God’s Sovereignty in Salvation
Lesson 16 Notes: Romans 9:1-29
“What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:23-24)
What comes to mind when you think about promises? Promises can stir delight or offer hope, but they can also create disappointment when those we trust do not keep their word. We can all likely recall a time we broke a promise, damaging trust or a relationship. In a world where trust requires vows, contracts, agreements, appointments, civil law, and treaties, a broken promise can shake our sense of security or ability to live safely. Is there anyone whose promises we can trust completely?
Paul answered that question in Romans 9–11: Yes! God’s promises can be trusted. Even better, Paul offered many proofs and explanations. Trusting God is not a risky leap of blind faith. God is sovereign over His creation and faithfully keeps His promises. He has not lost control. His plans have not been compromised by our sin. God’s people can trust every word of the Bible and His glorious grace through Jesus Christ. God is working through history to accomplish His good plans for you and all of creation.
Paul’s elated conclusion of Romans 8 drew his attention back to his beloved compatriots and ancestors—Israel. Over the next five lessons, we will explore Paul’s explanation of Israel’s role in God’s salvation plan. The powerful truths of God’s glorious character and plans climax in a doxology of God’s incomprehensible wonder.1
Paul’s Sorrow – Romans 9:1-5
Paul’s confidence in God’s power, provision, and loving promises produced in him a deep longing for the unbelieving people of Israel to know Jesus as their Messiah.
Many of Paul’s fellow Jews persecuted him for his faith in Jesus and gospel ministry.3 Despite this hardship, Paul shared Jesus’s love and compassion for his people.4
Paul’s heartbreak over the judgment awaiting unbelievers led him to exclaim, “I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people.” While only sinless Jesus could die to save people, Paul was willing to die and hypothetically be cut off from Christ if that could bring about Jewish belief. Moses once made a similar self-sacrificial appeal.5 Paul knew that nothing could separate him from Christ—not his desires nor his enemies and their unbelief.6 Paul also knew that only God’s grace brings about salvation, yet he grieved deeply over those who kept rejecting Jesus.
Paul’s intense sorrow flowed from his great love for God, who had done marvelous things for Israel. The people of Israel had received unmatched spiritual advantages. Yet they failed to receive Christ, to whom all their advantages pointed. How could Paul not grieve for fellow Jews? They rejected God’s grace. Paul listed specific advantages God granted Israel:
Paul trusted in these advantages14 until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.15 Spiritual advantages point to Jesus but cannot replace salvation through faith. God continues to bless believers by allowing them to share many of Israel’s advantages.16
Paul ended this list of privileges with an extraordinary statement about Jesus, “the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” The fully human Messiah Jesus is, in fact, also fully God. Since His divine conception, people have questioned Christ’s deity. However, this verse expresses a strong statement of Jesus’s deity alongside the mention of His human ancestry. He is one person forever in two natures: God and man. As with the Trinity, God’s unique manifestation of His sovereign power and authority in Jesus’s incarnation exceeds our comprehension. Thankfully, our understanding cannot limit God’s truth and ability to be true to Himself!
God’s Faithfulness – Romans 9:6-13
Jewish unbelief raised questions among early Christians. Because God’s privileges and promises were for Israel, did this mean God’s word had failed? Was God powerless in the face of unbelief? Was God unfaithful to His promises to bless Abraham and his offspring? Paul referenced Abraham’s descendants to illustrate that God always keeps promises, often in unexpected ways.17 He sovereignly arranges unlikely people and circumstances to work out His purposes.18 Despite generations of disobedience, God’s promises to Israel remained unchanged—like His immutable character. Disobedience never causes God to forsake His beloved people or dishonor His word.
Paul declared that God’s word had not failed. Jesus was a Jew from Abraham’s line, and the first Christians were Jews. But this did not mean that all of Abraham’s descendants faithfully followed God and their covenant with Him. Paul said, “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” In this verse, the first “Israel” refers to Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, whom God renamed “Israel.” The second “Israel”—“true Israel”—refers to believing Jews.
The true Israel of the Old Testament faithfully looked forward to the Messiah’s coming. They believed in Him whom they did not yet know. The true Israel of the New Testament looks at Jesus, who came as promised to die in the place of sinners, paying the penalty for their sins. They believe in Jesus as the Son of God—resurrected, ascended to heaven, and returning again. True Israel believes by God’s grace through God-given faith in His promises revealed in His Word.
