Romans 9 Footnotes

9:6 Here, and in what follows, Paul distinguished two kinds of Israel and two kinds of election. God chose physical, historical Israel by selecting Abraham and his descendants; this is the election mentioned in v. 11. God chose the historical nation Israel; through it he accomplished many purposes, including the establishment of both Scripture (v. 4; 3:2) and the line of the Messiah (v. 5). But not all of elect, ethnic Israel constitutes elect, spiritual (saved) Israel (v. 8). Paul distinguished two kinds of election: (1) the election of the nation Israel to achieve certain tasks (also why God chose individuals—the patriarchs and Pharaoh, v. 17), and (2) election to salvation. To be in the latter group (that is, to attain righteousness) requires faith in Christ (vv. 30-33; recall what makes a true Jew in 2:28-29).

9:13-14,21 These verses may give the impression that God acts arbitrarily and apart from human cooperation, suggesting a divine disregard for human freedom that consequently cannot hold people responsible for their actions. None of this fairly represents Paul’s point here. God’s gracious and merciful plan does not violate human freedom. To select Jacob over Esau reflects God’s sovereign choice to have the nation of Israel come through Jacob’s descendants, not Esau’s. In saying God “hated” Esau, Paul did not imply that God excluded him from salvation.

God executes his redemptive, gracious plan as he pleases. Humans have no claim on God. So, on the national level, God sovereignly decided to have mercy on Israel (including the patriarchs). Nevertheless, Abraham’s physical children cannot claim they are automatically elected for salvation and are therefore righteous apart from placing genuine faith in Christ (vv. 31-32). Yet God’s gracious election also operates for salvation: God has determined to save those who trust in his Son. God will have mercy on whom he wills to have mercy, and no claim even of Jewish descent will override what the divine Potter chooses to do.

Interestingly, the Prophet Jeremiah also used the potter as an illustration of how God works, acknowledging that God may vary his responses given human reaction to his words (Jr 18:5-10). God desires people to repent and turn to him. The potter illustration shows that God is not immovable nor impassive; he does not carry out his plans without aim.

9:16-21 Though God sovereignly raised Pharaoh up for his own purposes, Pharaoh willingly made his own choices in rebelling against God. Scripture always upholds complete divine sovereignty and human responsibility (see note on Ex 4:21).

9:22-23 Three interpretations diverge here. (1) Paul taught “double predestination”: before creation, God determined to save some and condemn others (a view often associated with Calvinists). God fixed the number he will glorify and the number he will destroy. Given that all sinners deserve condemnation, God’s choice to save some demonstrates his mercy. (2) God elects some to save, leaving the rest to their deserved fate. In both of these views the nonelect, objects of his wrath, justly deserve their fate; so God is not unjust by not electing them. (3) God predetermined the general outcomes—either wrath or glory—but the saved or the destroyed determine their own fates in response to God’s initiating grace. In this view, the criterion for inclusion or exclusion in “my people” (v. 26) is whether sinners pursue righteousness by faith or in self-reliance (v. 32; 10:3-4,9-10). That is, those destroyed prepared themselves for their destruction. People are predestined to condemnation so long as they choose to continue in their ways and resist God’s grace.