Romans 9:14-18

 

 

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Summary of
Romans 9-11
Romans 9 Romans 10 Romans 11
Past
Election
Present
Rejection
Future
Reception
God's Sovereignty
Israel's Election by God
Man's responsibility
Israel's Rejection of God
God's Ways Higher
God Not Rejecting Israel

 

9:14  What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
Greek: Ti oun eroumen? (1PFAI) me adikia para to theo me genoito; (3SAMO
Amplified: What shall we conclude then? Is there injustice upon God's part? Certainly not!
ESV: What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
ICB:   So what should we say about this? Is God unfair? In no way.
NIV: What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
NKJV: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
NLT: What can we say? Was God being unfair? Of course not!
Philips:  Now do we conclude that God is monstrously unfair? Never!
Wuest
: What shall we say then? There is not unrighteousness with God, is there? Away with the thought.
Young's Literal: What, then, shall we say? unrighteousness is with God? let it not be!
ROMANS ROAD to RIGHTEOUSNESS
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:18-3:20
Romans
3:21-5:21
Romans
6:1-8:39
Romans
9:1-11:36
Romans
12:1-16:27
SIN SALVATION SANCTIFICATION SOVEREIGNTY SERVICE
NEED
FOR
SALVATION
WAY
OF
SALVATION
LIFE
OF
SALVATION
SCOPE
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WORK
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SALVATION

WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN: Ti oun eroumen (1PFAI):

Paul anticipates a human reaction to God's choice of Jacob over Esau. Paul anticipates men judging God and accusing God of unjust. And yet we know from studying God's attributes (see discussion of God's attribute of Justice), that He is always fair. He is never unjust in His essence. So here we see where human logic comes to a "logical" but wrong conclusion.

THERE IS NO INJUSTICE (unrighteousness) WITH GOD IS THERE: me adikia para to theo: (
2:5; 3:5,6; Genesis 18:25; Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Job 8:3; 34:10-12,18,19; Job 35:2; Psalms 92:15; 145:17; Jeremiah 12:1; Revelation 15:3,4; 16:7)

Injustice (93) (adikia from a = negates what follows + dike = right) describes the condition of not being right. Adikia describes unrighteousness of heart and life resulting in wrongdoing. It can describe a  deed violating law and justice.

He is going to say that it is not a matter of injustice but a matter of mercy. God sovereignly (See attribute  Sovereign) has mercy (see attribute Mercy) on who He will although all deserve His wrath (see attribute  Wrath).

MAY IT NEVER BE: me genoito (3SAMO): Away with the thought. Perish the thought. By no means! Certainly not!

Phillips renders it

“Do we conclude that God is monstrously unfair? Never!”
 

 

9:15  For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."
Greek: to| Mousei gar legei, (1SPAI) Eleeso (1SRAI) on an eleo, (1SPAS) kai oiktireso (1SFAI) on an oiktiro. (1SRAI
Amplified: For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion (pity) on whom I will have compassion.(7)
ESV: For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
ICB: God said to Moses, "I will show kindness to anyone I want to show kindness. I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy."
NIV: For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
NKJV: For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion."
NLT: For God said to Moses, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose."
Philips: God said long ago to Moses: 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion'.
Wuest: For to Moses He says; I will have mercy upon whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.
Young's Literal: for to Moses He saith, 'I will do kindness to whom I do kindness, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion;'
FOR: gar:

The connection and the argument are obvious:

 “It is not unjust for God to exercise his sovereignty in the distribution of his mercies, for he expressly claims the right.”

HE SAYS TO MOSES I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY: to Mousei gar legei (1SPAI): eleeso (1SFAI) on an eleo (1SPAS): (16,18,19; Exodus 33:19; 34:6,7; Isaiah 27:11; Micah 7:18)

Paul quotes the Septuagint (LXX) of (Exodus 33:19)

Paul has already shown us that all mankind is under sin (Romans 3:9-10,19,23 6:23) and justly deserves God's righteous wrath (see note on Romans 1:18). But God who is rich is mercy (see His attribute Mercy)  looks down and has mercy on some and compassion on some. He has mercy and compassion on whomever He chooses. This should cause us to fall on our face and cry out

"Have mercy on me when I justly deserve hell."

