Down an Unfamiliar Road

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

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XIV)

According to John Calvin, when predestination is discussed, some people cannot confine themselves to the restraints of time and within the boundaries of sound debate. Instead, they immediately, through rash thinking and wild suppositions, plunge themselves, as it were, into a hole they cannot crawl back out of. What remedy then is there for those who desire to be enlightened? Should they stay away from any talk or study of predestination all together? Absolutely not! Since the Holy Spirit was sent to teach us what we should know, then it is incumbent upon us to seek the knowledge and understanding He chooses to share with us. One thing for sure, whether a believer fully understands God’s way of establishing those things which are predestined to work the way they do, whatever clarity we may achieve it will no doubt be useful as long as it conforms to the Word of God. There is no Scripture that says people will be kept out of heaven because they do not fully understand predestination. We do not need to make it a sacred rule to guide us in our studies in order to grow in the Lord. We should never seek to know something about predestination that we cannot find in the Scriptures. If God’s Word doesn’t say anything about it, then we should leave it up to Him to reveal what He wants us to know, not try to achieve some eureka moment¹ on our own.²

Calvin has a few more things to say about the phobias and anxieties that occupy some people’s minds. Such thinking most often seeks to charge God with being unfair and unequal. They are ready to blame Him for not seeing what is going on rather than to fault themselves for their own blindness. Paul was not interested in going out of his way just to confound or confuse his readers. But he also did not shun bringing up things that he knew the opposition was itching to confront him with. It is common that when people hear that God determines everything that happens in this world to fit His purpose and will, they get frustrated because they should have the right to exercise their own freewill. But most of their objections are based on imagined wrongs rather than what really is the case. So they charge God with injustice. It’s only natural that when people don’t get what they want or are not treated as equally as others, they feel that they have been slighted and discriminated against. Calvin lets us know that there are two words used by Moses that express the true cause of salvation. The first is, ‘chenen‘, which means to “favor” or “to show kindness freely and bountifully.” The other is, ‘rechem‘, which is to be treated with “mercy.” This confirms what Paul intended to say: that the mercy of God, being complimentary, is under no restraint, but turns to whomsoever He pleases, whenever it pleases Him.³

John Bengel has a lot to say here about whether or not God was being unfair by loving Jacob but hating Esau. Paul is using these twins to represent saints and sinners; Jews and Gentiles; those who come to believe and those who refuse to believe. For Bengel, the Jews thought that they could by no means be rejected by God; that the Gentiles could by no means be received. Just as a generous man acts even with greater severity towards those who are harshly and spitefully persistent than he feels he should do. This is because he wants to protect his own rights, and those of his benefactor, and refuses at any time or under any circumstances to betray and throw away his true character just for the cause of being seen as liberal. This is why Paul defends the power and justice of God against the Israelites, who trusted in their name and their merits. Bengel feels that Paul may be shedding a little light here on what he was taught in the school of the Pharisees by the phrases he uses defining a person’s character.

Bengel also hears Paul saying that no one can dictate anything to the Lord God, nor demand and disrespectfully squeeze something out of Him they feel He owes them. Nor can they censure Him in anything He decides to do because He didn’t give them an opportunity to object. For instance, why does He show Himself kind to some and not to others? Therefore, Paul abruptly throws out a rather straightforward answer to his testy and vindictive objectors.⁴ For no person should try and deal with God the same way they deal with a creditor with whom they have a contract. And even if there were such a contract, they are no match for God’s astute wisdom. In fact, they should let the parable in Matthew 20:13-15 teach them a lesson. If you are going to agree with God on anything in your life then you must agree on Him with everything He does in your life. When we examine Paul’s language closer, we will find that he gives an answer to those who contend for good works, and another on behalf of believers. In the Sacred Scriptures too, especially when we move from an assumption about what God said to the actual promise He made, and we use that to try and understand how it affects us and others, then what Paul says here about those who seek to earn justification by works as opposed to those who receive it as a gift by faith, gives us a clear and easy to understand guideline.⁵

