THE DESTINY OF GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE

By David Woodbury

In Romans ch. 9 Paul turns from the crucial subject he has been covering in chapters 1 to 8; that of salvation by grace alone, to an explanation of God’s present dealing with Israel. For the next three chapters, this will be his main focus. In them, we see the heart of a Jewish patriot as he grieves for his own nation’s disobedience and rejection of Jesus Christ. Indeed, as we read this particular section of Romans (chs. 9-11) it becomes increasingly clear that Paul sees in God's judgment a means by which his mercy will finally triumph. (Interpreter's Bible, The – Exposition – Romans 9) He is at pains to emphasise the utter truthfulness of his message to the Jews in Rome. He is willing to suffer the tortures of hell and separation from God is it would save his Jewish people.

God’s Selection of Israel

With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. 4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. (Romans 9:1-5 - NLT)

Paul is acutely aware of the unique position that his people are in their special relationship with God; they are chosen to be God’s adopted children. Of all nations on earth, Israel has been singled out by God to be the people through whom God would demonstrate his justice, love, mercy and compassion for all mankind. He gave them His law and established distinctive covenants with them and gave them the great promises and it is from them that God raises up a redeemer.

There is a lesson of history for contemporary Christians to be discovered from these facts; Our Christian experience does not rest solely on a system of ideas and spiritual fact, but also the history of God’s dealing with his people. God has revealed Himself in many ways but perhaps most importantly in his interaction with human beings down through the ages. Through this, we begin to understand the very nature of God as we see him interacting with both individuals and groups of people. As we study and comprehend God’s dealing with the Jewish race we better understand how his grace, mercy, compassion and love operates.

In the next three chapters, we will follow what was perhaps the greatest Christian intellect in history as Paul explores and traces God’s dealings with humanity and how human beings think about and relate to God. We see a man wrestling with the many-sided relationship between human beings and God and gain insight into the character of the apostle Paul. In his contemplation, we begin to see and understand the faithfulness of God in his dealing with the Jewish race and all humanity.

6 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

10 This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.] (Romans 9:6-13 – NLT)

This is a very difficult passage of scripture and it needs to be read and understood against the background of Jesus’ words and Paul’s other letters. Read in isolation it appears that God chooses some to be saved and some to be dammed. It is from this misunderstanding of such Scriptures that the doctrine of predestination arises. Such is the basis of teaching by John Calvin. The doctrine of predestination has inspired endless debate, and most of it has been unprofitable. It has usually been treated as an abstract philosophical problem; whereupon it creates insoluble difficulties and leads to destructive or blasphemous conclusions. (Interpreter's Bible, The – Exposition – Romans 9)

Bear in mind that Paul is writing to Jewish people in Rome who had a strong belief in their heritage. Perhaps for some, there was the concept of an inevitable, almost mechanical belief that they would inherit God’s favour because of their racial background and many came to regard their inheritance as election to special privilege.

The reality is that not all Jews who claimed Jewish citizenship as descendants of Abraham were truly his spiritual offspring. In Galatians Paul clarifies who the true descendants of Abraham are: The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. (Galatians 3:7 – NLT) Abraham’s true spiritual descendants are those who live by faith in God as did Abraham. Not all Abraham’s descendants chose to live by faith in God as did Abraham, and consequently, they cannot, by their own choice, be children of the promise. (v8 – NLT)

As we have said previously, these writings need to be viewed against the words of Jesus and the other writings of Paul. Consequently, our starting point in considering this subject of predestination or election must be in the teachings of Jesus in John 3:16: For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (NLT) In Ephesians 3:1-6 Paul deals with this subject of God’s election. It describes God’s choice of what he would make out of those who believe in Christ; 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the  glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. (Ephesians 1:3-6)