Sep
17
Written by:
Bob Flynn
9/17/2009 7:33 AM
What was the fundamental mistake of the Jews? This may seem a curious question to ask in view of what we have just said. But, paradoxically, Paul holds that though the rejection of the Jews was the work of God, it need never have happened. He cannot get rid of the eternal paradox—nor does he desire to—that at one and the same time all is of God and man has free-will. The fundamental mistake of the Jews was that they tried to get into a right relationship with God through their own efforts. They tried to earn salvation; whereas the Gentiles simply accepted the offer of God in perfect trust. The Jews should have known that the only way to God was the way of faith and that human achievement led nowhere. Did not Isaiah say: "No one who believes in him will be put to shame"? (Isa 28:16; Rom 10:11.) Did not Joel say: "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved"? (Joel 2:32; Rom 10:13.) True, no man can have faith until he hears the offer of God; but to the Jews that offer was made. They clung to the way of human achievement through obedience to the law; they staked everything on works, but they should have known that the way to God was the way of faith, for the prophets had told them so…. (William Barclay)
Paul argues that there is more to Jewishness than descent from Abraham, that the chosen people were not simply the entire sum of all the physical descendants of Abraham, that within that family there was a process of election all through history. A Jew would thoroughly understand and accept the argument so far. The Arabs were the descendants of Ishmael who was a flesh and blood son of Abraham, but the Jews would never have dreamed of saying that the Arabs belonged to the chosen people. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau—that in fact is what Malachi means—and Esau was a true son of Isaac, even the twin brother of Jacob, but no Jew would ever have said that the Edomites had any share in the chosen people. From the Jewish point of view Paul has made his point; there was election within the family of Abraham's physical descendants.
He makes the further point that that selection had nothing to do with deeds and merit. The proof is that Jacob was chosen and Esau was rejected, before either of them was born. The choice was made while they were still in their mother's womb. (William Barclay)
Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED." (Romans 9:13 NASB)
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (Romans 9:13 KJV)
just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." (Romans 9:13 NET.)
In the words of the Scriptures, "I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau." (Romans 9:13 NLT)
Perhaps this would be a good place to interject a thought from a most famous sermon. No matter how you slice it, destruction and misery are the Wrath of God inflicted by the weight of our very own sin! We often think in terms of the clouds parting and fire raining down from above! Yet the reality is that the Law of God (like the gravity of His creation) bring about the judgment at our own hand! We are literally undone! However, our reprobation holds us in this pit of destruction, we are helpless to act and unwilling to act. What part of this life crushed by sin do we wish to cling? Where is the visage not marred that we would want to keep it? Yet the very hand that righteously condemns us, holds us safe against that day when we would believe (Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God - paraphrase mine).
In today's world where information systems permeate every fiber of our lives, it is easy to assume that our ability to apprehend the things of God could be dependent upon our "quick discernment." However, this could not be further from the truth! We are wholly (and wonderfully) dependent (kept) by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and He only lives in the hearts of those who are saved! Yet in our day we have a thundering horde who are quick to speak and slow to listen, when all the while the Word says "be still and know that I am God." Our sagacity abounds in the deception of our souls that would believe that we are something when we are nothing. Whose hand was it that held us safe above the pit of eternal judgment, held safe against that day when we would believe? And would we now believe that that this very same mournful sagacity somehow speaks "ex cathedra" without the "washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." Do we now consider ourselves as "arrived," when we must "endure to the end to be saved?" No we lean upon our learnedness as if we could discern the Holy Oracles from the counterfeit of the enemy. In so doing the very same tempter that caused the undoing of our paradisiacal parents succeeds in our collapse as well. How then shall we live? The same way by which we were saved, by faith alone in Christ alone!
This strong view of sovereignty has repelled some. Yet two things need to be considered. First, Paul in emphasizing sovereignty is not dealing with free will. If we go back into the Old Testament we find the Bible speaks both of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, and of Pharaoh hardening his own heart. God did not, in exercising His choice, violate the freedom of choice of His creatures. God did not force Pharaoh to do anything he would not have freely chosen to do. (Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The teacher's commentary. Includes index. (829). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.)
Have I hated - This does not mean any positive hatred; but that he had preferred Jacob, and had withheld from Esau those privileges and blessings which he had conferred on the posterity of Jacob. This is explained in Malachi 1:3,” And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness;” compare Jeremiah 49:17-18; Ezekiel 35:6. It was common among the Hebrews to use the terms “love” and “hatred” in this comparative sense, where the former implied strong positive attachment, and the latter, not positive hatred, but merely a less love, or the withholding of the expressions of affection… (Dr. Albert Barnes)
Jer 49:17-18 "Edom will be an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will gasp at the destruction they see there. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns," says the LORD. "No one will live there; no one will inhabit it. (NLT)
Ezekiel 35:6 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come! (NLT)
Copyright ©2009 Robert Flynn