Atheism's Real Problem with the God of Christianity

In the previous post where I reviewed Challenging the Verdict by Earl Doherty, I promised that I would address the deep rooted and real problem that atheists have with the God of Christianity. Allow me to catch you back up to speed. In his book, Doherty unknowingly revealed the inability of evidential apologetics to answer his deep rooted and real problem with Christianity, namely, that the God of Christianity is unjust and His method of atonement is both illogical and immoral. Doherty said, “Should we not expect a just Deity to fashion a punishment fitting the crime? . . . What, after all, was Adam and Eve’s purported ‘sin’? Eating fruit, even a forbidden one, hardly sinks to the depth of depravity” (124). A few pages later Doherty said, “But why did he require such an ultimate sacrifice in order to forgive humanity its sins? Is there not, indeed, some logical if not moral contradiction in ‘redeeming’ men of sins like murder through an act of murder on their part? Why did he not embody the act of redemption in something more exemplary, perhaps by having Jesus perform a few thousand hours of community service? What a moral example that would have set” (126). No amount of external evidence (empirical facts) can give an answer to these objections. God’s revelation of the meaning of these facts is needed to answer Doherty’s deep rooted and real problem with Christianity.

Since God is being accused of injustice, immorality, and ignorance for both His stance toward sin and His method of atonement, we must allow Him to speak and justify His actions (Romans 3:4). So to understand and see the justice, morality, and wisdom of God in both His stance toward sin and His method of atonement, we will have to consider God’s revealed meaning of redemptive history as it specifically pertains to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

First, the resurrection of Jesus means that God is Creator and transcendent Lord. This means that naturalistic evolution is false, because the resurrection of Jesus is only possible in an open system in which God intervenes and miracles are possible. The resurrection of Jesus, since it means that God is Creator and transcendent Lord, also means that there are no “brute facts.” The facts do not speak for themselves but must be interpreted only by God’s revealed meaning for them. As Dan Phillips says of God as Creator and transcendent Lord, “He created all things in heaven and on earth, including heaven and earth themselves. In doing so, God created all facts. And thus God assigned meaning, value, and significance to everything. That means, then, that there are no “brute facts,” only created facts, with their meaning designed and assigned by God” (Dan Phillips, The World-Tilting Gospel: Embracing a Biblical Worldview and Hanging on Tight, Kindle Edition, 91).

Second, the resurrection of Jesus means that Adam was the first man created by God as both the progenitor of and representative for all people born through his seed. This means that theistic evolution is false because of the solidarity of all people with one man. To believe in the resurrection of Jesus as revealed by God as the means by which He saves sinners from among humanity is to believe in solidarity with an original, historical, first man. There could be no solidarity on the basis of theistic evolution because there would be no definite, definable place where the head of the human race, as its sole representative, plunged the race into sin. Therefore no one would be born with a sin nature traceable to an original ancestor.

There would be no solidarity under the system of either naturalistic or theistic evolution. Without solidarity, Jesus could represent no more than one person. The ratio, without solidarity, becomes a one for one ratio. Each individual sinner would have to have a different individual Savior or else Jesus would have to continually come and offer Himself over and over again for each individual sinner.

Third, the resurrection of Jesus means that God is covenant maker who promises life for obedience to and death for disobedience of His covenant. One of God’s assigned meanings of the resurrection of Jesus is that He keeps His promises. He is a covenant keeping God. He is truth and in Him there is no darkness at all. It is impossible for God to lie since to get anything out of something, it has to be in it. There is a reason one cannot get “blood out of a turnip.” Since God is truth there is no lie in Him. Therefore it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). God keeps His promises. He gives death for disobedience (Romans 6:23).

Adam, as the progenitor and representative of all men earned death for breaking God’s covenant and in order for God to remain true, death reigned from Adam on (Romans 5:12). On the other hand, Jesus, the progenitor and representative of all who have faith in Him earned life for keeping God’s covenant and in order for God to remain true, He raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 2:24) and will raise all who are in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:21-23). God keeps His promises. He gives life for obedience (Leviticus 18:5).

