The Truth of Lordship Salvation (Romans 10:5-13)

Nothing is more important in Bible study and Bible preaching than proper interpretation. If we do not arrive at God’s intended message – what He was actually communicating – then we cannot arrive at proper application. This would prove disastrous in any biblical doctrine but especially in the doctrine of salvation. The dangers associated with an improper interpretation of the Gospel are either legalism or libertinism.

Legalism can be either an attempt to merit God’s favor through works of the Law or a more subtle but just as deadly adding to the finished work of Christ. In the case of adding to the finished work of Christ one would profess faith in Christ plus some other stipulation. One might say that you have to believe in Christ but you also must do this or that.

The Judaizers that hounded the apostle Paul taught that you had to believe in Christ plus be circumcised and observe the Law of Moses in order to be saved. There are those in our day who say that you must believe in Christ plus a myriad of other do’s and don’ts in order to be saved. This is legalism and it is an attempt to make Jesus Lord.

Libertinism is just the opposite of legalism and instead of attempting to merit God’s favor through works of the Law or adding to the finished work of Christ it actually is against the Law and would even dare remove Christ’s obedience to the Law as necessary for our salvation. Libertinism actually takes away from the work of Christ and in essence says that a person can be saved by believing in Jesus as Savior but not as Lord. Libertinism subtracts from the Person and work of Christ. There are many in our day that say you must believe in Jesus as Savior minus His Lordship and His perpetual obedience to the Law from the cradle to the cross. They emphasize His death and resurrection to the exclusion of His Law-keeping obedience. Libertines want to have Jesus as Savior but not as Lord – or at least His Lordship to them is optional and not necessary for salvation.

However, both legalism and libertinism are deadly counterfeits of the true Gospel. Lordship salvation is the true Gospel and it isn’t making Jesus Lord or rejecting His Lordship but receiving Him as Lord. Since both legalism and libertinism tamper with the finished and sufficient work of Christ, neither one believes the testimony God has given concerning His Son. Therefore neither one can confess or “say the same thing” about Jesus that God says about Him. Why? Their belief in His resurrection is deficient – it isn’t from understanding with the heart.

The resurrection of Christ from the dead implies His Lordship! Follow the reasoning carefully. If a man lived a perfect life in perpetual obedience to God’s Law from his birth and then died then of necessity it means that His death was substitutionary and not a result of sin or violation of God’s Law. If His death was substitutionary then He was dying on behalf of others who had sinned and violated God’s Law. Since this was the case then the Law had absolutely no reason to hold this sinless Man in the grips of death because He had never violated the Law but was only upholding it. Therefore, it was impossible that He could be held by death (Acts 2:24) and God raised Him from the dead making Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36) declaring Him the Son of God with power (Romans 1:4).

Now how is a sinner who is saved by the works of this sinless Man going to respond to Him? Is he not going to love Him? Is he not going to adore Him? Is he not going to worship Him? Is he not going to obey Him? Didn’t Jesus say, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”? Didn’t Jesus say, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say”? Isn’t our obedience to Christ as Lord the result of His work on our behalf (Romans 1:5)? Isn’t the goal of the Gospel loving, loyal obedience to Christ because He saved us?

Notice in our text that salvation is a Lordship issue – “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). And then Paul gave us the divine and logical order in which this happens – “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (Romans 10:10). First the heart understands the necessity and the actuality of the resurrection of Christ. Then the mouth confesses Jesus as Lord. So first there is the understanding of the work Jesus did to save us and immediately afterwards – because of His work on our behalf – we confess His Lordship submitting to Him as such. What we believe brings about our obedience and the Bible calls it, “The obedience of the faith” (Romans 1:5).

The Bible gives us a wonderful illustration of the truth of Lordship salvation years before Romans was ever written. In Luke 23:32-43 we read of Jesus’ crucifixion between two criminals. One of those criminals received salvation and the other did not. It’s very interesting to see how this played out. The criminal that did not receive salvation actually spoke to Jesus and wanted Him to be his Savior – “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us” (Luke 23:39)! The other criminal owned his crimes and confessed Jesus’ innocence (Luke 23:40-41). He had been brought to the place of understanding that Jesus wasn’t dying for any crimes He had committed because He hadn’t committed any and that Jesus’ death was of necessity, substitutionary.

Notice what this criminal says to the Lord after realizing this: “And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come in Your kingdom’” (Luke 23:42). He believed in his heart that God would raise Jesus from the dead – “When you come!” The apostle Paul said, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Notice also that this criminal confessed with his mouth Jesus as Lord – “And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come in Your kingdom’” (Luke 23:42). That is a confession of the Lordship of Christ – only Kings have kingdoms.

Lastly notice that this criminal called upon the name of the Lord – “Jesus, remember me when you come in Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Romans 10:13 – “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Who can be Saved? (Romans 10:5-13)

The most important question that a person can ask is: “What must I do to be saved?” This is the question that was on the heart and mind of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16). This young religious leader came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” It’s interesting that the first thing the Lord said to this young man was the truth of man’s total inability to do good because man isn’t good. “And He said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good…’” (Matthew 19:17). This truth alone puts the possibility of obtaining the righteousness God requires out of the reach of fallen men. To show this young man his inability to inherit eternal life by the works of his own hands, the Lord said, “But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17).

Notice the unusual response of the young ruler to the Lord – “Then he said to Him, ‘Which ones’” (Matthew 19:18)? Behind this question is the false notion that as long as ones partial obedience to the commandments outweighs his disobedience then God will be pleased. It’s the false notion that as long as my good outweighs my bad then God will grant me eternal life. This overlooks the truth that God’s Law and God’s holy nature requires perfect perpetual obedience and partial obedience is disobedience – “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Also the Law itself said, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them” (Galatians 3:10).

The Law puts the requirements of God for eternal life out of reach of sinful humanity (Romans 3:20) and witnesses to the truth that eternal life must come as a gift by faith in the only One who is good and lived in perfect perpetual obedience to the Law (Romans 3:21-24). Since salvation is by grace through faith in Christ and not by works of the Law then that which is impossible becomes possible – that which is out of reach through the works of sinful man becomes near and in reach through faith in the One and only Sinless Man. This is the truth that Paul is establishing in Romans 10:5-13.

The righteousness of God is impossible for sinners through the work of the flesh (Romans 10:5). Eternal life is out of reach and impossible for sinners to accomplish themselves. In order to do so he or she would have to have perfect perpetual obedience to the Law. Impossible!

The righteousness of God is possible for sinners through the word of faith (Romans 10:6-8). Eternal life is in the reach of sinners as a gift through faith in the finished work of Christ. Notice that this requires faith in Christ and not oneself. This means that we must believe in our own inability in order to believe in Christ and His ability. We must believe that we are truly unrighteous and in need of imputed righteousness. We must believe that we are sinners, God is holy, and our only hope is in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ must become to the sinner his sole source of righteousness.

This truth humbles all who will receive it and removes all boasting before God so that he who boasts, boasts in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:31). Do you see how a person must be humbled by the truth of his own inability in order to believe in Christ as his sole source of righteousness? Man must see that the righteousness of God is so far out of his reach that it is impossible for him to attain to it. It is only then that man can see the wonderful truth of how God has made possible the impossible as a gift. By making the righteousness required for eternal life a gift through faith in Christ, God has made the impossible, possible; and that which was out of reach; near.

This is why Paul personified the righteousness based on faith and showed us how it speaks. What does faith say? “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Romans 10:6-7). Those are two impossible tasks for men, both of which are a denial of the work of Christ, and faith doesn’t talk that way. How does faith talk? It says this, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Romans 10:8).

In order to be saved by faith a person must see his total inability and his hope of any self-sufficiency must die so that he can trust in Christ’s work as his only hope of righteousness and eternal life. By this he will confess his own sinfulness and Christ’s righteousness; his own inability and Christ’s ability; and his own insufficiency and Christ’s total sufficiency – [this] is, the word of faith which [Paul] was preaching (Romans 10:8).

The word of faith must affect the heart to inform the mouth (Romans 10:9-13). The word of faith connects the mouth and the heart so that what the mouth says actually comes from the heart. It is possible for the mouth to speak and not mean what it says. Jesus said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say” (Luke 6:46). He also said, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). To speak the right words without believing or understanding those words in the heart is not confession but confusion! For genuine confession to take place the heart must be supernaturally affected by the truth if it is to inform the mouth with real understanding. Jesus said, “For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them” (Matthew 13:15).

Since the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart, the heart must be changed for one to turn from self and sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. This only happens through the preaching of the word about Christ (Romans 10:17) which confronts man with his own sinfulness and inability with the sinless, sufficient work of Christ on his behalf in stark contrast.

Then and only then will the sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection of Christ become heart knowledge and not just head knowledge and it will result in the confession of Jesus as Lord.