Adam Clarke believes that he hears God saying that He will make such a display of His perfection that it will convince everyone that He is a kind and giving Father. However, He also wants all His creatures to know that He owes them nothing. So they should not come to Him as though He was indebted to us. All of His benefits and blessings come from a loving, caring heart fill with His own good will. That’s why no group of people, let alone a rebellious nation should challenge Him to pay them what they are due in justice or equity. As a consequence, He offers to spare the Jewish people from the punishment they deserve. Not because Moses, and now Paul, are interceding for them, or that they themselves deserve special favor. No, but out of His own free and sovereign grace chooses those He wants and shows them mercy and compassion. That means He will offer salvation His own way and on His own terms. Anyone that believes in His Son Jesus will be saved. So it is only natural that those who refuse to believe will be damned. This is God‘s ultimate design and purpose. He will never change. This He has made clear in the everlasting Gospel. This is the “Grand Decree of Rejection and Election.”⁶

Robert Haldane believes that Paul expected someone to object to his statements about God loving Jacob and hating Esau. Think about it, wouldn’t loving Jacob and hating Esau before they were born and could do anything good or bad be a form of injustice? How could God love someone who hasn’t done any good, and hate someone who has not done any wrong? So what is the Apostle’s reply? First of all, he quietly dismisses the notion that the way God’s treated Jacob and Esau was unfair. Whenever someone poses a question about God being unjust and discriminatory they are ignoring the fact that God is pure and holy. Nothing He does can ever be labeled as an act of injustice. You see, there is no one qualified or intelligent enough to judge God. No matter what He does or does not do, within the scope of His perfection He determined it to be right for the occasion. No matter where or what you read in Scripture, God is always represented as being infinitely just, as well as divinely wise, holy, good, and faithful. And because God is of such perfect character, everything that He declares to be is part of His being sovereign, and all that He wills into being must conform with the perfection of His character. These Godly virtues and values keep Him from denying Himself, telling a lie, and being inconsistent with any of His Divine attributes.⁷

We hear these same objections today but in different terms. I’ve been asked: “If God so loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son to died for everyone, then how can God send people to hell?” Of course, the answer is that God sends no one to hell because by His grace and mercy He has provided a way of escape through His Son’s death. The only people who go to hell are the devil and his fallen angels, and all those who follow him instead of Christ. In the same way, the only people who will go to heaven are the faithful angels and all those who follow Christ and not the devil. But the one thing over which no man or angel has any control is what God said to Moses that Paul quoted in verse 15.

Albert Barnes feels that Paul is as curious as anyone else in determining if God is being unjust or being wrong? This is in reaction to learning of the doctrine of God’s selective application of grace. But Paul quickly dismisses this charge. He disarms it by showing that this doctrine was explicitly taught in the First Covenant, and is founded on the principle of equity. Furthermore, it is backed by the sovereignty of God’s will. Barnes also touches on God’s declaration that He will show mercy when and where He feels it is appropriate. We see this revealed when He told Moses to watch as all His goodness would pass before him.⁸ By doing so God offered proof of His benevolence and not some relentless injustice, seeking whom He may devour. That He leaves up to Satan.⁹ So when people who have not yet tasted of the Lord and found out that He is in fact so good,¹⁰ makes it easy for them to arbitrarily resist and pervert what God regards as the very essence of His kindness. Paul makes it crystal clear, God has the Divine right to choose the objects of His favor, and bestow His mercies on whom it pleases Him. No being has ever lived that can say they deserved being special in His eyes, not even to those who according to others or themselves are the most righteous and holy. He has a right to pardon whom He pleases, and to save on His own terms in accordance with His sovereign will and personal pleasure.¹¹

