Predestination
BY JOHN GERSTNER
Romans 9:13 Sociologists, psychologists and other scholars in different fields are always examining particular instances of whatever they may be studying to see, in a more close confinement, how a general position is illustrated by a particular event.
Now, we know that the Bible teaches predestination and foreordination. That truth is revealed in many, many passages. But the fullest discussion of this subject appears in Romans 9. In verse 13 there, Paul uses a specific event in history to illustrate the principle of predestination to life and reprobation to death. That verse reads, "As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
In this case study, one of the twin brothers was eternally loved of God and the other was eternally hated by God. And in the preceding verses in Chapter 9, God has described this disposition as having existed before these children were born and before they had learned how to do good or evil.
Discriminatory? Most people reading these words might expostulate, "How can this be so? How can a righteous God be so discriminatory as to love one twin and hate the other before they've ever done anything good or evil?" This deep protest is almost universally made; and it is probably the reason this text is not very often preached upon.
Anticipating such a protest, the apostle Paul asks in verse 14: "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" He then goes on to answer, "God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
If I were Paul's teacher, I would have to flunk him for giving me an answer like that. I would say, "Paul, you're not listening carefully. You have missed the question; you are giving me a non-answer. I'm not asking whether God is merciful or not. I'm asking if God is just or righteous in behaving this way? Is He not unfairly, illegitimately, and illegally discriminating?"
A Matter of Mercy
But Paul has not made a mistake. You see, earlier in Chapter 5, he has already stated in verse 12: "Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." In other words, all descendants of Adam are fallen persons. The question therefore is not a matter of justice, but a matter of mercy.It is against this background that the apostle Paul talks about mercy to answer a question that concerns justice. What God is dealing with here, he explains, is not two innocent little children. Being descendants of Adam, they are spiritually dead in trespasses even before they are born.
When you think about it, in fact, there is more justice displayed in the mercy of God than there is in the wrath of .. Because Adam sinned, they sinned. When they come onto the scene, as a result, they are guilty of rebelling against God. They were both under the wrath of God and were subject to eternal damnation. Since this is not a matter of righteousness and justice, Paul therefore correctly answers the question "Isn't there
unrighteousness in God?" by pointing to the mercy of God.
Sovereign grace. If God loves one of the twins, it's only because He has mercy on that one. In His mercy, He removes the guilt of Jacob's sin. And by His grace, He adopts Jacob into the family of God through His Son Jesus Christ, making him thereby a beloved citizen of His Kingdom.
In not having chosen to love Jacob's twin brother Esau, no injustice is given to Esau. Nor has unfairness been bestowed upon him. Being sin-cursed people, both Esau and Jacob justly deserved to be condemned. In His sovereignty, God had simply decreed that He would have mercy on Jacob and not Esau.
God owes justice and gives justice to everybody. But mercy is something that is given at His own command. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, He says, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. I have no obligation to bestow mercy on anyone. I could deprive it of everyone. As I did with the fallen angels, I could have done with men. But I have chosen, in the case of men, to have mercy on some and not to have it on others.
A parable. To show how proper this is, Jesus told that very strange story in Matthew 20 in which a landowner hired men to work in his vineyard. The first group of workers was hired early in the morning. They worked for him the full day. At the end of the day, they were paid a full-day's wage, the amount that the owner had agreed to give them when they were hired.
This landowner also hired workers at other hours of the day. As a result, the ones that were hired at the
eleventh hour worked only an hour. Yet, the landowner paid all of them the same full-day's wage. Those who were hired first began to grumble against the landowner. Having borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day, they thought they deserved more.But the landowner said to one of them, "Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? "
The landowner explains to the first group of workers that he has not wronged them. He has not taken advantage of them. He has not been unfair to them in any way. They have received the penny that he had promised to pay them for the day's work . If he wants to pay the others the same amount that he is paying them, it is his business. What's wrong with his doing what he wants with his own money?
God is holy and just, you see; He does not owe anyone anything. But He is also sovereign. So, if He chose to be merciful to certain people, it's His business. No one can say that He is unfair.
Wonder of Wonders
Actually, when we think of this case history, the amazing thing is not that God hated Esau and the Esaus of the world. That's to be expected because they were born dead in trespasses and sins. What's amazing is that He loved Jacob. Like any other human being, Jacob does not deserve the love of God. There is nothing in Him that is pleasing to God. And yet, amazingly, by His mercy God predestined him to be adopted as His son through Christ.Even more amazing is that the mercy that God has freely given to Jacob and the Jacobs of the world was effected at a great cost. His mercy didn't overlook the damnation that the Jacobs of the world deserved. God didn't arbitrarily subordinate His justice to mercy. God never said: "I won't apply my law to those on whom I show mercy." No, His mercy involved the sacrificial vicarious atonement by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
Christ didn't have to take on a human nature. He didn't have to identify Himself with a certain group of people. He didn't have to fulfill the law for them. He didn't have to die for them. And after His death and resurrection, He didn't have to intercede for them at the right hand of the Father until they finally come to heaven.
Perfect justice. Yet, Jesus humbled Himself and did all that because, with God, mercy and justice kiss each other. The mercy of God satisfies the justice of God perfectly with the infinite sacrifice of His Son.
If it weren't for sin and death, we would never even know that mercy existed in the divine being. But sin and death brought God's mercy into expression at the infinite levela divine incarnation and a sacrifice of the Son of God in His human nature. That's the wonder of wonders. And Jacob, among a multitude of others, is the beneficiary of it.
When you think about it, in fact, there is more justice displayed in the mercy of God than there is in the wrath of God. What do I mean by that? I mean that when Jesus died and rose again, He satisfied in full what the law demanded. He endured in totality the penalties for the sins of all believers and got out of it.
Christ was able to endure the full extent of the required punishment because, even though He died in the human nature, He retained His everlasting, blessed, divine nature. For the same reason, He was able to resurrect and ascend back to heaven. Now, He ever lives to make intercession for us.
Eternal punishment. By way of contrast, when all the sinners are sent to hell on Judgment Day to suffer the torments of the damned, they can never fully satisfy God's justice. They can never be punished enough because eternity has no end. They can never serve their sentence in full.
So I say to you who do not believe: God must have His justice satisfied. Unless you become saved, you must pay the wages of your sin and be damned eternally. You can never pay that last farthing that Jesus talks about when the judge hands you over to the warden and the warden casts you into that eternal prison.
I plead with you in the name of the justice of God, repent, believe and seek the mercy of God. Come to Jesus. Come to Him with this attitude: "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. There's a fountain filled with blood. It washes away all the sins of all who plunge beneath that flood."
New life. The moment that comes sincerely out of your heart, it would be the evidence that God loved you and had mercy upon you before you existed, that you have been born again, and that you have begun a new life in Christ.
My friend, God's justice is infinitely satisfied in Christ. Take advantage of the mercy He's offered. Repent and believe. Kneel before Him who died for you and say, "Dear Jesus Christ, thank you for dying for my sins. I believe you are the Son of God. Have mercy on me, and be my Lord and Savior forever." o
Dr. John H. Gerstner is Professor at Large of Ligonier Ministries. His mailing address is: R.D. 5, Box 134, Ligonier, PA 15658.