“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Romans 9:14-16
This verse is one of the verses that teaches the doctrine that eventually became known as the U in TULIP, Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election means that God chose who would be saved before the foundation of the world based solely on His sovereign will and not based or “conditioned” on any merit, righteousness, or any other thing present in an individual sinner that would make God value him over another.
This is another doctrine that Arminius believed to be false theology and his followers, who called themselves the Remonstrance (which means protest), offered their alternative view at the Synod of Dort. Arminius taught that God chose only those whom He foresaw in the future would freely choose Him of their own will. Therefore, election is based on man’s choice of God not God’s unconditional choice of man.
Of course, this doctrine is filled with inconsistencies. The first is that if God saw who would freely choose Him without His intervention why does He then need to choose them at all? These people are already going to choose to believe in Him and God doesn’t need to do anything special for them at all. This is why Arminius’ theology is called semi-Pelagian. Its’ almost the same thing that Pelagius taught. The second, inconsistency is that if Arminius is correct, then there was a time, technically, after God purposed to create all mankind when He didn’t know who would choose Him until He looked into the future. This means that God is not omniscient and therefore not God at all. The third, and most important of course, is that it simply contradicts the Scripture.
The appeal of Arminius’ view is that it solves the perceived unrighteousness on God’s part in the Reformed view of election. Why would God choose someone to be saved and not others unless they deserved it in some way? Surely God saw some goodness in the people He chose that set them apart from those who will be damned. Ironically, it’s exactly this response, natural to our fallen human nature, that Paul addresses in Romans 9:10-24.
Paul starts out by showing that salvation is not by the will of man but of God. The children of God are the children of the promise and not simply the children of the flesh. As an example, He says that before Jacob and Esau were even born, before they did any good or evil I chose Jacob and hated Esau. This was done according to God’s purpose and not according to any good works in man. (Romans 9:11-13). This is Unconditional Election.
Paul immediately addresses the first objection that comes to mind. “Is there unrighteousness with God?” (Romans 9:14). In answering this objection, he says that God will show mercy to whomever He wills to show mercy and He will harden whomever He wills to harden. Then he states again in Romans 9:16 that this is not determined or “conditioned” by man but by the will of God.
He then addresses the next objection which is, why then does God find fault in someone if He is the one who hardened him? Related to this objection is the charge that if what Paul is saying is true, then we are just puppets in God’s hands. (Romans 9:19) In response to this Paul says, who are you to judge God according to your standards? In other words, God is God and we are not. If God wishes to make one person for mercy and glory and another for judgement and destruction, who are we to judge Him?
The Scripture declares that God does what He wills and that He is completely righteous. Unconditional Election and all the doctrines of grace (TULIP) are a call for us to submit to the Scripture and not try to have God submit to us. We are not His judges! Ironically, as we saw with Total Depravity, the doctrine of Unconditional Election is actually a tremendous blessing for the Christian of the assurance of God’s love.
At the end of His ministry Jesus told the disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” John 15:16
If you have faith in Christ, it means that God chose you to be a vessel of mercy. Before the foundation of the world, He appointed you to be holy and without blame. According to the good pleasure of His will, He has made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6). As Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”
Fight the good fight!
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn