Romans 9:9-24

⁹"For this is a word of promise: 'At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.' ¹⁰And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; ¹¹for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, ¹²it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.' ¹³Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (NASB)

Most Calvinistic literature this verse is used as a final proof of predestination and unconditional election. Historically speaking, Esau was born first, then Jacob and according to the tradition the eldest carries the tribal chiefhood. Jacob did try to steal the title from Esau. He even coerced Isaac to make that Will which was irrevocable. Through a series of interesting events (Gen. 25: onwards) this did not materialize. Just as the blessings were fraudulently obtained, it was not realized in actuality. It goes against he moral principles of the cosmos and the God who created it, even if Calvinistic god is willing to condone it. God chose Jacob for working out his plan through history. It has nothing to do with God's foreknowledge also. God could have chooses Esau instead of Jacob. Then we would have the same questions asked in the reverse. The Key phrase " in order that God’s purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls" is often conveniently forgotten in the argument.

The situation is similar to an appointment to a position where there are two candidates who are equally qualified. There is none who is fully qualified to do any job. But it is possible to start where they are and give training for the purpose of the job. Which one will you choose? Once chosen, that person will receive all the privileges and training necessary for fulfilling that job. In this case the purpose of this election is clearly mentioned by Paul elsewhere. But suppose the appointee fails to perform. Suppose the appointee takes advantage of all the privileges and in doing so ignores the purpose. What will the boss do? Is that not clearly what happened in history? This is exactly what Paul is telling in all his letters.

Rom. 3: First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
Rom. 9: 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ,

Yet they were broken off and the appointment was given to another. What is the message here? An election? For what? Rev. 3: 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. What happened to Israel will happen to the Church also.

Heb. 3: 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. 4:1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." 5 And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." 6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

Certainly his works were finished since the creation of the world. How? God has set his law that only those who believe and persevere will only enter the rest. The promise was for the entire Israel, but only a few entered into the rest "because they did not combine it with faith." Is this predestination or conditional salvation?

 Paul anticipates the reader’s concerns in the next verse and asks the question, "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!"

To say that God gives this faith is really circumlocution. God is the creator of man. All of cosmos is his creation. Then we will have to give God the authorship of evil as well as good. You can't have it in any other way, unless man is given the freedom to create - good or bad.

Rom 9: 10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger."13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

As I have explained earlier the choice of one person over the other, one tribe over the other, one nation over the other is to be looked upon as an appointment for a specific purpose. God has a plan (not predestination) in history and he appoints people and tribes and nations and places for this purpose, as he thinks fit. This is real sovereignty. Predestination, as I have shown elsewhere is bondage. God is not bound by predestination. He is a free agent, yesterday today and forever. He acts through history as it warrants. In this freedom he has selected a nation - the nation of Israel for his purpose during the age under consideration. When he found it insufficient he discarded them and made another choice and another plan. That is his sovereignty. You see sovereignty and predestination won't mix. Now in this passage Calvinists would argue that the choice was made between Jacob and Esau. The circumstances and reality check will easily show that Paul was not talking about the persons, but of the tribes. The use of particular names to represent a tribe is not new. Essentially all Old Testament treat tribes that way. Tribes were referred simply by their father's name.

Ps 78: 71 from tending the sheep he brought him (David) to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.

Ps 79: 7 for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland.

Prophets used this terminology extensively:

Is 14:1 The LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land.
Is 17: 4 "In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.

Jer 49: 10 But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his hiding places, so that he cannot conceal himself. His children, relatives and neighbors will perish, and he will be no more.
Mal 1: 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."

Evidently Paul who is quoting from Mal 1 must be referring to Esau and Jacob as a nations.

If Paul intended them as the persons of Jacob and Esau, then we will have to conclude that Paul never read the scriptures or he was unaware of history or he was misguiding his gentile readers as my Judaic friends are accusing him of. The scripture makes it clear that Esau never served Jacob. Just the opposite. Esau never lost his tribal chiefdom. True, he was not appointed by God to receive the oracles of God and to evangelize the world and ultimately to bring Jesus the living word into the world. Jacob has to flee from his homeland into the land of Canaan and live as a servant to his uncle Laban. He had to flee from Laban to his freedom even after the period of bondage. By then Esau was in control of the family. He was a wealthy independent chief with hundreds of warriors at his side and lived in the hill country of Seir.

So when Jacob returns he sends a message to his Lord Esau:

Gen 22: my master Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now.5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'" 6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

It was proper for Jacob the younger to bring presents to Esau the chief and a common practice to refuse to accept except under pressure.

Gen 33: 9 But Esau said, "I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself."

When Jacob met Esau, he paid obeisance to him, as the chief of the tribe. As befitting the elder brother Esau embraced him and kissed him. Notice that Jacob paid the full honor to Esau as the head of the family by calling his "My Lord" and referring to himself as "your servant".

Gen 33:3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

They lived together until they were very rich and as the practice of the country the eldest went up and lived separately. Gen 36: 6 Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob.7 Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock.8 So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.