Fourth, the resurrection of Jesus means that Adam was a covenant breaker who earned death for himself and all his offspring through their solidarity with him. Adam transgressed and disobeyed God’s command and became a covenant breaker. Adam became a capital offender. One may question why disobedience to God’s covenant is a capital crime. The human mind, even among atheists, can determine that murder is a capital offense that deserves capital punishment. However, “lesser sins” that the laws of the land do not consider capital offenses are considered capital offenses in God’s kingdom. From this truth the unregenerate human mind recoils and objects.

Why is murder a capital offense? Is it because there is something so unloving about the act of murder that it is hideous? Is it because the murderer is so unloving that he is dangerous to society? Is murder a capital offense because there is no greater display of hatred toward humanity? Murder is the greatest crime that can be committed against humanity because it violates the greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” in the grossest manner and is therefore a capital offense deserving capital punishment.

What is the greatest crime one can commit? Logically, the greatest crime a man can commit is the violation of the greatest commandment. Is there a commandment greater than “love your neighbor as yourself”? Surely, and logically, the greatest crime that a man can commit is a violation of the greatest commandment against the greatest Being. What is the greatest commandment? Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment (Matthew 22:37-38).

Should the crime of murder, of not loving a fellow man, an equal being, be greater than any crime of not loving God, the greatest Being? Logic demands that there is no greater crime than not loving God and therefore any crime that violates love for God is a capital offense that deserves capital punishment. When Adam disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit he committed a capital offense because of the nature of his crime. Adam failed to keep God’s commandment, violated God’s covenant, and earned death because not loving and obeying God is a capital offense that is greater than not loving and killing a fellow human being. All men who are born naturally into Adam’s race naturally have the same hatred for God and His commandments.

Fifth, the resurrection means that Jesus is the second Adam, born without the agency of a human father in order to bypass imputation of Adam’s sin nature. In order to accomplish obedience to God’s covenant and thereby confirm the covenant promises of God, Jesus would have to live in perfect obedience to the Law of God. However, if Jesus were a natural born descendant of Adam, He would also inherit Adam’s sin nature. Here the purpose of the virginal conception of Jesus is made clear by the redemptive- historical context of the resurrection.

The virginal conception of Jesus also implies the divinity of Jesus. Here the mystery of the hypostatic union or the two natures of Jesus is revealed as one of God’s meanings of the resurrection of Jesus. He is the Son of man and the Son of God in one person. He is fully God and fully man in the one person of Jesus Christ. In order to accomplish God’s covenant with man, the Son of God, with supreme love for God, would have to become the son of man, without a sin nature.

Sixth, the resurrection of Jesus means Jesus is the covenant keeper and redeemer who earned life for Himself and all his offspring by their solidarity with Him through faith. “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that he might redeem those who were under the Law” (Galatians 4:4-5). Jesus lived perfectly under the Law of God, kept His covenant, and earned life. Jesus lived in perfect obedience to God because of His perfect love for God doing what Adam did not do and what no natural born descendent of Adam could ever do. As Phillips says, “So we must recognize in Jesus the quality that every other human being since Adam has lacked: utter, comprehensive, all-consuming love for God that flowed from a sinless heart and issued in a flawlessly, perfectly holy life” (The World-Tilting Gospel, 117).

Adam failed to love God with all his heart and as a result he violated God’s command, became a capital offender, and earned death for himself and all his offspring. God’s covenant with Adam was that if he disobeyed he would die. The wages of sin is death. By implication, God’s covenant with Adam meant that if he obeyed he would live. The wages of obedience is life. This truth is expressed in God’s Law given to Israel before the time of Christ. “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them” (Leviticus 18:5).

There is a one major problem though. Adam has already failed to love God and committed a capital offense. All of Adam’s offspring have inherited his sin nature to the point that none are able to obey God and therefore none can earn life (Romans 3:20, 28). All are doomed, unless God has a solution for the dilemma of how He can pardon capital offenders and give them life instead of death, while He remains true in the process.

Here is where the Gospel really becomes offensive and is viewed by those who are perishing as foolishness. God’s solution for the dilemma of how He can pardon capital offenders, giving them life instead of death, is through Penal Substitution. Someone would have to live a perfect life of loving loyalty to God and then suffer the penalty of capital punishment as a sacrifice for and a substitute of capital offenders.

