Romans chapter 9 is a very challenging chapter of scripture. With a cursory reading and without deep examination this scripture will lead many to believe as John Calvin did as John Piper does that God created some people so that He could demonstrate destruction, His wrath upon them.

I am not a Calvinist though and I would find myself more in line with what John Wesley wrote about Romans chapter 9,

“Whatever that Scripture [Romans 9] proves, it can never prove this.  Whatever its true meaning be, this cannot be its true meaning. … No Scripture can mean that God is not love, or that his mercy is not over all his works.  That is, whatever it prove beside, no Scripture can prove predestination.”  (This from his sermon “On Free Grace.”)

So what then was Paul saying?

In order to understand that we have to understand first the great objection the Jews had at this point of history,

“that the rejection of the Jews and reception of the gentiles was contrary to the word of God.”

Paul here was not dealing with “personal election” or “predestination” rather he was dealing with how God could accept the Gentiles and reject part of the nation of Israel. This was a hard concept for God’s “Chosen People.” So Romans 9 is dealing primarily with the nation of Israel.

Some may say well it sounds like an individual thing when Paul writes, “Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (9:13) This is in fact one of the primary texts used by Calvinists to show that God has chosen some people to live in heaven and some people to stoke the fires of hell. But if we use sound exegesis to allow scripture to interpret scripture we would see that the passage here Paul is quoting, Malachi 1:2, 3 underlines the truth that Paul is looking at this from a national focus (i.e. his people Israel) and not at the individual level, because in Malachi 1:2, 3 Esau represented the country of Edom and Jacob represented Israel and so Paul is restating the meaning of Malachi’s phrase, “simply that God preferred Israel over Edom to be the people he wanted to work with to reach out to the world.” This also illustrates that what Paul was addressing was an issue of service not salvation. Salvation is about belief that is the theme of Romans 10, and even Romans 11 (which is not part of our reading today) helps us to understand this, “You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith.” (11:19, 20a)

God did not stop using Israel because He was predestining them to be lost, but because of their unbelief and Paul warns the Gentiles,

“for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.” (11:21) In-other-words “if you stop believing and being my witnesses in belief you will be cut off also.”

Why?

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (10:12, 13)

The election as God’s people for service is not based on anything other than faith, not works, which then makes us all individually equal.

Can I tangent for a moment. Seventh-day Adventists, you are not remnant because of the right beliefs, you are remnant if you have faith and that faith drives you to be a witness in spreading God’s end-time truth. Israel was not willing to be used by God and they thought they could save themselves through their own good works so He chose to get His message out a different way.

Romans 9 is a tough passage but if we couple it with Romans 10 which is all about salvation coming through faith not God arbitrarily choosing.

And if we understand that Paul is speaking of the national focus of Israel, not the individual Jews being rejected, then we will see that this text does not teach predestination unto salvation.

For a great exposition of this I would encourage you to read this piece by Greg Boyd, he goes into much more thorough explanation than I have here. With other extensive points of explanation regarding Romans 9.

Did this blog help? Did Boyd’s blog help? Let me know.

Happy Sabbath.

Tomorrow’s Reading: Genesis 16-19

Authority was a key theme within today’s reading. A centurion—a Roman—an unlikely source confesses the authority of Jesus; a confession Jesus praises, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.” (8:10).

Then the disciples who should confess Jesus’ authority are surprised His authority is not limited, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (8:27).

The demons understand Jesus’ authority, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (8:29b) They recognize His authority as Judge.

Then the scribes deny Jesus’ authority, “And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” (9:3)

Jesus then illustrates His authority to forgive sins (9:6).

A woman bleeding understands Jesus’ authority, “If I only touch His garment I will get well.” (9:21)

Jesus then with His authority gives authority to His followers (10:1)

But Jesus reminds them that their authority is through the power of God not themselves (10:19, 20).

And those who receive the authority of Jesus’ followers receive Jesus’ authority (10:40).

Chapters 8 & 9: Jesus’ authority demonstrated. Chapter 10: how that authority is to play out in the lives of Jesus’ followers.

• Sent out to witness by healing, raising the dead, cast out demons, etc.
• Sent out to witness by the way they testify to Jesus in the face of persecution.
• Sent out to witness by proclaiming publicly & boldly what they have learned privately.

