Caleb Bulow's Blog, page 3

Death Preserved

Death Preserved

hopelessness of life without God

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.

Genesis 3:19

In the previous post, we looked at the life changes God brought upon the woman after her sin and how she would experience labor pains in giving birth. These pains, although intense, would be relatively brief and would culminate with the arrival of a new life. The process would be painful, but the woman could look forward to the joy of receiving a child. Thus, she would have hope in her suffering. We will see that Adam’s changes were of a different type.

Adam had listened to the voice of his fellow-creature, woman, above the command of his Creator. His disobedience brought a curse upon the ground, so that it would take hard work to produce food. Unlike his wife’s labor pains, which were relatively short, Adam’s labor would be continuous until the day his body returned to the ground (Genesis 3:19). Thus, God placed Adam in a scenario without hope – he had to work all his life and his only escape would be through death. Unlike the woman, he would receive death at the end of his labor instead of a joyous reward. 

Generally, when a person faces a long, arduous task, they can be encouraged to see the work to completion by a promise of satisfying rest. But Adam’s work continued until death. He could not enjoy rest after his lifelong labor was complete because at the end of his life he ceased to live (physically speaking). So although his labor ceased when he died, he had no ability to live in the rest that followed. He would work all his life with nothing of substance to look forward to, apart from God.

God did not make this change on a whim. He did it deliberately so mankind could not help but see that, although independence from God may be fun, ultimately it is devoid of hope.

Man’s only hope is in God, who alone is able to make a man live after death. 

I’m not sure how long it took for Adam to put all these things together, but he evidently came to see the contrast between his wife and himself. His disobedience brought hopelessness and death, but through the Seed of the woman would come the hope of Life. In light of this, he chose ‘Eve’ as a fitting name for his wife (Genesis 3:20).

After these things, God provided clothing for Adam and Eve which allowed them to stand without shame before their Creator. It is what God does. He came to them asking questions that exposed their sin, but not to shame them. When God asks His people to step into the light and admit their sin and disobedience, it is not to humiliate them. On the contrary: when they confess their sin, He removes their shame and enables them to stand before Him freely. So He gave Adam and Eve clothing to cover their nakedness and shame.

Finally, God preserved physical death by preventing access to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). Although blocking access to unlimited life may seem like a great evil, it was actually great kindness. By eating from that tree, people could escape physical death. But physical death is the key to escaping sin-corrupted flesh, for the only deliverance from sin’s corruption in the flesh is the death of the flesh. 

Protecting people from that disaster was so important that God placed an armed angel before the tree. He would not risk losing any human to permanent corruption of sin. Had God allowed physical death to cease, there would have been no escape from the corruption of sin in the flesh and mankind would have been lost forever, like the fallen angels. But by keeping physical death, God left open the pathway for the Seed of the Woman to go through physical death and win eternal salvation of life.

God preserved physical death to keep open the way of salvation for mankind.

Rom 10

Why is Israel Outside?

who is to blame for their fall from grace?

​Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,
and seeking to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:1-4

Paul began Romans 9 with sorrow over Israel’s exclusion from the grace in Christ. From there, he explored the reason the people of God failed to enter the riches of Christ, concluding it was because they had rejected righteousness by faith. Despite their rejection, Paul longed for their salvation. But he knew they would never be saved if they continued to pursue establishing righteousness by the works of the Law. This righteousness of the Law is completely different than the righteousness available in Christ. 

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:5-9

Paul quoted from Leviticus 18:5 and Deuteronomy 30:11-14 to show the contrast between the two types of righteousness. The righteousness by the law requires a life of strict obedience to the law. But the righteousness in Christ comes by faith, which means a person does not obtain it by performing some action but by believing the word preached by the apostles regarding the Lord Jesus.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 10:10-13

The truth that righteousness is available by faith is readily shown from the Old Testament. Paul did so earlier, in Romans 4, using the examples of Abraham and David. He now adds Isaiah 28:16, which references the coming Messiah and the promise given to those who believe in Him. He also quotes from Joel 2:32 which speaks of the end times and how people will be saved by calling on the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26 also speaks of men calling on the name of the Lord, showing that people have done this throughout all of history). According to the Old Testament, righteousness has always been available by faith.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Romans 10:14-15

People cannot call upon God for salvation if they haven’t believed that God can provide salvation. And they cannot believe that God will provide salvation if they have not heard that God offers salvation. And they will not hear if no one is there to tell them. And no one will tell them that God offers salvation unless God sends someone with the message.