What awesome truth this is.

Mercy (1653) (eleeo, from eleos = mercy) means to show mercy. It means to extend help for the consequence of sin. It means to have compassion or mercy on a person in unhappy circumstances.

Mercy implies that there is absolutely nothing within us that caused God to bestow His mercy upon us. It is simply according to His good pleasure. There was nothing in us to commend us to God. We could do nothing to help ourselves (Ro 5:6, 8, 10). Mercy also implies that the one bestowing the mercy has the means to meet the need. Here God meets the need of those He chooses.

AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION: kai oiktireso (1SFAI) on an oiktiro (1SFAI):

Compassion (3627) (oikteiro) means to exercise pity or to have compassion on.

Mercy (eleeo) expresses the heart motivation and compassion  (oikteiro)  the manifestation of that feeling.

The reference in Ex 33 deals with Israel’s idolatry while Moses was on the mount receiving the Law (Ex 32:4ff). The whole nation deserved to be destroyed, yet God killed only 3,000 people (Ex 32:27-28) not because they were more wicked or less godly, but purely because of His grace and mercy.

In other words, His sparing the people and continuing to guide and protect them was purely reflective of His mercy and grace. He had the absolute right to condemn or to save as He divinely saw fit. God’s sovereignty and His grace not only are compatible but are inseparable.

Spurgeon comments...

 It is equally true that he wills to have mercy, and has already had mercy on every soul that repents of sin and puts its trust in Jesus.—13.309

If there is one doctrine in the world which reveals the enmity of the human heart more than an-other, it is the doctrine of God's sovereignty. When men hear the Lord's voice saying, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," they gnash their teeth and call the preacher an An­tinomian, a High Calvinist, or some other hard name. They do not love God except they can make him a little God. They cannot bear for him to be su­preme. They would gladly take his will away from him and set up their own will as the first cause

Spurgeon writes in his devotional that...

This means that God’s mercy and compassion cannot be subject to any cause outside his free grace. God had mercy on the Israelites (not destroying them for their idolatry), not because they deserved it, but simply because he chose to be merciful.

In these words the Lord in the plainest manner claims the right to give or to withhold his mercy according to his own sovereign will. As the prerogative of life and death is vested in the monarch, so the Judge of all the earth has a right to spare or condemn the guilty, as may seem best in his sight. Men by their sins have forfeited all claim upon God; they deserve to perish for their sins—and if they all do so, they have no ground for complaint. If the Lord steps in to save any, he may do so if the ends of justice are not thwarted; but if he judges it best to leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence, none may arraign him at their bar. Foolish and impudent are all those discourses about the rights of men to be all placed on the same footing; ignorant, if not worse, are those contentions against discriminating grace, which are but the rebellions of proud human nature against the crown and sceptre of Jehovah. When we are brought to see our own utter ruin and ill desert, and the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no longer cavil at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do not murmur if he chooses to save others, as though he were doing us an injury, but feel that if he deigns to look upon us, it will be his own free act of undeserved goodness, for which we shall for ever bless his name.

