Who Is It For?
Romans 9 is one of the most contested passages of scripture because it teaches that salvation is wholly from the Lord and proud sinners like to believe they had something to do with it. This is the first in our installments explaining Romans 9, beginning with its context.
Some say that the main argument of Romans ends in chapter 8 and that chapters 9-11 are a parenthesis, a deviation. The truth is that Romans 9 flows naturally, logically from chapter 8 and everything that’s gone before.
The gospel is “for the Jew first and also for” the Gentile; then in chapter 2, “a Jew is one inwardly.”
What’s Romans 9 about? Listen:
The People (8:31-39)
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Who are these things for? Those whom God is for!
“Elect” (8:33) means “chosen.” They are not the electors, as if they’re the voters. They cannot be charged because God has credited the right life of Christ to them. Can any of that catalogue of hardships succeed in cutting us off from the Lord? Not a chance. To understand the definition of “elect” click on the YouTube link above and listen.
At the end of chapter 8, Paul breaks out into Jubilation (8:37-39). We are the super-conquerors (8:37.) We are super-victorious, “through Him who loved us,”
The Passion (9:1-5)
In chapter 2, “no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly.” Ethnicity doesn’t matter. Paul has a passion for the conversion of his people. Do you have a passion for the conversion of your family? That is right. To see what Paul’s passion for the salvation of his ethnic kindred means, click on the YouTube link above and listen.
“Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” Christians believe that Jesus is God.
The Purpose (9:6-13)
Some say the Old Testament promises must be for the ethnicity or else the promises have failed. But, as in chapter 2, you can be “of Israel” ethnically but of the true Israel.
Some descendants of Abraham are not of Israel. Only the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” If you’re a believer in Jesus, it’s because God counts you as one of Abraham’s offspring, one of the children of God.
It’s through God’s miracle, not our biology, our ethnicity, that we get salvation.
If it’s ethnicity that counts, then why not both Esau and Jacob? They’re both sons of Abraham through Isaac. God only chose one, Jacob. Why? Before they had done anything either good or bad, God told them, the second born will be the child of promise. Why is Jacob the “child of promise” and not Esau?
Why are you a child of promise? Because God loves you. “In order that” – the purpose God chose Jacob and not Esau – “God’s purpose in election might stand” (9:11). Our being chosen to be His children doesn’t depend on works. It depends on Him calling. To hear more about how our salvation depends completely on God’s call, click on the YouTube link above and listen.
He calls you, like He called Jacob, and you believe and so these things – the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the promises – and all things, become yours.
Who’s it for?
It’s for those God loves.
To hear more about Romans 9 really means, click on the YouTube link above and listen.
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church is Caswell County’s/Danville’s Reformed church.