Earl Doherty objects, “But why did he require such an ultimate sacrifice in order to forgive humanity its sins? Is there not, indeed, some logical if not moral contradiction in ‘redeeming’ men of sins like murder through an act of murder on their part? Why did he not embody the act of redemption in something more exemplary, perhaps by having Jesus perform a few thousand hours of community service? What a moral example that would have set” (126).

Others object and say that it is illogical and immoral to execute and innocent man and to set free a capital offender. How can God do this without committing two injustices? After all, God’s Word says, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 17:15). The answer is the resurrection! The resurrection not only makes Penal Substitution logical and moral, it is an absolute necessity for God who is truth. God promised life for the one who obeyed His Law. Jesus did obey God’s Law perfectly. The death of Christ was at the hands of sinful men. Men in violation of God’s Law were responsible for the execution of Jesus so that it was not the Law that promised life executing Jesus but godless men (Acts 2:23). Since Jesus was innocent and was dying by God’s plan as a substitute for sinners, His resurrection from the dead was an absolute necessity and certainty (Acts 2:24). The Law of God based on the Word of God owed Jesus life and since it is impossible for God to lie, it was impossible for death to hold its prey.

Penal Substitution is a logical and moral impossibility for any court system in this world. No human court can accomplish justice through Penal Substitution. In its attempt, any human court would become guilty of two injustices. Executing an innocent man is unjust even if the innocent man is willing. Setting free a guilty man on the basis that an innocent man has died in the place of the guilty man is unjust. Without the power to raise men from the dead, Penal Substitution cannot be a justice serving means of pardon. However, with the ability to raise men from the dead, Penal Substitution becomes the only means by which a righteous God can pardon sinners while He maintains justice in the process (Romans 3:23-26).

Doherty’s solution for maintaining justice while pardoning a capital offender is “having Jesus perform a few thousand hours of community service” (126). However, even atheists know that justice has not been served when the punishment does not equal the crime. Doherty’s question, “Should we not expect a just Deity to fashion a punishment fitting the crime?” now needs to be asked to Doherty instead of being asked by Doherty. Under Doherty’s scheme of atonement, God would allow capital offenders to go free without the penalty matching the crime as Doherty claims God should do.

Jesus lived a perfect life under God’s Law to fulfill its precepts, died a sacrificial death to pay the penalty of breaking God’s Law for sinners, and experienced a supernatural resurrection to fulfill the Law’s promise of life for the one who obeyed it. Jesus earned life for Himself and all who have solidarity with Him through faith.

Seventh, the resurrection of Jesus means that He is both Lord and Judge. No explanation needed! God is just, moral, wise, and loving!

Israel's Rejection is Passing (Romans 11:25-32)

We have already studied the truth that Israel’s rejection is partial (Romans 11:1-10). Paul, a past remnant and a present remnant all proved that Israel’s rejection is only partial. We also have seen the truth that Israel’s rejection has its purposes (Romans 11:11-24). God is using Israel’s rejection for the purpose of giving the Gentiles the opportunity to be saved by His grace and God is using Israel’s rejection for the purpose of graciously warning the Gentiles of His severity. Now we see that Israel’s rejection is passing (Romans 11:25-32).

Paul began leading into the truth that Israel’s rejection is passing in Romans 11:23-24. Paul pointed out that if Israel did not continue in their unbelief that God would graft them in again (Romans 11:23). This establishes the truth that God will not reject anyone who repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile. Paul also turned to the Scriptures to show that the day is coming when Israel will not continue in unbelief and God will graft them in again (Romans 11:25-27).

So the Gentiles who are now being shown mercy are not to be arrogant (Romans 11:18), conceited (Romans 11:20), or wise in their own estimation (Romans 11:25) against Israel because Israel’s rejection is passing (Romans 11:25-32). This section gives us three very good reasons to praise and glorify God:

First, we are to praise and glorify God for His sovereignty (Romans 11:25).
In God’s sovereign plan, Israel’s hardening is not total but is partial – “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uniformed of this mystery (a truth which in other generations was not made known but has now been revealed) – that a partial hardening has happened to Israel.” Not every Jew has been or will be hardened. God in His sovereignty has graciously preserved a believing remnant of Israel so that His promises to them can be fulfilled. In God’s sovereign plan Israel’s hardening is not total but is partial.

