Romans 9:14-18

Peter J. Leithart, May 29, 2005

ROMANS 9:14-18
Paul rejects the idea that there is injustice with God, as he did in equally vigorous terms in chapter 3, where God�s righteousness is closely linked with His faithfulness (v. 3) and His truth (v. 7). And he supports this conclusion with a quotation from Exodus 33. A. Katherine Grieb has offered an insightful discussion of this quotation. She points out that this is a quotation from Moses�Eintercession with God on Sinai following the golden calf incident. Moses is pleading with God for the people (as Paul himself has been, offering himself for his brothers according to the flesh), urging Yahweh especially to go with Israel to the promised land. Finally, the Lord promises to go along with Israel, but Moses is still not satisfied. The Lord has already said that if He goes among them, He will destroy them. Moses wants some assurance that the presence of God in Israel will be a blessing and not destruction for Israel, and so he asks to see the Lord�s glory. The glory passes while Moses is covered, and then Moses sees the back of God�s glory. Before Yahweh promises to go before him, the

Lord says that He will make �all My goodness�Epass before Moses and will �proclaim the name of Yahweh.�E This �name�Eis described as �I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion�E(v. 19). As Grieb points out, this is a version of the name of Yahweh that Moses has already received: I will be who I will be, I am what I am. God has proclaimed His sovereign freedom to Moses before, and here he does it again, this time emphasizing that His sovereign freedom is expressed in His freedom to be gracious to Israel as He pleases.

As Grieb points out, �When Paul reflects in Romans 9 on the possibility that God may hate Israel, just as the prophet Malachi said God hated Esau. . . , he returns to the point in Israel�s story when God would have had the most reason to hate Israel. There he finds an account of God�s self-description to Moses as the one who acts in sovereign freedom to be gracious and to show mercy.�E How does this fit with the question of God�s righteousness? Paul�s point in bringing up this particular story is to show that Israel has no grounds for complaint about injustice. God willed to have mercy on Israel when they deserved to be destroyed, when �fairness�Ewould have dictated that He unleash His wrath.

This story also brings up the history of actual sin that dominates Israel�s history. The event at Sinai was not a one-off rebellion, but a sign of the whole future history of Israel. So, the issue here is how God is going to work with the world if Israel has fallen into apostasy and sin. Paul�s argument is that the fulfillment of God�s purposes does not at all depend on the �willing�Eor �running�Eof men �Eeither the intention or the activity of human beings (v. 16). The fulfillment of Israel�s calling depends on God, who is the �I will be what I will be,�Ethe God who �will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.�E As Wright points out, in verses 14-18 Paul does not assume that human beings are blank slates on which God will write this or that (though that IS the point in vv. 11-13). The presumption is that Israel has rebelled and failed, and the question is, How will God�s purposes come to pass?

The golden calf story is in fact precisely appropriate to the situation that Paul is dealing with. Just as the first covenant-making concluded, a large segment of Israel rebelled. God sent Levites through the camp to destroy them. Israel�s capacity to keep covenant and see God�s promises fulfilled was imperiled. Yet, God had compassion on whom He would have compassion, and He renewed the covenant with the remainder of Israel, giving new tablets to replace the old. That is what God has done also in the great transition from Old to New Covenant. Israel has failed, Israel is falling away. Yet, God has compassion on whom He will have compassion, and renews the covenant with the remnant of Israel in Christ.

God has mercy on Israel when they rebel to bring His purposes to fruition. The example of Pharaoh takes this from the opposite perspective. One could ask the question, What about the ones who were slaughtered at the foot of Sinai? What about the ones on whom God did not show mercy? What about the ones who were hardened in their sins? Clearly, Paul has in mind his current situation. Pharaoh�s heart was hardened, and Paul talks about his brothers according to the flesh as also being hardened (11:25). What is God�s purpose in hardening Pharaoh, or in hardening Israel? Paul cites Exodus 9:16 to answer the question: The purpose of the hardening is that �My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth�E(v. 17). Just so, God has hardened Israel so that the riches of His glory might be proclaimed through the Gentiles. At this point, Paul is not saying that God had predestined Israel to hardening (again, vv 11-13 cover that, as well as vv. 19ff). He is instead saying that He hardened an Israel already in rebellion against Him (as He hardened a Pharaoh who was already slaughtering Hebrew infants) for the sake of the Gentiles.