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It is easy for people to interpret statements like this to support promoting their own favorite theories and I am certainly not immune to that myself. But the fact still remains that there are blind spots in all of our experience that could be enlightened if we were more willing to be open to considering ideas outside of the familiar, outside of our comfort zone.
When I read this statement the picture comes to my mind of a tour guide taking groups of people through caves and mine shafts that were long ago explored and exploited and explaining to the people each place where important gems or mother lodes were previously extracted. One gets the feeling of a museum where you are not allowed to touch anything or do any exploring on your own but are simply to read the signs, stay on the path and follow the tour guide. It may be interesting and even convincing, but certainly not very exciting or compelling like self motivated exploration can be.
Of course, the problem comes when someone does decide to do some exploring on their own without the strict control of a tour guide, when they decide to step outside the prescribed boundaries marked out by the established “authorities” and do some digging on their own. Immediately there come outcries of fear that our long history and tradition of “truth” may be threatened and that people should only explore the caves under the careful tutelage of trained professionals who know their way around. After all, someone could get hurt down there and God forbid maybe even find something that is different from what is already written on the approved signposts.
This reminds me of a reading from one of my favorite books that I quote from very often.
Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives are apt to leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary, by human effort and devotion we can reach the standard God wants. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes.
Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. December 2
I believe there is a really good Tour Guide or expert Miner that happens to know where every hidden treasure is located due to the fact that He placed them there in the first place. They have become buried under centuries of misapprehensions about God's character but they are still true and waiting to be restored to us. He is also very much an adventurer and is always eager to take individuals or small groups on private expeditions together with Him on very exciting excavations in places others might never think to look. He also likes to share in the excitement and joy of discovery and is a wonderful counselor and protector to keep a person from getting too badly hurt while climbing around inside the caves. It is so much fun to explore and excavate with Him as a personal companion but it always means doing so at the risk of the disapproval of the company tour guides unfortunately.
I have been asking this Guide for some clues about what I am digging around in here in Romans 9. What appears on the surface simply does not match well with what I have learned throughout the rest of the Bible and so I want to dig down past the surface and see what is skewing my picture here. I have come across some important clues this morning and want to begin to assemble various pieces together to see what emerges over time. I may at times put pieces together incorrectly at first and have to reassemble them again, but since there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus I have the freedom to experiment and learn and grow while developing muscles in digging and learning my way around the cave or mine tunnels.
I am going back to look at the words in Greek that were used in translation for these verses. One thing I have noticed is that the identity of the persons in some of these verses is not so explicit in the original as it appears in the English. That could certainly make a huge difference in the assumptions arrived at. I want to keep in mind the context or the main point that Paul lays down in verses 6-8, that real Israelites are those who choose to live in relationship to God based on His promise instead of based on physical relationship to those God called centuries ago. We usually don't have a problem understanding that concept but then forget that this is the point that is being expanded on through the following verses.
The first supporting fact that he presents for this truth is that Isaac was a child of promise in contrast to Ishmael who was born from a human attempt to accomplish God's purposes. That is pretty easy to understand. The next one becomes quite a bit more troublesome, at least the way it is written in the English translations.
It appears on the surface that somehow God predetermined that Jacob would be His favorite and that Esau would take the rap even before they were even born. It seems like they had no choice in the matter and that they were simply forced to live out their predetermined fate. But since that view of God's character is so blatantly inconsistent with other much more clear explanations about God in the rest of Scripture I have to suspend this idea and look much closer to see what is really going on here. It is time to do some drilling and blasting to see what lies under the surface.
First of all, I have to remind myself that simply knowing something ahead of time is not at all the same and forcing it to happen. God is not living under the constraints of time sequence like we are and therefore our logic struggles to comprehend that concept. Whether God made His observations about Esau and Jacob before they were born or centuries later (which is the quote referred to in verse 13), it makes no difference in the free choices that were available to both of them. The resulting relationships that they had with God based on their own choices were a result of those choices, not of some diabolical predetermination by an arbitrary God.
“...for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls...” (Romans 9:11)
I discovered that the word “purpose” here is the same purpose used in Romans 8:28, that famous and usually misapplied text that we are all so familiar with. I unpacked what I found there some time ago and you might want to review it to get the real context for what “purpose” really means.
Secondly, I cannot find in the original any reference to the “His” word used in this verse. It may or may not be implied in the way the original language reads, but it seems to me that if it is possible that it may not be implied that that could certainly change the look of this passage quite dramatically. Along that same line, in verse 16 I also find no reference to the word “man” that appears twice in that verse which would likewise open up dramatically different potential.
In verse 11, if the choice is not necessarily imposed by God which would be inconsistent with His character, then it is possible that the choice must be made by people themselves. And in the light of the meaning of the word “purpose” as living exposed like the shewbread of the sanctuary in the presence of God, then I believe it is more sensible to view this as a choice by us to live in the constant presence of God in response to His invitation as laid out in Romans 8:28. What 9:11 is adding to that is that our choice can be reinforced and maintained, not by works but is strengthened, acknowledged and protected by Him who invited us to enter into that relationship with Him.
Verses 15 and 16 seem to repeat the same difficulty but again it is my presuppositions that I begin to see as the real problem here more than the text itself. If I choose to put on new glasses and see this from a perspective of an enlightened view of the character of God as found in the life of Jesus, I begin to notice that what God said to Moses was emphasizing only the mercy and compassion of God. Even the words in verse 17 do not really imply that God deliberately caused Pharaoh to rebel or resist Him although that is often what we assume. He simply states that through Pharaoh's actions the reputation of God's power would be spread throughout the whole earth.
What I am looking for here is God's protection of people's power of choice without any forcible interference. That insinuation of interference is a big part of the Great Lie that Satan has foisted onto the whole universe and especially on us humans. He has led us to believe that God is arbitrary and selective based on His own whims as to who will be saved and who will not. The way that the translators used English words to express the ideas from the Greek words was of course affected by their bias in this matter. We cannot ignore that fact and simply believe that the English translation, even the KJV, is 100% accurate and reflective of the unaffected, original intent of Paul's statements. I have found many, many times that going back to examine the original words has brought a great deal of light to a passage that was seriously obscured by the words used in the English translations.
But it actually gets much more complicated as I read on in this chapter. It appears in the following verses that everything I have just said may be simply a wresting of the Scriptures to fit what I want to believe. Yes, I have heard that argument many times in my life and I do not want to fall into that trap. But at the same time it may just as well be equally true that those who want to believe in an arbitrary, vengeful angry God may conveniently do the same with much of Scripture. Once again, the nature of the filters or glasses that we use to view a passage has everything to do with what we see in it.
I will continue to explore this cave and dig in this mine for some time to come. I believe that truth is consistent and that in the end what I read here will be in harmony with the more clear revelation about the character of God that is found in the life and teachings of Jesus. I welcome your company on this adventure.
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