6But [it is] not being that the Word of God has failed, for not all those out of Israel [are] Israel, 7because neither are the seed of Abraham all children, but “your seed will be called in Isaac.” 8That is, the children of the flesh, those [are] not children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned into seed, 9for this [is] the word of promise, “I will come according to the set time, and a son will be [born] to Sarah.”
In verses 1-5, Paul has clearly presented his admiration for the Jewish people and the advantages they enjoy as God’s chosen people. However, that in itself begs the question of why so many of them do not have faith or actually outright reject Jesus and the Gospel.
I’m going to do something dangerous here. I’m going to make some statements and assertions before even wading into the complexities of the chapter before us. Theologically speaking, this entire chapter is a battleground as it goes on to present what we call the doctrine of Election. Just reading a few commentaries I see everyone forming their battlelines and ready to shout down their causes.
I will go on and study the chapter. I will sincerely try to exegete the verses, to let them say what they say, and only then to draw my conclusions what I think it all means. That is why it is dangerous to say anything up front. I do not want to ever approach the Word of God with “my mind made up.” That said, after I study, I may have to come back and correct what I say here.
However, as I read, it seems to me there is one important point everyone is missing and that is what I want to address. What everyone (in my mind) is missing is that we are talking about God. Paul himself frames it that way. He addresses the question, “Has the Word of God failed?” (v.6). He later asks the question, “Is God unjust?” (v.14) and in v.20 asks, “who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?”
What everyone is missing is that we are talking about God.
We’re talking about the One who inhabits eternity, who is the Creator, who lives completely above time and space. He created time and space for us to live in. It may absolutely confine us but has absolutely no bearing on Him. He dwells in what to us is His completely unimaginable timeless, spaceless eternity. He is not us. He is not a man. He is God. As God He is absolutely infinite, which means He is infinite in all of His being. He is infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, infinitely just, infinitely loving, and simply infinite in His absolute perfection.
It is good and right for us to study His Word, to seek to understand Him, to learn (as much as we can) who He is, but it is the utter heights of logical folly for us to challenge Him. It is folly to even ask questions like, “Is God unjust?” or, for that matter, simply to take the posture that we can decide whether or not we like what this chapter teaches about this subject of Election. Paul shouldn’t even have to ask the question, “Who are you to talk back to God?”
Job got into that mindset and God asked, “Who is this that darkens counsel without knowledge?” Job understood exactly what He was saying and replied, “I clap my hand over my mouth and repent in dust and ashes!” Yes, “Who is this that darkens counsel without knowledge?” Would any of us blades of grass actually presume to challenge what God does?
I have been thinking a lot about this very subject lately and realizing that, even for me to be “displeased” with whatever God has allowed in my life is actually nothing less than arrogance. He says, “All things work together for good,” then in my heart I’m saying (whether I would put this in words or not), “See here now, I don’t agree with this!” Squeak, squeak, squeak! The plain fact is that I am clueless. I have no idea what the Lord is up to. I have no idea what great eternal plans He is working out. I can barely make it through a day, much less run a universe! The fact is, all day every day, what I’m dealing with is God.
As I wade into this chapter, God help me to just let Him say what He says, to let Him teach me how to see the world through His great, eternal eyes, and then, one way or another be better fitted to live the life He has given me in this world.
Lord, help me remember, as I study, as I read, as I think about it all, to never forget I’m dealing with You.
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