What did Paul mean when he wrote, “Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children”? Physical descent never automatically means a person inherits God’s promise of salvation. Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac, was God’s chosen heir to His promise.19 Isaac was born through their faith in God, when both Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children. Abraham also had an older son, Ishmael, born of Abraham’s initiative, apart from faith.20 As Paul stated, “It is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”
Abraham and Isaac could not have earned God’s favor. They became Israel’s fathers by God’s grace alone. God sovereignly called Abraham out of the ancient, idolatrous city of Ur. Abraham did not know or seek God, but God selected him for His purposes. God unconditionally promised Abraham that He would be Abraham’s God, give him an heir, and give his descendants the land of promise.21 Abraham responded in faith, which God credited to him as righteousness.22 God is completely just in His actions and fully loving in all His ways.
Responding to the question regarding whether all Abraham’s descendants were saved, Paul continued his explanation by pointing to Isaac’s children. Isaac and Rebekah conceived twin sons, Jacob and Esau. God sovereignly chose to continue His promises only through Jacob “before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls.” Election shows salvation is for God’s purpose and by God’s power and grace alone rather than achieved through human effort or merit.23
Esau and Jacob were both born sinners. For reasons unknown to us, God made Jacob the channel of His messianic promises to bless the world, and Esau shared no part in this destiny. God can be trusted to keep His promises. Paul quoted an expression from the prophet Malachi, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,”24 to underscore God’s favorable choice of Jacob, not to accentuate God’s negative emotion toward Esau or any person made in His image.25 God’s loving choice of people always includes His purpose for them to be His instruments in the world.
God’s Sovereignty – Romans 9:14-29
God’s sovereignty means that He possesses all power and authority to remain true to His character, His Word, and His will. In His sovereign authority, God chooses individuals and guides their destinies as He pleases. If you find this difficult, you are not alone. In the next section, Paul spoke directly to questions about God’s purposes in sovereign election. He addressed two objections: Is God unjust to save some and not others? If God is sovereign, how can He hold people responsible for their evil deeds?
“What then shall we say?” If God’s promises came to Isaac and Jacob, not Ishmael or Esau, is God unjust or unfair? Paul emphatically answered, “Not at all!” As creator, God is entitled to choose whichever of His creatures He wills. God’s absolute holiness, impartiality, justice, goodness, and love guarantee His choice always conforms to His character. God’s election is always about His grace for our good. Paul gave two biblical examples: God’s mercy to Moses and Israel and, after much patience, God’s wrath poured out on Pharaoh.
Moses: God’s Right to Give Mercy (9:15-16) – God offered Moses a glimpse of His sacred and sovereign identity when He said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.” By quoting Exodus 33:19, Paul evoked memories from Israel’s exodus. While awaiting Moses’s return from Mount Sinai, the people recklessly worshipped a golden calf idol.26 Justice would have meant death for the nation because everyone participated except Moses and Joshua. Instead, God graciously responded to Moses’s prayer and extended mercy to the majority of Israel. No one deserves or earns mercy, so God is never unjust in His choice to give it.
Pharaoh: God’s Right to Show Wrath (9:17-18) – Paul’s next example recalled Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery to show God’s just wrath.27 Before striking Egypt with 10 plagues, God told Moses, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”28 But during the first five plagues, the Scriptures say, “Pharaoh hardened his heart” and his “heart became hard.”29 Later, after God patiently endured Pharaoh’s hard heart, Scripture says, “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”30 To persistently refuse God’s way is to risk the danger of an increasingly hard heart. All of God’s judgments are just.
Paul quickly followed Pharaoh’s example with another objection and a swift rebuke: “One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?’ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?” Paul did not attempt to dissolve the tension between God’s sovereignty and humans’ responsibility to surrender to Him.31 These accusations dishonor God, who is not our equal. God is holy, good, righteous, all-powerful, and all-knowing. His steadfast love endures forever. He never changes. This is not so with people.
As an illustration, Paul referenced Isaiah’s picture of clay asking the potter, “Why did you make me like this?” The full reference from Isaiah carries a strong warning for today: “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘You did not make me’? Can the pot say to the potter, ‘You know nothing’?”32 We are all born sinners from Adam’s lump of clay. As the potter, God is free to use the clay as He wishes.33 God would not be unjust to leave the entire lump of clay in its natural, sinful condition. Yet He graciously makes “some pottery for special purposes”—to know, love, and enjoy Him forever.
Paul conveyed a fact about God through two rhetorical questions. In saving some and not saving others, God makes known His mercy, compassion, power, and righteous wrath. Paul carefully contrasted God’s actions toward objects of wrath and objects of mercy. God is patient with “the objects of His wrath—prepared for destruction.” People prepare themselves for destruction by failing to repent.34 Conversely, God actively prepared the “objects of His mercy”—both Jew and Gentile—to enjoy “the riches of His glory.” Therefore, if people are saved, credit belongs to God alone. Through faith, God is able and willing to change “objects of wrath” into “objects of mercy.”
