Wednesday, January 4, 2012

All roads lead to Romans

What if I were to tell you that God chooses some people and not others. That He picks on the basis of His own wisdom and not on the basis of our merit, work, value, desire, sincerity, or usefulness.

I would guess you would say something like THIS.

Paul anticipated this backlash to his assertion and addressed it in the same context of the text of Romans 9.

This is a difficult text and not to be handled lightly or by the light-hearted. I know your knee-jerk reaction is to immediately assume he can't mean what it sounds like he means. Smarter people than me have debated this passage and the implications thereof since Paul wrote it.

It is clear from Scripture, that a lot of what Paul was given by the Spirit to articulate is difficult to flesh out in our minds and many will use this as opportunity to distort the Truth.

I am not a Biblical scholar by any means. This is a difficult assertion. It challenges many of our assumptions (particularly as westerners lustfully yoked to independence and "you can be whatever you are willing to work to achieve.").

But it is worth noting that the Spirit inspired Paul to write it and addresses the very reaction one would expect to hearing it.

Sometimes things are not what they seem. Sometimes we want things to be other than what they seem. Sometimes things are exactly what they seem.

Paul foresaw by the Spirit the reaction to this bold assertion of the extent of God's sovereignty HERE & HERE.

Is God sovereign? Really sovereign? Can He really do what he wants? Does His sovereignty make you uncomfortable? Is God subject to the court of public opinion? If not the public's opinion, what about yours?

You have the internet and the links to Romans 9 above. How do you read?

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