How shall those who are the subjects of divine election sufficiently adore the grace of God? They have no room for boasting, for sovereignty most effectually excludes it. The Lord’s will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human merit is cast out to everlasting contempt. There is no more humbling doctrine in Scripture than that of election, none more promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but adoringly rejoice in it. (Morning and evening : Daily readings. November 25 PM)

 

9:16  So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
Greek: ara oun ou tou thelontos (PAPMSG) oude tou trechontos, (PAPMSG) alla tou eleontos (PAPMSG) theou. 
Amplified: So then [God's gift] is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God's mercy. [It depends not on one's own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God's having mercy on him.]
ESV: So then it depends not on human will or exertion,[2] but on God, who has mercy.
ICB:  So God will choose the one he decides to show mercy to. And his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do.
NIV: It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
NKJV: So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
NLT: So receiving God's promise is not up to us. We can't get it by choosing it or working hard for it. God will show mercy to anyone he chooses.
Philips: It is obviously not a question of human will or human effort, but of divine mercy.
Wuest: Therefore, then, it [this being the recipient of God’s mercy] is not of the one who desires nor even runs, but of the One who is merciful, God.
Young's Literal:  so, then -- not of him who is willing, nor of him who is running, but of God who is doing kindness:
SO THEN IT DOES NOT DEPEND ON THE MAN WHO WILLS OR THE MAN WHO RUNS: ara oun ou tou thelontos (PAPMSG) oude tou trechontos (PAPMSG):

This is a picture of human thinking and striving as seen in John's description of those who became children of God by faith and...

who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12,13)

Did you come to God because you wanted to come to God? You would not have even wanted to unless God had placed that desire in your heart to even want Him. So it is not because you actively willed & purposed or resolved to come to God.

BUT ON GOD WHO HAS MERCY: alla tou eleontos (PAPMSG) theou: (
11; Genesis 27:1-4,9-14; Psalms 110:3; Isaiah 65:1; Matthew 11:25,26; Luke 10:21; John 1:12,13; 3:8; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Ephesians 2:4,5; Philippians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14; Titus 3:3-5; James 1:18; 1 Peter 2:9,10)

It is not man’s choice or pursuit but God who initiates mercy for the sinner. Salvation is never initiated by human choice or merited by zealous human effort. It always begins in God’s sovereign, gracious, and eternal will. Those who receive God’s mercy receive it solely by His grace.

Ishmael desired ("the man who wills") the blessing but failed to receive it. Esau ran ("the man who runs") for the blessing, as it were, but also failed to receive it (Ge27). Esau received a blessing from his father but not the blessing he sought with tears, because he was ungodly and sought the blessing without repentance or faith (Heb12:16-17).

Paul writes of God's mercy on those dead in their trespasses and sins...

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (sermon on Ephesians 2:4-5)

And again in Titus God showed mercy on those who were foolish , disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending their life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, Paul recording that...

 when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (see notes on Titus 3:4 Titus 3:5)

Finally Peter says

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (see notes on 1 Peter 1:3)

G Campbell Morgan writes that Paul...

does not mean that we are not to will, that we are not to run. Neither does it mean that we enter into the blessings of salvation apart from willing, apart from running. We must will to do, and we must run well, allowing nothing to hinder. It does most clearly mean that no willing on our part, no running of our own, can procure for us the salvation we need, or enable us to enter into the blessings it provides. It means more than that. Of ourselves we shall have no will for salva­tion, and shall make no effort toward it. Everything of human salvation begins in God. His will is to have mercy. His work enables Him to do so. It is only as that will is made known to man, that he wills to receive the mercy. It is only as that work operates within man, that he is able to work out his salvation. Our wills must be exercised, our running must be positive; but we enter into salvation, and shall at last reach the crowning at the goal, only because of the everlasting mercy of God. There is neither merit nor cause for glorying in our choice or our effort. If God had not willed our saving, neither should we. If God did not work within us, we should work nothing out. Even if, of our service, we can ever say we laboured abundantly, we shall have to add: Yet not we, but the grace of God which was with us. (Morgan, G. C. Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible)

 

