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...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 see a direct link between these verses and others in Romans that refer to God's purpose. I think the main thrust of chapter 9 is to re-emphasize the point that God's purpose and plans are originated from Him and not from anything we try to do to impress Him or anything we might do in rebellion against Him.
This is not the same thing as God manipulating our choices. Just because God knows ahead of time what we will choose and takes that into account in His plans does not justify charges of Him forcing us to make those choices. He simply has the advantage of access to all information both past and future from which to form His plans, unlike any other being in the universe. That means that His plans and purposes are never caught by surprise or thwarted by anything anyone does because their choices and actions were already taken into account in the creation of His plans.
So from our perspective life and time are just a continual unfolding of, a revealing of God's incredible ability to coordinate everything together perfectly. The basis underlying all His purposes and plans is the comprehensive love described at the end of chapter 8. All of His purposes are always consistent with love as well as foreknowledge. And none of this is dependent in any way or can be changed in any way by our “works”, our attempts to impress or anger Him, or anything else we may do, not because it does not matter to Him or because He is arbitrary but because His purpose already took everything about us into account ahead of time.
Some may conclude that this robs us of all freedom. But that is because we may have skewed ideas of what freedom really is. Maybe we think freedom is the ability to out-maneuver someone else, to surprise them with our originality, or to be completely independent of them in every respect. But that would be absolutely impossible in relation to God because He is the only source that keeps everything and everyone alive. To attempt to live completely independent of God is to cease to live altogether, and that certainly is not in line with our idea or God's idea of freedom.
God is certainly very protective of freedom, far more than any of us ever thought of being. Our notions of freedom are akin to abject slavery when compared to God's plans and concepts of true freedom. Real freedom is not total independence but is total fulfillment; it is living in perfect harmony with our original design so that we experience the most joy and love and harmony possible with all other created beings and with all the natural principles of the universe. That is the kind of true freedom that God has in store for those who respond to His invitation to get real in His presence. (see my translation from the Greek on Romans 8:28)
So the core issue that Paul is again addressing that he has been visiting repeatedly throughout Romans thus far is the fact that our religious activities or performance are not the foundation for our relationship with God but God's mercy and compassion and everything that God has done in order to save as many as possible. No one will be lost because they did not perform enough religion or could not figure out the right “formula” or didn't acquire enough information to pass the “great test”. No, those are not the criteria by which anyone will be saved in heaven or lost in hell. God has already put in place everything needed for us to be restored into a vital connection with the only Source of life.
Anyone who loses eternal life in the end – and unfortunately there will be many – are going to be those who cling to the lies about God in their hearts in resistance to the truth about Him at whatever level they are at in their understanding of Him. It is in repeatedly resisting the Spirit of God trying to convey the truth about God to our hearts until we have succeeded in hardening our hearts beyond our ability to respond that causes us to end up experiencing the the torture of hell. For it is only those who have responded and surrendered to the amazing love and compassion of our loving Creator to be transformed by that love back into their original design who will be safe to live in the fiery presence of unlimited Love and Passion.
This is the message that keeps coming out over and over again in the book of Romans and that I find as the key to unlocking the surface confusion in chapter 9. It must be in the context of this understanding of the big picture that we need to read the stories about Abraham, Esau and Jacob and Pharaoh mentioned in this chapter. The main thrust that Paul is trying to convey here is that it was not what these people did or did not do that determined God's plans. God does not make up His plans on the fly or in reaction to our choices and actions like we often do. That is because He already has that information ahead of time so His plans and purposes were in place before the foundation of the world.
What history and our present life is simply revealing is the unfolding of those plans throughout each generation. And it can be seen that in the unfolding of His plans is revealed the true nature of the One who formed those plans. But we need to bring the right paradigms to our study of these stories or we will seriously misinterpret the conclusions that these stories convey to us about God. We need the Spirit of God to teach and guide us and give us wisdom to know how to relate to the stories of those who have lived before us. Otherwise another spirit, a lying spirit will put an evil spin on everything we view and muddy the true picture of our loving, kind and consistent Heavenly Father.
One thing that must be clearly nailed down in this passage is the link between God's foreknowledge and His justice. Foreknowledge is not the same thing as control, though it is very often confused for that in our thinking and reasoning. It is very easy for us to buy into Satan's lie that it is impossible for God to be just if He knows ahead of time what our decisions are going to be. That is putting one characteristic of God in exclusive opposition to another characteristic, a favorite trick of the enemy of our souls to keep us in suspicion against God. When we are deceived by this kind of logic it then becomes very difficult to arrive at correct perceptions of God's word. This is the very issue that Paul is addressing in this chapter.
To get back to the stories used in this passage and their implications in our lives, who is it really who makes the decision as to what kind of vessels a person becomes on the molding wheel in God's pottery room? Let me go back and carefully look at the lessons that Paul is trying to make from each of these stories.
First of all he mentions the story of Abraham and his first two sons. The first-born son came about because of Sarah and Abraham's attempt to help out God illegitimately, to assist God in keeping His promises since it looked like God couldn't quite get it done on His own. God allowed them to do that even though the Jews and the rest of the Arab world are still duking it out to this very day as a result. But through the ensuing events God made it crystal clear that His covenant promises to Abraham, in fact His blessings destined for the whole world were going to come through the son who came about through their surrender to God in faith alone without any of their own schemes and plans mixed into the formula. In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. (Romans 9:8 NIV)
The next illustration that Paul uses is that of Esau and Jacob. Paul uses two quotations attributed to God about these boys and I find it interesting that one of them is stated before they were born and the other is literally centuries after they had died. The second statement is one that we usually struggle with the most to reconcile with the way we are learning that God relates to us. How can it be that the God whose unstoppable love is described just before this in the end of chapter 8 can now say that He hates Esau? That seems like a very big obstacle to our faith and a very efficient excuse for discounting the idea of the unconditional love of God for sinners.
One simplistic possibility that could be applied is that God said this so long after the boys lives were over and the results of their choices were played out in the nations that they fathered that it would be easy for Him to say that He hated Esau and the people of Edom who became some of the worst enemies of the nation of Israel. But I can't buy into that kind of thinking either. Israel itself along with Jacob made a real mess of their relationship with God and did plenty of things that deserved a great deal of hatred if we are going to apply that kind of principle to the situation. No, I don't think that is a valid line of reasoning to use here.
The text itself gives us direction as to the truth that we need to see in this story. And that truth, in fact, is nearly the opposite of the conclusion above. Paul states emphatically that ... though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, ...God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls. (Romans 9:11)
In other words, the point I see emerging in Paul's explanations of these stories is that God does not make His plans in reaction to our choices or performance. We cannot manipulate God or surprise Him or control Him in any way since He has the foreknowledge of everything ahead of time. But still, He values freedom so much that His use of that foreknowledge is not abusive and manipulative but is simply a revelation of His infinite wisdom, love and grace.
And what about hating Esau? Again I believe that this is something that takes maturity to wrap our minds around and comprehend how it fits into the more clear exhibitions and explanations of God's nature and relations with His created beings. In my mind I see it going along the same line as the other lessons being explained in this passage. It is simply an acknowledgment of the emotional relationship that is seen between a particular person and God. Is it safe to say that God initiated this hatred based on this verse? I do not believe so. I don't believe that God wants to have a relationship of hatred with any of His children. But the fact is that there are many who choose to cling to their own hatred of God despite any and all attempts to remove it on the part of God and so the only way He can describe the relationship with that person is one of hatred, for it is the only one that that person will allow. It does not mean that the hatred originated in the heart of God or was imposed by Him. It is simply an acknowledgment of the end result of their choices about what to believe about Him.