Faith is not based on nothing. It is impossible to believe someone if they have not communicated something. People cannot call upon God to save them if God has not sent the message of His salvation. 

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:16-17

Returning to the original issue of Israel’s exclusion, it is a fact that the nation of Israel has, for the most part, rejected the gospel. Not that this was a complete surprise, for the prophet foretold they would not believe the report in Isaiah 53:1. 

Given the fact that a person must hear the message of God’s salvation before they can believe in God, why is Israel outside of the grace in Christ?

But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:
“Their sound has gone out to all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world.”

Romans 10:18

Are they outside because God failed to send them the message, and so they haven’t heard it? That is not the reason – they have heard the message! God sent the message out to the whole earth, Israel included. 

But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says:
“I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,
I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”
But Isaiah is very bold and says:
“I was found by those who did not seek Me;
I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”

Romans 10:19-20

Are they outside because the message was so unexpected that it is unreasonable to expect Isreal to embrace it? No, for the prophets foretold the coming of the message and its acceptance by the Gentiles. God let them know ahead of time that the message was coming. Why, then, is Isreal outside the grace of Christ?

But to Israel he says:
“All day long I have stretched out My hands
To a disobedient and contrary people.”

Romans 10:21

Paul placed the blame fully on Israel. God did not withhold the message, nor did He make the message impossible for them to believe. The truth is, they have not believed because they rejected God’s word of salvation. God urged them to receive His salvation, but they have rejected His word.

Paul showed that God is not to blame for Israel’s exclusion – Israel herself is.

Rom 9e

God’s Pupose

vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy

What if God,
wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy,
which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
even us whom He called,
not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles?

Romans 9:22-24

In the preceding passage (Romans 9:14-21), Pharaoh and Israel were likened to clay vessels formed from the same lump.  They were both stubborn and stiff-necked, but God used them for different purposes. God used Pharaoh’s stubbornness to show His power and make His name known, and used Israel’s stiff-necked nature to show the greatness of His mercy. Pharaoh was a vessel of dishonor, Israel was a vessel of honor. This passage now introduces vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. For the first few lines, it is natural to assume that the vessels of wrath correspond to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and the vessels of mercy represent the Jews. However, it appears Paul used a literary sleight of hand, revealing in the last line that it is the Gentile believers who are the vessels of mercy and the Jews who are the vessels of wrath. It is a brilliantly performed reversal designed to astonish the reader and show the exceeding greatness of God’s wisdom in His work with the Jews. Let us look again at the passage in this light.

The passage shows God’s purpose by asking a long question, which we shall break into parts. What if God wanted the world to know of His wrath toward sin and power for judgment? Surely no one could fault God for giving a demonstration. What if His demonstration extended over centuries as He endured the ungodly rebellion of the Jewish people? Surely no one could fault God for being long-suffering. What if He did this so that repentant Gentiles may know the great magnitude of God’s mercy toward sinners?

God’s purpose in making the Jews His people was to demonstrate His wrath, power, and mercy. It is clear that His strategy was effective because, to this day, believing Gentiles learn of God’s wrath toward sin and His power to judge by looking at passages similar to the following verses.

As He says also in Hosea:
“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
“And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

And as Isaiah said before:
“Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

Romans 9:25-29

If God’s judgment on His people is this severe, what kind of judgment is reserved for the Gentiles? Believing Gentiles see this and realize God has shown them immeasurable mercy!

