QT 12/4/2024 Rom 9:8-14, Standing before God, we will be speechless

Romans 9:8–14 (ESV) —

8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!

 

NOTE: We should comment on verse 12 which is a Semitic idiom, not meaning God hated, but in comparison to how much God loved Jacob, his stance toward Esau would seem like hatred. God chose the second born for no reason. Jacob was truly a deceiver who spent the first 40 years of his life deceiving. After an encounter with God he will then go into another 20 year funk over Joseph's apparent death.

 

This accords with the testimony of Scripture, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Mal 1:2–3). This should not be interpreted to mean that God actually hated Esau. The strong contrast is a Semitic idiom that heightens the comparison by stating it in absolute terms.17

 

17 Berkeley softens the contrast translating, “To Jacob I was drawn, but Esau I repudiated” (the NRSV has “chose” and “rejected”). In discussing the “hatred” of God, Michel comments that it “is not so much an emotion as a rejection in will and deed” (TDNT 4.687).

Mounce, R. H. (1995). Romans (Vol. 27, pp. 198–199). Broadman & Holman Publishers.

 

Paul ends with the question of justice / injustice, but really that is a question of a person who does not understand grace and mercy. When we truly understand God's unmerited favor and his unmerited mercy, we realize that we have no response to God's justice that will stand scrutiny.

 

PONDER:

1. Do I question God's justice?
2. Do I understand my sinfulness?

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you for the grace and mercy shown to me. Thank you that I am a child in the family God.