Just Because God Uses You Doesn't Mean You Are Saved
Thinking about Romans 9:14-18.
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. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I HAVE RAISED YOU UP, THAT I MAY SHOW MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MAY BE DECLARED IN ALL THE EARTH." Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. (Romans 9:14-18)
After making a claim that would have shocked Paul’s Jewish readers - “they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham” - Paul turns his attention to the accusation that his teaching implied God wasn’t just.
Is There Unrighteousness with God?
Like Romans 6:1, Paul asks a question and then gives a strong rebuttal to it. “Is God unrighteous? Certainly not - in no way!”
Now these protesters would hardly malign God so they must clearly be implying that Paul’s gospel is a perversion of the truth. Paul flatly denies that God is unfair. - McGuiggan, Romans, 285
God is not unrighteous to distinguish between the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the “spiritual” nation of Israel (Romans 9:6-8).
Paul goes back to the Old Testament to provide a couple of examples to demonstrate the truth of this point.
As a side note - what should it say to us today about the value of the Old Testament that the writers of the New Testament - like Paul - so often referred back to the Old Testament to help them make a point or to illustrate the truth of a point?
The Comparison of Moses and Pharaoh.
Moses.
Paul points to the mercy of God by referring to Exodus 33:19. God shows His graciousness and mercy to Moses, who is leading a “stiff-necked” people (Exodus 33:5).
Moses was a sinful man and was leading a sinful people. Neither he nor the people of Israel had earned anything from God except judgment. But by God’s favor (Exodus 33:16) they were a separated and blessed people. - McGuiggan, Romans, 285
Mercy and grace are not things that are deserved or earned. God’s mercy and grace are not something that humanity can rightly demand from God. Any demonstration of God’s mercy and grace “is the result of God’s free and sovereign will” (McGuiggan, Romans, 286).
Pharaoh.
Paul refers to Exodus 9:16 to remind his readers that God had raised up Pharaoh for a purpose - to show His power in him.
Paul says God “hardens” whom He will. What does this mean?
If one doesn’t begin with a philosophy about hardening, but rather accepts the testimony of the Bible, he will find that God hardens only the unbelieving. God doesn’t harden righteous people! Now this is instructive. The person God hardens is the one who has personally chosen to reject God in his or her life. - McGuiggan, Romans, 286
Several passages in Exodus tell us that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34). God was undoubtedly in control of the situation - but it reminds us that a person who is “hardened” by God is a “willing contributor” to the hardening.
God does not force anyone to do evil.
Had Pharaoh submitted to God’s command to let Israel go, God would have received the glory through the ruler of Egypt submitting to Him. Even when Pharaoh resisted God’s command, God still showed His power and received glory.
Pharaoh in his wickedness serves God’s purpose and Moses in his obedience also serves God’s purposes. (Now the unbelieving and hardened Jews are beginning to get the implications in all this. Pharaoh served God’s purposes but was still justly condemned for it. What of themselves?) - McGuiggan, Romans, 287
Paul’s point was striking at the root of the Jew’s belief that their physical heritage and God having chosen them to bring the Messiah into the world meant their salvation.
Just because God used a person or group of people to accomplish His will didn’t mean they would stand saved rather than condemned.
The Scriptures testified to that.
Jameson, I attend a very small congregation of the Lord's church in Pottsboro, Texas. The few men we have in our congregation, bring devotionals from time to time. I read your blog daily and think most of what you write would be great to use in these devos with your permission? Do you have your articles archived where I could go to read and select from?
Blessings
Phil Landrum
Well explained... A lot of people think that they can earn their way to heaven by "doing good works" without true repentance. Nothing could be further from the truth.