H. A. Ironside also examines Paul’s quote of God’s word to Moses about having selective mercy. He alerts us to the fact that God did not say, “I will condemn whom I will condemn,” or “I will sentence to eternal destruction whom I will make good-for-nothing.” No such thought crosses God’s mind. who “has no pleasure in the death of the wicked,”¹² “but that all should turn to Him and live.”¹³ When God spoke to Moses and told him that He would have His goodness pass in front of him,¹⁴ we must recall the conditions under which God chose to speak these words. Israel had decided to go back to their old form of worship in Egypt. They fashioned a calf out of gold, and then came and bowed down in front of it. This was done while Moses was up on the mountain receiving the stone tablets of the Law. Even without knowing it, they were already violating the first two commandments. Because of this, God was about to wipe them off the face of the earth. But Moses stepped in as a mediator. He pleaded their cause before God. He even offered to take their punishment for them. We see this same purpose in the mission of Christ. He is the world’s last and only hope. Believe in Him and receive everlasting life, or reject Him and face eternity without God and no hope of salvation. That’s what the devil and his demons are facing. Don’t follow them, or you will receive the same punishment.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER NINE (Lesson XIII)

Jewish scholar David Stern gives us his view on the roles Jacob and Esau play in our understanding of God’s foreknowledge and election. He points to Rebecca as an important factor in seeing how God’s absolute sovereignty determines such matters and does so independent of anything human beings can contribute. Jacob and Esau were her children. But unlike Ishmael and Isaac who had the same father, were from different mothers. Since Sarah was the one chosen to give birth to a miracle child of promise, it seems logical that she would give more worth to her child than to her housemaid Hagar’s son, even though he was conceived by Sarah’s insistence.

In that case, it would be easy to credit Sarah with giving Isaac the advantage in being chosen as the son of promise. Another factor to be consider is that Ishmael was already fourteen years old when Isaac was born. By that time his personality was already formed and proved to be unacceptable that he be chosen to fill the role of producing the promised seed of Abraham. However, Paul makes it explicitly clear that when it came to Jacob and Esau, God was not influenced by any of these things in making His decision. The fact that He announced ahead of time that He would love Jacob and hate Esau, shows that it was already in the mind of God, something Isaac and Rebecca had no power or influence over. So when God decides, it is written in stone. The only question left is whether or not mankind will accept God’s decisions and work with Him.¹

Verses 14-15: So what does this mean? That God is unfair? Heaven forbid! God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy to. I will show pity to anyone I choose.”²

So Paul now asks the obvious question, what does all this mean to us? Is God being unfair? Is it right for Him to prefer one over another? Here Paul addresses the subject of predestination and freewill. This was Abraham’s question when God told him that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because the inhabitants were so evil, even though Lot and his family lived there. So Abraham responds: “That wouldn’t be right! Surely You wouldn’t do such a thing, to kill the godly with the wicked! Why, You would be treating the godly and the wicked exactly the same! Surely You wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth be fair?”³ Certainly sounds like a sensible question when filtered through human understanding and reasoning. But when seen with God’s purpose in mind, here is what Moses wrote: “He’s called, The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are fair. A trustworthy God who makes no mistakes, He is legitimate and level-headed.”⁴

That’s why King Jehoshaphat of Judah instructed his judges: “Let your reverence for the LORD always influence your mind; be careful about your decisions; for the LORD our God does not allow dishonesty.”⁵ Perhaps Jehoshaphat was influenced by the fact that the righteous-minded Job said that God does not twist or distort justice.⁶ Even Job’s friend Elihu told the others: “Listen to me, those of you who have any sense. Surely everyone knows that God is not deceitful. Instead, He pays people back for what they do and sees that each one gets what their conduct deserves. There is no truer statement than this: God never provokes or is unfair. He alone has authority over the earth and dispenses justice for the world.”⁷ And the Psalmist adds this: “Adonai is righteous in all His ways, full of grace in all He does.”⁸

Paul now turns to the Scriptures to support his point of view and reminds his readers in Rome about what Moses wrote after years of experience in carrying out God’s mission for his life. After Moses asked God if he could see His glory, the LORD said to him: “I will make my goodness pass before you, and I will announce to you the meaning of my name ADONAI. Furthermore, I show favor to whomever I will, and I display mercy to whomever I will.”⁹ When this story is retold, we find that when God let His glory pass in front of Moses, He not only mentioned His name, but said that it defines Him to be full of mercy, compassion, slow to anger, rich in grace, and truth.¹⁰ No doubt this inspired the prophet Micah to exclaim: “Is there another God like You, who pardons the sins of the survivors among His people? Who cannot stay angry because He delights in grace.”¹¹

