love and compassion it will never get God’s approval. And this love and compassion can only come when such work is done by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, although we labor hard and give much time and effort to our work, the will to do it must be based on our being called. It is only those who are called that God will give them the strength to succeed and survive. The reason the calling is so important is that being called allows those who are called to be lead by the Spirit to wherever God needs and wants them to be. Augustine’s understanding of this calling does not depend on a person willing it themselves nor by striving to attain it. It comes only by the mercy of God because we want to be good, in spite of the fact that our will, which by itself can do nothing, is still present.¹⁸ In other words, neither willing to be saved, wanting to be saved, or working to be saved will suffice. Without the love, grace, and mercy of God, it is impossible.

But Pelagius contends that there is a big difference in the way the Jews understand God’s sovereign will and man’s freewill and the way Paul teaches it. The Jewish point of view is that it does not depend on the one who wills or on the one who runs,¹⁹ God will have mercy on whomever He wills and harden the heart of whomever He wills. But Paul does not eliminate the influence of man’s freewill in this process. If the Jewish argument were to prove true, then someone may ask the Apostle why he insists on running the race?²⁰ In fact, why should he encourage others to do the same?²¹ However, Paul is certain that God does not veto man’s freewill, therefore the question becomes mute since it is something God does not do.²² And almost as if he knows about these differing points of view on what Paul said, one early church writers believes it is because from here to verse 19 Paul assumes the role of devil’s advocate, saying that we do not have it in us to do either good or evil, but that this is found only in the will of God. And acting as the devil’s advocate, Paul did what Satan did to Jesus in the wilderness, he quotes from the Bible. In this case, the quote is taken from the prophet Isaiah²³.²⁴