“What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 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? As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”” (Romans 9:14-29 NIV)
Explanation:
What we have here is classic theodicy, the defending of God's revealed character by someone loyal to him. I once contributed a chapter to a book on theodicy in the ancient Near East and in the Bible. My chapter was on the Hittites. I pointed out that there was little room in Hittite thought for theodicy, because their gods never claimed to be absolutely just, fair or loving. They left themselves wriggle room. You worshiped a god or goddess because he or she was powerful, and if you didn't curry his or her favor, you might well suffer illness, poverty or even death. Your sacrifices were bribes, and your prayers naked flattery.
But in the Bible a God is revealed who doesn't leave himself wriggle room. True, in this very chapter we see how he reserves to himself the right to define his justice. But this is not sophistry: for as Paul's quotations from the OT show, God laid out his operating procedure long beforehand, and then conformed to it perfectly.
There are rights which the Creator has over his creatures that no one else enjoys. Paul affirms God's right as the one true and living God to decide what constitutes justice. He cannot be judged by some exterior human standard, but himself creates and defines all standards.
When Paul quotes Ex. 33:19 in God's defense, he merely shows that God defined himself in relation to his creatures as the absolute: the One who defines all else, who decides what is just and what unjust. The words "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion" do not merely repeat the problem, as some commentators claim: they show why no problem exists. God's essence is expressed in his name Yahweh, which he himself interpreted as "I am what I am", meaning that no one or no thing outside of God limits him. But he is always true to his word.
Application:
In these days of the March Madness my mind like yours perhaps tends to think in basketball terms. I cannot imagine a coach being fired for not consulting his players wishes when he draws up his plays. Their responsibility is to execute those plays precisely and to use their native talent and the training given them in practice sessions in order to score on the offense and shut down their opponents' attack while on defense. God has chosen the players who will compose the Christian “team”. He assigns roles on the team through the spiritual spiritual gifts he bestows— who will be the pastors, teachers, hospitality leaders, worship leaders, visitors of the sick, financial counselors, evangelists, etc. What is our responsibility, once he has given us our place in the team? It is to listen carefully to the Coach's instructions (Bible study). It is to practice by cultivating our gifts (Bible study, prayer, teaching, mentoring, child training, hospitality). It is to watch the Coach on the sidelines for signals. It is to play as a team, supporting each other in prayer and encouragement. And it is to execute according to the play book, the Bible.
We must never question, when our coach removes a player—the death of a dear one. We must be willing to sit on the bench for a while and cheer our replacement. We must be willing to be sent in during a difficult moment.
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