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

Romans 9:30-31

This begins the conclusion of the matter. Heathen Gentiles have received the righteousness of God through faith which is to all and on all who believe (Romans 3:21-22). But the nation of Isreal, the people of God, have not obtained this righteousness.

Recall how the chapter began by mourning how Israel, the people of God, have fallen outside the grace in Christ. It then raised the question of how the people of God could be outside the grace of God. Before answering this question, the chapter showed that the people of God were not His people because of their faithfulness to God. God made them His people despite their unfaithfulness to demonstrate certain of His attributes, namely, His wrath and power (along with His mercy). With that background, the passage finally answers the question of why Isreal has fallen outside God’s grace: it is because they have not attained the righteousness that the Gentiles received.

Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Romans 9:30-31

Why has Israel not received the righteousness in Christ? The answer is crystal clear. It is because they didn’t believe in Christ. They pursued righteousness through keeping the Law instead of receiving it by faith. For that reason, the people of God fell from grace. 

I suppose at this juncture, some would ask, Why didn’t they have faith? Was it withheld from them? Thankfully, Paul answers this question in Romans 10…

Suffering Added

Suffering Added

bringing men to the end of themselves

To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

Genesis 3:16

God first addressed the serpent, pronouncing a curse upon him. The serpent was guilty of obscuring the straightforward, simple truth of God’s word. He seemed to bring a revelation of hidden truths.  But by claiming the fruit was an opportunity to gain independent wisdom, he veiled the woman’s responsibility to obey the Creator. In offering her independence, he enticed her to abandon God’s word.  For this, God reduced the serpent from his elevated position among the animals to crawl in the dirt (Genesis 3:1, 14).

God also announced a hostility between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s Seed. The serpent’s seed would be those who follow the serpent and discard the truth of God’s words (see John 8:42-47). They would be in opposition to the woman’s Seed, who would reveal the truth. He would show that true life is not found in breaking free from the Creator’s word, but in keeping it. By the light of this truth, He would defeat the agenda of the serpent.

However, the path to victory over the serpent would not be an easy one. The knowledge of good and evil obtained by Adam and his wife brought a sense of an independent life for them. It was a life guided by their own wisdom, a life divergent from the life of God. Being separate from God’s life, it was a life of death (Genesis 2:17). Yet, it brought a sense of independence. Convincing people to give up a life of independence is difficult, though it be a life of death.  

If you were God, what lengths would you be willing to go to convince your creatures to give up their independence of death? Would you bring pain and suffering to save them from death?

The sorrow and birth pains that God introduced upon the woman (Genesis 3:16a) vividly illustrate the process of bringing an independent human from death into life.  

The woman’s labor pains are unique among living creatures. At the peak of labor, her pain is overwhelming, and she feels unable to complete the process, reaching the end of herself. Happily, it normally is not her end, but the beginning of a new life. This ‘coming to the end of herself’ is the same state people with the independent knowledge of good and evil need to arrive at to be persuaded to give up their independent life. 

A historical example of a people come to the end of themselves is found in the birth of the nation of Isreal. They were overwhelmed by a hopeless and cruel bondage in Egypt, and their cry went up to heaven (Exodus 2:23-25). God’s mighty deliverance led them to willingly embrace a covenant that established God’s rule over them (Exodus 24:3-4). A future example is the seven years of Jacob’s trouble that will overwhelm Israel. But at the end, they will willingly embrace their Messiah.

Looking at the individual level, we see that people generally must come to the end of themselves before they will acknowledge their need of the Savior. For some people, reaching this point takes great suffering; for others, not so much. But all who come to the Lord have reached the state where they recognize they are incapable of making it on their own. After this point, like for the woman, comes new life.

Then God spoke of struggle that would arise between a wife and her husband.
Having the knowledge of good and evil gave the wife a wisdom independent of her husband’s. As a result, she would not always see eye-to-eye with him and she would want him to do things her way (Genesis 3:16b). However, she was not created with the resources to compel her husband to obey her. If her husband chose to rule over her, she would not be able to prevent him.

