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Romans 9 – Introduction
August 22nd 2021
Entering today into Romans 9 there are some items that need to be addressed in order for there to be clarity.
The first one, which I will quickly cover because we’ve recently discussed it, is the paradoxical nature of total contextual biblical Christianity.
There are things the Bible says and conveys in one place that it seems to address in a different way in another.
This can only be expected when an eternal infinite God sets out to redeem fallible, finite and fallen man.
We will especially struggle here in chapter nine with the paradoxical nature of God’s sovereignty and man receiving God’s call.
Additionally, background information of Abraham and his sons and Isaac and his which will go a long way in clearing the path for our understanding.
ABRAHAM was the son of Terah.
Genesis 11:27 lists the genealogy of Abram and his older brothers Nahor and Haran, but Abram is listed first even though he was youngest because he was the heir of the promises of God.
Until the ripe old age of seventy, Abram lived among his kindred in his native country of Chaldea in the city of Ur.
Then, with his father, family and household in tow, he left Ur traveled some 300 miles north to a place called Haran and lived there fifteen years.
The reason he left was, according to Acts 7:2-4, was because of a call from God and it is interesting that there is no mention of this first call in the Old Testament, although it is sort of implied in Genesis 12:1-20.
While Abram lived in Haran, his father Terah died at the age of 205.
At this time the Lord spoke to Abram and said:
Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
So Abraham left and he took his nephew (named Lot) with him.
Hebrews 11:8 says that Abram left, “not knowing whither he went.” – instead he implicitly trusted the guidance of God who had called him.
I want to stop here for just a minute.
The faith we are called to live by today is not one bit different. And the more we are able to embrace this type of life, the more we reflect the faith that was found in so many Old and New Testament believers who pleased the Lord by and through their faith.
Living by faith is a choice – we choose to trust God and His ability to run and manage our lives.
For every one who attempts this there are ten million who have reasons why they shouldn’t. Don’t listen to them.
Go forth, having heard the voice of Him who called you out, and trust Him with everything.
Once Abram came into the land of Canaan, Genesis 12:7 says:
“And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land . . .”
I am gonna summarize a lot of time and events here in Abrahams life by simply saying that Abraham made a number of significant moves over the course of his life and faced a number of significant events.
And spread over the top of each of them, the promises of God continued to come and were even enhanced before Abram.
Living now in a place called Mamre, the promises already made to him by God were repeated and enlarged.
Listen to what God says (actually the scripture says, “The word of the Lord” came to him,” which is the first time this expression is used in scripture.
Genesis 13:14-17
“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”
By this time, when the promises of God were really laid out bare and plain, Sarai, Abrams wife, was now a hot little seventy-five year old.
She knew the promise God made to her hubby, that He had said . . .
“I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.”
But nothing was happening. And we are faced with a TREMENDOUS lesson dating all the way back to Abram and his wife Sarai: The lesson?
Do anything in your power not to create “Ishmaels.” There is just no better way to say it.
You see, what happened with the creation of Ishmael actually began all the way back at the fall – and the implications are disastrous. See, Adam was created from the dust of the ground and given the breath of life by God wherein he became a living soul.
Eve was taken from his side and was created to be a help meet to him.
Coming from his side, Eve was to pay Adam honor and respect, as anything that comes FROM something else ought to honor and respect its origins.
Adam, in turn, was to take great care for that which was taken from him – that which came from him. He was to watch out for her, protect her, provide for her and make her feel like she was still “connected” to Him – in other words, to make her feel loved as His one and only.
They were given two commandments – don’t eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and multiply and replenish the earth.
I would suggest, because of the pattern we are about to see, that Eve got tired of waiting for the multiply part to occur.
Listen carefully now – Adam instead of listening to God listened to what came from him.
And EVERYTHING fell apart as a result.
Now, most of you have heard my thoughts on the end-result of Adam and Eve (with Eve being a woman of faith in the end and Adam being a dud) so don’t think I am picking on Eve. But bottom line, they broke the order of things and she ought to have been patient and he ought to have never listened to her insights, wisdom, or suggestions.
