Think Wink.

My church has been going through Romans 9 since the beginning of September.  This past Sunday, we studied the righteousness of God in unconditional election, or Sovereign election.  God’s justice is the first thing to be questioned in unconditional election.  My cousin Brad Andrews did a good job answering the question of God’s justice at Masstheology.com but I’d like to take a textual approach to what he said.  Romans 9:14-16 really gives the answer.

What shall we say then?  Is there injustice on God’s part?  By no means!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

The question of God’s injustice found here is what Paul preceives to be the response to Romans 9:1-13.  In that text Paul is saying that many Jews are cursed and cutt off from Christ.  The Greek term is anathema which in Galatians 1:8-9 is a term that speaks of a curse to hell.  Paul is saying in v. 3 that if it were possible he would take that curse upon himself so that they wouldn’t.  But it isn’t possible.  A problem seems to be created by this condemnation of most of the Jewish people–not all Jews are perishing because Paul and many of the earliest disciples were Jews.  If God’s people aren’t getting it, how can Gentiles know that there is salvation for them?  Paul’s answer: there is a spiritual Israel and a physical Israel. There is Isaac and then there is Ishmael; there is Jacob and then there is Esau.  God chose Isaac and Jacob.  He did not choose them based on anything in them but because of his purpose according to his election.  God saves people not because of their response to him but because of God’s electing purpose.  He decided before we were born, before we did anything, who was to be saved and who he would pass over.

This brings us to the Romans 9:14-16.  Is God unrighteous?  The Greek term for unrighteous is adikia which is translated both injustice and unrighteousness.  Is God unjust, unrighteous for doing this?  That is Paul’s question in v. 14.  His answer is no!  Why, because of Exodus 33:19, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy” (The LXX translates differently but the meaning changes very little).  How does Ex. 33:19 argue for God’s righteousness?

Exodus 33:18 is Moses asking to see God’s glory.  God has promised, in light of the golden calf incident, to lead the people into Canaan.  Moses is asking for some proof that God will do this.  He wants a validation of the promise.  He wants this for the comfort of the people and himself to know that God will keep his word.  So in 33:19 God says all his goodness will pass before Moses and Yahweh will be proclaimed to him.  Then he will have mercy on whom he wills and be gracious to whom he wills.  This theophany is an expression of God’s glory, his kavod.  God’s goodness and name is the expression of his glory.  God denies Moses a glance at his physical glory for it will overwhelm and destroy him.  So it is just God’s name that Moses gets.

In Exodus 34:5-7, we have the fulfillment of this.  God goes before Moses and in v. 6 God says, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”  Notice in v. 6 that the character that God proclaims is the expression or nature of that name.  To be Yahweh is to be gracious, merciful, patient, faithful and loving.  That’s what it means to be Yahweh.  One commentator calls this passage God exegeting his name for us.  You’ll notice that the first two terms of God’s character is “merciful” and “gracious”?  Those are the exact two terms found in 33:19 (Mercy in 33:19=Grace in 34:6; Grace in 33:19=Mercy in 34:6).  So the action of mercy and grace in 33:19 is God acting how his character.

Now notice the action of giving mercy and grace in 33:19: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”  This is a common expression in the Bible called by some scholars the idem per idem(SP?).  Another example is Exodus 3:14: “I AM WHO I AM.”  This particular expression does only one thing: preserve the freedom and sovereign rights of the one doing the action in doing the action.  The person who “is” is free from any outside determining factors.  So notice what God says about the exercise of his mercy and grace.  First, God says, “I will be gracious…and will show mercy.”  God will do it and it won’t be thwarted.  God will show mercy and grace.  Secondly, God says, “…to whom I will be gracious…on whom I will show mercy.”  God will decide to give mercy to whoever he chooses.  It is up to him.  He is not bound by any outside forces that say, “You must show me mercy because I have done…”  God does not work that way.  God says, “I will have mercy on you because I have so determined to do so.”  The same thing with grace.  God gives grace to who he does because he has chosen to do so.

So then, for God to give mercy because they have done anything would be out of character, no contrary to his character.  God would not be God if he did not sovereignly give mercy and give mercy to those he has determined to receive it.  This exercise of mercy is the expression of God’s glorifying his name.  But this also incorporates his punitive justice as well.  For that is the character of God.  God must give his justice and wrath to those whom he wills because that is his name, his glory.

Tying this back to Romans 9.  God would indeed be unjust in Paul’s mind to not give mercy on the basis of God’s free will, not man’s.  Hence Romans 9:16, “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”  It depends not upon human thelo or wishing, desiring.  It depends upon God who has mercy.  It depends not upon human trecho, effort or running, but upon God, who has mercy.  It is interesting that the term trecho that Paul uses here is used in the LXX reading of Ps. 119:32, “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!”  Paul would have known of this verse and had it in mind when chosing this term for exertion.  Paul in this chapter has gone completely counter to his Pharisaical upbrining in favor of a more Essene theology.  So it isn’t how religious you are either!  What matters is God having mercy, unconditionally, apart from any human effort or thinking/believing/wishing/desiring!

Thus I conclude with Paul in Romans 9:14-16 that God would be unjust if God did not give mercy unconditionally to those whom he has chosen to give mercy.  God would dishonor his name by acting out of character.  God’s glory would be diminished and that is something God cannot do nor will Paul have us think God would do that.  God must act according to his name, other wise he is not Yahweh, the only true God.

I have adapted this argument from Dr. John Piper’s book, The Justification of God: an Exegetical and Theological Survey of Romans 9:1-23.  In that book he seeks to answer this very question of God’s righteousness in unconditional election.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who is seriously wanting to study Romans 9.  I give one word of caution.  It is a meaty book that assumes you know Hebrew and Greek as he deals exstensively with the original languages of the Bible.  If you have no exposure to biblical Greek and Hebrew, it might be difficult to read in some places.

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My Standing Before God

Justice and Psalm 72

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