Side note: The Hebrew word for ‘rule’ is used to speak of the sun and moon ruling over earth in Genesis 1:16-18. It refers to the fact that nothing on earth has the ability or power to stop the sun from shining during the day. Thus, to rule means that those under you cannot (or, do not) stop you from doing what you want.

God drew attention to the wife’s struggle because it illustrates the root and futility of mankind’s struggle against God. The knowledge of good and evil will lead mankind to a different opinion from God and they will strive to make God do things their way. But it is a futile struggle, for God is man’s Creator – not the other way around. Thus, it is inevitable but that He will rule over them. 

There is a part of me that resents the thought of God’s rule over me. It’s silly because my way of life produces a loathsome corruption of personality (like bitterness, anger, hatred). I find it truly is a life of death. In contrast to my way of life, God stated that His rule in my life would produce the wholesome qualities of personality that I wish I had (like patience, kindness, gentleness). I can see His rule would be a life of life for me, for it would reverse the damage from the serpent’s false promise of independence from God. His rule in my life would be, on a small scale, a triumph of Christ over the serpent.

God’s intent was to reveal truth to mankind, but the serpent offered independence in exchange for truth. God’s method for undoing the serpent’s lies was by revealing the truth through a Man who wholly submitted to His will. This Man preached the word of God, which exposed people’s corruption, and invited them to turn from their lives of death and enter God’s kingdom. 

God has the power to force His rule over people, but He has chosen to extend His reign using the light of truth. He reveals to people their inadequacy and invites them to turn from their independent life. He could rule by power, but He desires to rule over people who willingly give up their independent life.

Rom 9d

God’s Authority

He makes what He wants

You will say to me then,
“Why does He still find fault?
For who has resisted His will?”

Romans 9:19

The above questions come in the context of how God used stubborn Israel to show the extent of His mercy and used stubborn Pharaoh to show the greatness of His power. They are questions that someone might ask when confronted with this topic. The first question asks about the justice of condemning Pharaoh for his stubbornness. If God wanted a stubborn man to show His power, and Pharaoh provided the obstinacy God was looking for, then how can God judge Pharaoh for being stubborn? Didn’t Pharaoh ultimately do what God wanted? It seems unjust for God to condemn Pharaoh.  

The second question addresses the level of God’s control. Is it possible for a person to act the opposite of what God wants? With Pharaoh, if God wanted Pharaoh to be stubborn, could Pharaoh do anything else? If Pharaoh could not help being stubborn because such was God’s will, then how can God justly hold him accountable?

Notice how the following verses do not give a direct answer to these questions.

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
Does not the potter have power over the clay,
from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

Romans 9:20-21

The Lord often used questions not to learn information but to shed light on a topic.  Paul used these questions in the same way. The questions in verse 19 were based on the presupposition that God changed Pharah’s personality.  They assumed that God overrode Pharaoh’s will and made him stubborn so God could display His power. Instead of trying to answer questions based on a false premise, Paul raised new questions that clarified the reality of the situation.

The first question asked if a created being has the right to question his God. It is followed by a second question that clarified the focus of the first question, asking if a created being can question what God has made of him. The third question supplied the answer through the illustration of a potter who made various types of vessels from the same lump of clay. Clearly, the potter had the right to make whatever vessels he desired from a lump of clay. There is nothing wrong with a potter taking some clay and forming part into a beautiful vase and the remainder into a waste bucket. The clay has no right to question what the potter makes from it.

Notice that the potter did not change the substance of the clay to make the different vessels. He did not take some clay, make it lumpy, and then smash it when it did not form into a beautiful vase. No, he took portions of the same clay and used them to make a variety of vessels, some for one purpose and some for other purposes. 

In the same way, God did not change the substance of a man or men to accomplish His purposes. He did not take a man, make him stubborn, then smash him because he would not comply. No, He took from a common group of stubborn mankind and formed two groups, one for showcasing His mercy (Isreal) and one for showcasing His power (Pharaoh). 

Could Pharaoh ask God why He used Pharaoh in unrepentant stubbornness as a vessel for displaying God’s wrath and not as an unrepentant vessel for displaying God’s mercy, like God did for Israel?



