Or, God’s Celebration of God’s Sovereignty
Scripture: Romans 9:14-18
Date: January 29, 2023
Speaker: Sean Higgins
God saved us so that we would “proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). “Once [we] had not received mercy, but now [we] have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10). His election and His mercy are worthy of praise.
The word translated “excellencies” (τὰς ἀρετὰς) is a frequently used word by Greek authors. Homer used it regularly where military valor or exploits resulted in recognition and renown for heroes. Excellence was a quality to pursue as promoted by Plato and the Stoics, describing one having “uncommon character worthy of praise, virtue” (BAGD). Not just excellence, but consummate, perfect, supreme, ultimate excellence. To have excellence is to be surpassing, to be outstanding.
The “chosen” (the Greek word in verse 9 is ἐκλεκτόν), those called out of darkness, are brought to light to praise the Light. We are made God’s people in order to make known God’s excellencies, plural. And one of His excellencies is His election unto mercy. It’s sovereign grace.
In Romans 9 Paul is dealing with the apparent problem that so many of his Jewish brothers had not received the Messiah (Romans 9:1-5). If the gospel was the power of God to salvation for Jews first, why were so many Jews not believing? Was God not actually that powerful? While it was a heavy burden for the apostle, it did also have biblical precedent (9:6-13). God had been choosing some rather than all throughout Israel’s history, including His choice of Jacob/Israel over Jacob’s twin. God chose Isaac over Ishmael for covenant promises, as well as Israel over Esau. God’s choice was not based on anything He saw in the boys, but “in order that God’s purpose of election might continue” (Romans 9:11).
As Paul answers one question about God’s righteousness he provokes another. The initial explanation for why God’s word hasn’t failed is that God’s word—His promises—were intended for the elect. Though He had elected the entire nation in one way He had not elected every individual in the nation in another way. “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (9:6). God is faithful to all those He chose.
But does that make God unfair? If God elected Jacob instead of Esau, isn’t that unjust? If God had chosen based on what either of them had done, then it would only be unjust if He chose the doer of bad over the doer of good. If God saw that Jacob was going to be more virtuous than Esau, and God chose Jacob because of it, then there would be no question about God’s righteousness. But He chose before they were born, before they had done good or bad.
“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part?” We’ve jumped out of the frying pan into the theological fire. Wouldn’t it be better if God was weak rather than wicked? Wouldn’t it be better if He made promises He couldn’t keep rather than keep promises that were arbitrary/random/reasonless. Was Esau a victim of divine discrimination? Did Ishmael get fair treatment from God?
Paul not only denies that God is unrighteous in His purpose of election but even proclaims God’s purpose of election as part of what makes God so glorious. God reveals, and God celebrates in, God’s sovereignty. Election belongs with His excellencies. His excellencies aren’t that we found out way out of darkness and once we got ourselves into the light we finally could say, “Wow, look at Him!” The excellencies start with His mercy to us sinners.
This is really radical stuff. We need some time to work through it. I am not in the cage-stage of Calvinism, but I’m not sure I’m close to maximizing my finite abilities to grasp His infinite excellencies, including how glorious His mercies are.
The first time I preached this passage was almost twenty years ago, April 2003. It happened in God’s providence that I was also reading a book by Jonathan Edwards titled, The End for Which God Created the World. I’d grown up finishing every prayer that God would do everything for His glory, and I’m amazed at how much there is to consider in that request. It also belongs with Paul’s explanation of God’s righteousness in Romans 9.
One of Edwards’ most profound and puritanical illustrations requires a little imagination. Imagine that there existed in the universe a being that had only one function: to judge worth. And one day this 3rd-party judge was presented with two objects for consideration: God and creation, all-creation, taken together. It is already leaning heavily in the direction of the Creator; as great as creation is, all that glory belongs to the one who gave it being. Even without the sin parts, creation is not eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, or even omnipresent.
