Romans 9:9-16

⁹ Because this is what the promise declared: “About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁰ Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac– ¹¹ even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling)– ¹² it was told her, “The older will serve the younger,” ¹³ just as it says in scripture: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[1] 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.”[2] ¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on what a human wants or tries, but on God who shows mercy.

sovereign mercy

Paul presented proof texts for the sovereign grace of God in choosing some but not all. It is notable that those text do not present God as an arbitrary tyrant, but as a giver of mercy and compassion. God looks upon a dying world and sovereignly chooses to save some from among the many. The choice is his.

LORD, thank you for not waiting until we wanted to be saved, or tried to be saved. You came to us in our sinful rebellion and you mercifully plucked us out. To you be the glory.

[1] Malachi 1:2.

[2] Exodus 33:19.