I WILL CALL THEM LOVED WHO WERE NOT LOVED Romans 9 isTHE great sovereign-grace chapter of scripture. In crafting his argument to answer the question of HOW it is that Gods word/promise to Abraham has NOT failed even though God has turned from Israel TO the church (comprised of Jew and Gentile believers), Paul addresses the SOVEREIGNTY of God. God had promised a son to Abraham, and to make it interesting, Abraham fathered two sons, Ismael and Isaac. But ONLY Isaac was the son of promise - God CHOSE Isaac, not Ishmael. Gods word to Abraham was In ISAAC shall your seed be called. But then to make matters even more interesting, Isaac -the one whose seed the promise spoke of, fathered twins! Ignoring the natural order, God CHOSE the younger of the twins Jacob, and not Esau. Paul crafts his argument further, illustrating the sovereign God at work in the hardening of Pharaohs heart and reminding us that God HAD said to Moses I will have MERCY on whom I will have mercy. Paul concludes that section with the summary statement THEREFORE, He has mercy on whom HE chooses and whom HE chooses, HE hardens (Rom 9:18). Moving further, Paul speaks of both vessels of MERCY, prepared BY GOD, in advance FOR glory and vessels of WRATH prepared FOR destruction (Rom 9:22-23). Paul does NOT leave us in the dark so to speak about WHO these vessels of MERCY ARE. He identifies them as Even US whom He called from both Jews and Greeks (Rom 9:24). This is CLEARLY a reference to THE church comprised of believing Jews and Gentiles. WE are the vessels of MERCY. The Vessels Of Mercy were... - Prepared BY God -not themselves. - IN ADVANCE - they were chosen BEFORE they actually believed (though in time, God still worked to bring them to actual faith) - FOR glory -not merely an earthly vocation. Paul says of them (us) that they (we) were once NOT loved, but are NOW loved by God (Rom 9:25-26). Q. Did God love us BEFORE He Himself brought us to faith? A. The answer is yes and no. For certain, We love Him BECAUSE He FIRST loved us (1 Jn 4:10,19). But this was Gods ELECTING love. He foreknew us intimately and personally as His own (Rom 8:28-29; 1 Pe 1:2) but God did NOT personally or relationally love us UNTIL He regenerated us and brought us to faith. So that NOW we are loved, who were NOT loved. NOW in Christ, we are accepted in the beloved. Prior to this, though God HAD in love predestined us to be adopted as His sons, (Eph 1:4,5,11) still before He actually brought us to faith, we were children of WRATH (Eph 2:1-4). Having NOW brought us to faith, God now relationally loves us BECAUSE we now believe in, lev and seek to obey Jesus (Jn 14:21,23; 16:27). Q. Does God love everyone alike in the human race? A. No. God CHOOSES who He will love. God brings to faith those HE chose. God NOW loves them BECAUSE they now believe in and love Jesus. For FROM Him and TO Him and THROUGH Him be all things (Rom 11:36).
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 02:21:41 +0000
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