I was thinking the other day about an experience I had in high school marching band. The band was invited to march in a Mardi Gras parade in Mobile, AL. We were so excited! It was "the big time". Marching in the parade was a hullaballoo. This little country girl had never seen anything like it. I have two enduring memories from that night at the parade. The first is that we were marching behind a group of horses, and the inevitable happened. The other is that I was marching on the right-hand side, near the curb, closest to the cray-cray. Band members play while marching and then rest from playing - - you've seen the drill. In a music-less moment, I saw a boy my age in the crowd, and my heart stopped. Our eyes met, and that teenage craziness called "love at first sight" hit me like a hammer. I thought about that encounter for days after, but soon came to realize (sensibly, yet sorrowfully) that I'd never see that handsome, young swain ever again. You know, today, I can't even remember what he looked like...although the memory persists.
Salvation is sort of like that, except the longing for our Savior never leaves. Our hearts are changed, forever. Because of that, we long more and more for Him and for Home. It is this love nugget in our souls, this longing which makes us eager to study the Scriptures, because we learn more about Him within the Bible's pages.
In Scripture, Christ is often referred to as the bridegroom of the Church, and the Church, the bride. The bride and bridegroom analogy is pertinent here. A new bride wants to figure her husband out, to please him. Most men don't want to be "figured out".
As for God, He promises that if we seek Him, He will allow us to find Him. But, He doesn't promise to explain everything, tell everything, reveal everything. Many doctrines are paradoxical. Today's passage is an example of that.
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 20 But who indeed are you—a mere human being—to talk back to God?Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?
Romans 9:14-21
The "doctrine of election/predestination" (which flows from the characteristic of God's sovereignty) is one of the most controversial doctrines in Scripture. Why? Because taken by itself, Romans 9 seems to indicate that human beings have no choice as to Heaven or Hell. Romans 9 seems to say that God is going to send to Heaven ("have mercy/compassion") whomever He wants, and He is going to send to Hell ("to harden") whomever He wants. Romans 9 is a perfect example of why we must take the Scriptures as a whole in order to have a chance at "figuring out" God, fully realizing we cannot fully know here on Earth our magnificent God.Just as Romans 9 enraptures adherents to "Calvinism", there are also many other passages which drive home the doctrine of free will ("Aminianism"). If you want to delve into this conundrum more deeply, much theological writing has been done on the subject. (See authors under Sources:). It is not my purpose here to get into the high weeds in trying to convince you, one way or the other. I don't think we will ever fully understand the paradox between God's sovereignty and His mercy of saving grace.
I will, however, share this perspective: salvation is the gift of God. It is not produced by any sort of "good work" of ours. That being said, salvation faith comes by our receiving God's gift. The Holy Spirit calls, and we either respond, or we don't. God knows all - - - always has and always will. He knows who will choose Him and who won't. I believe there is room in the sovereignty of God for both His foreknowledge and our free will. For me, the biggest argument for this balanced view is evangelism: if each person has no choice whether to choose Christ or not, then why did Jesus command us to go into all the world and preach the gospel?
Well, I'm just a Christian woman who loves the Lord Jesus; I'm not some exalted theologian. I've probably made some of you mad with this post. That was not my intention. I wasn't going to shy away from the controversy of chapter 9 while moving with you through the book of Romans. Conversely, I will not argue with you over this point. The devil loves to paralyze us, to keep us from evangelizing the lost and discipling the faithful, by tangling us up in theological arguments.
Verse 14 hammers home the characteristic of God's justice. We can be confident and calmed in the knowledge that He is completely fair and totally just in His dealings with mankind. That's enough for me. Let's praise our perfectly just, sovereign God, once more affirming that He is God, and we are not!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv5eZbwuBx0
Father, I thank you that you love us and that Your love is absolute, as is your justice. Furthermore, I thank you that I don't fully understand You, nor do I need to. In Jesus' name, amen.
Sources:
Notable Arminians - -
A.W. Tozer
Andrew Murray
John Wesley
Watchman Nee
R.A. Torrey
David Pawson
Leonard Ravenhill
David Wilkerson
John R. Rice
Billy Graham
C.S. Lewis
Notable Calvinists - -
Martin Luther
John Calvin (of course...)
John Knox
George Whitefield
William Wilberforce
Charles Spurgeon
R.C. Sproul
John MacArthur
John Piper
Francis Schaeffer
Tim Keller
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