In a previous post, I began a series of posts to summarize Romans 9–11 passage by passage. In Romans 9:1–13, Paul begins to explain “God’s purpose of election” for Israel (Romans 9:11; cf. 9:4–5). In short, God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not mean that every ethnic Israelite was an Israelite who was also a child of promise and of God. God chose that only a remnant would receive His saving grace (cf. also Romans 11:5). Abraham’s promises went to Isaac, not Ishmael. Isaac’s promises went to Jacob, not Esau. Likewise, God gives His promises to a spiritual remnant within national Israel.
In Romans 9:14–24, Paul anticipates and answers two objections to the truth of Romans 9:6–13, objections that could be paraphrased in this way: (1) Is God unjust to show selective mercy to some but not others? (Romans 9:14–18); and, from Paul’s answer in Romans 9:14–18, (2) Is IS it fair for God to find fault with those He hardens? (Romans 9:19–24).
Romans 9:14–18
Paul asks if God is unjust and answers with an emphatical denial (Romans 9:14). He quotes God’s words to Moses in Exodus 33:19, in which He declares His right to show mercy and have compassion on whomever He chooses (Romans 9:15). Paul even clarifies that it is neither human will nor action but God alone who determines who receives His mercy (Romans 9:16; cf. 9:11).
Paul then quotes God’s words to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16, in which He declared that He raised up Pharaoh to show His power in judgment and so that His name would be proclaimed in all the earth (Romans 9:17).
Summarizing Romans 9:14–17, the first half of Romans 9:18 restates that God shows mercy to whomever He wills (cf. Romans 9:15–16), and the second half of Romans 9:18 concludes from God’s words to Pharaoh that God hardens whomever He wills (cf. Romans 9:17).
Romans 9:19–24
Paul shifts from himself (Romans 9:14, “we”) to others (Romans 9:19–20, “You… O man”) with a further objection in Romans 9:19—why does God find fault with those He hardens in sin and unbelief?
Paul answers this objection with a series of rhetorical questions. His first question indicates that the question in Romans 9:19 is inappropriate because it places the objector in authority and judgment over God (Romans 9:20a). His second question supports this notion by comparing the objector to a molded artifact that questions its molder as to why he molded it as he did (Romans 9:20b). Paul’s third question supports God’s authority further with another picture—a potter has authority to make both honorable and dishonorable vessels from the same lump of clay (Romans 9:21).
Paul then drops the metaphorical language in Romans 9:22–24 and asks another question to identify three purposes of God in showing judgment and mercy. In doing so, he also indicates how these purposes relate to one another.
The first two purposes are that God desires (1) to show His wrath and (2) to make known His power (Romans 9:22). The power in judgment (plagues and military loss) that Pharaoh experienced in Egypt (cf. Romans 9:17), God desires to show in full at the final judgment. These two purposes lead to a third and greater purpose—that (3) God will make known the riches of His glory to the recipients of His mercy (Romans 9:23). In other words, when God’s mercy is placed in front of the background of His wrath and power, His mercy is all the more glorious.
Paul then speaks of himself and describes the recipients of mercy as “even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles” (Romans 9:24). God’s purpose in election involves both Jews and Gentiles in the church today. Praise God for His wonderful mercy!