Vicarious Law-Keeping (Romans 10:4-5)

The aim of the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh. The aim of the Gospel is to show that justification is on the basis of grace along through faith alone in Christ alone because of His vicarious Law-keeping, vicarious Law-paying, and vicarious Law-releasing. In other words, the aim of the Gospel is to show Christ as the fulfillment of the Law and not its nullifier so that the righteousness of God can be attained by faith and never by the flesh. We are justified solely as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24) based on His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection – all on our behalf. Therefore we cannot be justified by our own Law-keeping (because we can’t keep it) and we cannot be justified without Christ’s Law-keeping (He’s the only One who could) for it must be fulfilled and not nullified. Our justification is based on the works of another and not our own! We are justified by a Savior who serves as our Substitute who alone was qualified to pay a debt He didn’t owe for those who owed a debt they couldn’t pay!

Since it is true that the aim of the Gospel is to remove the false notion that man can be justified through keeping the Law in the power of his flesh then of necessity you will understand that God has never justified any sinner through works of the Law but only on the basis of faith in God’s perfect Substitute – the Lord Jesus Christ. There has never been nor will there ever be a dispensation in which men are justified by their own law-keeping. It is error and heresy to believe that God has at one time in history justified men by their own law-keeping but today has nullified the Law through a dispensation of grace. There has never been anything but a dispensation of justification by grace through faith in the One and only Vicarious Law-Keeper.

Let me define vicarious so that you know exactly what I’m communicating so that you can also communicate this wonderful good-news to all men everywhere. Vicarious means “performed, received, or suffered in the place of another” (Webster’s Universal College Dictionary). All three meanings of the word apply to the totality of the work of Christ on our behalf. Christ performed Law-keeping in our place through His sinless life; Christ suffered Law-paying in our place through His sacrificial death; and Christ received Law-releasing in our place through His supernatural resurrection. Every single aspect of the work of Christ is necessary for our justification. Without His sinless life He could not become the Sacrificial Lamb and would not experience a supernatural resurrection by which we could be justified and become the righteousness of God in Him. Therefore faith in Christ does not nullify the Law but establishes it (Romans 3:31) and brings to an end all attempts at meriting justification through our own works by receiving it through faith in His works (Romans 10:4).

Here is the wonderful truth of redemption in Christ – we can’t keep the Law; He never said we could! He can keep the Law; and He always said He would! It is in this and this alone that the weary and heavy laden find rest for their souls. We don’t have rest because the Law has been abolished – we have rest because our Lord has been sufficient! Christ didn’t abolish the Law; He fulfilled it just as He said He would.

There are those today who believe that the Law has been abolished and that Romans 10:4 is teaching that the Law has been abolished. These are so against the Law that they discount the sinless life of Christ under the Law as a non-essential to salvation. They would dare divide the seamless garment of the work of Christ and reject His obedience to the Law as a necessary part of our justification. This is a severe misinterpretation of this passage that not only overlooks its immediate context but also the overall context of Scripture. That the Law has not been abolished but fulfilled is the explicit teaching of the Bible and so it does not imply in this verse or any other verse that the Law has been abolished. Faith establishes the Law because it trusts in the vicarious Law-keeping of Christ!

In Romans 10:4-5, Paul is contrasting Gospel righteousness (Romans 10:4) to the righteousness of the Law (Romans 10:5) in order to show that we are saved by Another’s Law-keeping and not our own. Why is this so? Because to be saved by the Law through our own ability to keep it is impossible for sinful man since the Law requires perfect obedience at every point perpetually throughout man’s life in order to receive the Law’s promise of life. The Law promises life for those who live by it in perpetual perfection but it promises death for those who don’t. “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them’” (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26).

So the Law does not bring righteousness to man, it actually reveals man’s unrighteousness through his inability to live by it in perpetual perfection. It is because of this that men must trust the only sufficient Substitute, Jesus Christ, in order to be justified by God. “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for ‘The righteous man shall live by faith’” (Galatians 3:11).

We are justified by faith in the finished work of Christ alone. It is not that He kept nine of the commandments and we kept one – it is that He kept all the commandments and we kept none – “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). We don’t add anything to the work of Christ – He did it all and He did it all by Himself. That is why we read that “when He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

That, my brethren, is vicarious Law-keeping - the Law-keeper dying for the Law-breakers and being raised from the dead for our justification and His own vindication. Christ performed the whole Law, suffered the Law’s penalty, and received the Law’s release on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him and also receive the Law’s release. That is justification; that is liberation; that is the Gospel!

Christ: The End of Trying (Romans 10:4)

Since man cannot meet the righteous requirement of a holy God through works of the Law and cannot by the labor of his hands fulfill the Law’s demands, his only hope is found in Jesus Christ who did perfectly fulfill the Law in order to redeem him. People that believe they can serve God and please God in the flesh are ignorant about the righteous requirements of an absolutely righteous God and their own sinfulness (Romans 10:3).

The most difficult people on the face of the earth to reach with the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are those who have been taught that they are pretty good people and therefore God owes them salvation. The absolute need for any person to be saved is that he or she sees his or her inability to please God in the power of the flesh through works of the Law. The self-righteous are excluded from salvation because salvation is by mercy and not by merit. So the first duty of the faithful witness is to exalt the absolute righteousness of God and thereby show man his absolute inability to measure up. Men must be convinced of their sin if they are going to be convinced of their need for a Savior. As long as we allow men to remain in their self-righteousness by not exposing their sinfulness then we play right into the hands of the enemy of souls and join him in excluding them from salvation.

Many redefine sin in order to remove its offensiveness. Redefining sin as something other than what God has defined it in the Bible and telling men that they are not really as bad as God says they are is a hindrance to men coming to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sad to say, but this is much of what characterizes today’s evangelism. Sin and repentance are either overlooked or toned down so that men aren’t offended or hurt by the stinging truth of their real condition before a holy and righteous God. The end result is men are offered grace without guilt, healing without hurting, and response without repentance. So these poor souls end up with a false assurance of salvation and will either be legalistic or licentious – not knowing about God’s righteousness!

Since man cannot achieve the righteousness of God – it must be achieved for him through a Substitute and received as a gift on the basis of faith. That being true, then all effort by man to please God in the flesh is an exercise in futility and ends in destruction. However, since the Lord Jesus Christ did achieve the righteousness of God as a Substitute for men who would believe, for them He is the end of attempting to please God in the flesh (Romans 10:4).

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). Those who come to believe are those who come to see and know God’s righteousness and their inability to achieve it. They come to know themselves as sinners in the need of mercy! These are the ones that can see that they need a Savior and are no longer blinded by their self-righteousness or their zeal without knowledge. They come to know and understand – not the labors of my hands, can fulfill they law’s demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and thou alone (Baptist Hymnal, Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me, second stanza, Hymn 163). For everyone who believes, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness! Christ is the end of trying!

Salvation isn’t achieved by our trying to live a good life – we can’t; salvation is achieved by our trusting in the finished work of Christ. We become the recipients of the righteousness of God through faith not through the flesh. This is why it written, “The righteous man shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Believers experience the great transaction – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, “[we] no longer live for [ourselves], but for Him who died and rose again on [our] behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:15). We no longer live by the flesh and for the flesh but we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself up for us (Galatians 2:20).

I want you to notice three aspects about this verse:

“For Christ” - Salvation is exclusive - it is in Christ alone – He is the exclusive Savior and Liberator for there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

“Is the end of the law for righteousness” – Salvation is liberative – it sets men free from trying and gives them rest through trusting.

“To everyone who believes” – Salvation is inclusive – it is for everyone, Jew or Gentile, who comes to know God’s righteousness; his inability to achieve it; and that God has provided it through the finished work of Christ.

Zeal without Knowledge (Romans 10:1-4)

In Romans 9:1-33 the apostle Paul gave two reasons for Israel’s failure to obtain salvation: (1) Israel failed to obtain salvation because of God’s sovereignty – God saves by grace through faith whoever He chooses on the basis of unconditional election. God saves by grace not race; by mercy not merit; and by faith not flesh. Therefore no man can put God under obligation to save on any other basis. (2) Israel failed to obtain salvation because of human responsibility – since God saves by grace through faith man is responsible to see his inability to be saved by the Law through works of the flesh on the basis of conditional election. Israel pursued salvation as though it were by works rather than by faith (Romans 9:31-32).

Paul was at one time in the same shoes that the majority of his Israelite kinsmen were in. He also pursued salvation as though it were by works and believed in conditional election rather than unconditional election – until the Lord saved him on the Damascus Road. So what Paul was about to write in Romans 10:1-4 was not only true to Scripture but also his own personal experience – he had zeal without knowledge and was attempting to establish his own righteousness.

