Originally @ blog.xpistou.com

There are some things that just make your jaw drop with disgust. Take for example the case of Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique who was recently found guilty of medical malpractice after giving “medical” responsibility to unlicensed personnel and after “failing to keep an accurate medical record.” “Failing to keep a medical record of what?” you ask. A cut-out ingrown toe nail? A mole removed from a patient’s back? A drained cyst? No, he failed to accurately document that he had his associate throw away a living baby as though it were a piece of rubbish. Upon further reading of the Associated Press article, it becomes quite clear that a living infant being tossed into a trash can is not what caused the uproar, but it was the improper disposal of the child. The medical board revoked the license of Dr. Renelique, essentially saying to him, “We do not know how you do murder children in Haiti, Doctor, but in Florida we murder our children humanely and without harming to the environment.”

In spite of this and in spite of the millions upon millions of “humane” abortions, we find that God is still true to his Word and he is still just and merciful. God’s Truth is in this way validated in his proclamations concerning the wickedness of men. For Paul writes in his letter to the Romans:

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.¹

We find today that the state of men, despite public education, social programs, etc. is the same as it has ever been, it is simply more technologically sophisticated. We shed blood, but we do it “sterilely” and “humanely”, and in such a way that does not taint our beloved environment. We do it and explain it away with our naturalistic philosophies, suppressing the fact that the wrath of God is being stored up against such ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

People jabber, “If there is a good and omnipotent God, why does he allow such evil to happen?” The question that each of them should be asking instead is: “Why has God, being just and omnipotent, been so merciful to me thus far, and what measure of wrath have I stored up for myself for the evil that I have done?” Calvin puts it this way:

When any one crime calls forth visible manifestations of [God’s] anger, it must be because he hates all crimes; and, on the other hand, his leaving many crimes unpunished, only proves that there is a Judgment in reserve, when the punishment now delayed shall be inflicted. In like manner, how richly does he supply us with the means of contemplating his mercy when, as frequently happens, he continues to visit miserable sinners with unwearied kindness, until he subdues their depravity, and woos them back with more than a parent’s fondness?²

The present inaction of God should not therefore be seen as a proof against God’s existence (as many foolishly make it out to be), but it is a proof that God is a merciful God.

Though there is indeed this great, general mercy that presently withholds the full blow of the hand of God from murderers and the like, there is an even greater, special mercy that is manifested in abortions. While the sad fact remains that millions of babies have been murdered at the hands of evil men by the bidding of selfish parents, the same number of those murdered have thus increased the population of the redeemed in Glory. For we see in fifth chapter of the epistle to the Romans that everyone who is born of the lineage of Adam (which is everyone) has been born with his guilt imputed to him and therefore deserves death and damnation, but Christ has come into the world as the Second Adam, bringing life to all men.³ Thus the speaker of the narrative of Romans chapter seven is able to say, “I was once alive apart from the law,” for sin, through Christ, is not imputed where there is no comprehension of the law.⁴ Therefore every aborted child, every stillborn baby, and every child who dies apart from the comprehension of the law and its consequent rebellion is proven elect and redeemed by the blood and work of Jesus Christ.⁵

While we should never relent from our pursuit for justice for those who cannot defend themselves, we should not despair knowing that the wrath of God is being stored up for those who murder the helpless and that the helpless who are murdered by the wicked are presently safe in the loving arms of him who foreknew them in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.⁶

¹Romans 3:10-18
² Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.v.7
³ cf. Romans 5:18
⁴ Romans 7:9 ; cf. Romans 5:13
⁵ For a further treatment on this subject, feel free to read my On the Scope of Adam’s Universal Condemnation and Its Implications on the Doctrine of “The Age of Accountability”
⁶ cf. Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4

Introduction to the Series
Some people do not have a problem with saying that the Scriptures contain contradictions. Some others believe in the traditional doctrines that they have been taught so much that they simply ignore or radically alter the meanings of texts that do not fit their particular beliefs. I, however, do not have the benefit or such convictions or their lack. I believe that every word, letter, and accent that was originally penned by the prophets and apostles are the very words of God and, being that God does not change and there are no contradictions in him, that which he inspires must possess his same attributes. Therefore, when I encounter a teacher who believes that contradictions exist in Scripture or one who values his traditions over the clear testimonies of Scripture, I react a little like Jesus did toward the Pharisees and Sadducees who did the very same things.

And being that it has been brought up (as it inevitably does) that the doctrines of Romans 9 “contradict” other doctrines in Scripture or that we who “interpret” Romans 9 interpret the text incorrectly (though the Apostle leaves little room for any interpretation in the chapter), I thought that it would be profitable to take a look at some of the texts that supposedly contradict the teachings of Romans 9.

1. John 3:16

For God thus loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

This text is a common starting point of those who object to the “vessels of mercy / vessels of wrath” statement that is made in Romans 9. They argue, “If God loved the world so much that he gave his Son for them, why then would he create some just so that he would destroy them for his glory?” This concern might be a valid one in this present understanding of John 3:16, but there are several underlying presuppositions that shape this understanding of this verse that are in fact contrary to the context.