Without minimizing His immeasurable love for people, God reveals His ultimate purpose in salvation—to make His triune glory known. In salvation, God the Father exalts God the Son proclaimed by God the Holy Spirit. God displays His glory through the historical drama of creation, the Fall, election, redemption at the cross, and His coming restoration and renewal of everything. God’s unshakable priority is to make His glory known to all people—Jews and non-Jews—from every nation.
Paul concluded his defense of God’s faithful promises and sovereign election with four additional Old Testament texts. God’s purposes have not and will never fail. Two verses from the prophet Hosea show God always intended to include Gentiles in His salvation plans.35 The two Isaiah passages explain that God’s electing call never included every single Jew but instead a faithful remnant.36
The idea of the remnant runs throughout the Old Testament. Joseph’s brothers meant to harm him, but God’s purpose was “to preserve for you a remnant on earth.”37 Hundreds of years later, when Assyria besieged Jerusalem, Isaiah promised, “Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root.”38 The promise of the Messiah’s coming proclaimed that the Lord would reach out to reclaim the remnant of His people from throughout the world.39 The prophet Micah asked in wonder, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”40
Like His purposes, God’s promises to Israel have not failed. Only God is powerful enough to save Jews and Gentiles alike. In His mercy, God elects and saves all who come to Him by faith. God is sovereign over His creation and faithfully keeps His promises.
God’s Gracious Choice
With our limited human understanding, we can struggle over the doctrine of election, which is both necessary and gracious. How could it be otherwise when “there is no one righteous, not even one?”1 Before the world’s creation and before anyone had done anything, God chose who would respond to Him in faith.2 God chose Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and Jews and Gentiles each at His appointed time. If God had not graciously chosen to call out people to belong to Him by faith, no one would be saved.
Some people think God elects to send people to hell. But the Bible reveals hell as our starting point after Adam’s choice to sin against God. All of Adam’s descendants flee from God, our only hope of blessing. Sin infiltrates all our actions, natural understanding, and desires. Left to ourselves, we would have no interest in God or His blessings; we would remain under sin and God’s righteous wrath.3 If God chose hell for humanity, He would not have given us the Bible. He surely would never have sent His Son to be our Savior. God would have needed to do nothing.
Redemption, not judgment, is God's ultimate purpose in history. God works in grace to elect and draw people to respond to Him and be saved.4 Today is the day of God’s grace!5 However, each person remains responsible for their sin and response to God. In Romans 10, Paul will further explain God’s sovereignty in election and how He works through individual faith.6 Election is a divine mystery.
Believers who disregard or misunderstand God’s grace in election seek security in their spiritual advantages and accomplishments rather than in God’s work on their behalf through His risen Son. Continuing to battle against sin’s remaining pull in their lives, people can be tempted to believe their salvation depends on their choices rather than God’s election. They may doubt Christ’s power to hold secure those the Father has given Him. Those who trust God’s justice, mercy, and grace in election rest assured that God will complete His good purposes in their salvation.7 They celebrate their sovereign God’s loving care even as they grieve the unbelief of loved ones. Confidence in God’s election frees believers to share the gospel and appreciate the riches of God’s glorious patience with sinners. If you are saved, how can you express gratitude for God’s grace in your election today?
1. No one righteous: Romans 3:10-11
2. Chosen by grace: Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:3-14; 2 Timothy 1:9
3. Under sin: Romans 3:9-12
4. God draws: John 6:44
5. Believe today: 2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 3:12-13
6. Human responsibility: Matthew 11:25-30; John 6:37-40; Romans 10:11-12
7. Confident of completion: Philippians 1:6; Jude 1:24-25
Take to Heart
Paul’s sacrificial love toward his fellow Jews led him to grieve over Israel’s refusal to believe in Jesus. God’s lavish blessings pointed them toward their Messiah, yet many rejected Jesus as God the Son. Even as he grieved, Paul affirmed God’s faithfulness to His promises and purposes concerning Abraham and his descendants. The Creator retains the sovereign right to show mercy and compassion to whomever He elects.
Our minds will never grasp why God elects some and leaves others in their sinful state. Still, His justice, mercy, and righteousness remain undiminished. God does nothing randomly. Although we may not fully understand the intersection of His will and human decision, we know He does all things well and perfectly. God’s sovereign actions in salvation display the riches of His glory to His creation. Even in exercising His wrath, God shows patience toward those who will never repent and believe in Jesus. God’s grace reaches toward sinners, drawing them to Himself and making them His own by His mighty power. By God’s grace, a remnant of Israel will believe and be saved.
