Romans 9

After reading this we are tempted to think that God really is unjust—that He was unjust to Pharaoh. God never gave Pharaoh a chance! He never showed Pharaoh a bit of kindness! But we must remember that no man is deserving of God’s kindness; no man is deserving of God’s mercy. No man can say to God: “I deserve a chance!” The reason is that we have all sinned against God repeatedly (see Romans 3:10-12). The only thing man deserves from God is punishment. God hardens men because of their sin. When God hardens a man, He is demonstrating His justice—not injustice.

Therefore, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart because of Pharaoh’s wickedness. God was totally just in hardening Pharaoh’s heart.⁵⁶ Pharaoh deserved God’s punishment.

Mercy, on the other hand, is not something anyone “deserves”; otherwise, it wouldn’t be mercy. Mercy, by its very nature, is undeserved. It is given only to the undeserving. No one can complain about not receiving mercy, since no one deserves it! God is under no obligation to show mercy to anyone. But if God decides to show some people mercy, what is wrong with that? Is He unjust to do so? By no means.

So we see that God gives justice (punishment) to all. But to some, according to His eternal purpose, He shows mercy. And since the coming of Christ into the world, God has shown mercy to all those who believe in Him. God has not withdrawn the just punishment we deserve; instead, He has given it to Christ in our place. Thus we see together both the justice and the mercy of God.

Those who receive salvation have God alone to thank, because their salvation has come entirely as a result of His mercy and grace. But those who receive eternal punishment have only themselves to thank, because through their sin they have fully earned their punishment.

19-21 Just as a lump of clay has no right to complain against the potter, so we likewise have no right to complain against God for making us the way we are. We are not to blame God for our sin.

In Jeremiah 18:1-12, the prophet Jeremiah compares the nations of the earth to clay in the potter’s hands. Through Jeremiah, God said that if any nation He planned to raise up did evil, He would change His mind and punish it instead. Likewise, if any nation He planned to destroy repented, He would forgive that nation and raise it up. Just as God deals with nations, so also does He deal with individuals.

22 What are the objects of his (God’s) wrath that Paul mentions in this verse? They are disobedient men like Pharaoh, or like those who refuse to believe in Christ; they are deserving of God’s wrath. God bore with great patience these disobedient men—these “objects of wrath”—so that they might have a chance to repent. But in the end He will show His wrath to all who do not repent. Such men are indeed prepared for destruction.

Here also some difficult questions arise: Who made these “objects of wrath” which were prepared for destruction, and when were they made? What was the clay like, from which these objects were originally made? Was the clay somehow bad, and that was the reason God made it into an “object of wrath”? Or did God simply set that clay aside in the beginning to be made into objects “prepared for destruction”? What was the basis for God’s decision? Was it the quality of the clay? Or was it simply God’s sovereign will? (see verses 17-18 and comment).

Again, Christians have two main thoughts on this subject. Many Christians think that God, from the very beginning, chose some men (clay) for destruction and other men for salvation. According to this first view, the responsibility for man’s fate lies entirely with God.

But other Christians have a different thought. These Christians believe that God first made all men for salvation. But some men opposed God’s grace and sinned against Him. As a result of their own opposition and sin, these men turned themselves into “objects of wrath.” God bore with great patience their sin and disobedience. God waited patiently so that they might have a chance to repent. Even now, God continues waiting patiently for men to repent. There is still the chance for these disobedient men—these objects of his wrath—to repent and be made into objects of his mercy (verse 23). Thus, according to this second view, men themselves, not God, are primarily responsible for whether they are chosen for destruction or salvation, for whether they become objects of wrath or objects of mercy (see 2 Timothy 2:20-21 and comment).

It is not possible to say with certainty which of these two ideas is the correct one. There is clearly much truth on both sides. Perhaps, in some way that is beyond our understanding, both of these ideas are equally true and represent two sides of one great truth. But whichever of these ideas we prefer, there still remains one essential truth on which all believers can agree: namely, that salvation is granted to all men and women who truly repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel of Christ. More than this we do not need to know.

23-24 Who, then, are the objects of [God’s] mercy? (verse 23). They are those men and women who have faith, who have been chosen by God from before the creation of the world—even us, whom he also called (verse 24). We believers are the “objects of God’s mercy,” to whom He has shown the riches of his glory (see Ephesians 1:18; 3:16).

25 Here Paul quotes from the Old Testament prophet Hosea. The Gentiles had not at first been God’s people. But then, through faith, they became God’s people. At first, only the Jews were considered by God to be “my people”; and only Israel was called “my loved one” (Hosea 2:23; 1 Peter 2:10).

26 But then the Gentiles, who were not God’s people, became sons of the living God through faith in Christ. In other words, no longer did the “true Israel” consist only of Jews by birth, but it now included all those who believed in Christ (Hosea 1:10; Romans 9:6).

27-28 Here Paul quotes from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Isaiah says that only a few Jews, a remnant, will be saved—namely, those Jews who believe in Jesus Christ (Isaiah 10:22-23).

29 Here Isaiah says that if God had not left some descendants of Abraham—that is, a “remnant” of Jews—all the Jews would have come to destruction, like the inhabitants of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:9). God destroyed those two Old Testament cities, because of the wickedness of their inhabitants (Genesis 19:1-29)

30 The Gentiles did not pursue righteousness according to the written Jewish law; in the end, they obtained righteousness through faith (Romans 3:22).

31-33 Israel (the Jews), on the other hand, pursued a law of righteousness (verse 31), but didn’t obtain it. Why didn’t they obtain it? Because they did not have faith; rather, they tried to obtain righteousness by works (verse 32). They trusted in their own efforts. They said: “Because we are descendants of Abraham by birth, surely we must be children of God.” But in thinking this, they had made a big mistake. Even though they were indeed God’s chosen people on the basis of their natural descent from Abraham, in the end they lost the privilege of being God’s people, God’s children, because of their refusal to believe in Christ. Our election, our righteousness, our salvation are all by faith, not by works. Most of the Jews tried to obtain righteousness and salvation by their own religious works, and they failed. The Gentiles, who in the Jews’ eyes didn’t even pursue righteousness, ended up obtaining it—through faith.

In verse 33, Paul quotes again from Isaiah. Zion is another name for the Jewish nation of Israel. The Jews stumbled over the “stumbling stone” (verse 32). That “stumbling stone” was Jesus Christ. When the Jews rejected Christ, they lost their salvation—that is, they stumbled (Isaiah 8:14; 28:16). The Jews could not believe that their Savior—who the Old Testament had promised would come—would turn out to be the son of an ordinary carpenter and then, worse than that, end up dying on a cross like a lowly criminal. Instead of worshiping such a Savior, they despised Him. Therefore, Christ became for the Jews a “stumbling stone” over which they stumbled and fell (see 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Peter 2:8 and comments).