God punished Adam for hearkening to his wife. Fast forward to Abram.
God has promised Abram that he will have an insane number of prosperity.
For this to occur, Abram had to have “at least” one son. And he had none. And we come to a similar situation.
Sarai gets impatient and gives Abram directives so that a man-child may be born to them. And she tells Abram to take Hagar, an Egyptian bondwoman, and to produce a child through her.
And Abram, like Adam, listens to the directives of his wife and acts accordingly.
The result of Adam following Eve was the Fall.
The result of Abram following Sarai was a first born son named Ishmael.
Later, Sarai conceives and bears a man child named Isaac who is the promised child.
Now, there is a lesson in this, which Paul teaches in his letter to the Galatians.
In Galatians 4:22-26 Paul writes:
“For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, (Hagar) the other by a freewoman.(Sarah) But he who was of the bondwoman (Ishmael) was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman (Isaac) was by promise; which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”
In other words, God did not instruct Abram to take Hagar – they chose to do this by their flesh, their own ideas of how to proceed, and, like the Fall, the end result was disastrous.
“Ishmaels” result from trying to produce something for God using “worldly ways and worldly people,” as Hagar was of Egypt, which is a type for the world and the flesh and bondage.
So what was the result?
I’m not going to go into it entirely because this is all prep work for understanding Romans 9, but the result of Abram and Sarai taking action based on what they thought would work was unhappiness, fighting, ill-treatment of Ishmael and Hagar, and in the end, an entire nation of people (the Arabs, who are descendants of Ishmael) literally hating the Jews (who are the literal descendents of Isaac, Abram and Sarai’s second son . . . but the son of promise.
Paul makes this clear when he said in Galatians 4:29:
“But as then he that was born after the flesh (Ishmael) persecuted him that was born after the Spirit (Isaac) even so it is now.”
You see, products of our flesh will always produce unwieldy things . . . things that are patterned after a wild nature rather than holy one.
Listen to how an angel in Genesis describes Ishmael to Hagar prior to his birth:
“Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
After a whole bunch of events we will not name here today, Sarai, whose name was now changed to Sarah, gave Abraham, now a hundred years old (and whose name was also changed) the son of promise. God told Sarah his name would be Isaac, which means laughter in Hebrew.
As far as ISHMAEL goes, he was circumcised when he was thirteen years old, and he grew up a true child of the desert, wild and at times insolent.
Genesis 21:9-10 tells us he and Hagar were being rude to Sarah and Isaac and Sarah made Abraham send them off into the desert.
Scripture says that God was with Ishmael and in time he became a great archer” and “chief of the desert.”
Ishmael had twelve sons, and died at 137 years of age.
Prior to passing, the Bible reveals that at the death of Abraham his father, Ishmael returned to the funeral and he and Isaac met after being apart for a long period of time.
Genesis 25:9 says:
And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah.
Little else is known of Ishmael after this except for the fact that his twelve sons became the founders of all Arab tribes and colonies who were known in the Bible as the Ishmaelites, spread over the wide desert spaces of Northern Arabia, and that their “their hand was against every man, and every man’s hand was against them.”
So back to the child of promise, ISAAC, the “child of promise” because he is the child God promised Abraham and Sarah.
Interestingly, he is the only child of Abraham and Sarah.
Unlike Ishamael who was circumsized when he was thirteen, Isaac was circumcised at eight days.
Besides a possible weening party, the next memorable event in his life is when God told Abraham to offer him up as a sacrifice on a mountain in the land of Moriah.
What a picture of faith that was.
When he was forty years of age Rebekah was chosen for his wife.
After the death and burial of Abraham he took up his residence at Beer-lahai-roi. This is where Isaac had two sons – twins – Esau and Jacob.
And from what we can tell, Esau was his favorite of the two.