So unlike what is assumed Esau never served Jacob in person. Where did Paul go wrong? Paul did not, only the interpreters did. During the time of Judges there had been continuous feud between the two tribes. But Edom controlled the entire region.
1 Chr.1 43 These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned: Bela son of Beor, whose city was named Dinhabah….."
But during the period of Kings, Edomite glory diminished and Israel became a powerful nation. There were periods when Edom served Israel.

Paul then quotes Exodus 9:16 about the Lord raising up Pharaoh for the very purpose of having God’s "name proclaimed throughout the whole earth." We should remember that hardening of the heart of Pharaoh was not anything evil in any sense of the word. In fact if we accept the law given to Israel and is applicable to any other nation, that was exactly what was expected of Pharaoh. This was the law of Lord.

Lev. 25:44 "'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

Pharaoh was simply asserting his right of property. Pharaoh could have relented, but he did not. Pharaoh was no more evil than the Israelites who held their neighbors' slaves. Then what is the relevance of Paul's statement? Then Paul says in verse 18, "So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires "      God used the hardening of heart of Pharaoh for furthering his purposes. The question of who hardened the heart and how is open to question. Was it God or Pharaoh? The problem raised here is the demands of God and human resistance to it. The Carnal man - one who considers the worldly matters as supreme in their life - reacts to God's demands either positively or negatively. As the demand increases the hardening increases or softening increases in the opposite case. It depends on the nature and initial choice of man. Once fallen it is a downhill fall all the way unless a helping hand stops. In Pharaoh's case God did initiate the process by confronting him in the open before all the people.

Nowhere in the bible hardening of heart is attributed to God. But why did God take this step of hardening the heart of Pharaoh. The answer is simply that he wanted his people to be out of Egypt so that he can start his experiment. Israel was willing to obey God, but Pharaoh was not. Pharaoh depended on his gods and Israel depended on their God. Who do you think will be saved? Pharaoh wrought the wrath upon himself after seeing the many signs.

Paul’s answer to this question is an appeal to the direct sovereignty of God. He says in verses 20 - 21, "On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? ²¹Or 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?" God has the right to do as He wishes with His creation. God is sovereign. Paul is saying here that God makes one vessel for honorable use and another for common use. He is differentiating between the vessels and their use...all based on God’s sovereign right to do as He wishes.

     Paul doesn't in anyway imply that he made the vessels of wrath for destruction. Just the opposite, he endured with much patience for these vessels to be of some better use. In the days of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph he did use Egypt to safeguard the elect from destruction through famine. Verse 22, "What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? ²³And He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles." God's immediate aim in doing so was to release Israel and to being them into a new land. From this arose the Jesus and from Jesus came the Church (us) so that he may still accomplish his ultimate plan of redemption of the universe. Paul's redemption process is not narrow enough to end with the few people. It encompasses not only One New Man but also the whole of material world - the cosmos as such. Paul has just discussed this wider concept of redemption in Romans 8

    The whole purpose of the book of Romans is the question of why God rejected Israel and chooses church. Why was the Philistines rejected? Why was Israel rejected? Why was the Church accepted? The answer follows the argument:

Rom 9: 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.

Even the elect will not attain it if it is not pursued with faith.

Heb 4: 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest,

The parable of the potter and his vessel tells us exactly what I have explained before. Let the scripture explain scripture. Paul is referring to these allegories is beyond doubt as he quotes from the prophets immediately following the explanation. What do they teach?
 
In Isaiah 29 we have the picture of the vessel questioning the wisdom and ability of the creator by assuming that they can escape from their evil deeds

Isa 29: 13 The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish." 15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"…….16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the potter, "He knows nothing"?

In Isaiah 45 God assures that he controls history by using great nations and their emperors. In this case god says he will bring up Cyrus so that he may release Israel from their captivity.

Is 45: 4 For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. 9 "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no hands'?10 Woe to him who says to his father, 'What have you begotten?' or to his mother, 'What have you brought to birth?' 11 "This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?12 It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts. 13 I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty."

The major reference of Paul is from Jeremiah 18 where Jeremiah

18:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me:

6. "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

This is certainly a far cry from the predestination teaching. God uses the nations and his chosen ones to mould in his way. But if it contains too much sand or dirt and would not mould as he wants, he will still make use of the clay into a vessel for the best possible use it can be. Notice that verses 7-10 clearly states that what he does with the clay (nations) depends on the way they react to him.

The same message is enacted in Jeremiah 19 before the elders of Israel - his chooses people.

Jer 19:1 This is what the LORD says: "Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,…4 For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal--something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.

10. "Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, 11 and say to them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter's jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

This vessel was the vessel of honor - but when it carry abomination, it will be smashed to pieces - it becomes the vessel of wrath.

God does not create vessels to break them, but he will break them according as they behave. God is no respecter of persons - elect or non-elect.

Paul used this symbolism of Pot to Timothy in the same vein:

2 Timothy 2:19-20 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

God did not create these vessels for dishonor; it was their own choice. Even then, it is possible for the vessels to "purge" or pour out their dishonorable acts and be made into a vessel of honor worthy of the master's use:

2 Timothy 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the masters use, and prepared unto every good work.

We know that Paul uses the word "predestination" and it is translated to mean neo-Calvinism. On the other hand, he is clearly preaching free will.