Paul's Passing Thoughts

Election has a purpose. However you want to debate the issue, all should agree on that:

Romans 9:11 – though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”

God’s purpose of election is to remove all possibility of works from justification. This is clear. Therefore, election divides justification from sanctification completely. God goes to great extremes to make this as prevalent as He can. Though election is a difficult issue, verse 11 of this chapter could not be clearer on that point. Election makes salvation an issue of Him who calls rather than anything we do to contribute to justification.

But in sanctification (the Christian life), we are continually called to works. Therefore, those works must be seen as works that cannot affect our just standing. How could they if our calling was before the creation of the earth?

Romans 8:30 – And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Ephesians 1:4 – even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Sanctification is an entirely different matter. The Scriptures must be interpreted with this dichotomy in mind. This is the only thing that explains the call to work aggressively in our Christian life while justification is by faith alone. If we were called, it is a settled issue:

John 6:35 – Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

We must contend that eternal security and election go hand in hand apart from works to maintain our just standing. If we can lose our salvation, the next question must be: WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO KEEP IT? And if we have to do anything to keep it, we are a participant in justification. What of those who eventually deny the faith and walk away to no faith or a false faith? They were never saved to begin with:

1John 1:19 – They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

The historical events Paul cites in this chapter further explain the relationship of justification and law. This is important for the Gentiles to know because they are being integrated into a Jewish church, and movements within Judaism that propagated a works salvation by keeping the traditions of men were rampant. Remember, we find in our studies that these works systems are separate from truth and replace it with the ideas of men. This is probably because it makes law-keeping feasible. Ritual is always easier than love. True law-keeping is the direction and goal of sanctification, but justification is totally separate from law—this cannot be said enough.

As we begin to look at the history of covenants and their relationship to election, we will see that they work together toward the common goal of God dwelling with man on earth for eternity.

Genesis 12:1 – Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

The plan from the very beginning was to include the Gentiles: “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” And, God used events to demonstrate that the guarantee of this covenant was based on His promises alone. The first issue becomes Abraham and Sarah’s age. This is by design because the promised seed will be by a miracle of God and not anything that is a contribution from man:

Genesis 15:1 – After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

This is a very fundamental and important element of faith. Not a lot of theology in this conversation. It’s not that the informational part of faith is not important, but as we see here, it is fundamentally believing and trusting God Himself. Saving faith that justifies believes God. Much of what a new believer in God believes is information that comes later. The information itself takes a back seat to the fact that it came from God and that is why it is obeyed and accepted. Faith that justifies believes God Himself, and then whatever information comes from God later as a matter of trust and love. We may not always like it, but our dedication to God will result in a pattern of obedience.

Let’s continue to the next point:

Genesis 15:7 – And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

All of the whatnots concerning this covenant ritual aside, God puts Abraham in a deep sleep and consummates the covenant Himself. The faithfulness of the covenant will depend on God, not Abraham. God will fulfill this promise despite the failures of men—it doesn’t depend on man’s faithfulness, but God’s faithfulness. But mark it right here in Scripture: All of these promises to Abraham will be fulfilled. God even predicts the captivity in Egypt so that it will not be seen as proof that God forgot His chosen people or cast them away. While in Egypt, the Jews were transformed from a clan to a nation which required an additional covenant at Mt. Sinai. As we discussed in prior lessons, that covenant is consummated by force as prophesied in the book of Revelation. That is also when the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant is realized as well though not fully. The complete realization will be when heavenly Jerusalem descends from heaven and God tabernacles with man in the new heaven and new earth.

God combines the actions of men with His plan for finally dwelling with man in piece. This is a spectacular tapestry of God’s sovereignty and the actions of mankind woven together. In events, God is usually taking care of a lot of business, it is divine multitasking. While God’s nation is being incubated in Egypt along with the accumulation of possessions, the timing for using His nation to judge the Amorites will be right on schedule:

“And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (v.16).

And the fulfillment:

Joshua 12:1- Now these are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastward: 2 Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the middle of the valley as far as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, that is, half of Gilead, 3 and the Arabah to the Sea of Chinneroth eastward, and in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, southward to the foot of the slopes of Pisgah;

The next events are indicative of what happens when we are involved in God’s plan for salvation. God uses the events as recorded in Scripture to teach us the importance of salvation resting in His promises. Also, we see the reality of sanctification. Because we are born again, we display extraordinary acts of faith and obedience. We are also still mortal and weakened by the flesh which results in our pattern of faith being interrupted by boneheaded thinking and behavior:

Genesis 16:1 – Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” 13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. 15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Family drama is usually the result of bad ideas, and this was a bad idea. Notice the involvement of the angel in counseling Hagar. Remember that in our Mt. Sinai interlude study we learned that the angels are the administrators of God’s covenants, and I think that’s what we are seeing here. Angels are very much involved in the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan. More than likely, the seven letters to the churches in Revelation were delivered by actual angels accordingly. Some interpret the word for angel there as the sole or most prominent pastor at that church. More likely is the idea that the letters were delivered by real angels. This might also indicate that each church has its own angel assigned by God. When Abraham turns 99 years old, God returned and stated the following:

Genesis 17:15 – And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

Abraham wanted God to establish the everlasting covenant through an heir of his own scheming; that wasn’t going to happen. Ishmael was technically an Israelite, but he serves to make Paul’s point in Romans nine: not all Israelites are of the promise just because they are Abraham’s offspring, and men do not contribute to the successful consummation of the promise in any way:

Romans 9:6 – But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Here is the specific reference in Genesis:

Genesis 18:9 – They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Paul’s very next example to further illustrate His point is the twins Esau and Jacob born to Isaac and Rebecca. Technically, Esau was the heir because he emerged first:

Romans 9:10 – And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Israel was elected and the promise is founded on God’s faithfulness and plan alone. But not all are righteous decedents. Israel is an elected nation and has elect within according to the promise. Israel is comprised of those under the law, enslaved to sin, and headed for a judgment where they will be judged by the law. Then there is a remnant that is under grace, enslaved to righteousness, and will not stand in a judgment to determine their just standing:

Galatians 4:21 – Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

[Isaiah 54:1] “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”

28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman [note what Paul is calling the “law” here. It is the historical account of the linage. A reminder from past studies that the Bible is “the law”].

Paul wanted the Gentiles at Rome to have a thorough understanding that they were children of the promise. Covenants of promise are completely apart from the law and works. Election guarantees that separation. That’s the positive side: free to aggressively obey God in sanctification without affecting the finished work of justification,  and knowing that we are secure because our salvation was of God only. That’s the positive side. Next week, we will look at Paul’s anticipated objection from some:

Romans 9:19 – You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

We will look at this deeper next week.