Romans 9:1-13. God’s Sovereign Election. 

1. Do you wish you were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of your brothers? What does it mean to be accursed? Verses 1-5. 

   1. To be accursed comes from the Greek term anathema, meaning something pledged to destruction. The simple way to understand this term is that for one to be anathema they are under the holy wrath and condemnation of God for all eternity. To be accursed for the sake of your brother means you are willing to trade your place in heaven for his in hell because you understand the torment he will endure if he does not repent and believe in Christ. Furthermore, it means you understand the glory of being in the presence of God in heaven and are willing to give that up so that your brother may have it. 

      1. I should note I am using the term “understand” lightly here. Of course, we are unable to truly understand the severity of heaven and hell while we remain on this earth, so to “understand” these situations more so refers to understanding the weight of the situation for those who do not know Christ and this driving us to action. 

2. I’m going to ask it again. Do you wish you were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of your brothers? 

   1. I cannot rightfully say I am. If I was I’d be evangelizing to everyone I met. 

   2. We don’t realize the blood that was pouring from Christ is not to be keep to ourselves. We don’t see bloodshed enough to understand it’s value. 

   3. If someone was asleep in their burning home, what would you do?

   4. If you had the cure for a terminal illness, would you give it to someone on the verge of death?

   5. Share the gospel boldly. 

3. Why would Paul say this after writing so intently about how we can never lose our salvation once we are in Christ? 

   1. To show the intensity with which we are to love our God and fight for the souls of the lost. Paul makes it clear that though he is unable to lose His salvation, His heart is broken and continually breaking for those who do not know Christ. 

   2. “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” - Charles Spurgeon. 

   3. Paul’s heartbreak is also magnified by the fact that is was the Jewish people who God gave the “adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises” … “the patriarchs, and from their race according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all,” Paul described the Jewish people as “my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” This was deeply personal and theological and it should be for all of us. We will delve more into this shortly.

4. Has God’s word, His promise, failed? Why not? Verses 6-13. 

   1. Of course not (2 Corinthians 1:20). There is clearly a distinction between the first Israel which is ethnic/physical Israel, and the second Israel which is spiritual Israel. Ethnic Israel comes from the physical lineage of Abraham, but spiritual Israel comes from the promise God made to Abraham. 

      1. This is the same concept referenced in Romans 2:28-29. 

      2. This is made even more clear in the coming verses. Paul’s partial quotation of Genesis 21:12 begins his argument that simply being part of the physical offspring of Abraham is not what makes someone chosen by God for salvation. 

   2. Paul, as an apostle, has the authority to make this claim and leave it at that. However, he turns to the OT once again to double down on this doctrine. First, we see the story of Isaac and Ishmael (Genesis 18:1-21). Both are direct physical sons of Abraham, yet God chose Isaac and not Ishmael. Second, we see the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:19-28). Both are physical descendants of Abraham, yet God chose Jacob and not Esau. 

      1. Paul brings in Jacob and Esau to further his argument, and because he knew some readers would object to Isaac and Ishmael because Ishmael was with Haggar and no Abraham’s wife Sarah. 

      2. Isaac was chosen and saved; Ishmael was left to his sin. 

      3. Jacob was chosen and saved; Esau was left to his sin. 

   3. All four are physical children (descendants) of Abraham, yet not all were saved. Not all Israel (physical) is Israel (spiritual). God’s promise did not fail because it was never to Abraham’s physical descendants, but to the children of the promise. 

   4. Even within physical families, God does not always choose to save everyone. 

      1. Some will take this and claim they will not have any more children because they don’t know if they will be saved. This is utter arrogance; you do not know more than God. Have children, disciple them, and leave it to God. You are not in control of the salvation of anyone else, God is. 

5. What is this promise based on? Verses 10-13. 

   1. The salvation of Isaac and Jacob and the reprobation of Ishmael and Esau was not based on anything they would do. No good work, no sin, no choice. God does not save based on what He foresaw, but whom He foreknew.

   2. God passed over the man any of us would think would be saved, Esau, and saved the man any of us would’ve thought to be passed over, Jacob.

   3. It’s mercy that God chose Isaac and Jacob, it’s fair that God passed over Ishmael and Esau. You don’t want what you deserve, you want what you don’t deserve, God’s mercy. Your flesh wants to be sovereign; this is why you naturally hate God’s election. You should want God to be sovereign, you don’t want to be in control for your own benefit. 

6. What does it mean that God loved Jacob, but Esau He hated? Verse 13. 

   1. Two possible interpretations:

      1. Esau was loved less than Jacob by God. 

      2. Esau was truly hated by God. 

   2. To delve into this let’s investigate what Scripture says about God’s hatred.

7. What does Scripture say God hates?

   1. Proverbs 6:16-19 - God most certainly hates things. He must hate or else He would not be holy. Haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, an evil heart, feet that run to evil, liars, gossipers.

   2. Proverbs 8:13 - To fear God means to hate evil; you cannot love God and not hate what He hates. God hates pride and perverted speech.

