Romans Chapter 9

Romans, Chapter 9, is the bible’s most controversial and difficult passage to understand, frustrating many faithful believers. Many of God’s servants avoid preaching from this passage, others have openly expressed a lack of knowledge to its interpretations. Unknowing believers might have even doubted the competence of these speakers, for being unable to expound God’s word. However, this is the exact opposite, because for them to steer away from this passage, is what sets them apart as good and responsible speakers. These godly servants knew that if they were to share the truths from this passage, not only would the truths be unable to edify the believers, it might even bring about negative consequences.

The difficulty behind understanding Romans 9, does not lie with the expressions of the language or the technicality of the content, rather, what makes it so hard to accept are the truths revealed in the passage. These truths are clearly found conflicting with other bible truths and seemingly impossible to reconcile. What is worse is that it involves our common understanding regarding salvation, causing us to doubt even the decision we made when we received the Lord’s salvation. That whether the decision was made out of our own free will, or perhaps as what Calvinism has said, God independently decides who would or would not be saved.

For the benefits of those readers who are not familiar with the passage of Romans 9, we will interpret this passage according to what is commonly known today, so as to allow the readers to understand the contention arising from this passage. Even as we explain the chapter, readers may get the impression that it is the correct and precise meaning, but we need to emphasize that this is the wrong interpretation which has been misunderstood all this time.

“Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad – in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls – she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 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." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath – prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory – even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” ~Ro 9:10-24

From the passage, Paul took on the task of explaining to the Israelites why God had chosen the gentiles to become His people and to receive His salvation, a pressing question and mystery in the hearts of the Israelites.

Paul wrote that when Rebecca conceived Esau and Jacob, God told her that the elder son, Esau, will serve the younger son, Jacob. In the book of Malachi, God further explained how He predestined for it was written, “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” Even while God said these, Esau and Jacob were still in the womb of their mother, having done neither good nor evil. Thus, we observe that God predestines according to His own desire, and does not take into consideration the goodness or evilness of the person. God loved Jacob, therefore he was predestined to become a great nation; whereas God hated Esau, and he was predestined to become the lesser one. Their destinies seemed to lie within God’s sovereign will without any consideration taken in view of their works. In this case, Jacob who had been favoured by God would be elated, however what about Esau, the one whom God detested? Why was he predestined to a humble life out of no particular reason? Both he and Jacob were equally created by God without distinction, why was he made to suffer a completely different treatment? Moreover, the decision was made while they were still in their mother’s womb, leaving Esau completely helpless to his destiny. God favoured Jacob but detested Esau not because of their action, then had God been fair in the handling of such two different destinies?

Paul further used an Old Testament figure, Pharaoh, to justify God’s sovereignty concerning His predestination. Pharaoh was another person that God hated. God predestined Pharaoh’s life, raising him up to persecute the Israelites, hardened his heart again and again, so as to demonstrate His power through him. Why was God able to use Pharaoh’s life in such a manner? For it had been said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” God had complete sovereignty to decide whom to receive His mercy unto salvation and whom He should harden unto destruction. However, with Paul’s explanation, it has created more controversies. For example, if a person’s salvation or destruction is predestined by God, then does He still have the right to judge these people such as Pharaoh? Since all their actions come about as a result of His predestination?

Paul admonished them in pointing out that God was the creator and man was merely the creature, what authority did they have to question the almighty God concerning His creation? Did He not have the sovereignty to create some to receive His grace and mercy, and some to incur His wrath and punishment? Surely, He had all the authority to do so! Therefore, according to His desire, not only from the Israelites, but also from the gentiles, he had chosen from among them to receive His salvation. Paul wanted the Israelites to know that God had every right to determine who should receive His grace, a decision that the Israelites could not interfere with. The Israelites were mere created beings, they had absolutely no right to protest against how God chose His people. 

Though Paul, having clarified the reason behind why gentiles were given a share in salvation, it had concurrently generated a much more serious problem. A problem involving the basic salvation of a believer, making it contrary to our personal spiritual experience and our fundamental understanding of the bible. If we were to recall how we received the salvation: after we had heard the gospel, having been moved by Jesus’ death on the cross, we made the decision to turn away from our sins and accept Christ as our Saviour. Following our conversion, we study the word of God diligently, submitting our will to the Holy Spirit daily and in so doing, we managed to live a sanctified life. All these happened naturally, no one would feel that God has been interfering with our decisions behind the scenes. Although the Holy Spirit often prompts and moves us in our heart, we are fully aware that all the decisions we made are out of our own free will, at any point of time we could always choose to reject the guidance of the Holy Spirit. However, Romans 9 speaks of something totally contradictory. It says that at the point of our creation, God has already decided who would repent and be saved, and who would reject Jesus and perish. And the principle whereby God predestines does not take into account the person’s desire or effort, but solely upon His will. We have been mistaken all this while thinking that to receive the Lord is our personal decision, but in reality, on the day of our creation, God has already made us into the pottery that would receive His salvation in the future. Those who have denied Him did not reject God because they themselves wanted to do so, rather, they were being made by God in the very beginning into the pottery that would reject His salvation. The passage stresses that God is the creator of the universe, thus He holds the absolute authority to decide who should live and who should perish. He is not required to answer to anyone for the decisions He has made or explain to anyone the principles behind making those decisions, and this is precisely what Calvinism speaks of as “the sovereign will of God in election which no one can know or understand.”

Calvin’s doctrine of Predestination is not his understanding of the bible alone, rather, any believer who reads this passage would come to the same conclusion. Calvinism according to Romans 9 and the collation of other passages, has put together a systematic theology to explain Predestination. Calvin’s doctrine of Predestination has in fact represented what we have understood about Predestination in the bible. To embrace this doctrine of predestination and accept that God chooses not to predestine some to heaven is already something difficult to swallow, yet if we take a closer look at Romans 9, a greater issue arises. This is something we have avoided all this while and dare not ask God – did God harden the heart of those predestined unto destruction, made them incapable of believing in Jesus and caused them to perish in hell?

Though the writer has already grasped the correct interpretation of Predestination long ago, however, due to the inability to fully explain Romans, Chapter 9, he has avoided the discussion of this topic altogether. For the writer was fully aware that even if he could explain what Predestination was all about, but without solving the fundamental problems in Romans 9, all efforts would prove futile. A godly servant of the Lord once lamented: “Oh, how excellent are the writings of Paul, if only Romans 9 has not been written!” Could Romans 9 be a mistake made by Paul? Or could this chapter be a demonstration of the wisdom of God which mere man cannot comprehend?

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements, and His paths beyond tracing out! As the mysteries of Romans 9 unfold, we shall behold how unsearchable the Lord’s judgements and how unfathomable His ways!