Now ESAU
means hairy and was the first born twin of
Rebekah and Isaac. Even as a baby he must have been a manly man because to be named hairy as a newborn is pretty crazy.
He was also called Edom, which means “red” which was a name given to him because he made a deal for a mess of pottage and the lentils in the pottage were red.
One of the key pictures the Lord gives us through the story of Esau and his brother Jacob (his twin brother) was the heated competition that existed between them even from the womb.
The best way to understand this is from scripture itself:
Genesis 25:21-28
21 “And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: (which means heel-catcher) and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Once again, the Lord is painting a picture for us of human nature, of what He deems important in His creations, and how he looks upon the children of men.
Going back again to the first born sons of Adam and Eve, Cain was the eldest and was a man of the fields, the dirt, and obviously of a more wild disposition than his shepherd brother Abel whom he killed.
In the case of Abraham, his first born son, created by an act of the flesh of human will, Ishmael was a wild man, whom scripture says “had his hand against every man, ”as was his progeny.
But by all accounts, Isaac was compliant, loved his mother, but possessing a weak character.
Now we come to two more comparatives in scripture – pictures, if you will, for our benefit and understanding.
For as Esau from the womb was a “mans man,” a hunter, a man of the earth, Jacob was of an all together different character – not what we might consider good or likeable.
In process of time Jacob, following his natural bent, became a shepherd; while Esau, became a “son of the desert,” and devoted himself to the perilous life of a hunter.
On a certain occasion, on returning from the chase, Esau was famished. He was a man of the flesh so getting food was at the top of his priorities.
His brother Jacob had cooked up a batch of red lentils (called pottage) and impetuous Esau sold his birthright (the rights that came with coming out of the womb first) to Jacob, who thereby obtained the covenant blessing given to Abraham that had passed down through Isaac.
Later Esau tried to regain what he had so recklessly parted with, but was defeated in his attempts through the stealth of his brother.
I personally relate to this story of Esau and Jacob. My older brother was very much like Jacob – smart, conniving – while I was the Wildman.
I understand the mindset and make-up of Esau – feel empathetic sorrow for him at times, but again, see through him that the Lord does not relate to the outward appearances or means of a man, but looks upon the heart and the willingness in a person to submit and humble themselves before Him.
Jacob, though he was a snake in the grass in his early life, had a heart for God . . . and Esau, though in all probability was far more likeable and fun and even capable, had no interest in the things above.
At the age of forty years, to the great grief of his parents, Esau married two Canaanitish maidens, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon.
Later Esau tried to please his parents by marrying his cousin Mahalath, who was one of the daughters of Ishmael.
And so finally, we have JACOB, whose name, as we said, means “one who follows on another’s heels,” “heelcatcher,” or “supplanter.”
It is thought that Jacob was more like his father in that he had a quiet and gentle disposition, but in his dealings with Esau he showed a propensity for selfishness and cunning.
When Isaac was about 160 years of age, Jacob and his mother conspired to deceive him as the patriarch by sealing the birthright forfeit Esau made through the means of Jacob getting a blessing which would be binding.
Possessing the birthright secured to the man who possessed it (1) superior rank in his family, (2) a double portion of the paternal inheritance, (3) the priestly office in the family, and in this case, the promise of the Seed in which all nations of the earth were to be blessed – a blessing going all the way back to Abraham.
In the end, Jacob (at the guidance of his mother) got the birthright blessing and very soon thereafter, feeling guilty, became afraid for his life due to the anger of his Wildman brother Esau.
His mother told Jacob to flee and he went to Haran some 400 miles away.
There he found a wife (among his cousins) in the family of Laban, a Syrian.
And there he fell in love with Laban’s daughter Rachael but Laban would not give his consent to take Rachel’s hand until Jacob served him for seven years.
To Jacob these years “seemed but a few days, for the love he had for Rachael.” But when the seven years were expired, Laban craftily deceived Jacob (giving Jacob a dose of his own medicine) and not only gave him his daughter Leah but forced him to serve another seven years before he could have Rachel too.