On the subject of God’s choice to show mercy to those He chooses, Early church scholar Apollinaris feels that it is not unfair for God to have mercy on those He wishes to bless, while not making it a universal blessing for everyone else. He does not dispense His mercy in line with the flawed standards of human thinking, but by His own guidelines and divine wisdom. Anyone who is shown mercy receives the benefit of being chosen, not because of their own works, but because of God’s grace and mercy. The wonderful thing about God’s gracious love and mercy, He does not need to ask for advice or permission from anyone before He acts.¹²

Also, early church scholar Ambrosiaster sees it the same way with a qualifier. He says that God will have mercy on those He knows who will turn and come to Him to be converted and remain faithful to Him. It is alright to ask, “How does He know who they are?” First and foremost, He knows everything there is to know about everyone. His omniscience is unlimited. To this we can add that He does not make mistakes in choosing. If what the Psalmist said concerning how much God knows about us is true,¹³ then He is quite aware not only of what we need but how we will respond. It is up to God to give or to not to give. One thing He will not do, and that is waste time on those who have no intention of listening or obeying.¹⁴

Then, Chrysostom sees God telling Moses that it was not up to him to decide who was deserving of His love. Rather, Moses was to leave that up to God. If that was true back then, how much more should we accept it for today.¹⁵ I have seen it in worship services and even on TV and streaming on the Internet. A minister will ask if there is anyone who wants to give their life to Jesus Christ and be saved. Once they give the signal for such people to raise their hand and then stand, there is usually a positive reaction among the congregants. But then the minister will say, “There should be more. Are you sure you don’t want to stand? Come on, I think there should be some more to give their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ.” On the surface, most people do not think there is anything wrong with encouraging people to act upon the call for salvation. But let’s examine this again.

There is no question that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to used the Word of God to convict. So how does the call or encouragement of a human being add anything to what the Spirit can do? Having faced that same situation multiple times myself, I felt satisfied to leave that work to the Holy Spirit. Did I often wish that more would have come forward? Yes! But not by my invitation, but by that of the Spirit. If they come because I may have convinced them, what could I do once they arrived at the altar? I’ve even had one minister tell me that he became a pastor because that’s what his family wanted him to do and he was never comfortable in that role. In other words, he had received no call to the ministry from God. He finally left the full-time ministry and continued to serve God as a layman while also carving out a career as a noted mathematician in accounting. Either we can trust God and His Spirit to get the job done, or we can’t. We must each decide which it will be.

Martin Luther points out that when God said to Moses that He would have mercy on whom He chooses to have mercy, that rather than this showing God as a partial and biased deity, it presents Him as a caring, compassionate, and considerate God. For those who are proud and think themselves worthy, this is a hard thing to hear, but to those who are humble and feel worthless, it is a sweet sound to their ears.¹⁶ In fact, Luther contends, that for this very reason the Lord will have mercy when it is appropriate since His justice is based upon His will. Not only that, but since our God is Supreme Goodness, and good all the time, He is incapable of doing anything that is evil. The only reason some people think that when God’s will is evil is when it goes counter to their own wishes. But the fact is if they would just yield their will to God’s will, even if it means the rejection of their request and even the realization that what they asked for is considered greedy, still they suffer no harm because in the end God’s will is done. People who do this will discover that those who wait patiently for what God wants for them, everything turns out better than it would have had they received what they first asked for.¹⁷

But Luther is not finished since this subject touches him deeply. He continues by saying that when God says He will have compassion on whom He is compassionate, this means He will give grace, in time and in life to those concerning whom He purposed from eternity to show mercy. In doing this, God is not unjust. This He willed and was pleased to do from eternity, and His will is not bound by any law or obligation. God’s freewill, which is subject to no one, cannot be unjust. Indeed, it is impossible that it should be unjust. God’s will would be unjust only if it would transgress some law, and that means that God would go counter to Himself.¹⁸

John Calvin also adds the fact that sinners cannot encounter God’s wisdom without becoming defensive and ask a lot of questions. Not only that, but one of their most asked question about anything God said or did is, “Why?” Because of that, we find that whenever the Apostle Paul opened a discussion on any of God’s great mysteries, he constantly had to deal with the many absurdities that always seem to occupy the minds of those listeners who looked for ways to blame God for their situation. This is especially true of those who, when they hear what the Scriptures have to say about predestination, end up being entangled by what they feel are many inconsistencies and stumble over numerous impediments that they themselves place in their own path. Predestination is something that the mind of man cannot resolve or extricate itself from without confusion. It is one thing to be curious, but there are those who are so suspicious that the more they dig into a subject the more they get lost in the fog of uncertainty and cannot find what they are looking for.