Paul’s prayer was for Israel’s salvation (Romans 10:1). There are two discoveries to be made in this verse by keeping it in its literary context (the verses that precede and follow it) and in its historical context (the situation in life for the author and the meaning of the message to its original audience): (1) We discover that believing in God’s sovereignty (chapter 9) does not discourage praying for the lost or witnessing to the lost. (2) We discover that while Paul was accused of preaching against the people (his situation in life), his telling them the truth and praying for them showed his genuine concern and love for them. It was those false teachers that told them what they wanted to hear and preyed on them that were actually against them.

Paul’s problem was Israel’s religion (Romans 10:2-3). We notice four problems with Israel’s religion in these two verses that made it almost impossible for them to receive Paul’s message: (1) the first problem with Israel’s religion was that they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (2) The second problem with Israel’s religion was that they were ignorant of God’s righteousness. (3) The third problem with Israel’s religion was that they were seeking to establish their own righteousness – being ignorant of the righteousness of God that He requires. (4) The fourth problem with Israel’s religion was they did not subject themselves to God’s righteousness.

Paul knew all about these four problems because at one time in his life he was the epitome of Israel’s religion. Paul said that he was more zealous for Israel’s religion than the rest of his countrymen – “And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions” (Galatians 1:14). Paul also said that he was “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). While being attacked in the temple at Jerusalem and given the opportunity to make a defense before the Jews, Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today” (Acts 22:3).

Paul had a zeal for God but without knowledge. The word knowledge is epignosis which means “real knowledge” or “true knowledge.” Gnosis is the word for common knowledge which is a lower form of knowledge and may even be a false knowledge. However the prefix epi means “over” or “above.” So epignosis is “true knowledge” which is “over” or “above” common knowledge and must be revealed by God because it does not originate in man. It is knowledge from above as compared to earthly or natural knowledge (see James 3:15, 17).

Paul also at one time was ignorant (without knowledge) of God’s righteousness and sought to establish a righteousness of his own. After being confronted by the Lord on the Damascus Road, Paul threw away his attempts at having a righteousness of his own derived from the Law and relied totally on the imputed righteousness of Christ as his only hope for attaining to the righteousness of God (Philippians 3:7-9). To be ignorant of God’s righteousness is to fail to see that God’s standard is beyond the reach of sinful man and that what we need we cannot attain and therefore it must be received as a gift through the works of another who was able to completely meet God’s righteous standard – this is why salvation is by faith in Christ.

The whole time Paul was depending upon his zeal for God and his personal obedience to the law in order to establish a righteousness of his own by which to be acceptable to God and merit His favor, he was not subjecting himself to God’s righteousness. Believing that he was pleasing God – being very sincere in that belief – Paul was refusing to place himself under God’s revealed way of salvation and was despising God’s authority. Nothing would have looked more like subjecting oneself to God’s righteousness than the earnest pursuit of rules and regulations – but those rules and regulations were for pointing men to Christ by pointing men to their own sinfulness. So instead of subjecting themselves to God’s way of righteousness – they rejected it.

Paul’s prescription was Israel’s Liberator (Romans 10:4). Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Christ is the goal to which the law points and in Him men can rest and cease striving. By this He is the end of attempting to gain God’s required righteousness through the works of the law because it cannot be done. Christ fulfilled the Law of God completely. In His sinless life He upheld the precepts of the Law; in His sacrificial death He upheld the penalty of the Law; and in His supernatural resurrection He upheld the Person of the Law so that faith in Christ establishes the Law rather than nullifies it (Romans 3:31). Men are saved through the work of Christ alone and not one iota of their own!

The Gospel is Exclusive (Romans 9:27-33)

In Romans 9:25-26 the apostle Paul showed that the Gospel of salvation by grace is inclusive – it is for undeserving Jews and undeserving Gentiles. Since salvation is by grace and not by merit then it is for every people group in the world and not just one ethnicity. God has promised to save some from every tribe and every tongue and every nation. Paul quoted a couple of verses from the Old Testament prophet Hosea to show that God had always intended to graciously include Gentiles in his plan of salvation by grace – “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people.’”

The Gospel is inclusive – it demonstrates God’s grace and mercy as He saves undeserving sinners and it demonstrates God’s righteousness as He shows no favoritism for any one group of people. For many, many years it seemed as though God didn’t care for anyone except the Jews. Just as the Old Testament prophets had prophesied of the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s plan of salvation, they also prophesied of the reversal of God’s order of salvation. The Jews were going to reject their Messiah and because of this the kingdom of God was going to be taken away from them and given to a people producing the fruit of it (see Matthew 21:42-43). Not only was God going to graciously include the Gentiles in His plan of salvation, He was also going to give them the main responsibility of spreading the Gospel – until the time of the Gentiles be complete (Luke 21:24 and Romans 11:25).

So not only does the Bible teach that the Gospel is inclusive, it also teaches that the gospel is exclusive. The Gospel includes everyone who believes in the finished work of Christ as his only hope of righteousness – Jew or Gentile (Romans 1:16). But the Gospel also excludes everyone who pursues righteousness as though it is by works (Romans 9:32) or who perverts the grace of God and uses it as a license to sin (Romans 6:1; Jude 4).

The Gospel is Exclusive (Romans 9:27-33). Paul moved on to show that the majority of the nation of Israel wasn’t going to be saved but only a remnant from among the nation. He quoted twice from Isaiah to prove that what he was teaching was biblical. You can correctly imagine that the Jews listening to Paul’s message of salvation by grace would have wondered at why, if his message was true, the majority of the Jews who had God’s Word weren’t being saved. Why were there more Gentiles being saved than there were Jews? The answer: because salvation is by grace and not by works (Romans 9:32).

The gospel is exclusive. God only saves by grace through faith in Christ and all who dare pursue salvation as though it is by the will of man or the works of man are destined to stumble over the stumbling stone of salvation by grace. There is no salvation for the person who thinks his religion can earn him a righteous standing before God. Jesus said in Mark 2:17, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The majority of the Jews pursued salvation as though it were by works and not by faith (Romans 9:31-32). If God hadn’t graciously chosen to save a remnant of Israel none of them would have been saved – “[they] would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.” God would have had to destroy them because there wouldn’t have been even ten righteous people found among them – while as a whole they believed that the majority of them were righteous.

It’s amazing that we can see sin in others easily. It’s not so easy to see sin in ourselves. This makes it nearly impossible to see sin in our religion – and we will not if God doesn’t open our eyes and cause us to see our need for his grace and mercy. Most people judge by appearance and believe that when something bad happens to others that those others deserved it while they themselves were spared because of their own righteousness. Here is a case in point: “Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish’” (Luke 13:1-5).

Do you see the how the self-righteous assess the tragedy of others and bolster a dangerous and unbiblical assurance that they themselves are pleasing to God? It’s the idea that they deserved tragedy and we didn’t! That’s the attitude of the self-righteous who thinks that his religion rather than the work of Christ has earned him a right standing before God.

The self-righteous, as long as they remain in that state, are excluded from salvation because it is by grace and not by works. The only thing that any person, Jew or Gentile, can do to be saved is to believe that he can do nothing to merit salvation and to cast himself on God’s mercy in the finished work of Christ. Being brought to the place of recognizing ones inability and being enabled to believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the work of God (John 6:29ff). He accomplishes this work in the hearts and lives of the ones that He has chosen for salvation through the proclamation of the word about Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word about Christ (Romans 10:17).

The Gospel is exclusive – it is only for those who have been shown and have come to know that they are sinners. All others are excluded.

The Gospel is Inclusive (Romans 9:25-26)

The Gospel is inclusive (Romans 9:25-26). The gospel is inclusive! It is for undeserving Jews and undeserving Gentiles. Since salvation is by grace and not by merit then it is for every people group in the world and not just one ethnicity. God has promised to save some from every tribe and every tongue and every language and every nation.

Here Paul quotes a couple of verses from Hosea to demonstrate that salvation is for undeserving Jews and undeserving Gentiles. In its original context the verses in Hosea applied to the Jews of the northern kingdom who had forfeited their right to remain in the land and who had brought down the judgment of God on themselves. But under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the apostle Paul also made application with it to the Gentiles – I will call those who were not My people, “My people.” These verses then apply to undeserving Jews and undeserving Gentiles.

We need to take a moment and consider the historical context of the prophecy given by Hosea. First of all Hosea was giving a prophetic parable as directed by the Lord. He was told to marry a woman of harlotries and have children by her. The woman of harlotries was Gomer and she was representative of the adulterous nation of Israel. Hosea the prophet was representative of God. The children of Gomer are noted as being children of harlotries. The names that God directed Hosea to give the children represented how God was going to deal with the nation. The first child was a son named Jezreel. Jezreel means to scatter or sow, like a farmer who would scatter his seed. God was going to scatter the nation because of its constant forsaking of the Lord. The second child was a daughter named Lo-ruhamah which means no compassion or not loved – no mercy! The third child was a son named Lo-ammi which means not my people!