It seems to me that the evidence of us possessing the authority of Jesus is found in just that…

We are witnesses!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Romans 9 & 10

Today I struggled with what to write. So I went and read some commentaries and I want to share with you directly from a commentary by Paul Apple entitled, “Jehovah is Salvation”

I don’t know that I agree with every point, but I found it interesting. So here it is:

(Isaiah 17:1-14) Judgment on Damascus-Warning Against Forgetting God-Forgetting God dishonors Him greatly but does not cancel out His covenantal remnant program

a. (Isaiah 17:1b-3) Devastation coming for Syria and Israel
b. (Isaiah 17:4-6) Glory fading away for Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel-yet a small remnant preserved 

c. (Isaiah 17:7-8) Faith refocusing on the only true God
d. (Isaiah 17:9-11) Root sin = forgetting God and seeking security in the arm of the flesh

 (Isaiah 18:1-7) Core Salvation Message for the Gentiles (Isaiah represented here by the Ethiopians)-Transition from Woe to Worship – Stand Still and See the Salvation of the Lord and Worship Him Alone

a. (Isaiah 18:1-2) Woe-Dangerous threats can stir up a frenzy of protective activity
b. (Isaiah 18:3) Waiting-Wait for the Lord to manifest His dominion
c. (Isaiah 18:4-6) Watching-The oppressive invasions by world powers will be nipped in the bud by the Lord who reigns over all
d. (Isaiah 18:7) Worship-Submission and tribute will be gratefully offered when the Lord reigns visibly from Mount Zion

 (Isaiah 19:1-20:6) Judgment on Egypt-The Futility of Trusting in the Arm of the Flesh and the Process of Salvation-Egypt will face deserved judgment and experience undeserved blessing-but will never be a dependable source of salvation

a. (Isaiah 19:1-15) Egypt cannot save itself-human wisdom leads to ruin
b. (Isaiah 19:16-25) Egypt cannot save you because it needs salvation itself-The Process of Salvation:

1) (Isaiah 19:16-17) Conviction of Sin-starting point of the conversion process-Fear of God
2) (Isaiah 19:18) Crossroads of Decision-pledging allegiance-Salvation vs. Destruction
3) (Isaiah 19:19-22) Consummation of Salvation-leading to worship and growing knowledge
4) (Isaiah 19:23) Congregation United in Worship-reconciliation and fellowship on human plane
5) (Isaiah 19:24-25) Congregation United in Blessing-unity of saved Jews and Gentiles experiencing God’s blessings

c. (Isaiah 20:1-6) Trusting in the arm of the flesh (Egypt and Ethiopia) will be futile-always leads to bondage and humiliation and shame

 (Isaiah 21:1-10) Judgment on Babylon-The Horror of God’s Judgment-Horror strikes those who perceive the destructive consequences of trusting in the arm of the flesh

a. (Isaiah 21:1-2) Harsh vision of unrelenting attacks
b. (Isaiah 21:3-4) Horror overwhelms God’s prophet
c. (Isaiah 21:5-9) Hopes crushed by the shattering of the arm of the flesh

d. (Isaiah 21:10) Hard times lie ahead for the people of God before millennial blessing

 (Isaiah 21:11-17) The Certainty of God’s Judgment-There will be no stay of execution with respect to God’s judgment plans for the nations-regardless of how general or how precise the revelation of His timeline

(Isaiah 21:11-12) Judgment on Edom (Dumah = Silence)-How much longer? Uncertain timeline but hope will be followed by even more severe hardship

(Isaiah 21:13-17) Judgment on Arabia-Precisely one year until fleeing refugees reduced to a very small defeated remnant

(Isaiah 22:1-25) Judgment on Jerusalem-The Valley of Vision-Unbelief = The Unpardonable Sin –

Two Specific Examples of Self-Reliance:

a. (Isaiah 22:1-14) The refusal to trust in God constitutes the unpardonable sin as divine protection is removed from the self-reliant who blindly party their way to destruction
b. (Isaiah 22:15-25) Self-reliance leads to condemnation-whether the fault lies with the leader (and his presumptuous self promotion) or with the people (and their proclivity for hero worship)

Tomorrow’s Reading: Matthew 8-10

I want us to note something in today’s reading. Job is a righteous man, remember what we read God Himself said about Job in a previous reading,

“There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (1:8)

Here is why that statement has such significance to me as I did today’s reading of Job 7 & 8.