First, is the idea that the term “world” means every single person who has ever lived since the Creation. If this is true, this is a very unique passage indeed for there is no other text in Scripture that refers to the world as such. We find elsewhere, especially in the Prophets, that God did indeed have a plan that was global, but the term was commonly “nations” instead of “world.” Perhaps the one that parallels Christ’s statement in John 3 the most is the prophetic statement by the psalmist: “The Lord said to me, ‘ You are my Son, today I have begotten you; ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession’” (Ps. 2:7, 8). We see the world with respect to Christ in this Psalm, but it has a very different meaning than “every person who has ever lived.”

To understand the use of the term “world” in John 3:16, we must also understand the context in which it is spoken. At the beginning of the chapter, we find that Christ is speaking to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and therefore obviously a Jew. When Christ declares to Nicodemus, “God thus loved the world,” he was saying something quite extraordinary. First, contrary to popular Jewish belief, Yahweh is not merely the God of the Jews, but he is the God of the Nations. Therefore, the Messiah, who many believed was to conquer the Romans and establish Israel as a world power, was actually the Messiah of the world. Second, this statement places Christ as the fulfillment of the covenant to Abraham: “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed” (Gen. 22:18). For it is through Christ and the Gospel that God has ordained that the Nations would come to him and be blessed.

Second, the phrasing, “So whoever believes in him shall not perish,” has been taken to mean that God through Christ has made it so that every person who has ever lived has an opportunity to consider the case of Jesus Christ and then believe or not believe. This, as well, is clearly not true in the context. At the beginning of Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus, we find that Jesus tells Nicodemus (without his asking, mind you) that a person cannot see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. Perplexed, Nicodemus asks in response the questions that has had him knocked about in Sunday School classes for centuries, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

We have laughed at Nicodemus for his ridiculous response, but are we any less ridiculous with our responses? Clearly the picture of birth that Christ gives is to demonstrate that something outside of ourselves and without respect to our wills must happen in order for us to be born again, but we in our stubbornness do not choose to see that. We say instead, “Accept Jesus as your personal Savior, and you will be born again,” but is that really how it happens? No, it is not, and we are no different than Nicodemus who looks to see what work he must do to be born again. We, like Nicodemus, in our folly try to make the new birth something that we cause, but in reality we do not cause it, for Jesus’ response to Nicodemus is not, “Accept me as your Savior,” nor is it do this and do that, but it is, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

Therefore, in the context, he who believes in v. 3:16 is he who has been born again by the will of the Spirit in v. 3:8. It is in this same thought that Peter writes, “Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1Pet. 1:3) and that the Evangelist writes later in his Gospel, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). Seeing this, we see that not only is the Apostle Paul in Romans 9 is in accord with Jesus Christ in John 3:16, but he is in accord with the Apostles John and Peter thereby defeating the misperceived contradiction in John 3:16.

Next: Addressing Texts that “Contradict” Romans 9, II. 2 Peter 3:9

Originally @ blog.xpistou.com

Our Bible study last night on Romans 9, as always, generated a lot of good discussion in our group, the chief of which centered on our attempts to grasp with faith the justice of God in Romans 9:19-24. We admitted that when we look at this passage from our lowly position it confounds us terribly, and it breaks down all the bounds of our finite understanding. In our moments of wickedness, we find that we are tempted to turn the spotlight on God so that he might answer to us for his works and his notions of fairness and justice.

Yet, we find no relief for our curiosity in this passage concerning this topic, nor do we find it elsewhere in Scripture. Instead we a given an answer that pierces the very core of our Rebellion, “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will that which is made say to its Maker, why have you made me thus?” The designed effects of these questions of the apostle are obvious—to humble us and to silence us. Yet, we cannot be silent. The moment we hear these words penned by the apostle, we are frustrated, and we are frustrated to our own demise.

It is said that curiosity killed the cat, but it was curiosity as well that killed our first parents, for it was said to them by the Tempter, “Eat of this tree and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil,” and they ate. It is by their desire to accumulate knowledge to make themselves like God that our first parents were driven to sin, and it is by this same fleshly desire that we pursue answers to our natural questions in Romans 9. We might not articulate that we desire to be like God with our pursuit of knowledge that is outside of the bounds of his holy Scriptures, but we demonstrate it with our hearts, for the heart that questions God beyond the limits the he has set is the heart that says, “God, I am like you; therefore you must answer me.”

In spite of our feigned significance, the apostle’s answer to us is that we are to God as a lump of clay is to a potter. We have no worth comparable to God that would permit us to put him on trial nor do we have keenness of perception that would allow us even to live our lives according our own estimations of rightness. We serve a God that is unfathomable apart from his Word and who is unintelligible to the greatest philosophical minds in history. Some have marveled at the theological accomplishments of Plato, Aristotle, and the like, but none of those in their most “lofty” excursions found Yahweh. All of those great minds fell ridiculously short of true Knowledge and demonstrated that even mankind’s elite are puny and pitiful beside God.