So Israel was portrayed as a harlot who had forsaken the Lord just as Gomer was a harlot who forsook Hosea. The children of Gomer were given names by God to indicate how He was going to deal with the adulterous nation. This message would not have been and was not well received by the people. They were sure that they had not forsaken God and that He would not deal with them in that manner (see Hosea 8:2).

What caused Israel to not believe and not receive God’s message of her unfaithfulness through Hosea? They were living in a time of seeming peace when they had recaptured much of the land that belonged to them under king David and king Solomon. It was a time of prosperity with the rich getting richer and a time of palaces with bigger and better homes and houses of worship (Hosea 8:14). It was a time of multiplied altars (Hosea 8:11) and friendship with the world (Hosea 8:8). So it was a time of peace, prosperity, palaces, and political prowess. Israel couldn’t see her waywardness because of her works. She was sure that God was pleased with her and therefore could not see that she was in need of grace. So the majority of the Jews were not going to receive mercy because they did not see their need for mercy.

Also the people in Hosea’s day were constantly misapplying God’s Word and those negative parts must be talking about the Gentiles and not the nation of Israel (Hosea 8:12). So God gave a double meaning to His prophecy through Hosea – “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’ And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called sons of the living God.’” God was going to include the Gentiles in His offer of free mercy. The gospel is inclusive – it is not just for undeserving Jews but also for undeserving Gentiles.

The Gospel is inclusive – it demonstrates God’s grace and mercy as He saves undeserving sinners and it demonstrates God’s righteousness as He shows no favoritism for any one group of people. For many, many years it seemed as though God didn’t care for anyone except the Jews. They were His chosen people and the majority of the people in the world at that time were separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). While all the nation of Israel wasn’t being saved because not all had faith, most of the people in the world who were being saved were coming from that nation. Very few Gentiles were saved until the Gospel had gone to the Jew first and then it went to the Greek.

Just as the Old Testament prophets had prophesied of the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s plan of salvation, they also prophesied of the reversal of God’s order of salvation. The Jews were going to reject their Messiah and because of this the kingdom of God was going to be taken away from them and given to a people producing the fruit of it (see Matthew 21:42-43). Not only was God going to graciously include the Gentiles in His plan of salvation, He was also going to give them the main responsibility of spreading the Gospel – until the time of the Gentiles be complete (Luke 21:24 and Romans 11:25).

We see the beginning movement and fulfillment of the taking away of the kingdom of God from the Jews and the giving of it to the Gentiles by God’s gracious inclusion of them in His kingdom in the book of Acts. Specifically we see when the Gentiles were beginning to be included when Peter preached to Cornelius. Then a Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, persecuted the Jewish Christians and they were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Some went to Antioch and were speaking the gospel to Jews only. Then some men of Cyprus and Cyrene began speaking to the Greeks “and a large number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:19-21). Saul of Tarsus was saved by the Lord and he became Paul the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9). Paul began his first missionary journey from the church in Antioch (Acts 13). Everywhere Paul went he preached to the Jew first and then to the Greek. The majority of the Jews rejected his message but many of the Gentiles received it. Whenever the Jews would reject the message of salvation by grace Paul would turn to the Gentiles. We read in Acts 13:48 about the Gentiles hearing the good news that God saves by grace and had included them in the plan of salvation – “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

Inability Does Not Remove Responsibility (Romans 9:19-24)

As we examine and study the gospel of salvation by grace in the light of what God has revealed in Scripture we notice that it is offensive, foolish, and a stumbling block to the natural man. Since this is true we are not to be surprised that the real gospel has built into it some objections from those who oppose it. If we know what the light of God’s Word has revealed those objections to be then we can know and discern all other gospel proclamations by holding them to the light of God’s Word and seeing if they raise the same objections. Counterfeit gospels do not have these objections built into them because they are designed to remove the gospel’s offensiveness and therefore they do not raise the objections that the real gospel raises.

In Romans 9:6-24 two objections are raised by the doctrine of unconditional election which establishes that salvation is by grace. The first objection raised by the real gospel is one concerning the justice of God (Romans 9:14). God is viewed as being unfair and unjust because He saves by grace and not by merit. He doesn’t save by physical descent (Romans 9:6-8) or personal desire (Romans 9:9-13). He doesn’t save by doing good or doing bad (Romans 9:11). He doesn’t save by the will of man or the works of man (Romans 9:16). He saves by His choice (Romans 9:11) to have mercy on whom He desires (Romans 9:18). Since man is totally unable to merit God’s favor God is viewed as unfair for giving His unearned favor to some and not to others.

The second objection raised by the real gospel is still concerning the justice of God but taking it a step further. The second objection calls into question God’s holiness which is the foundation of the justice of God (Romans 9:19). Here the accusation is that God is the author of sin by man’s inability being God’s fault. This is the false belief that inability destroys human responsibility and therefore God is wrong to find fault because He made us this way! In other words, if God hardens whom He desires (Romans 9:18) their sin and hardness is His fault. The Holy Spirit rebuked such thinking in Romans 9:19-24.

The Illogical Conclusion Considered (Romans 9:19). Here we see two illogical conclusions against the truth of unconditional election that Paul was preaching: (1) The preacher is lying about God and (2) unconditional election makes God the author of sin and man a robot.

One: The preacher is lying about God – “You will say to me then….” The complaint was against Paul the preacher and he was perceived as lying about God. When men will not receive the revealed truth of God they reject the preacher of that truth believing that they are rejecting a lying preacher rather than the truth of God. This truth is revealed in several places in the Bible – when the people rebelled against Moses they were rebelling against God; when the people rejected Samuel they were rejecting God; and when people refuse God’s preachers they are refusing God. One of the ways men have Biblical assurance of salvation is by knowing who is and who isn’t preaching truth (1 John 4:1-6). It is illogical to believe a preacher is lying because he preaches unconditional election.

Two: Unconditional election makes God the author of sin – “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” If what Paul was preaching about unconditional election was true then surely he was preaching that God is the author of sin; that man doesn’t have “free-will” and therefore must have “no-will”; and because of this, human inability destroys human responsibility, making God unjust for finding fault with men who cannot be held responsible. This is the false notion that unconditional election means that God made us the way we are and therefore He is wrong to find fault with us. It’s no different than someone claiming that he is homosexual because he was “born that way” and therefore shouldn’t be held responsible for his actions. That lame excuse could be applied to any sin that men commit but still wouldn’t remove their responsibility for their actions. This is precisely the argument raised against unconditional election by the opponents of the gospel. It was an illogical conclusion that Paul considered.

The Illogical Conclusion Condemned (Romans 9:20). Paul condemned the illogical conclusion of his opponents by revealing the truth that their argument wasn’t with him but with God – “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God.” Unconditional election wasn’t a doctrine that Paul made up but one that God revealed. So the conclusion that the preacher was lying was condemned and the truth that the preacher’s opponents didn’t have a problem with the preacher but with God was firmly established. Also the conclusion that unconditional election makes God the author of sin was condemned with the assertion of God’s absolute sovereignty – “The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it?” It was an illogical conclusion that Paul condemned.

The Illogical Conclusion Confronted (Romans 9:21). Paul confronted the illogical conclusion of his opponents by revealing the truth that God has the right to deal with sinners either in mercy or in justice for serving His glory as He sees fit. Here we see that God’s decree to permit the fall of man into sin logically preceded His decree of election. So when God chose the elect and passed over the non-elect, He was contemplating them all as fallen, sinful creatures – “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump…?” God is not the author of sin and men are responsible for their sin. It was an illogical conclusion that Paul confronted.

The Illogical Conclusion Contradicted (Romans 9:22-24). Paul contradicted the illogical conclusion of his opponents by revealing the truth about God’s sovereign purpose behind His choice for saving some undeserving sinners – “to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:23). The illogical conclusion is that men must either deserve to go to heaven or deserve to go to hell by their “free-will” or else God is unjust in saving some and not others. However, God has the right to give mercy to whomever He desires and harden whomever He desires for His own purpose of displaying both the glory of His righteous wrath and the glory of the riches of His mercy. It was an illogical conclusion that Paul contradicted.

Inability does not remove responsibility. That illogical conclusion has been considered, condemned, confronted, and contradicted.

Culpable but not Capable (Romans 9:19-24)

The book of Romans is the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the gospel of salvation by grace. It goes against the natural man’s false belief of being able to merit God’s favor through the will or works of the flesh. The gospel is offensive to the natural man and is foolishness to him. It embitters those who are perishing (Acts 14:2); gets accused of confusing whole cities (Acts 16:20-21); sets cities in an uproar through those who oppose it (Acts 17:5); upsets the world (Acts 17:6); divides congregations (Acts 19:9); fills men with rage (Acts 19:28-29); and is viewed by the unsaved religious as a dangerous heresy (Acts 21:28).