Someone once pointed out that there are some questions that can be life-changing if they were asked, if they are contemplated on, and an answer is given. This, however, can be achieved only when those questions are answered with total honesty. If a person cannot be honest with themselves, they’ll have trouble being truthful with others.

So here are some of the questions to ponder:

• If you knew you were going to die tomorrow at 12 noon, what is the one thing you would make sure you did between now and then?
• If you had the opportunity to be different, what two things would you change about yourself?
• If you could have one thing you don’t have now, what would it be?
• If there was a crime you could commit and know you would get away with it, would you still go ahead and do it?
• If you found the lost wallet of a person you knew hated you, what would you do with it?
• If you could be famous, what would you like to be famous for?
• If you had one wish, what would you wish for?
• If you could have any position in any company or organization, what would you like it to be?
• If you were given a choice between receiving great wisdom or great wealth, which one would you choose?
• If you were given the opportunity to start life all over again, what three changes would you make?
• If you were told, you had a terminal illness and had one month to live. What four things would be most important for you to do?
• If you could bring back three people from the grave to ask them any question, which three would it be and what questions would you ask?

There are so many more inquiries like this to ponder. But the big question now is this: do you ever stop, take time to meditate, and ask yourself questions like this or do you wait for it to happen before you decide what to do?

Jesus told a compelling story about ten young ladies invited to be part of a wedding. It was back in the days when people went out at night they carried an oil lamp with them so they could walk safely in the dark. They went to where they were supposed to wait for the groom to arrive. Suddenly, at midnight they were told, “He’s here! Get up! Get to the wedding venue, and hurry!” So when they all lit their lamps to go, unfortunately, five of them forgot to bring along extra oil. So while they were out looking for oil to borrow or buy, the wedding took place. When they finally showed up, they were not allowed to go in.

That’s the same thing that happens to us when we don’t stop and contemplate what we would do in a particular situation. So the question now is, do you already know what you will do if your life and reputation depended on it? – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEVER SAY “NO” TO A BLESSING

I know that Christmas is over, but we can still see it in the rear-view mirror of our memory. When I read this story, I wanted to share it with you as the author asked. It was written by Dr. Laura Estes, a Music & Voice Teacher, and a proud supporter of our military. So here is something to keep your Christmas spirit alive.

She wrote that all she really wanted for Christmas was to do something to support our troops. She prayed about this goal daily until she thought she had received an answer, about how to help the troops. Her Christmas Wish started as a yearly donation drive in which her school gathers and donates items to the military. The trip took two months to complete, and the community was very willing to help in the effort. This year, they gathered enough for many troops and started wondering how much it would cost to send all of it overseas. It was very costly, as it turned out.

As she lugged all the heavy packages to the Postal Annex with her three-year-old son in tow, there was an older gentleman who held the door for her. He was a tall, slender man with wavy silver-grey hair, warm, brown eyes, and a deep, richly toned melodic voice. (She is a singer, music teacher and voice teacher, so she paid particular attention to how someone sounds when they speak, their diction, any accent, and even any inflection detected in their voice.)

He asked many questions about where the packages were going, did she have family in the military, why she had decided to do this project in the first place. She laid out the complete story to him and explained the compelling feeling that “The Lord was calling her to do something.” Although she did not currently have family in the military, many in her family on both sides had served proudly over the years. He then asked what could he do to help. She explained that it would be expensive and a couple of dollars to help pay for postage would be very much appreciated. She was caught off guard when he said he would help.