In God’s sovereign timing, Israel’s hardening is not permanent but is temporary – “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Here we notice God’s perfect sovereign timing – He will not bring Israel to national repentance until He has saved the fullness of the Gentiles. Israel’s hardness will last only for God’s divinely determined duration. There is a fullness for Israel (Romans 11:12) and a fullness for the Gentiles (Romans 11:25). The fullness of the Gentiles will come first because when the fullness of Israel comes in then Christ will return and set up His millennial Kingdom and usher in eternity. Today, God in His grace is visiting the Gentiles and taking out a people for His name (Acts 15:12-14). A remnant of individual Jews are being saved, but this present age is primarily a time when God is saving Gentiles and building His church. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then God will once more deal with the nation of Israel. In God’s sovereign timing, Israel’s hardening is not permanent but is temporary. We are to praise and glorify God for His sovereignty.

Second, we are to praise and glorify God for His faithfulness (Romans 11:26-29). God is faithful to His promises (Romans 11:26). God has promised in His word that He will save all Israel (Isaiah 59:20) and He will keep His promise. This is a promise for national conversion. It does not mean that every Jew that has ever lived will be saved but that the Jews living when Jesus returns will receive Him and be saved (see Zechariah 12-13 especially 12:10). God’s promise to save all Israel is preceded by His promise to take out from among the Gentiles a people for His name and is followed by His promise to restore Israel afterwards through the appearing of the Deliverer (Acts 15:12-18).

God is faithful to His covenant (Romans 11:27-28). God chose Israel in His grace and not because of any merit in her (Deuteronomy 7:6-11; 9:1-6). Since the nation was not chosen because of its goodness, God has made a covenant to take away their sins (Romans 11:27). This quote is from Isaiah 59:21 and emphasizes that when the promise is fulfilled by the appearing of the Deliverer, God will then be faithful to His covenant to take away Israel’s sins. God’s covenant with Abraham was unconditional and therefore God will accomplish this totally by His grace through the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in God’s sovereign timing. However, because Israel is right now partially hardened and enemies of the Gospel it appears that they have been rejected by God and that God is not going to be faithful to His covenant. That is not true. They are enemies of the Gospel right now so that we Gentiles can be saved (Romans 11:28). But God is not through with them and from the standpoint of God’s choice and for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are beloved (Romans 11:28). God will keep His covenant with Israel.

God is faithful to His nature (Romans 11:29). Since God does not change, His gifts to Israel and His calling of Israel cannot be changed. God is immutable. He is unchanging in His nature. God will not change His plans for Israel’s spiritual regeneration. This verse speaks of gifts. If something is a gift then it must be by grace or unearned. This verse also speaks of calling. Paul has already established the truth that God’s calling is also by grace. Just as God’s gifts and calling cannot be earned, neither can they be overturned – they are irrevocable. They are irrevocable because God is faithful to His nature. We are to praise and glorify God for His faithfulness.

Third, we are to praise and glorify God for His graciousness (Romans 11:30-32). Paul’s explanation of God’s grace has gone full circle. First, because of Israel’s unbelief, the nation was partially and temporarily set aside, and the Gospel of salvation was extended to the Gentiles (Romans 11:30). Second, if God extended His grace to pagan Gentiles even while they were in unbelief, how much more surely will He extend His grace again to His chosen people Israel while they are in unbelief (Romans 11:31)? Finally, God has completed the full circle of His grace by shutting up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. God has included all in unbelief so that all may have the opportunity to be saved by grace (Romans 11:32). There is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are to praise and glorify God for His graciousness.

We are not to be arrogant, conceited, or wise in our own estimation against Israel because Israel’s rejection is passing. This gives us three reasons to praise and glorify God. We are to praise and glorify God for His sovereignty, for His faithfulness, and for His graciousness.

Israel's Rejection: Warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24)

Romans 11:1-36 is establishing the truth that God has not forever rejected Israel because of their rejection of Christ, but that God is a promise keeping, wise, and redeeming God who is worthy of worship and praise. We have already considered the truth that Israel’s rejection is only partial (Romans 11:1-10). We have began considering the truth that Israel’s rejection has its purposes (Romans 11:11-24). There are two main purposes that arise from Israel’s rejection of the Gospel and God’s rejection of the majority of the nation. First, Israel’s rejection is bringing salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15). Second, Israel’s rejection is serving as a warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24).