All throughout the book of Romans the apostle Paul has been making the Biblical case for the gospel of salvation by grace which runs contrary to the whims and wishes of the flesh. He established the total inability of man in Romans 1-3 including the truth that the Jews were also under sin and were just as unable to merit God’s favor as any uncircumcised Gentile. In Romans 3:24-31 the truth of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus was proven as the only means that God can forgive and remain just. In Romans 4:1-25 the truth of salvation by grace was proven from the life of Abraham who was saved by grace and not by works (Romans 4:1-8); and not by circumcision (Romans 4:9-12); and not by the Law (Romans 4:13-16); and not by personal ability (Romans 4:17-25).

The book of Romans deals with the truth that salvation by grace is based upon unconditional election or else it is not by grace. Those who maintained that salvation is based on conditional election thought that Paul was preaching that God saves on the condition of doing evil rather than doing good and concluded that he was preaching that men should do evil in order to be saved (Romans 3:8). This resulted in Paul being slandered as a preaching against the Law and giving a license for sin. He dealt with this error in Romans 5, 6, and 7.

Paul wasn’t preaching any form of conditional election because salvation is by grace and not by any type of work – he was preaching unconditional election which establishes salvation by grace. So in Romans 8 Paul began to deal with the truth of both the suffering and security of the true believer who has been unconditionally elected by God and saved by grace. They will suffer because of their faith and their proclamation of the truth of salvation by grace and will be secure because of the Lord’s faithfulness.

It was in Romans 8:28-30 that Paul introduced the truth of unconditional election. Romans 9:6-33 is Paul’s Biblical case for unconditional election. Here he established the truth that election isn’t based on physical descent (Romans 9:6-10) or personal desire (Romans 9:11-13). The truth of unconditional election which establishes salvation by grace raised the question of God’s justness or fairness. If God chooses unconditionally then isn’t He unfair or unjust (Romans 9:14). Paul answered that question Biblically showing that God, by His free-will, can have mercy on whom He desires and can harden whom He desires while remaining totally just (Romans 9:14-18).

It is the truth of unconditional election that magnifies the truth of man’s total inability to do anything to earn or merit God’s favor. Man is so helpless and incapable because of his sin that he cannot act morally to rehabilitate himself and he cannot act willingly to exonerate himself. There is nothing he can do to merit God’s favor. He deserves damnation and that is all that he can or will ever earn.

The truth of man’s total inability – that he is incapable of doing anything to merit God’s favor – raises the question of man’s culpability. The question is that if man is incapable then how is he also culpable. If man is incapable then how can God hold him responsible? This is the argument that if men don’t have “free-will” then he is a robot and God made him the way he is. In other words, if man doesn’t have “free-will” then God is the one to blame for man’s sin, his inability, and his unwillingness to be saved by grace. Romans 9:19-24 is Paul’s answer to prove that inability doesn’t remove man’s responsibility. Man is culpable but not capable!

The faulty reasoning (Romans 9:19): If salvation is by unconditional election based on God’s will to have mercy on whom He desires and harden whom He desires then how can he still find fault because who can resist His will? If I’m incapable how can I be held culpable? Isn’t my hardness God’s fault? This is the faulty reasoning of the opponents of the gospel who haven’t understood that their inability to do good doesn’t remove their responsibility for sinning. God doesn’t make men sin and therefore men are responsible for their sin. Since the fall of man into sin all men sin because all men are born with a sin nature. Man is totally incapable of freeing himself from sin but is totally culpable for his sin. Man is not a helpless robot doing what he really does not want to do – he is a helpless sinner doing exactly what he wants to do! The wages of sin is death. Inability does not remove responsibility!

The proper reasoning: Man is not capable (Romans 9:20-21)! Notice in verse 21 the words “same lump.” There is no difference in the clay in which a potter decides to make a vessel for honorable use or for common use. Because all men are sinners from the same lump it is totally up to God what he does with each one. Here we see that man is incapable and that his only hope is the mercy of God.

Man is culpable (Romans 9:22)! Here the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction took an active role in the hardening of their hearts. The Greek verb rendered “prepared” is passive. God is not the subject doing the preparing – men are (see Romans 2:5)!

Mercy is God’s choice (Romans 9:23-24)! Against the backdrop of the truth that man is not capable but he is culpable, God demonstrates the riches of His glory and the riches of His mercy by saving men apart from any merit or work of their own. Those that God saves He prepared beforehand for glory! Here the Greek verb for “prepared” is in the active voice and God is the subject and the One doing the preparing. Men are culpable but not capable! God saves by grace; owes salvation to no man; and enables those whom He has prepared beforehand to receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

Mercy is by God's Free-Will (Romans 9:14-18)

Many wrongly conclude that salvation is dependent upon man’s free-will. Overlooking the Biblical truth of man’s total inability to do anything to merit God’s favor many opt for the unbiblical notion that sin has left man’s will unaffected and that he has the ability to merit God’s favor either by exercising his free will to choose God or by exerting his free-will to pursue God. However, the Biblical record and human history proves that man’s will is not free but is enslaved to sin. This was the whole purpose of God giving His Law – to show that men are enslaved to sin and cannot and will not obey God (see Romans 8:5-8).

If man’s will was free in the sense that most use it then of necessity it would mean that man is free to obey God’s Law. As a matter of truth it would be in the choosing to obey and the actual obeying of God’s Law whereby the man with “free-will” would prove that he is “choosing” God. Disobeying God’s Law by not subjecting oneself to it is “choosing” sin and not God. Every man has made his choice - and it hasn’t been “for God.” Man in his unregenerate state operates his will enslaved to sin. It is for this reason that he cannot and will not do that which is truly good (obey God’s Law or choose God). Being enslaved to sin the only freedom of will that a man has is that he is free to sin and free from being able to do righteousness (Romans 6:20; John 8:34). This proves man’s inability!

Is this not the Biblical record? “There is none righteous not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). Where is free-will in that? Where is human ability in those verses?

Since man’s will is enslaved to sin and free from being able to do righteousness his total inability is established rendering him unable to respond properly to God’s mercy apart from supernatural assistance. This is why regeneration precedes the ability to exercise saving faith. We are not regenerated because we exercised saving faith (we are unable in and of ourselves); we exercised saving faith because we were regenerated by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. This is what Jesus was speaking of when He told Nicodemus that a man must be born again by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit using God’s Word in order to enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5-8).

The Lord also spoke of this same truth (that regeneration precedes saving faith because of man’s inability) in John 6:45, 63-65 – “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me....It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe…. For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” I want you to notice something very important in John 6:45 – everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me – Jesus said. This means that all who are regenerated come to saving faith in Christ. There are none who are regenerated that resist the grace of God – they all come to Christ.

Since all that we have said is Biblical and true then salvation doesn’t depend upon man but upon God who has mercy. It is precisely this point that salvation isn’t by man’s will but by the grace and will of God that brings about the accusation of God being unjust. This is what the apostle Paul was dealing with in Romans 9:14-18. Here he was proving that salvation is by God’s free-will to have mercy on whom He desires and is not by man’s free-will.

Anticipating the wrong conclusion about the Gospel of salvation by grace, Paul brought up the question of God’s justness in Romans 9:14; stated the emphatic and obvious truth that it is impossible for God to be unjust; and then he went directly to the Scriptures to prove that dispensing mercy is solely the prerogative of God on undeserving sinners – “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion'” (Exodus 33:19; Romans 9:15).

Salvation doesn’t depend on man but on God who has mercy! Paul stated the obvious application of Exodus 33:19 – salvation does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (Romans 9:16). Moses didn’t find favor in the sight of God because of his will or his works but solely on the grace of God. This was true for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all other true believers – they were saved by grace and not their will or their works.

That salvation doesn’t depend upon the will of man is made abundantly clear not only from Romans 9:16 but also from John 1:13 – “Who were born, not of blood [physical descent] nor of the will of the flesh [personal desire] nor of the will of man [popish decree], but of God.” Esau is a perfect illustration of this truth who was the firstborn of Isaac (not of blood/physical descent); he later desired to inherit the blessing (nor the will of the flesh/personal desire) but was rejected and found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears (Hebrews 12:16-17); and his father was intent on giving him the blessing (nor the will of man/popish decree) although God had already said that the older would serve the younger and that they younger was to be the heir of the promise (see Genesis 25:23 and Genesis 27:1-38).