They talked about life, our soldiers, family, her work, and religion while each care package was carefully weighed and sealed with all the proper customs forms. He was an active listener and good conversationalist. It was a cold, crisp, December evening and the day turned quickly to evening, so she offered to get everyone coffee next door. When she returned, he was still there. By now, there was a small crowd of people entering the Postal Annex, and when they saw what she was doing many asked the same questions. She answered them as they came and went, busily running after the next errand on their list. With less than a week before Christmas, most people just walked right on by. Not this man, he waited patiently, drank his coffee, and just took the time to speak with her like he had all the time in the world. It turned out, he happened to be a veteran himself. He, Charles, had also served our country proudly some years ago. Charles said he never received any packages. All the many packages were finally ready to be mailed off. When the total came up, it was $170.00!! Her mind reeled! She didn’t have that kind of money and was trying to think of ways to leave or store the packages until she could get more money.

Without so much as a word, Charles quickly paid for the entire mailing!! She was too stunned to speak but stumbled to find the words as she realized what had just happened. Feeling embarrassed, she said, “No, I can’t accept this kind of gift.” She was concerned that he might also not have this kind of money and it would put his family in hardship. Then, one lady walked over and told her plainly that she was being foolish not to accept this man’s generosity. By refusing the money, she would ruin his blessing.

She finally relented but was so overcome with a grateful, thankful heart her eyes welled up with tears. Everyone in the Annex suddenly got quiet. This complete stranger had fulfilled her Christmas Wish! As she pondered this fact and how the day was shaping up, she remembers thanking him repeatedly, not finding just the right words to express her most profound gratitude. After chasing her three-year-old around to get ready to leave, she was offered yet another blessing from another complete stranger. This man removed a necklace with a gold cross and offered it to her son. She silently wondered, “Such amazing gifts, do I really deserve this?” So once again she whispered to him, “I just can’t take your necklace.” Those around her the same thing Charles did, that by refusing to accept his gift she was interfering with his blessing. She didn’t know what else to say. She put the necklace around her son’s neck. One lady told her this kind gesture by this man was a father’s way of treating a son.

The overwhelming evidence of love, compassion, and willingness to help and give left her speechless. Others in the Annex were overcome as well. Tears welled in their eyes, and the air was suddenly transformed and thick with emotions. None of them, it seemed, had experienced the good side of the human spirit in quite some time. Charles then handed me an envelope and said it was for her. She just shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t think I can accept this,” she blurted out. “Oh yes you can”, Charles began, “because you deserve it. Do something for yourself and spread some Christmas cheer.” “Are you sure? She asked?” Charles looked her straight into her eyes and calmly said,” Everything is going to be okay. Open it after I leave.” They spoke for a few minutes longer. “Thank you…for everything Charles,” she said. Walking out the door, he said, “Have a Merry Christmas” and then he quickly disappeared into the night.

By this time, most people had left, and it was near closing time. And just as she was about to go she remembered the envelope. She quickly opened it and nearly fainted!! Inside was 500.00 dollars! Based on the previous mailings, it was about the amount she needed to mail the remaining care packages. As she left for home, she was more than stunned and began to cry. She called the volunteers together and told the story. They were all in awe in light of the recent events. She explained to them if they saw Charles, to please report to him that she was spending the money on the postage to send the packages and some Christmas Cheer. They said they would.

The next day, she went back and happily mailed most of the remaining packages, 50 or more, so it is an enormous task. She also spread some Christmas cheer by buying cake slices for some children and others nearby. She thought to herself, “Charles, wherever you are, I think you would be pleased to know that because of you, hundreds of American troops will receive just what they wanted this holiday season. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” She had just experienced the very unexpected, most amazing Christmas gifts she had ever received or ever would receive.

Charles and men like him are everyday heroes, angels on earth in a sense. The man who offered his necklace to her son. People who do extraordinary things for complete strangers to save a life, lend a hand, or extend a helpful gesture to them. So if this story touched your heart, pray for Laura and all those who are helping her with the beautiful expression of support. Having served in the military nine years, four of them overseas, I can tell you that letters, cards, and packages from home are treated as though they were brought by the three wise men. If you know of someone overseas right now, find a way to tell them you are praying for them. That in itself is a gift. – Dr. Robert R Seyda