It is righteous for God to use Pharaoh’s stubbornness to display His wrath and, at the same time, hold Pharaoh accountable for not repenting. It is righteous for God to use Israel’s stubbornness to display His mercy and, at the same time, hold Isreal accountable for not repenting. It is righteous for God to use anyone’s stubbornness for any purpose and, at the same time, hold them accountable for not repenting.

Rom 9c

God’s Purposes

based on His own prerogative

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.

Romans 9:14-16

The earlier verses showed that God chose to give Jacob’s descendants greater blessings than He gave Esau’s descendants. Was it wickedness for God to show greater favor to Jacob’s descendants? Absolutely not. As God said in the passage where Moses asked to see God’s glory, He reserves the right to show grace and compassion to whoever He desires (Exodus 33:14-19). Although Israel sinned greatly with the golden calf, God chose to show them mercy. It certainly was not wrong for Him to withhold judgment and show compassion.

God’s choice was of His own prerogative. He didn’t show mercy because Israel had the right flavor of repentance, or because Moses used the proper prayer formula. His demonstration of mercy was not out of compulsion, but according to His purposes; He does not have the same purpose for all people. Consider the contrast between God’s purpose for Israel and His purpose for Pharaoh.

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 9:17-18

Carefully notice what God told the stubborn Pharaoh. He did not say, ‘…I have made you stubborn, that I may show My power…’ but told the man that He had ‘…raised you up…’ to the throne. The man who was Pharaoh was a strong-willed and stubborn man. But he did not become Pharaoh by his own strength of will; God declared responsibility for his ascent to the throne. 

God was quite clear on His purpose for raising this man to the throne – that everyone would come to know of God and His power. God could have raised up a compliant man, but He wanted the world to know that the God of the Hebrews was God over all. So God took an obstinately stubborn man and made him Pharoah.

In the process of demonstrating His power, God hardened Pharaoh. Many have proposed that God’s hardening of Pharaoh was like the hardening of concrete: Pharaoh first chose to oppose God and God hardened him into that position. However, this interpretation doesn’t quite match the meaning of the Hebrew words for harden. The definition of the key Hebrew word, Strong’s #H2388, indicates that the hardening was a form of strengthening. 

The level at which God intended to show His power was beyond the ability of any mortal man to withstand, even a stubborn man like Pharaoh. It is true that for the first few plagues, Pharaoh held to his stubborn resolve to keep his slaves. But eventually, it became necessary for God to temporarily bolster Pharaoh’s determination so he wouldn’t prematurely collapse under the weight of the plagues. Put simply, God strengthened Pharaoh in his stubbornness until He completed His intended demonstration of power. After the final plague, God ceased hardening Pharaoh and Pharaoh then gave in and let the people go.

Notice the contrast in God’s purposes for Israel versus Pharaoh. Israel was a stiff-necked and stubborn nation (Exodus 32:9, 33:3-5, 34:9), even as Pharaoh was a stubborn man. But God purposed to demonstrate His mercy through the stubborn nation, while He purposed to show His power through the stubborn man.

Certainly, there is nothing wrong with God using Pharaoh’s stubbornness to showcase His power and, at the same time, using Israel’s stubbornness to showcase His mercy. God may use stubborn people as He pleases.

Food for thought: on the Day of Judgment, God will hold Pharaoh accountable for his obstinance. This raises some rather serious questions about the justice of God, don’t you think?

Strive to Enter

Strive to Enter

search out truth in a day of darkness

Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Luke 13:23-24

The questioner wanted to know the purposes of God regarding the proportion of people God intended to save. Would it be a large amount, or only a few? Instead of giving a direct answer to the question, Jesus urged the the inquirer to strive to enter the narrow gate for there would be many who would be interested in entering but would fail to enter.

In His response, the Lord Jesus indicated that the key to entering the narrow gate of salvation is to strive, which means to zealously exert effort. From the Lord’s repeated demonstrations of His power to forgive sin, it is clear that He did not mean that they should strive to clean sin from their lives. He meant they should strive to know the truth.