To further prove that salvation doesn’t depend upon man but on God who has mercy, Paul gave the Biblical illustration of Pharaoh (Romans 9:17). Pharaoh was a king who thought that he had free-will but found himself in bondage to sin, an object of God’s wrath, for the proclamation of God’s glory. Moses was a slave, Pharaoh was a ruler, and yet God had mercy on Moses and withheld mercy from Pharaoh. Neither deserved mercy! So the logical conclusion is given in Romans 9:18 – “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens who He desires.”

Pharaoh was confronted with enough truth that we marvel at why he didn’t repent and believe in the Lord. The hardening of Pharaoh was judicial. He should have seen his need for mercy – but he didn’t! Mercy is by God’s free-will!

Unconditional Election: Is God Unjust? (Romans 9:14-18)

The truth that salvation is by grace means that salvation is unmerited – it is unearned. Since salvation is by grace and is unmerited or unearned then that means that salvation is unconditional. There are no conditions that one must meet that would merit or earn salvation or else salvation is not by grace but by works. Romans 11:6 says, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” Let’s state it another way which still means the same thing: But if it is by grace, it is no longer conditional but unconditional, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

Paul has been teaching the truth of unconditional election unto salvation which forever proves that salvation is by grace and not of works so that no man can boast. There is nothing in any person that would merit God’s choice of him or her for salvation. The only thing that any of us have merited or ever will merit is the wrath of God. There is nothing in us that can change that. We can’t start living a good life to merit God’s mercy for that would be salvation by works. We can’t rehabilitate ourselves in order to cause God to choose us for salvation for that would still be salvation by works. None deserve to be saved. And yet God saves undeserving sinners according to His purpose, His choice, and His desire (Romans 9:11).

An improper response to this truth is given in Romans 9:14 – that this means that there is injustice in God. Unconditional election is viewed as being unjust because men cannot get over that God would save by grace and not by merit. God is accused of being an unjust God if He chooses to save some men by grace while leaving others in their sin. The response is: “That isn’t fair” or “that isn’t just.” So in order to remove what appears to be an injustice in God or unfairness in God, men devise a scheme of salvation that is conditional rather than unconditional and they remove the offensiveness of the Gospel by making election unto salvation conditional. Under the false notion of conditional election unto salvation this improper response isn’t given because it no longer exists. This is one of the ways we know whether or not we are preaching the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel of salvation by grace (unconditional and unmerited) which Paul preached or if we are preaching a false gospel of salvation by works (conditional and merited).

Those who teach conditional election are in error. Even if that condition is that God looked down through the corridors of time and saw who would have faith and who wouldn’t – it is still salvation by merit which turns that faith spoken of into a work. What those who teach this have forgotten is that faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 6:65; John 12:39-40), and that faith is generated in man and is not innate in man (Romans 10:17; John 6:45, 63). They have also forgotten that their explanation of conditional election isn’t election at all but ratification. In their scheme of things God isn’t choosing based on His purpose or desire but is consenting to man’s choice. This would mean that God chose you because you chose Him, that God loved you because you loved Him and that God drew you because you drew Him. This is a reversal of the Biblical record. We didn’t choose Him, He chose us; we didn’t love Him first, He loved us first; and we didn’t draw Him, He drew us to Himself.

Since all men are sinners and have earned God’s wrath then of necessity it means that there is nothing in us that could ever earn God’s favor. So if God decides to show His favor on any sinner then the choice is totally His according to His purpose and His desire. That God would choose any undeserving sinner for salvation has nothing to do with any cause within the sinner but has everything to do with that which is in God Himself – the desire to make known the riches of the glory of His grace (Romans 9:23; Ephesians 1:3-14).

It is the Gospel of salvation by grace that is offensive to man because it establishes man’s total inability – not partial inability but total inability – to merit God’s favor. This is the error of conditional election – it teaches partial inability but not total inability and therefore leaves man in his pride believing that his being elected by God was based on some condition that he met.

The Jews who believed in conditional election so understood the implications of the Gospel of grace which Paul was preaching that some of them slanderously reported that Paul was preaching that men must do evil that good may come (Romans 3:8). The Jews reasoned that Paul was saying that God didn’t elect on the basis of their ability to keep the Law so he must be preaching that God elects on the basis of doing evil. They could not grasp the truth of unconditional election as the necessary grounds for salvation by grace.

Since election is unconditional, men believe that there is injustice with God for choosing some and not all for salvation. At the heart of this response is still the embedded false notion that those whom God didn’t choose deserved to be chosen. If one deserved it then all deserve it. It’s the attitude that if you’re going to do it for one then you’ve got to do it for all. That’s simply just not true and there is no injustice in giving mercy in a manner that upholds the Law or giving wrath to uphold the Law. So dispensing grace is God’s sovereign prerogative. Grace is sovereign in its administration.

Election: Individual or National? (Romans 9:6-13)

In our studies of Romans 9:6-13 we have not been in a hurry and are endeavoring to come away with both a proper interpretation and proper application of the text. Since there is much disagreement and much confusion over this text, it is our responsibility before God and to men to know what it is talking about and give its proper interpretation. While this is true of the whole Bible it is especially true in those difficult places that cause men to stumble. The gospel of salvation by grace alone is a stumbling stone to many and Paul ended Romans 9 saying exactly that – “Just as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed’” (Romans 9:33).

At the heart of the controversy over the interpretation of Romans 9 is whether or not election is conditional or unconditional and whether or not it is national or individual. Election or “elect” is a word that means to choose or select. So when we speak of the elect of God we are speaking of the chosen of God or those whom He has selected. Since it is true that God chooses and selects, a truth forever established by His choosing of Jacob over Esau in order to bring the Christ into the world and fulfill His covenant with Abraham, then the question becomes on what basis did God make His decision? The answer to this question will determine whether or not election is conditional or unconditional and whether or not election is national or individual.

We have already established that God is sovereign in election. This truth is wonderfully illustrated in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ where He said, “No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:65). So no man in and of himself has the heart to desire or the will to decide to come to Jesus apart from God’s sovereign election and supernatural education. This means that salvation is completely by grace based on the sovereign choice of God to have mercy on whom He will have mercy (Romans 9:15-16).

We have also already established the truth that God’s sovereignty in election means that election is unconditional and not conditional proving forever that salvation is by grace. In other words election isn’t based on anything or any cause within the man but is based solely on God’s good pleasure for the purpose of glorifying His grace (Romans 9:11, 18; Ephesians 1:5, 8-9, 11).

Remember that the Jews made the error of believing that election was conditional and that God based His choice of them on their physical ancestry from Abraham and their personal ability to obey the Law. If this were true then it would mean that all Jews and only Jews could and would be saved. Do you remember that the Jews had a problem with the truth that God would save men who were Gentiles? They also had a problem with the truth that God would condemn Jews who met the “conditions” of physical descent from Abraham and personal merit through the Law. This is why they thought God’s Word had failed (Romans 9:6).

The apostle Paul used the Old Testament Scriptures to prove that election is unconditional and that salvation is therefore by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. He showed how God chose Isaac over Ishmael unconditionally and how He chose Jacob over Esau unconditionally (Romans 9:7-13). This was to show that physical descent from Abraham didn’t guarantee or merit salvation and that physical descent from Isaac didn’t guarantee or merit salvation so that the proper and biblical conclusion would be that physical descent from Jacob (Israel) didn’t guarantee or merit salvation. Election unto salvation is unconditional – it cannot be earned or merited.

There are many who stumble over the doctrine of unconditional election which proves that salvation is by grace. So instead of honestly dealing with the text they teach that this passage isn’t dealing with individual election unto salvation but national election unto service. The problem with this interpretation is that it doesn’t deal with the truth that Isaac was saved and Ishmael wasn’t and that Jacob was saved and Esau wasn’t. It also doesn’t deal with the truth that Paul is explicitly speaking of election unto salvation even from among Gentiles (Romans 9:24). Paul wasn’t proving unconditional election unto service but unconditional election unto salvation which is precisely why the Jews thought that Paul was preaching against the people and against the Law for preaching the gospel of salvation by grace (Romans 2:17; Acts 21:27-28).

That this passage is speaking of individual election and not national election is made abundantly clear from Romans 9:6 – “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.” So the next time you run into someone who believes that election is national and not individual ask him why all Jews aren’t saved. If he says that election is unto service and not salvation ask him why Paul was willing to be separated from Christ and why Paul spoke of those who were the children of God and those who weren’t - from among the nation (Romans 9:3, 7-8).

Make no mistake about it, if Romans 9 is teaching national election whether it be unto salvation or unto service then it would mean that all Israel would either be saved or all Israel would serve and that anyone outside of the nation Israel couldn’t be saved or couldn’t serve. But Romans 9 is clearly teaching individual election unto salvation and that not on the basis of physical descent or personal merit. Election unto salvation is unconditional (not based on anything deserving in the man) and individual based on God’s sovereign and gracious choice. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Do you have a problem with God granting you salvation apart from any cause within you that would cause Him to grant it to you or do you rejoice that God is willing to save undeserving sinners based solely on His grace and sovereign choice? If you have a problem with God saving undeserving sinners according to His gracious choice then you have a problem with salvation being by grace and not by merit.

