What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
Romans 9:14 NIV
What inference do we make from the explanations in Chapter 1 to 13. Do we say that God gives unequal privileges to people? Is He unjust in His dealings with men? Not at all!: This is untrue of God. He is Just!
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
Romans 9:15 NIV
When we hear this statement, most times we take it as God will be good to whoever He chooses to and do bad as He pleases. This is wrong interpretation.
Remember, this verse is also a quote.
So let's go to the original text of this quote.
"God said to Moses"
Why did God say this to Moses?
What happened before He did?
What were the circumstances surrounding this statement?
The text is in Exodus 33:19.
Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
Exodus 33:19 NKJV
Here we see God tell Moses the statement quoted by Paul in Romans 9.
God did not just stand in the sky and tell this to Moses, there was a conversation and situation leading to it.
To understand this verse, we take it in the context it was spoken in. In Exodus 32, the people tired of waiting for Moses who had gone up to the mountain to meet the Lord had made gods for themselves
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Exodus 32:1 NIV
God had been really good to these people, bringing them out of Egypt, providing manna, etc. But despite all what God did for and in their midst, they committed idolatry
God was not supposed to show them any mercy. That was His cue to abandon them.
Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
Exodus 33:3 NIV
Here we see the mercy of God at play. Though these people had sinned greatly, God was still willing to keep His promise to Isreal. As the conversation continued, Moses asked that God should still go with them. They couldn't go on their own
God actually agreed that He'd go with them even after all they did.
Then Moses says this:
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
Exodus 33:18 NIV
Note that this is what Moses said that brought the reply we are examining
And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Exodus 33:19 NIV
Here is what God is saying, you people have done the most terrible thing ever. You are not one bit deserving of my mercy but I the Lord will be making a display of my goodness before you._
_You will see it and know that this is true of my nature and name. Though you are unworthy, I'm about to let you know that my mercy (my benefits and blessings) are dispensed regardless of what you've done. It has never been based on human merit.
Let's note that Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Nah. Mercy is getting something we are undeserving of. Mercy is nobody's right, it is God's goodness displayed before us all.
Let's equate this in Romans 9.
Remember the Jews were angry and jealous of the Gentiles cos they also had received the gospel and they felt they were undeserving cos the promise was made to them alone.
Paul quoting this scripture is trying to respond to them that God will extend (and has already extended) His mercies towards anybody no matter how undeserving we feel they are. The Jews did not get the mercy of God because they were deserving. So the Gentiles will not be asked to deserve God's mercy to get it
He gives His mercies and compassion as He wills (regardless of what man has done)
Now, let's still go back to Moses' question.
Lord, show me Your Glory
Remember this statement: Christ in me, the Hope of Glory
God's response of Mercy and Grace, He satisfied in Christ. Though the world is undeserving, every single one of us, yet God still reveals His Glory to us, in Christ. His Mercy and Graciousness is Christ given to all men
So whenever we read or quote "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy upon and be gracious to whom I will be gracious too....", have it in mind that this is already satisfied in Christ. It is a case of some very special favor unmerited but it is not about one man as we love to think or unfairness by God, nah. This is God reaching out to man undeserving with Himself.
Again, let's stop quoting this verse to support God loving one person more.
God is not unjust or unfair. He loves everyone uniquely. Not one person more than the other
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
Romans 9:16 NIV
After that quote, Paul concluded with this. We see we are on the same page with him now
For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
Romans 9:17-18 NIV
God raised Pharaoh just to harden his heart? No.
Pharaoh's heart was hard right from the beginning, we could see it in the way he treated the Israelites long before Moses was sent. All of this period, God watched. Pharaoh grew in hardness, wickedness, and power, God watched
God did not interfere in Pharaoh's rise to power. Looking at it sef, if God killed Pharaoh in His sleep another wicked Pharaoh will arise
Also, the Israelites would never have understood what was happening. They'd never have been reminded of the promise and would have preferred to stay in bondage if it happened another way
So God had to come in at such a time when Pharaoh had risen to power and save the way He did.
In so doing, the Israelites were reminded of their identity (who they meant to God) and His promise
He hardens who He wants to harden
Read as he allows the hardness of a man.
God didn't bring a kindhearted Pharaoh and changed his heart.
Pharaoh's heart was wicked, God did not interfere with it. He simply allowed his desires to come to play
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?
Romans 9:19-22 NIV
Here we see Paul quote what might be on the mind of the Jews. If God saves whomever He wants and can add the Gentiles as He pleases, why then have we been saddled with certain responsibilities as the chosen ones.
Paul's response is that the question is disrespectful. God is the Potter, He made us and has power over us.
Though He has chosen to extend mercy to not just the Jews but also the Gentiles, this doesn't mean anyone is exempted from right living. We should not say we can live as we want since God extends His mercy as He wishes
Now here is what I see, the Jews had thought so highly of themselves, like so highly.
So appaz, was a really great shock to see that God can give what He gave them to others.
They believed it was by what they did that they were special in the sight of God
And God burst their bubbles. He reduced all of their works to nothing by offering the gift of salvation which they saw as a reward to the Gentiles
This is seen in the response above
Sebi God didn't choose us based on anything we did or do. All of the laws we've been observing, everything is meaningless. We can as well live as we want
His will will always come to play since it's this way.
It is the same way with what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently endured those he was angry with—people who were ready to be destroyed. He waited with patience so that he could make known the riches of his glory to the people he has chosen to receive his mercy. God has already prepared them to share his glory. We are those people, the ones God chose not only from the Jews but also from those who are not Jews.
Romans 9:22-24 ERV
On the question of God choosing people or some predestined to be saved, so no matter what you do if God did not choose you it is all effortless. Well, this is a lie.
The wrath of God is just and every man deserved it, both the Jews that taught God was sleeping and waking up by their side alone and the Gentiles that were seen as rejected by God. But we see that God waited patiently (still waiting patiently), to make known His glory to the people He has chosen to receive His mercy
Who has He chosen to receive His mercy?
(We explained this with the story of Jacob and Esau in part 1.)
The answer is those who accept His promise. And what is this Promise? Christ
And this is what Paul was trying to explain, that God has chosen both Jews and non-Jews, all men actually, to make known His glory. This is actualized in their belief in Christ. So if the Gentiles believed, then they were as much chosen as the Jews.
So the explanation that people have of the verses are wrong.
God is not mean, unjust or unfair.
If He has already chosen who He wants in His heaven in this manner you stated, then it is probably a waste of time for all of us.
That's not what Paul was saying
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
Romans 9:30-32 NIV
Isreal believed that they were special and chosen but it is their works that made them special
The Gentiles, on the other hand, understood that they were undeserving of whatever God is giving and rested in the promise by belief in Christ.
Also, note that God told Isreal they were special and chosen (The messiah was to come from amongst them).
But Isreal didn't understand what it truly meant to be chosen. NIV said they stumbled over the stumbling block
Isreal had to stop thinking that they were chosen and are saved regardless or by works.
Like the Gentiles, everyone is chosen/saved through the same route: Belief in Christ
And this is made available to all men by God's mercy and Grace (not one person deserving of it)
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