Knowing therefore who we are and who God is, we must strive against the temptation that so allured our Parents in the Garden. Our God has graciously made himself known to us in his Word, and he does not permit us to seek him outside of it. As one last night credited Sir Isaac Newton with saying, “The knowledge that we have been granted in God’s Scriptures is but a grain of sand on the endless beaches of God himself.” Therefore we should approach God with utter humility and receive gratefully what he has so mercifully given to us. We in our puniness have but scratched the surface the grain of sand that God has granted to us; let us be content in it.

Originally @ blog.xpistou.com

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory? (Romans 9:21-23).

Before we begin, we must realize that it is only once we have laid ourselves out before the Creator in proper humility that we can begin to grasp the weight and purpose of this text. Yet, some who would understand this text come to it arrogantly and, instead of making themselves students, place themselves in the seat of the Judge and walk away declaring, “It cannot be; I will not accept it.” Others (with whom I must admit my former association), come to this text and leave it arrogantly, having comprehended the truths therein that others have refused and use it as a propagation for their own “superior” understanding. Then there are the holy ones, who by the power of the Holy Spirit understand the truths of this text and cry out, “Lord, thou art the Potter; I am but an earthen vessel manipulated by thine hand.” It is only by these that the truths of this text have been properly understood.

Now, the Scripture declares to us that all humans are but a lump of clay to the Creator. Out of this clay, by his good pleasure, he creates some vessels that are honorable, and he creates some that are dishonorable. The vessels that are created for honor are not honorable because of their superior clay-ness or their beautiful craftsmanship (though this cannot be denied) but because of what they contain, viz. the unmerited mercy of God. Likewise, the vessels that are created for dishonor are not dishonorable because of their inferior composition or their shoddy craftsmanship but because of what they contain, viz. the wrath of God poured out against sin.

Both vessels, the honorable and the dishonorable, share one commonality—they both declare the glory of God by manifesting his attributes. In the dishonorable vessels, God makes known his wrath and his power by utterly destroying them for their transgressions. In the honorable vessels, God, through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, makes known the glorious depths of his mercy by withholding his hand of just wrath from them and then by placing those vessels in the place of honor for which they were prepared. To some he gives their just desserts; to the others he gives everything that they do not deserve.

What if God did all this—what if he has endured with great patience the wickedness of all those who are in the world who will not worship him in Spirit and in Truth to demonstrate to those whom he has chosen before the foundation of the world and whom he has prepared for glory the riches of his glory and the depths of his mercy? If we knew this and accepted it, I believe that we who are vessels of mercy would be extremely humble, gracious to others, and grateful to God for not destroying us and for granting us his glorious mercy.

Next: God the Potter, IV. Mercy to the Jews and Gentiles

Originally @ blog.xpistou.com

I have told our Bible study a number of times in the past couple of weeks that my preferred method of going through Romans 9 would have been to cover the entire chapter in one session. However, since our group does not typically have eight good hours left in them on a Friday night, we have had to break the chapter down into its natural paragraphs. This method, in retrospect, has proven quite helpful, because studying each individual section has helped to highlight the progression of the apostle’s argument.

In our first study on vv. 9:6-13, the apostle focused on God’s sovereign choice of whom and through whom the Promise would be fulfilled. This paragraph by its nature focused on Abraham and his immediate descendents and how God defied all human laws of primogeniture and chose Isaac and Jacob in order that his purpose of election might be demonstrated (v. 9:11). The section also included the quotation from Malachi 1, which read, “Jacob I have loved, and Esau I have hated.” We saw that this hate in its original context was not merely temporal, but it was eternal, for the prophet writes, “[Edom] may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignantforever.”

Our right understanding of the apostle led us into his rhetorical question and its explanation in vv. 9:14-18: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!” (v. 9:14). We saw that the apostle, instead of appealing to the wisdom of man to justify God’s dealings with Edom, appealed to holy Scripture, which said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Ex. 33:19). By this, the apostle shows that God has never acted contrary to his Rule of mercy, whereby he gives mercy to whomever he wills according to his good pleasure (cf. Jonah 3:6-10). Not only this, but to whom he does not give mercy he also hardens as he demonstrates in Pharaoh. Thus the apostle concludes, “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (v. 9:18).

Some might object, “You have clearly misunderstood the Apostle’s teaching here, for it contradicts other Scriptures.” Might I then respond by saying that you who object might have misinterpreted those Scriptures which you believe contradict these holy verses. For it is only this conclusion that justifies the Apostle’s response in v. 9:19: “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” There is no other conclusion apart from this one—you either accept it or you do not. Many do not, which explains why I have seen published Sunday School literature for the book of Romans from a “reliable” source that skips over chapters nine through eleven, which is quite pitiable if not damnable (cf. Rev. 23:18). Knowing that it is God who penned these words through the apostle, I therefore advise one to be wise in his responses to the doctrines of this text.