In that day, Israel was saturated with the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). The truth was obscured, even as it is in our day, and discerning the truth would take diligent effort. Many people would fail to enter the gate because they were not diligent to find the truth but were willing to settle for a false gospel. As a result, there would be only a small proportion of people saved.

The Lord indicated that there would be few who would be saved, not because God limited access, but because people did not take God’s word seriously.

Rom 9b

God’s Choice

not based on actions

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 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. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

Romans 9:6-9

God chose the nation of Israel to be His people by the word of a covenant (Genesis 17:7-8). He brought them out of Egypt and abundantly blessed them (Romans 9:4-5). He made them the people of God. So why were they outside of the blessings in Christ? Did God’s word of covenant fail (Romans 9:6)?

No, it did not. Abraham’s descendants as a whole were called the people of God, but that did not mean they were all the children of God. A child of God is someone who trusts the Lord implicitly. Abraham became a child of God when he believed in the Lord, which means he believed God could and would fulfill His promise (Genesis 5:5-6). But not all his descendants (the Israelites) were children of God (Romans 9:6).

Consider Isaac, who was both the child of promise and a physical descendant of Abraham. Isaac stands in contrast to Ishmael who, although he was a physical descendant, was not a child of promise (Romans 9:7-9). Isaac shows that not every physical descendant of Abraham was a child of promise. 

Apply the truth of Isaac to the nation of Israel. The Israelites were all physical descendants of Abraham. But there are many examples of Israelites, such as Dathan and Abiram, king Ahab, the many idolators, among others, who were very ungodly. So we see that many in Israel were not the children of God – they did not believe in God with respect to His promises.

This raises an important question. If the Israelites were not all the children of God, then how is it they were the people of God? In answer, Paul gives us a second illustration.

And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (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), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”
As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Romans 9:10-13

Consider these two men, Jacob and Esau. They were each physical descendants of both Abraham and Isaac (the son of promise). Also, unlike Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau had the same mother. In addition to this, they were twins. Yet God deliberately gave the blessing of Abraham to the one and not the other.

The timing of God’s choice showed that He did not base it on the boys’ actions, for they had not yet been born. It is important to recognize that God based His choice solely on His purposes – it had nothing to do with the boys’ character or conduct. Thus, even though Jacob was often a scoundrel, God promised the blessing to him – Jacob’s actions were not a factor in God’s choice.

God’s choice of Jacob included his descendants. Throughout their entire history even to the end of Old Testament, God showed them greater favor than other nations, such as Esau’s descendants.  Although they often were very wicked, they remained the people of God because their actions were not a factor in God’s choice.

Thus, Israel’s failure to enter the blessings of Christ does not mean God’s word of covenant failed because, although the Israelites were the people of God, they were not all the children of God. Their status as the people of God was not based on their righteousness but based solely on God’s purposes. Because belief in God’s promises is essential to entering into the blessings of Christ, those who were not the children of God remained on the outside even though they were the people of God.

This raises another big question. Is it wrong for God to arbitrarily show greater favor to one nation over others?

Please let me know if something is not clear using the comments below.

Romans 9a

Paul’s Sorrow

Israel on the outside

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth,
nor any other created thing,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 3:38-39

I tell the truth in Christ,
I am not lying,
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

Romans 9:1-2

What a contrast in tone and emotion between the above passages! Great exuberance and joy at the close of Romans 8, followed by heavy sadness and heartache at the beginning of Romans 9. Why the sudden change in mood?

The end of Romans 8 is the crescendo to the first half of the epistle. As you may recall, Paul began his discourse on the glorious gospel with a somber discussion on the guilt upon all mankind but quickly turned to the wonderous propitiation and justification in Christ Jesus. On these concepts, he built the magnificent realities of the newness of life in Christ and the marvelous deliverance from bondage and condemnation, culminating with a view of the believers’ security in God’s purpose for them. At the pinnacle of his discussion, Paul’s exuberance fairly leaps off the page at his acclamation of the grandeur of God’s love.