Unconditional Election Proves Salvation by Grace (Romans 9:6-13)

In Romans 9:1-5 the apostle Paul expressed his great sorrow over the lost condition of his fellow Israelites through their stubborn refusal to acknowledge and believe that salvation is by grace and not by physical descent or personal merit. The Jews wrongly relied upon their physical descent from Abraham (Romans 2:17) and their ability to personally merit God’s favor through the Law (Romans 2:17). This belief came from an improper interpretation of God’s Word which gave the Israelites a false assurance of salvation based on unreliable and unbiblical indicators.

If we will keep in mind that Paul’s letter to the Romans is the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of the Gospel of grace which was not only a defense that the Gospel is biblical but also a destruction of the speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, then we will better understand what is being revealed to us. Paul was accused of preaching against the Jews and against God’s Law (Acts 21:27-28) for preaching the truth of salvation by grace. This ran counter to everything the Jews had been taught by their apostate leaders and everything they believed God’s Word taught. If the Gospel of grace was true then the Jews reasoned that the Word of God had failed and that God’s promises were no good.

However, God’s Word had not failed and a proper interpretation of it showed God to be true and those who rejected the Gospel of grace as the ones that failed. Let me remind you that Paul had already proven that salvation was by grace through the life of Abraham in Romans 4:1-25. Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith and not by works in Romans 4:1-8. Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith and not circumcision in Romans 4:9-12. Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith and not the Law in Romans 4:13-17. And Paul proved that Abraham was justified by grace through faith in God’s ability in light of his own inability in Romans 4:17-25. So for the Jews to reject the God’s Gospel of grace they had to reject the means by which Abraham himself was justified.

The doctrine of unconditional election proves that salvation is by grace through faith and not of physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) or personal merit (Romans 9:10-13). Grace is not for the proud but for the humble for it is written, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). If you add any one of these false notions of physical descent or personal merit to the Gospel of grace then you have a false gospel. This was the overall failure of the Jews – they pursued salvation as though it were a privilege based on their physical descent and personal merit rather than by faith (Romans 9:30-32).

The Jews were wrongly relying upon false notions of salvation by physical descent and personal merit (conditional election) because of their improper interpretation of God’s Word. It was these false notions or ideas of salvation that the prophets, apostles, and the Lord Jesus had to do battle with in their day and which cost most of them their lives. Let’s establish this truth from Scripture.

Salvation is not by physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) – proven by John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ, and here in our text by the apostle Paul.

John the Baptist dealt with this erroneous belief in Matthew 3:7-10 and Luke 3:8 where he told the Sadducees and Pharisees that they were a brood of vipers and that they were not to rely upon their physical descent from Abraham – “And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham” (Matthew 3:9).

The Lord Jesus Christ dealt with the erroneous belief that election unto salvation is based on physical descent in Luke 16:19-31 when He told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In the story the rich man was a Pharisee who died and went to hell. This was unthinkable to the Jews and especially to the Pharisees. In the story we see that this rich Pharisee spoke to father Abraham and yet was in hell. This truth forever destroys the false notion that election unto salvation is based on physical descent.

The Lord Jesus Christ also dealt with this erroneous belief in a more direct manner in John 8:33-56. In this account the Jews brought up their physical descent from Abraham to whom the Lord replied that He knew that they were physical descendants of Abraham but that they were not spiritual descendants of Abraham – they wanted to kill Jesus and Abraham never did that but instead rejoiced to see Jesus’ day.

Salvation is not by personal merit (Romans 9:10-13). In Matthew 15:1-14 the Pharisees and scribes chided the Lord and His disciples for breaking the tradition of the elders in regard to the washing of hands. They thought that they were keeping the commandments of God when in reality they were unable to ever accomplish such a feat – a truth that the Lord brought out in that text. The final analysis was that the Pharisees and scribes were blind guides of the blind and both they and their followers would fall into the pit of hell.

In Matthew 19:16-22 the Lord dealt with the rich young ruler who wrongly thought that salvation was based on personal merit. He actually thought that he was able to keep the commandments and that he should be able to earn God’s favor.

In Matthew 23 the Lord pronounced woes on the Pharisees and scribes for their erroneous belief that salvation was by personal merit.

In John 8:33-56 the Lord crushed the false notion of salvation being by personal merit by showing man’s enslavement to sin. All of this illustrates that unconditional election proves that salvation is by grace and grace alone.

Those that rely upon anything other than the unmerited mercy of God for salvation will not be saved (see Luke 18:9-14). God gives grace to the humble!

God's Sovereignty in Election (Romans 9:6-13)

The doctrine of election isn’t easy to understand and is the source of much conflict among professing Christians. Just as the apostle Peter said about the writings of the apostle Paul, “Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15-16).

Notice that it wasn’t the intellectual ability of the apostle Paul that allowed him to plumb the depths of God's sovereignty in election but his ability to do that was because it was according to the wisdom given him. Paul was taught of God on this subject and so what we have before us is the wisdom and words of God which cannot be anything other than truth. It is the untaught and unstable which distort not only this section of Scripture but the rest also to their own destruction.

So it will not be by our intellectual ability to understand this subject but by the very truth that we have been born again and are able to receive the things of the Spirit of God so that we are not untaught but indeed taught of God. Just as it is written, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty in election brings about two reactions from those who don’t understand it: (1) it brings about the accusation of injustice in God (Romans 9:14) and (2) it brings about the accusation of men being robots (Romans 9:19). These two responses are the conclusions that would be drawn from those who don’t understand the Gospel of grace and are what Paul anticipated and dealt with from the Scriptures.

Let me give you a few examples of how the doctrine of election is sometimes attempted to be explained but are not what the Bible teaches:

First there is the belief that election means that God is voting for you; the devil is voting against you; and you cast the deciding vote. That all sounds nice and sounds like what might be happening in election but it isn’t. The Bible tells us that God’s election of those whom He would save took place in eternity past – before the foundations of the world. Also we know that the devil wasn’t and isn’t a registered voter – he had absolutely no say in who would and who wouldn’t be saved. We also know that we weren’t even born yet and so we weren’t old enough to vote. So that means that God is sovereign in election.

Second, there is the belief that election is only to service and not to salvation. Those who hold that Romans 9 is dealing with national election and not individual election would hold to this theory. However that would clearly violate a host of other Scriptures that indicate that election is unto salvation and it is individual – a truth Paul establishes in Romans 9. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians also establishes the clear truth of individual election unto salvation – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him…also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:3-4, 11-12). See also 1 Thessalonians 1:4 where the apostle Paul speaking to those believers about their faith in Christ said, “Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you.”

So election is not just unto service it is also unto salvation and more specifically it is unto salvation for the purpose of serving the true and living God (1 Thessalonians 1:9) and serving His purpose of magnifying His grace and glory through our salvation (Ephesians 1:1-14). Neither is election just a matter of national choice for if that were so then Paul was wrong, the Jews were right, and God’s Word has failed.

Election then is unto salvation to the praise of God’s glory and grace and it is for individuals - proving that God’s Word has not failed but that it has accomplished exactly what God sent it out to do. This is Paul’s argument in Romans 9. Here in Romans 9:6-13 the apostle Paul showed two main truth’s about God’s sovereignty in election: (1) It was not based on physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) and (2) it was not based on personal merit (Romans 9:10-13).

We will get deeper and into greater detail concerning these two main truths about God’s sovereignty in election but for now we will just summarize their implications.

First of all the truth that God’s sovereign election unto salvation isn’t based on physical descent (Romans 9:6-9) proves that this text isn’t speaking of national election but of individual. This is why the argument that God’s Word has failed won’t stand. As a whole the Jews believed that because they had Abraham as their father that they were guaranteed salvation because of God’s sovereign choice of Abraham and their physical descent from him. They repeatedly relied upon their relationship to Abraham but that was to no avail. Abraham had Ishmael first by the flesh and then Isaac second by faith. They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel and neither are they all of faith who are descended from Abraham.

Last of all the truth that God’s sovereign election unto salvation isn’t based on personal merit (Romans 9:10-13) proves that election is unconditional and not based on God’s foreseeing anything good in us at all. This means that the Word of God is absolutely true and that the flesh profits nothing or the flesh is of no use at all (John 6:63) and that our salvation is based solely on His good pleasure and His grace and not on anything that we have done or can do for God. This the Jews also misunderstood and instead of rejecting the flesh and its inability to obey the Law they rejected faith in Christ and His ability to obey the Law and relied upon their flesh and the Law (Romans 2:17). They thought they had free will and therefore they thought they had the ability to obey God when in reality they were in bondage and needed to be set free (John 8:31-36).

