Romans 9:
1. What stuck out to you from this chapter?
This chapter is one of the hardest chapters in the whole New Testament for me to understand (outside of Revelation it is the hardest). This passage talks about God's sovereign choice, and it sounds like God just chooses ahead of time who will go to heaven and who is destined for destruction. Paul's answer to that in verse 20 is just, "who are you...to talk back to God?" If this was the first chapter I read in the Bible I might be done reading the Bible for awhile. If this was a conversation with Paul, I would say something like, "Well that's great for you, who seem to be sure that you have been chosen as an object of mercy, but what about someone who you claim to be destined as an object of God's wrath?" This is why the straight-laced argument for only predestination doesn't work logically for me, nor does it line up with much of the rest of the Bible. If everyone is already predestined for heaven or hell, and nothing anyone does or says can change that, what's the point of anything? Why don't we just blow up the world and end it all then? Why do we do church? Why do we evangelize? Why do we help other people? Why don't we just pillage and plunder and do whatever we want? If our destiny is determined and there is nothing anyone can do about it, then all of Christianity really has lost its purpose.
Needless to say, I don't believe any of those statements, but that's where the logic of full-out predestination lands. The rest of the Scripture, especially the rest of Romans, is full of language that talks about receiving righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. That receiving brings eternal life and rejecting brings condemnation. Just flip to the next chapter if you don't believe me. That's why this chapter is so puzzling to me.
2. How does this relate to any other Scripture you know?
The language of predestination is still a part of the Bible. I'm not one to dismiss a passage because it's challenging. Another passage that uses similar language is Ephesians 1:3-14 which says, "...For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will...In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will..." So I know that God is Sovereign, and I believe that he does work out his will in the world.
3. So what does this mean for my life?
There is more in this chapter than just the language about predestination, but it does take some wrestling through. So today's application question is more of a resolve than an action. I have resolved to trust in God, that he knows what he is doing even when I don't understand. For nerdy theologians like myself, talking about "Predestination vs. Free Will" is a great debate topic, especially if the goal is just debate. People will often throw out there, "So do you believe in Predestination or Free Will?" I will often answer, "Yes." I can't deny either language in the Bible. We are given an opportunity to respond to the gospel, but God also has to know the outcome of that decision or he wouldn't be God. So I just resolved to not fully understanding how these two happen simultaneously.
4. Do you have any questions about this passage?
Hundreds. Probably starting with the Pharaoh part and working out towards others. Did God harden Pharaoh's heart so that he would not have even had the opportunity to repent? That God would doom someone to hell without opportunity to respond seems against God's character. Or does it just mean that God's actions just solidified Pharaoh's already determined rejection of God? Yes. I have lots of questions.
I'm sure some readers have at least some thoughts about this. Feel free to leave questions or comments below. I'll keep trucking through Romans.
In Christ,
Dan
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