How much loving compassion floods your heart for people who currently reject God? Perhaps instead of sorrow, you feel disapproval or disgust toward those who do not share your faith and new life in Christ. Paul’s example may bring conviction as we consider how seldom we discard our comfort for the sake of others. The joy of salvation and the sorrow of judgment can transform our view of the lost, soften our hearts, and draw us toward them with the gospel. God longs to fill you with His love for enemies of the gospel in your workplace, family, school, community, and nation. Will you repent of any bitterness toward them? Will you ask God to help you love those who treat you the worst?
Christian parents, Bible knowledge, spiritual experiences, church membership, religious freedom, baptism, and Holy Communion provide great spiritual advantages but cannot save. Salvation comes by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Do you have confidence in God’s promised power to save you today through faith, or are you hoping your spiritual advantages will be sufficient? If you are wondering whether God elected you to salvation, doubt no more, repent, and believe. God works through various spiritual blessings to draw people to Himself, but salvation only comes by faith in Jesus Christ.
If you are a believer, God mercifully chose you, a sinner, to be His child. Like Paul, we were all unbelievers once. Left to our own way, we would all walk the same path as Ishmael, Esau, and Pharaoh. Because we would not seek God, His mercy in Christ had to seek us. How might pondering God’s saving kindness, goodness, faithfulness, grace, and mercy toward you encourage you today? You can trust God’s certain promises, even while mysteries about Israel’s salvation and election remain unclear. God is infinite and we are finite, so times will always arise when we cannot understand God’s actions. In such times, honoring God’s greatness as sovereign creator stabilizes our hearts and minds.
When did you last pray for God to show mercy when judgment seemed appropriate? If you are a believer, God has appointed you as an agent of His mercy in this fallen world. He has called you as an ambassador to make His glory known as you live for Him and tell others about God’s saving grace. Those living apart from Christ often seek peace in wrong ideas, false religions, good works, or pleasurable activities, attempting to cover the condemnation only Christ can remove. They need to know that God loves them and mercifully saves sinners, offering a righteousness only Jesus can provide. God’s mercy in Christ remains available today to all who surrender to Him in sincerity and truth. God is just, and His promises never fail. Today is the day of salvation for you, those you love, and all who will believe. God’s sovereign election frees believers to share the gospel boldly with everyone. Trust His power and not your own for salvation.
1. Doxology: Romans 11:33-36
2. God’s promise: Genesis 22:16-18; Hebrews 6:13-15
3. Jews persecuted Paul: 2 Corinthians 11:24, 26
4. Jesus’s compassion: Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-44
5. Moses’s appeal: Exodus 32:32
6. No separation: Romans 8:38-39
7. God’s choice: Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 8:5; Hosea 11:1
8. God’s visible glory: Exodus 13:21-22; 24:16-17; 40:34-38; 2 Chronicles 5:13–6:2
9. Old Testament covenants: Genesis 12:2-3; 15:4-21; 17:1-22; 22:15-18; 28:10-15; Exodus 2:24; 6:2-8; 24:1-18; 2 Samuel 7:4-16; 23:5
10. Law’s value: Romans 3:1-2; 7:12; Galatians 3:19-24
11. Sin’s penalty: Romans 6:23
12. Israel’s patriarchs: Acts 7:8-9
13. Jesus from Abraham: Matthew 1:1-17
14. Paul’s advantages: Philippians 3:4-6
15. Damascus encounter: Acts 9
16. Advantage believers share: Luke 22:20; John 1:14; Romans 8:15; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Galatians 4:4-5; Hebrews 9:22-28
17. God’s promises: Numbers 23:19
18. God’s purposes: Genesis 45:1-8; 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 33:10-11; Isaiah 6
19. Isaac: Genesis 21:12
20. Ishmael: Genesis 17:18-21
21. God’s promise: Genesis 15
22. Abraham’s righteousness: Genesis 15:6
23. God’s gracious choice: John 1:12-13; Ephesians 2:8-9
24. Jacob loved: Malachi 1:2-3
25. Image-bearers: Genesis 1:27
26. Golden calf: Exodus 32
27. Pharaoh’s example: Exodus 9:16
28. Pharaoh’s heart: Exodus 4:21; 7:3
29. Hard heart: Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35; 13:15
30. The Lord hardened Pharaoh: Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17
31. Sovereignty and responsibility: Isaiah 55:1; Matthew 11:25-30; 2 Peter 3:9; Revelation 22:17
32. Potter and clay: Isaiah 29:16
33. Potter’s prerogative: Isaiah 45:9; 64:6-8; Jeremiah 18
34. No repentance: Romans 2:4-5
35. Gentiles and salvation: Hosea 1:10; 2:23
36. Faithful remnant: Isaiah 1:9; 10:22-23
37. Remnant on earth: Genesis 45:7
38. Remnant takes root: 2 Kings 19:30-31
39. Reclaim the remnant: Isaiah 11:10-11
40. Delight in mercy: Micah 7:18
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