“I’m speaking the truth in Christ – I’m not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit…” Romans 9:1
Paul opens the chapter with an oath. He’s aware of Jesus (Matthew 5:33-37) saying that no oath is ever to be taken lightly. And, of course, he’s aware of Ecclesiastes 5:5 when it says that it’s better not to vow than to vow and not pay. He uses the Jewish literary form of a positive affirmation followed by the negative, a parallel that’s designed to establish the emphasis – in this case, the vow. Adding to that, he shows that his conscience is bound and guided by the Holy Spirit.
Why he does this becomes evident as we move into the subject matter at hand, which is God’s sovereignty and predestination. Is it because of the weight of the subject? Surprisingly, no, although it’s certainly wrapped up in it. The reason that Paul is said this, and taken this heavy tone is because he loves his people. Love causes this. Yes, love is wrapped up in predestination and God’s sovereignty.
“…that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” Romans 9:2
Doctrine isn’t an academic issue. It’s a life or death issue. And, being a life issue, it’s the source of truth upon which we, in our very beings and personal lives, sink or swim. This is important to notice because we often think the two are quite separate. We think of emotional people – you know, those who weep at movies and listen to syrupy ballads (full disclosure: I might be guilty as charged) on one hand and heady intellectuals on the other. Poets over here, engineers over there.
Ah, but look at what we find here. Is there a greater theologian than the Apostle Paul? Doesn’t Peter himself admit that some of what Paul writes in Scripture is hard to understand (2 Peter 3:15-16)? Indeed, Paul is a brilliant man. Saul of Tarsus was the Jew of Jews. A Pharisee. And yet he’s also deeply moved by his love for apostate Israel, his people according to the flesh. He’s no dry and arid theologian. He’s a true theologian who, led by the Spirit, understands great doctrine and this deep knowledge causes and encourages true love.
David was a man of the arts too. A mighty warrior and a singer. A great king and as well as a skilled musician. He was a sheep herder and the Lord’s soldier who killed thousands. He was brought in to soothe the ailing spirits of King Saul and yet he was brave enough to go out to face – one on one – the massive Philistine, Goliath. You’re probably full of things like that too (albeit in less demonstrative ways) – full of a diversity of things that makes you who you are.
A mistake is to think that we should be conforming to others around us (and their expectations) and not following the God who created and loves us. Remember: in Christ, your life and personality is what Christianity looks like. We often make the mistake of focusing on our own or the quirks of others. Personality tendencies (as we’ll see in Romans 12) aren’t moral issues. It isn’t a sin to be an introvert. It isn’t a sin to like sappy music and holy to like Beethoven. The Christian life is the one in which by faith we come to Christ and repent of our sin – and that primary sin is to see ourselves and the world as our own. To see God as righteous and His word/law as our final standard, through faith alone, is to be set free from sin.
Since God is morally perfect, sin must be dealt with. And since we’re sinners who have offended Him those offenses must be paid for either by us or by Him. The great news of the gospel is that we have the righteousness of Christ through faith. This is what it means to say that salvation is from the Lord. We’re forgiven and loved and now fully secure in Him who died for us! Therefore, if the knowledge of the great doctrines of Scripture don’t cause us to love deeply, as God loves, then we don’t truly understand them. True doctrine is true love. Love without conformity to the source of love – Jesus Christ – is a contradiction in terms. If we try and love without the righteousness that comes through faith then we’ll end up in strife and regret and shame at some point. Love is from God alone.
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Romans 9:3
Didn’t we just read a towering chapter extolling joy in the Spirit? Didn’t we just read of how we couldn’t be separated from the love of God and now Paul speaks of such grief and sorrow? Oh, what a lesson! The Christian life is truly a life. It isn’t stoicism or some form of robotic legalism. Great sorrows in the Lord can and do reside in the hearts He’s saved that are yet bursting with the joy of that salvation.
Isn’t this amazing? After all that he’s said about the security and joy of salvation, he says this. He presents to us, without lying, that he could almost wish to be cut off from all of it for the sake of his people. But Paul knows, as we should too by now, that no man can save anyone from their sin. Only the morally perfect and sinless Son of God can save us. Also, this verse obliterates any form of anti-Semitism in Scripture. There’s none here nor was there any with Jesus. Think of how Jesus stood outside of Jerusalem and grieved. “How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not (Matthew 23:37)!” Oh, and Jesus was a Jew.
It’s also stunning because it shows the heart of Moses as well.
Remember how Israel, free now from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, having witnessed the powerful hand of God in their deliverance, fell into gross idolatry when Moses was on the mountain. They were dancing naked around a bull they made while Moses was with the Lord and their sin was horrific. God threatened to kill all of them for it and start again with Moses. That’s quite an offer, isn’t it? How many times recently have we looked lately at our own countrymen and been tempted to hate them for their ingratitude? If God were to offer us what He offered Moses, what would we do?
But notice something else. Moses isn’t motivated only by his love of his countrymen. He says in Exodus 32:32 basically what Paul says. “But now, if you will forgive their sin – but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
Earlier, in Exodus 32:11-14, Moses pleaded for the Lord to have mercy not only for the sake of the people but also for God’s own honor. “Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
You see, true love for others is wrapped up in the love of the glory of God too. We’re tempted to think them separate issues but surely they’re not. We also note that Moses’ appeal to the Lord is on the basis of His promises to Abraham. In Romans 4 we learned that we are, through faith in Christ alone, the true children of Abraham. When we were tempted to think that the New Testament was overthrowing the Old, we were corrected. Paul isn’t Lenin and Trotsky; he’s not Robespierre. The Christian faith isn’t the act of tearing down the history upon which it stands, toppling statues, and storming the halls of power.
God’s revolution was at Calvary. And upon that mount was the culmination of every promise in the Old Testament. We don’t overthrow the law through faith – on the contrary, we uphold the law (Romans 3:31). How? Because, as we see later in Romans 9, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith (Romans 1:17), but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. they have stumbled over the stumbling stone…”
The doctrine of justification by faith alone is a violent assault upon humanistic pride. It assails the doctrine of works that permeate every other contender. It tells all that no one may ever approach the throne of Heaven except through the work of Jesus Christ. The book of Romans is about the righteousness of God by faith alone. This is the heart of it all and without it we lose the gospel. Without it we lose the assurance of salvation and it’s in this context that we have to look at the ensuing chapters. They’re about the continuity of God’s covenants and the promises made in the Old Testament fulfilled now in Christ. God’s word has not failed. That’s the point. The doctrine of justification by faith alone and predestination, which Paul is going to detail next, are inseparable. God is holy. God is love. God is absolute authority. Thus, our salvation is His work alone, lest no one may boast.
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