Job was:

• One of a kind in the eyes of God
• Blameless
• Upright
• Fearing (respecting/reverance for) God
• Resisting and turning away from evil

And yet even with all of this Job has a distorted view of God:

“What is man that You magnify him,
And that You are concerned about him,
18 That You examine him every morning
And try him every moment?
19 “]Will You never turn Your gaze away from me,
Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20 “Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target,
So that I am a burden to myself?
21 “Why then do You not pardon my transgression
And take away my iniquity?
For now I will lie down in the dust;
And You will seek me, but I will not be.” -Job 7:17-21

Job sees God as the aggressor against him. Job thinks God is the one that harms people when they do wrong. Job thinks that God is punishing him for some great sin. Job thinks God is TORTURING him…yes torture, “why have you set me as Your target?”

Yes the friend in chapter 8 has the same distorted view, in fact the friend has some prosperity gospel distortion as well (8:5-7) “Job if you just make things right with God He’ll make you rich again.” Foolish…but we don’t expect more from the friends of Job.

But from a…

• One of a kind
• Blameless
• Upright
• God fearing
• Evil resisting man

…we’d expect a right view of God.

But no, Job STILL has a distorted picture and understanding of God.

So what does this teach me and maybe you?

1. Just because we’ve been walking with Jesus all our lives doesn’t mean we understand Him as well as we could or maybe should.
2. The devil’s lies about the character and wrath of God can infiltrate even the most elect.
3. Even the righteous at times blame God for their problems and that doesn’t necessarily make them unrighteous, it makes them foolish, but not unrighteous.
4. If all the above is true then why would I not daily study and inquire of God to reveal more and more of Himself to me?!?

I didn’t know what I was going to get out of Job 7 & 8 it turns out I was blessed beyond my expectations!

Thank you Holy Spirit for teaching me!

Tomorrow’s Reading: Isaiah 18-22

The three Psalms we read today show the up and down journey of the Christian walk. If you ever have moments of exultation one day and moments of doubt the next and then ponder if you are the only one of such highs and lows…the answer is you are not alone.

• Psalm 9:1, “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.”
• Psalm 10:1, “Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?”
• Psalm 11:1a, “In the Lord I take refuge…”

All three of these Psalms in some way address wickedness.

• The Psalmist rejoices over the destruction of sin in Psalm 9.
• He feels alone in the midst of the sin in Psalm 10.
• He trusts in the Lord to fight the battle against sin in Psalm 11.

Sin is largely forgotten about in our modern culture. Yes we have momentary aspects of sorrow over sin, but there is not this pathos and angst against the wickedness of the world as we see in the Psalms by and large. I could say it is because we are more desensitized than David or the other writers of the Psalms, but that is more of an excuse than anything. After all David wasn’t even allowed to build the temple as he was a man with too much blood on his hands from all the wars he waged. Yet he did not delight in violence he understood that this too was due to wickedness, “And the one who loves violence His soul hates.” (11:5b)

Sin is largely forgotten about in our modern culture, maybe these Psalms can remind us of just how much the Christian heart should oppose the wickedness in this world.

Tomorrow’s Reading: Job 7 & 8

I hope each one of you were able to plow through the distribution of land chapters…

It was a slog, but I hope you made it to the end because chapter 20 became very interesting!

The six cities of refuges.

Six thoughts I noted as I read about these six cities:

1. They were established to spare life. The justice for bloodshed is not always further bloodshed.
2. They were established so that the person could receive a fair hearing/trial.
3. These cities were for both Israelites and refugees (strangers) in the land. Everyone was deserving of the protection of the land.
4. The city was always there but if an unintentional killing (sin) had taken place one had to go to the city to receive mercy (there is a sermon that will preach).
5. In order to remain safe you had to stay within the confines of the city (there is another sermon that will preach).
6. If the perpetrator of the act is found innocent they are to live in the city ‘till the High Priest dies then they are able to go home. Interesting that the death of the High Priest is an act of amnesty (will that also preach?

These cities so intrigued me I did a little more research—

No place in the land was more than a day’s journey from one of these cities. All six of these cities are mentioned again in the next chapter, since they also were Levitical cities. Despite their importance here and in the Pentateuch, however, they do not appear again in the Old Testament.

Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalm 9-11