Romans 9:10-18 (NIV)
Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet
before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad–in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls–she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
Paul uses one more illustration to demonstrate his point about God’s sovereignty and election: Jacob and Esau.
As pointed out earlier, at the first stages the promise of the covenant could only pass through one person in each generation. The twins, Esau and Jacob, were both sons of Isaac, the son of the promise. So, which would God choose, and what would be the basis of that decision?
Ultimately, God chose Jacob, who would become Israel, the father of the twelve patriarchs. And God did not choose him either on the basis of emotion or on a whim. Instead, as the one who sits above time and who can see the end from the beginning, God could see that Jacob would ultimately be the one who would surrender to Him and follow His commands, even though he started off very rebellious and stiff-necked. At the same time, He could see that Esau and his descendants would turn away from Him and choose their own way. God chose Jacob because He could see that Jacob would choose Him, something that was completely opaque to any human eyes, human sensibilities, and human reason.
Some point to Malachi 1:2-3, the Scripture referenced by Paul in verse 13 as proof that God’s decision was based primarily on emotion, because it states that He loved Jacob and hated Esau. But when God speaks of His love, it is not about the human emotion that goes by the same name. Instead, it is about action. God’s love means that He bestows His favor and blessing on a person or nation. And His hatred is not about emotion either. It also is about action, signifying the opposite, that He punishes a person or nation by withholding His favor and blessing, and instead visits them with His judgment and wrath.
Nor is His choice of who receives His love and who receives His hatred capricious, as some interpret Exodus 33:19 and Exodus 7:16, quoted by Paul in verses 15 and 17. Instead, His decision is based on things that He sees and knows about a person that other humans cannot see and know. So, He does choose, but His choice is based on the person’s heart, on their character, and the choices that they will make in the future.
It is important in all this discussion to remember the context. Paul is answering the question about whether God had rejected His “chosen people” in favor of this new group of Christians. Paul’s point is that God’s choice as to who to accept and who to reject was never based merely on bloodline, but on whether or not that person would ultimately accept and follow Him. He had not rejected His chosen people at all. But only those who continued to accept Him by accepting Jesus, God’s Son, the Messiah, continued to be counted among His chosen people. And that was true whether they were Jews or gentiles, male or female, slave or free. God has the right to designate who His people are, and He exercises that right, by choosing those who choose Him.
Father, this points out how little we can truly see and know about others as mere human beings. We cannot see into a person’s heart, and far too often we make judgments about people based solely on what we see on the outside. But You know not only the heart, You can see the future and all the decisions we will make. So, Your judgment (and Your guidance to us based on that judgment) is always exactly right. It’s a mystery to us, but when we approach it through the lens of faith in what You have revealed about Yourself in Your word, we can trust You to always judge rightly, even in this. Amen.