In taking these two sisters to wife Jacob had life-long sorrow, disgrace, and trials.
It’s important to know that Jacob obtained Leah and Rachel in Mesopotamia and not in the promised land.
After fourteen years of service to Laban, Jacob, who possessed the entire future “nation of Israel” in his family, left Mesopotamia for good, and Jacob headed back to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
Soon after Jacob is met by a company of angels (in somewhat of a picture of greeting him on his return and welcome him back to the Land of Promise).
Here he learns that his brother Esau is coming with a band of 400 men to meet him.
In great agony of mind (guilt which was accompanied by fear) Jacob the heelcatcher prepared for the worst as he knew his brother was a mighty dessert nomad.
And his only hope, out there in the wilderness, surrounded with his family and having spent his life working amongst animals, is to place all of his dependence on . . . God.
So he sends out greetings to Esau with a bunch of gifts, sends his family away, and starts praying. All night long.
While in prayer a being appeared in the form of a man who wrestled with Jacob.
And while the being allowed Jacob to prevail, he crippled him (to show him who was really in charge) and then changed Jacobs name from “heel catcher” to Israel, which means, “wrestler with God.”
Then after this anxious long night, Jacob came out to meet Esau, limping for the rest of his life.
Esau was appeased and Jacob and Esau parted ways in peace.
Twenty years after this, Isaac their father died, and the two brothers met, probably for the last time, beside his grave – just like Ishmael and Isaac. Esau then permanently left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful and wealthy chief in the land of Edom.
Long after this, when the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt, the descendents of Esau, now called Edomites, remembered the old quarrel between the two brothers and with fierce hatred warred against Israel.
Just like the descendents of Ishmael war against the descendents of Isaac today.
Just as the flesh of every believer wars against the spirit of every believer today.
In time, God appeared to Jacob and renewed the Abrahamic covenant with him.
And Jacob, now named Israel, through a series of wives, brought forth twelve sons who would become “the twelve tribes of Israel” and who would all wind up in Egypt in the years to come, would all ultimately be placed in bondage there, and would finally be led out of Egyptian bondage (which was a picture for our bondage to sin) by Moses.
In these stories and pictures of Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, and Esau and Jacob, we have the basic set for better understanding what Paul is going to teach us here in Romans 9.
Now, in Romans 9 Paul opens, to some degree, with a new train of thought and argumentation we have not yet seen here in this letter.
Maybe he does this to ward off objections that may come his way from other positions he has advanced and defended in earlier parts of the epistle.
In the previous chapters, Paul had defended the position, that the barrier between the Jews and Gentiles has been removed; that the Jews could not be saved by any external advantages which they possessed; that all were alike guilty before God; and that there was but one way for Jews and Gentiles of salvation–by faith in Jesus Christ.
In chapter five he stated the benefits of this plan, and in chapters 6-7 he showed that the plan accomplished what the Law of Moses could not in terms of overcoming sin.
In chapter 8 he had stated also on what principles this was all done – that it was all according to the purposes of God.
And to this premise two objections could arise:
First, that it was unjust; and second, that the whole argument involved God abandoning the promises He had made to the nation of Israel.
It is also possible that the Jewish converts in Rome reading this letter at this point might think that Paul had turned on his countrymen, and had become the exclusive advocate of the Gentiles.
To meet these objections and feelings (and maybe more we haven’t considered) it seems Paul has now composed the contents of chapter nine.
And here Paul shows the nation of Israel that he has
(1.) unabated love for his countrymen, and regard for their welfare, (Ro 9:1-5) and
(2.) He shows them, from their own writings, that the principle of election had existed in former times relative to them.
Now, we have to be careful here in chapter 9 because it is not a reference to national election (meaning all of Israel is saved)
but has direct reference to the doctrine of the election to salvation which we discussed in chapter 8.
So let’s read beginning at verse one through, say thirteen, then see how far we can get before the hour runs out.
Romans 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
We’ll pick up then at verse one of chapter 9, next week . . .
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