We have already considered the first purpose of Israel’s rejection – that it is bringing salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15). Since the majority refused to believe in salvation by grace through faith in Christ, it opened and has extended the opportunity for Gentiles to be saved. The Bible makes it clear that when Israel believes in Christ, He will come again and the door to salvation will be closed (Acts 3:19-21). Now we will begin our consideration of the second purpose of Israel’s rejection – that it is serving as a warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24).

We are living in the day of what I term, “Positive Christianity.” Over the last century there have arisen more and more proponents of a positive Christianity who insist that preaching should be positive and never negative. In our day, what is needed preaching is often called negative preaching. The motto of the day is, “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” After all, we are living in the dispensation of grace, which according to the proponents of positive Christianity, leaves no room for anything negative in the preacher’s message.

It is precisely here that positive preachers fail to accurately communicate the grace of God. Even the warnings of God are expressions of His great grace and mercy. Negative preaching that warns of the severity of God is as needed as positive preaching that woos with the kindness of God. We have already been wooed with the kindness of God where we have seen that He is using the rejection of Israel to bring salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15). Now let us consider three warnings of the severity of God to the Gentiles through His rejection of Israel (Romans 11:16-24).

First, God in His grace warns us against arrogance toward Israel (Romans 11:16-18). We notice the word arrogant twice in verse 18. The word “arrogant” carries the idea of “to brag or to boast against.” The KJV uses the word “boast” instead of “arrogant” – “Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” Arrogance is over-exalting one thing at the expense of another which results in wrong conclusions. This is boasting with a sense of false superiority. So in these verses we as Gentiles are warned against arrogance toward Israel. Let’s follow Paul’s argument and take heed to the warning against arrogance toward Israel.

First, we must understand God’s overall plan for Israel (Romans 11:16). The apostle Paul used the principle of the offering of first-fruits to establish Israel’s future revival in God’s plan of salvation. The principle of the offering of first-fruits was that the Lord’s acceptance of the first piece offered was an “earnest” or pledge on His part of a full and final acceptance of the remaining harvest. Not only was this principle symbolized in the offering of the first sheaf of barley presented to the Lord at the beginning of the harvest season (Leviticus 23:9-14) but also in the offering of the first piece of dough when Israel entered the Promised Land (Numbers 15:18-20).

Paul used the concept of the first-fruits pinched from the dough as an offering to God to teach that since God has accepted the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He will also accept the remaining harvest of Israel who have the same faith of the patriarchs. God is not through with Israel because His promises to Abraham concerning them and the principle of first-fruits have not been fulfilled yet. God is going to bring in a full and final harvest of Israel (Romans 11:25-27). There is no need for Gentile arrogance toward Israel.

Second, we must understand God’s overall place for Israel (Romans 11:16-18). Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22). There is no getting around this truth. The promises of God for salvation are in His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through whom is the Christ. It is in Christ Jesus alone that the blessings of Abraham come to the Gentiles (Galatians 3:14). This means that the patriarchs are both the first-fruits in God’s overall plan for Israel and the root in God’s overall place for Israel.

The root provides nourishment to the branches, not the branches to the root. God did not graft in the Gentiles to provide nourishment to the root but so that the root could provide nourishment to the Gentiles. It is connection to the root that determines fruit. God did not graft in the Gentiles because they were fruitful but so that they would become fruitful.
Who in his right mind believes that the root is dependent upon the branches rather than the branches upon the root? No branch supports the root – the branch either partakes of the rich root or perishes. The branch does not impart life to the root or improve the life of the root. All that the connected branch can do is bear the fruit of the root (John 15:1-11).

Branches were broken off – some, not all (Romans 11:17) – not because they failed to provide life to the root but because they failed to receive life from the root. We as Gentiles are not to over-exalt a false superiority over the branches that were broken off. We are not to boast against the cut off Jews. Arrogance is a false claim of superiority and worth. Arrogance denies salvation by grace and exalts salvation by works or worth. To claim Jewish unworthiness and Gentile worthiness is to make the same mistake that the broken off Jews made concerning their false superiority over the Gentiles. God doesn’t change. If He judged the arrogant Israelites He will judge arrogant Gentiles. God in His grace warns us of the dangers of grace rejecting arrogance toward Israel.