His tone and level of exuberance would be fitting for the setting of a celebratory party! One can imagine the prodigal son experiencing a comparable level of joy and delight in the festive feast his father gave upon his return. The similarity of rejoicing is understandable since both had discovered that their father’s love was greater than they had imagined.

There is another similarity between Paul and the prodigal son that might help us understand Paul’s sudden change of mood in the above passages.

Like the prodigal son, Paul also had an older brother who remained outside of the celebration in the father’s house, preferring isolation from the father over taking part in the festivities. Paul’s older ‘brother’ was the nation of Israel. 

Like the prodigal son’s older brother, the nation of Israel had all the benefits and privileges of staying true to what was upright. As the father withheld nothing from the older brother, God withheld no good thing from the nation of Israel (Romans 9:4-5). 

However, as Paul looked outside from the festivities, he caught a glimpse of his brother’s form in the gathering shadows. He saw, as did everyone, that the nation of Israel was outside of the abundant blessings in Christ. Their situation broke Paul’s heart, even in the midst of his joy.

This is why we see such a dramatic change of mood.



God chose the nation of Israel to be His people by the word of a covenant (Genesis 17:7-8). He brought them out of Egypt and abundantly blessed them (Romans 9:4-5). Why, then, were they outside of the blessings in Christ? Did God’s word of covenant fail?

Surely Die

Surely Die

Dying you shall die

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:17

When God forbade Adam from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He warned him of imminent death if he disobeyed. According to Young’s Literal Translation, God said, ‘…dying thou dost die.’ Based on this literal translation, some have interpreted this to mean there would be a long process of death that would begin the moment Adam ate the fruit.

However, many have pointed out that this phrasing, ‘dying you shall die’, is a common method that the Old Testament employed to show (or intensify) the certainty of the action. They say that the Hebrew phrase means, ‘you shall surely die.’

Solomon used the same phrase (1 Kings 2:37, 42) in a way that supports the latter interpretation.  The king told Shimei that the day he left Jerusalem, ‘dying you shall die.’ What he meant was that if Shimei ever left Jerusalem, he would most certainly be put to death.

Additionally, the English translation of the Greek Old Testament shows us what ancient Hebrew linguists thought the phrase meant as they translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. The Greek Old Testament rendering of Genesis 2:17 reads, ‘…but in whatever day you should eat of it, to death you shall die.’ This reading conveys the idea of certain death, not a process of death. 

Thus, the phrase, ‘dying you shall die’, means they would most certainly die if they ate of the fruit.

(See also articles by Answers in Genesis; Stephen Bauer, PhD; Ron Wallace. These are random sites pulled up from an internet search. I’m not endorsing the sites.)

Understanding what kind of death this was is a little more challenging. It clearly wasn’t physical death, because their bodies remained functional. It must have been some kind of spiritual death. But we see they continued to interact with God, so it doesn’t seem that their spirit ceased to function either. 

In my opinion, the Lord Himself answers the question for us in the parable of the prodigal son. At the end of the parable, the father speaks of his younger son, saying, ‘…your brother was dead and is alive again…’ I think the only way to understand how the younger boy was dead is to recognize that the boy lived a completely different life than his father’s life. Instead of living the life of his father – at his father’s house, eating his father’s food, wearing his father’s clothing – he lived his own life apart and independent of his father. 

In much the same way, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they gained a knowledge of good and evil that was completely independent of God’s knowledge of good and evil. You see, wisdom is the knowledge of how to live life. Having their own wisdom meant they were living no longer living life based on God’s wisdom; they were living their own life independent of God.

God’s life is a life of life.  Their life, by definition, was a life of death because it was separate from God’s life.

Thus, when the Lord Jesus promised us eternal life, He was promising to bring us into God’s life – forever. He fulfills the promise by giving us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit produces life in our mortal bodies. When we submit to Him, we are no longer living independently but are living God’s life.