| SUMMARY: | Now that Paul has raised the issue of God’s election in the example of Jacob and Esau, two important questions are raised. Paul anticipates these and answers them. First, does this not make God unfair to elect some and not others? Answer: No, it is His divine prerogative! Second, How can God condemn someone He did not elect? Answer: Who are we to question God? God’s plan all along was to choose a remnant of Israel so that the Gentiles might find God’s righteousness. |
| I. Question: Does This Make God Unjust? | VERSES 9:14-18 | |
| A. The Question and Answer: | ||
| 1. The Questions: | ||
| a. First: | What shall we say then? | (14a) |
| b. Second: | There is no injustice with God, is there? | (14b) |
| 2. The Answer: | May it never be! | (14c) |
| B. The Discussion: | ||
| 1. First Argument: | ||
| a. The Scripture: | For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” (Exodus 33:19) |
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| b. The Conclusion: | ||
| (1) Negatively | So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, | (16a) |
| (2) Positively | but on God who has mercy. | (16b) |
| 2. Second Argument: | ||
| a. The Scripture: | 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.” (Exodus 9:16) |
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| b. The Conclusion: | ||
| (1) Positively: | So then He has mercy on whom He desires, | (18a) |
| (2) Negatively: | and He hardens whom He desires. | (18b) |
| II. Question: How Can He Then Judge? | VERSES 9:19-21 | |
| A. The Question: | ||
| 1. The Objection: | You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? | (19a) |
| 2. The Reason: | For who resists His will?” | (19b) |
| B. The Answer: | ||
| 1. Rhetorical Question One: | On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? | (20a) |
| 2. Rhetorical Question Two: | The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? | (20b) |
| 3. Rhetorical Question Three: | Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? | (21) |
| III. God’s Purpose in His Election | VERSES 9:22-29 | |
| A. The Principles: | ||
| 1. Rhetorical Question — God’s Actions: | ||
| a. His Judgment and Power: | What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, | (22a) |
| b. His Patience: | endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? | (22b) |
| 2. The Statement — God’s Purpose: | ||
| a. His Purpose: | And He did so to make known the riches of His glory | (23a) |
| b. The Recipients | ||
| (1) Their Preparation: | upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, | (23b) |
| (2) Their Calling: | even us, whom He also called | (24a) |
| (a) Jews: | not from among Jews only, | (24b) |
| (b) Gentiles: | XXX | (24c) |
| B. The Scriptures: | ||
| 1. The First Reference: | As He says also in Hosea, “I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’ AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’ ” (Hosea 2:23) |
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| 2. The Second Reference: | “AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.” (Hosea 1:10) |
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| 3. The Third Reference: | Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED; FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.” (Isaiah 10:22-23) |
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| 4. The fourth Reference: | And just as Isaiah foretold “UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.” (Isaiah 1:9) |
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| IV. Conclusion | VERSES 9:30-33 | |
| A. First | ||
| 1. The Question: | What shall we say then? | (30a) |
| 2. The Answer: | ||
| a. Gentiles Attain Righteousness: | That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; | (30b) |
| b. Israel did not: | but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. | (31) |
| B. Second: | ||
| 1. The Question: | Why? | (32a) |
| 2. The Answer: | ||
| a. Their Lack: | Because they did not pursue it by faith, | (32b) |
| b. Their Self Efforts: | but as though it were by works. | (32c) |
| c. Their Failure: | They stumbled over the stumbling stone, | (32d) |
| 3. The Scripture: | just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” (Isaiah 28:16) |
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