   3. Isaiah 1:9-17, Amos 5:21 - God hates vain offerings, incense is an abomination to Him, pagan ceremonies and celebrations, iniquity, and solemn assembly. God hates hypocrisy in worship and wrong forms of worship.

   4. Psalm 45:7 - God loves righteousness, and to do this He must also hate sin. 

   5. Luke 14:26, Matthew 10:38 - To hate other people here is referring to loving God so much more than any human that your love for other humans would look like hate in comparison to your love for God.

      1. Applying this to Romans 9:13 could lead you to think God doesn’t truly hate any sinner, just that He loves them less than His people. However, this is in reference to our hatred, not God’s. 

8. Does God hate sinners, or just their sin? 

   1. God loves righteousness and hates sin. 

   2. Sin and the sinner cannot be separated. God does not send the sin to hell. 

      1. Hebrews 3:7-11 - Quoted from Psalm 95:7b-11, this states that it is the person who has provoked God because of their sin. Clearly, God has anger towards sinners and not only their sin. 

      2. Hebrews 10:26-31 - God’s wrath consumes the sinner. God will judge people and it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God when you remain dead in your sin.   

      3. Wrath, or orgé in Greek, refers to intense passion. It means to swell over time, not a sudden outburst. God’s wrath continues to build on sinners (Romans 2:4-5) unless they turn to Him in repentance and faith. 

   3. The Psalms are explicitly clear that God hates the sinners, not just the sin.

      1. The order of the Psalms as they appear in the bible is not the order they were written in. Psalm 90 was the first written and Psalm 126 was the last. There is an intentional front-loading of the Psalms of God’s anger towards sinners outside of His grace, that they may be awakened to their wickedness and turn to the righteousness of God.

2. Psalm 2 - The nations rage because the world hates God. The world doesn’t want to be tied down by the constraints of God’s righteous commands. God laughing at the world here refers to scoffing, it is utterly laughable that man thinks he can throw off God’s sovereign will. God gives the world to His Son and commands Him to crush it. Yet in His anger God is merciful, giving sinners the command to submit to God.

   1. In ancient times, the defeated king would go to his knees to kiss the victorious king to show his submission to the king. Submit to Christ, you and the world will never win against the King of kings.

3. Psalm 5:4-6 - God hates all who do iniquity. God abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. Abhor, taab in Hebrew, means to loathe, to reject.

4. Psalm 7:11-13 - God is a righteous judge and has indignation every single day because of sinners. God has bent His bow and made it ready, it is not off to the side waiting to be picked up on the day of judgment.

5. Psalm 11:4-7 - God hates the one who loves violence. 

4. The wrath of God remains on the unbelieving sinner, not merely his sin.

   1. John 3:36 - The wrath of God remains on those outside of Christ.

5. The Malachi context indicates true hatred.

   1. Malachi 1:2-5 - God laid waste to Esau’s descendants (the Edomites), and He will tear down whatever they may build. 

      1. Indignant, zaam in Hebrew, means to foam at the mouth, to be enraged. This hardly sounds like God merely loved Esau less. 

   2. This makes sense, Esau was a sinner. 

   3. What doesn’t make sense is how God chose and treated Jacob.

6. The Romans context indicates true hatred.

   1. Romans 9:18, 22 - God hardens whom He desires and has mercy on whom He desires. Furthermore, God is not unjust to endure vessels of wrath that are prepared for destruction. 

7. God doesn’t love the unbeliever then begin hating them once they die.

8. God’s judgment on sinners in Revelation shows His hatred for sinners and sin.

   1. Revelation 6, 12, 16, etc. 

9. So, which one is it? Was Esau merely loved less than Jacob? Or was He truly hated by God? Verse 13.  

   1. I do not believe the two are mutually exclusive. It is clear God loved Jacob unconditionally, but not Esau. We cannot deny that God truly did hate Esau at some point because Esau was a sinner like the rest of us. Though this does not mean God did not love Esau in any way. I believe it’s easiest to describe God’s love for His elect as unconditional and His love for the reprobate as conditional. Did God ever not hate Esau? Since this passage is referring to God’s choice before the foundation of the world and not based on their works, it adds a layer of complexity we may not be able to truly grasp. 

   2. Perhaps “loved” and “hated” as used here mean “accepted” and rejected.”

10. Are we to preach these truths of God?

    1. We must preach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

    2. The mercy and grace of God can be represented as a diamond. When going to the jeweler, if they pull out various diamonds and place them on top of the glass cases, there will be little about them that is special. However, when placed on the black velvet pad with bright lights above their beauty emerges as they refract the light. If we don’t understand the backdrop of God’s anger, wrath, and hatred towards sinners then we will never see the true beauty of His great mercy with which He has loved us (Ephesians 2:4-6).

    3. This is the kind of preaching in the Great Awakening from Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, etc. It pleases God when we preach His whole counsel because we are worshiping in Spirit and in truth when we do so (John 4:23-24).  

11. Resources: 

    1. Enduring Word Bible Commentary Romans Chapter 9 

12. Sermons:

    1. Romans, Vol. 06 (8:12-9:4) GTY, John MacArthur. 

    2. Romans, Vol. 07 (9:4-10:21) GTY, John MacArthur.