Romans 9

So I haven’t been real good with keeping up on this every day.

1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen^[a] according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”^[b] 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. 9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”^[c]
10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”^[d] 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”^[e]

I used to champion Romans 9 as a bastion of predestination.  But here are the Orthodox Study Bible notes.

The paradox of Jewish unbelief is understood in part by Paul’s description of a twofold Israel: one spiritual, the other physical. God is faithful to all Israel, but the issue is, who is a true child of Abraham?
(1) Not a natural or biological offspring of Abraham, for if this were the case the children of Hagar and of Keturah would be Israelites. Further, not all those in Isaac’s line  are Israelites (otherwise Esau and the Edomites would be) but those who are “in Isaac” – in other words, faithful believers.  Being a child of God has never been based on race, or family.
(2) Children of the promise – that is, those in Isaac, or faithful believers – are the true children of Abraham. For Isaac was conceived by the word of promise, not just by the natural procreative powers of his elderly parents.

It was being argued that since Ishmael was the son of a slave woman, whereas Sarah was free, Isaac was the seed and Ishmael was not. However, the fact that Rebecca was free and the mother of both Jacob and Esau proves the argument wrong. for if being God’s children is based on the flesh, then Esau must also be counted in the inheritance. Jacob is the seed, not because of his human parentage, but because he is the child of promise.
Both Jacob and Esau were called to salvation, for God loves all equally. But God foreknew how these two would freely respond to His call: Esau was hated, or rejected, only because God knew he would choose wrongly and be wicked. Jacob was loved and chosen because God knew he would participate in the faith of Abraham and serve God’s purposes. Similarly, though at one time Paul persecuted Christians, God foreknew he would repent and had elected him before he was born. God knows the end even before the beginning.

Generally speaking, I’ve kinda come to see predestination in a more corporate manner, like God predestining the Church for salvation, rather than any kind of individualized attention.  Of course, I believe in the foreknowledge of God, but I’m not a determinist…. and I am soooooo NOT a Calvinist.

Romans 4

 1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?^[a] 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”^[b] 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
       7 “ Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
      And whose sins are covered;
       8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”^[c]

9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

 There is a lot of stuff here, but I will continue on with some things about imputation.  It was included in a note in my Orthodox Study Bible.  “Imputed (v.11) means “reckoned” or “rendered.” This is not merely juridicial or external for true righteousness transcends the law, as shown with boeht Abraham and David. Rather, by faith we actively participate in God’s grace given to us, His righteousness. By continuing in it we are gradually transformed internally and externally into His likeness. Those who relegate God’s righteousness to seomthing external and “spiritual” by saying righteousness is not really ours, but only “imputed” to us, miss the truth.  They externalize God’s righteousness as much as did many Jews. Faith and righteousness lead to the greater reality of internal circumcision, the life of faith, of the Spirit in us, the walk in the steps of the faith (v.12).”

13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”^[d]) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”^[e] 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”^[f]
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Abraham is both the father of the Jews, but also of all who believe and are righteous by the grace of God.  May we all act and believe in God’s glory, mercy, and grace.

Warning: next post, romans 5, watch out sola fide!