Great Sorrow for Israel (Romans 9:1-5)

Many teach that Romans 9-11 are an interruption in Paul’s doctrinal teaching on the Gospel before he moved into its application in Romans 12. However, a careful study of Romans 9-11 reveals that this section is not an interruption or a parenthesis but is a necessary part of Paul’s argument for justification by grace through faith. Don’t forget that because of his preaching of the Gospel, Paul was considered a traitor to the Jewish nation and an enemy of Judaism. Paul was perceived as preaching against the people (Jews), preaching against the Law, and preaching against God (see Romans 2:17 and Acts 21:27-28).

So the book of Romans is Paul’s explanation of the Gospel which shows that he was not preaching against the people, the Law, or God but that the Gospel is validated by the Word of God. And whatever you do don’t forget that Paul’s explanation of the Gospel is inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the Word of God, and is absolute truth.

Paul was hated by the Jews for his ministry to the Gentiles and his teaching of salvation by grace and the total inability of being justified by the Law of Moses. Paul preached this Gospel of grace in many synagogues in many places as he carried the good news to the Jew first and through doing so he caused trouble everywhere he went. The religious but lost Jews viewed the Gospel message as dangerous and unscriptural. They viewed it as dangerous because they thought that justification by faith gave the license to sin as much as one wanted (Romans 6:1, 15). They viewed it as unscriptural because it taught that the Jews were actually condemned by the Law and couldn’t be justified by the Law (Romans 2:17 – 3:20). Since the Jews hated the message Paul preached they also hated the messenger. This is why Paul was considered a traitor to the Jewish nation and many wanted to kill him.

This caused Paul great sorrow and increasing grief. He wasn’t trying to make anyone mad but out of love he was telling them the truth. Paul went to great lengths explaining that he wasn’t anti-Jewish, that he wasn’t anti-Law, and that he wasn’t anti-God. Paul wanted the Jews to know that they were wrong just as he had been at one time. Paul wanted the Jews to examine the Scriptures and see that what he was saying was so. He desired above all else their coming to the saving knowledge of the truth and not their condemnation.

Despite Paul’s love for his people which he made evident over and over through his uncompromising stand on the truth, his great patience, and his gentleness correcting those who were in opposition, the majority still would not believe. Paul had the joy of salvation by grace through faith but he had the sorrow and grief of his kinsmen according to the flesh continually resisting the Holy Spirit and rejecting the Gospel of Christ. There was a Scriptural reason for Israel’s resistance and rejection which Paul taught in Romans 9-11 so that this section is still doctrinal and still the Holy Spirit inspired explanation of justification by grace through faith.

Paul had argued in Romans 8 that the believer is secure in Jesus Christ and that God’s election would stand (Romans 8:28-39). Because the Jews had wrongly interpreted God’s Word concerning election they believed that any member of the Jewish nation would be allowed into heaven based on his heritage as a Jew. The Gospel that Paul proclaimed clearly taught that just because a man is a Jew is no guarantee that he is going to heaven. So in the minds of the Jews if all Jews were not saved then God has failed to keep His promise and the very character of God was at stake.

Many who still misinterpret God’s Word today concerning the doctrine of election think that God either made a mistake or that His Word has failed. They may ask the question, “What about the Jews? They were chosen by God, and yet you now say that He has set them aside and that God is building His church. Did God fail to keep His promises to Israel? Is His Word really sure and true? If God was not faithful to the Jews, how do we know He will be faithful to the church?"

Paul will explain all that the Jews had misunderstood and how they had improperly interpreted God’s Word to show that God did not make a mistake, that His Word has not and will not fail, and that God’s character is not at stake because He is always true to His Word and His promises.

Here in Romans 9:1-5 we see Paul’s great sorrow for Israel because of her great stumbling.

Great sorrow for Israel (Romans 9:1-3) – Paul loved Israel and had a strong passion for her salvation. Paul understood completely the powerful bondage of corrupt and apostate religion on his people because he had been there once himself. Paul also understood the powerful deliverance from such deception and sin through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wanted his fellow Jews to see the truth of justification by faith and experience the liberation and joy of salvation by grace.

The unrepentant and unbelieving condition of Israel caused Paul to have great sorrow and increasing grief in his heart, so much so that Paul could wish himself accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of his kinsmen. But if the Lord Jesus becoming a curse on the cross of Calvary wouldn’t change their minds neither would Paul’s becoming accursed. Paul and Moses both were willing to be cursed and separated from Christ if it would mean the salvation of Israel.

Great stumbling by Israel (Romans 9:4-5) – The Israelites lived with great privileges because of God’s covenant with Abraham and His choosing of Jacob. They were privy to the blessings and protection of God because of God’s choice of bringing the Christ through the nation of Israel. Israel was adopted by God as His own people (Exodus 4:22-23). He gave them His glory in the tabernacle and temple. He gave them His covenants which He gave to Abraham. He gave them the Law through Moses. He gave them the temple services. He gave them the promises and the patriarchs. The purpose of all this blessing was to bring Jesus Christ into the world through Israel to accomplish justification by faith. But in spite of these blessings Israel failed and rejected her Messiah.

Super-Conquerors (Romans 8:36-39)

The truth that Christians will suffer for the sake of Christ and for the sake of righteousness is found in Romans 8 in its undiluted and potent form. This truth is not watered down or hidden from our sight but is put on brilliant display and stunning clarity in this chapter. It is here that we see in high definition that the devil and the world are against us seeking to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have recently considered together the truth that there are people and problems that are against us wishing to cause us to compromise or apostatize. There are those who would bring charges of ungodliness against us and condemn us to hell if it were in their power (Romans 8:33-34). These same people will cause us problems with all the means at their disposal that they have in this world (Romans 8:35).

As Christians we are foolish to believe that because we have been saved by God and are proclaiming His Gospel of forgiveness through Jesus Christ that we are going to be loved by the world rather than hated by the world. The truth that the world will hate us came from the lips of our Lord and is printed in many places in many ways in the Bible. We have been told from the pages of Scripture what to expect so that we will not stumble and fall away when what is supposed to be happening to Christians actually happens.

With all the suffering that Christians must endure for the sake of Christ it would be easy to lose heart and give up if it weren’t for the wonderful truth found in this chapter that God is causing all this to work for us and not against us because He is for us and not against us. This makes all the difference in why we endure suffering and do not throw away our confidence in God. “If God is for us, who is against us” (Romans 8:31)?

In Romans 8:36-39 we find the wonderful truth that nothing can defeat us because God is for us – we are super-conquerors through faith in Christ.

The certainty of our suffering – “Just as it is written, ‘For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered’” (Romans 8:36). No Christian is exempt from suffering for the sake of Christ. There is none who will ever reach some super-saint status that exempts him from suffering for Christ. The ones that don’t suffer for Christ but are loved for their version of Christianity aren’t true Christians but are false according to the words of our Lord Himself – “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way” (Luke 6:26).

It is written that we shall suffer for the sake of Christ. Paul quoted Psalm 44:22 to show that this doctrine of suffering that he was teaching was and is Biblical. Faith in God doesn’t exempt us from suffering but guarantees it. What does that say about all the health, wealth, and prosperity preaching going on today?

Our suffering for the sake of Christ is certain – it is as sure and certain as Scripture because it is declared in Scripture. True Christianity always has and always will be hated by the devil and his counterfeits.

The certainty of our success – “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The suffering that we must endure for the sake of Christ will not and cannot destroy us because God will not let it. He is for us and not against us and He causes us to overwhelmingly conquer all our suffering through our immovable trust in Him who loved us.

Only the true believer perseveres in the face of trials and tribulations, not because he is strong in himself but because he stands in the strength of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit and in the strength of the might of His loving Lord (see Ephesians 6:10). Those who fail to persevere demonstrate their lack of genuine trust in the love, power, and wisdom of God.

The true believer overcomes and super-conquers all the suffering and sorrows thrown his way through Him who loved us. The phrase, “overwhelmingly conquer” means to super-conquer or to conquer with success to spare. We don’t just barely make it through our trials and tribulations, we come out with stronger faith, stronger love, and a stronger stand for Him who loved us and brought us through. We sing the victory song of the saints and declare with the Psalmist in Psalm 3 – “Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, ‘There is no help for him in God.’ But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of His holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou has smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people.”

Our success is certain and we are super-conquerors through Jesus our Lord who is our shield and defender.

The certainty of our security – “For I am convinced that neither death, or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). The security of the believer and his full and final salvation is certain because there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus our Lord. Nothing can cause us to compromise and nothing can cause us to apostatize because God is for us and not against us.

Our suffering is certain; our success is certain; and our security is certain! What a mighty God we serve!