9:17  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."
Greek: legei (3SPAI) gar e graphe to Pharao hoti eis auto touto exegeira  (1SAAI) se opos endeixomai (1SAMS) en soi thn dunamin mou, kai opos diaggele (2SAPS) to onoma mou en pase te ge
Amplified: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for this very purpose of displaying My power in [dealing with] you, so that My name may be proclaimed the whole world over.
ESV: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
ICB: The Scripture says to the king of Egypt: "I made you king so I might show my power in you. In this way my name will be talked about in all the earth."
NIV: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
NKJV: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."
NLT: For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, "I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you, and so that my fame might spread throughout the earth."
Philips:  The scripture says to Pharaoh: 'Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name shall be declared in all the earth' .
Wuest: For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this same purpose I raised you up, in order that I may demonstrate in you my power, and in order that there may be published everywhere my Name in all the earth.
Young's Literal: for the Writing saith to Pharaoh -- 'For this very thing I did raise thee up, that I might shew in thee My power, and that My name might be declared in all the land;'
FOR THE SCRIPTURE (personified) SAYS TO PHARAOH: legei (3SPAI) gar e graphe to Pharao: (11:4; Galatians 3:8,22; 4:30)

Being an absolute monarch, Pharaoh assumed that, certainly within his own realm, everything he said and did was by his own free choice to serve his own human purposes. But the Lord made clear through Moses that Pharaoh was divinely raised up to serve a divine purpose, a purpose of which the king was not even aware.

FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP: hoti eis auto touto exegeira (1SAAI) se opos:

Paul quotes the Septuagint (LXX) of (Exodus 9:16)

Paul does say "for this very purpose I created you". Out of a mass of unregenerate mankind God raises up a man who had suppressed the truth, who refused to give God thanks and honor, exchanging His truth for the lie and who was therefore without excuse (see notes on Romans 1:20-21).

God This is who God called forth (almost as one would do in a play) on to the stage of world history (His story) saying in essence "I will use you to demonstrate my power." It is not as if Pharaoh had said I want to believe in You and be saved. In fact when Pharaoh is faced with the clear demonstration of God's power and refuses to bow down, instead becoming becoming hardened. And Pharaoh is used for God's purposes to deliver many from bondage.

Raised up (1825) (exegeiro from ek = out + egeíro = to raise) carries the idea of bringing forward or lifting up and was used of the rise of historical figures to positions of prominence. The word is used several times in the Septuagint (LXX).

Speaking through the prophet Nathan, the Lord told David that, because of his murder of Uriah and taking his wife, Bathsheba, for himself,

“I will raise up evil against you from your own household” (2 Sa 12:11).

One of Job’s “comforters” rightly said of God that

“He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety” (Job 5:11)

In much the same way that He raised up Pharaoh, the Lord also raised up “the Chaldeans” to do His will, Habakkuk recording God's declaration...

"behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs." (Hab. 1:6)

Zechariah records that one day will

“raise up a shepherd [Antichrist] in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs” (Zec11:16).

All of these events (and others too numerous to mention) underline the truth that God is sovereign over history. (See attribute  Sovereign)

TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU: endeixomai (1SAMS) en soi ten dunamin mou:

Demonstrate (1731) (endeiknumi from en = in, to + deíknumi = make known the character or significance of something by visual, auditory, gestural, or linguistic means) means to show forth, demonstrate or prove, whether by arguments or acts.

AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH: kai opos diaggele (3SAPS) to onoma mou en pase te ge: (Exodus 10:1,2; 14:17,18; 15:14,15; 18:10,11; Joshua 2:9,10; 9:9; 1 Samuel 4:8) (John 17:26)

Proclaimed (1229) (diaggello from diá = through + aggéllo = to tell, declare) means to herald thoroughly, to declare fully or far and wide and so to declare plainly, fully and exactly.

The psalmist Asaph appeals to God not to remain silent or still as His enemies exalt themselves pleading with Him to...

Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever; and let them be humiliated and perish, that they may know that Thou Alone, Whose Name is the LORD, art the Most High over all the earth. (Psalms 83:17,18)

In Isaiah King Hezekiah appeals to the Lord (for Israel's deliverance) that His name might be proclaimed...

"And now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone, LORD, art God." (Isaiah 37:20)

Solomon writes that...

The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Proverbs 16:4)