The judge of worth might be taxed on other days distinguishing value between two types of butterflies, or which book in the Ransom trilogy is best, but the exercise of deciding between God and creation would be laughable if it weren’t so crucial. In God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). In God we have our source of categories, physical (day and night, water and land, seeds and trees of their kinds, sun and moon and stars) as well as moral (do and do not, right and wrong, love and hate, love this with all).
As it turns out, there is a perfect judge of worth, and He is God Himself.
Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,
or what man shows him his counsel?
Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing
and emptiness.To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
(Isaiah 40:13–18 ESV)
For what it’s worth, Isaiah 40:13 is quoted in Romans 11:34.
God knows all, truly and fully. He knows what is good and great and greatest. He knows, He reveals, and it turns out He also encompasses what is excellent. He knows what is right and it is His delight. He shares with us what is right and a cause of delight. It is right for Him to delight in our delight of what is right. He glories in His glory. God celebrates God’s glory.
Let’s bring it into the salvation discussion. “God is love” (1 John 4:16). He is the one who defines love, He also has demonstrated it better than anyone in the universe in the sending of His Son to take on the humble form of a servant and then obey unto death, even death on a cross for rebels (Philippians 2:8, Romans 5:8). His love is infinite, His love is infinitely excellent. If God exalted any love over His own love He would be wrong.
“Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful” (Psalm 116:5). As Moses told the Israelites, “For the LORD your God is a merciful God” (Deuteronomy 4:31). There is no higher Platonic form of mercy than God’s actual mercy. His mercy is infinitely excellent. If God pointed away from His mercy He would be untrustworthy.
Mercy is the first issue in Romans 9:14-18. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,” “it depends…on God who has mercy,” “he has mercy on whomever he wills.” The first comes in a quote, both of the following come as conclusions in his argument. We’ll see more through the paragraph next Lord’s Day.
For now, consider the context of the first OT quote. By no means is there injustice in God “For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” The original source is Exodus 33:19.
In the last half of Exodus 33 Moses is pleading with the LORD to come with Israel (Exodus 33:12-23). God was sending Israel from Sinai to the Promised Land, but He was only sending an angel to go before them; “I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people” (Exodus 33:1-3). This was a “disastrous word” (verse 4), no good to go without God’s presence. Moses reminds the LORD that this “people” had been chosen by the LORD (verse 13), and that it was in God’s “going with” that Israel was distinct from every other people (verse 16).
The LORD agrees to go (verse 17), and then Moses said, “Please show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18). It is God’s response in Exodus 33:19 that Paul quotes in Romans 9:15.
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (Exodus 33:19)
This is His glory, the answer to Moses’ request, His excellence. This is His name, His nature as the “I am that I am.” This is what it means to be the “I am,” which is the freedom to be merciful to whomever He pleases.
God’s glory is sovereign grace. God tells Moses that His glory can be seen in unconditional election. Electing whomever He wants to receive His mercy is not only not unrighteous, it is among His excellencies. This is part of Paul’s answer to the rhetorical accusation in Romans 9:14. God does not elect based on good or bad works (9:11) or on “human will or exertion” (9:16), but according to His own merciful purpose. That is not only not unjust, it is godly.
It turns out that God elects unto hardening as well. He hated Esau, and He raised up Pharaoh to harden Pharaoh to show off His power in judgment. There are “vessels of wrath prepared or destruction” (Romans 9:22). But remember, God’s justice and power and wrath are also infinitely excellent.
Election is God’s glory. It’s more than revelation, it is God’s own celebration. He doesn’t elect reluctantly, it’s not a distasteful part of His job. It is His delight. He has made known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy that we might proclaim—and have our hope in—His excellencies.
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
(Lamentations 3:22–24 ESV)
God’s righteousness is His commitment to showing off His excellencies. As you comprehend more of His fullness, and as His greatness expands your thoughts and excites your affections, present your members to God as instruments for righteousness, that is, present your bodies to showing off His excellencies.
[May] your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9–11, ESV)