Next, God in His grace warns us against conceit toward Israel (Romans 11:19-20). Both arrogance and conceit are forms of pride. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling (Proverbs 16:18). Pride is the antithesis of grace. The person full of pride would believe that he is saved because of his worthiness and not in spite of his wretchedness. He would misinterpret God’s grace as a sign of his own goodness.

Paul anticipated the prideful response of the Gentiles toward Israel and that there was real danger for the Gentiles to misinterpret God’s grace as a sign of their own goodness or worth (Romans 11:19). We are not to misinterpret God’s grace as a sign of our own goodness.

Paul answered the prideful response of the Gentiles toward Israel and gave a warning against conceit (Romans 11:20). Paul explained the reason for the broken off branches – their unbelief! The broken off branches stumbled because of unbelief. The grafted in branches stand because of faith. Since pride is the antithesis of grace it is a manifestation of unbelief. The branches were broken off for unbelief which means they thought too highly of themselves and saw no need for grace. They were conceited.

So Paul issued a warning against conceit. “Do not be conceited, but fear.” Conceited means having an excessively favorable opinion of oneself. It is to be wrongheaded and wrong-hearted about your own ability or importance. Instead of being conceited, we should fear. The word fear comes from the word phobia. It means “to put to flight; terrify; to frighten.” We should be terrified or frightened of any trace or evidence of arrogance or conceit toward those who are perishing. We should especially be terrified if we are prideful toward broken off Israel. The Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ doesn’t puff up – it humbles; it doesn’t make you conceited – it makes you contrite. God in His grace warns us against grace rejecting conceit toward Israel.

Finally, God in His grace warns us of His immutable holiness (Romans 11:21-24). The word “immutable” means that God does not change. This is speaking of His essence and His nature. The holiness and righteousness of God will never change and will never be compromised. On this basis, Paul issued a warning to the Gentiles from the example of God’s dealings with Israel.

Paul antidoted the prideful response of the Gentiles toward Israel and warned of God’s impartiality (Romans 11:21). Here is a powerful antidote for Gentile pride – “For if God did not spare the natural branches [physical descendants of Abraham; Israel], He will not spare you [Gentiles], either.” Pride is the antithesis of grace and is outright unbelief. If God did not spare Israel for their pride and unbelief, He certainly will not spare the Gentiles for pride and unbelief. We are to learn from Israel’s mistakes and not repeat them. God is no respecter of persons. He does not show personal favoritism. No man will ever be able to boast before God and therefore we should never be arrogant or conceited.

Paul analyzed the perfect righteousness of God toward both belief and unbelief and warned of God’s severity (Romans 11:22-24). If there is one thing we should learn from Israel’s pride and unbelief, it is the severity of God toward pride and unbelief – no matter who is guilty. The immutable holiness of God which shows itself in the perfect righteousness of God has both a positive and a negative outworking.

First, Paul analyzed the negative side of the perfect righteousness of God (Romans 11:22). God is unchanging in His dealings with pride and unbelief. Since pride and unbelief are rejections of the grace of God, God in His perfect righteousness gives the unrepentant what he or she deserves and has earned – eternal destruction. All men are sinners and all men have earned death and eternal destruction as sin’s wages. God has provided the only remedy by which He can give sinners who have earned Hell what they have not earned – Heaven – while still upholding His perfect righteousness. God saves by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ. Salvation is by the kindness of God and not the works of man. Those who do not see their need for God’s grace through faith in Christ will receive the severity of God’s perfect righteousness.

Second, Paul analyzed the positive side of the perfect righteousness of God (Romans 11:22-24). God is unchanging in His dealings with humble repentance and belief. Since repentance and belief are receptions of the grace of God, God in His perfect righteousness gives the repentant and believing sinner what he does not deserve but what has been earned for him by Another – eternal life! “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). That’s grace! As long as Gentiles repent and believe they will be grafted in and given eternal life. If the Gentiles ever get to the point that they no longer repent and believe they will be cut off (Romans 11:22). If Israel ever gets to the point where they no longer are prideful and unbelieving, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again (Romans 11:23-24).

God is immutable in His holiness and perfect in His righteousness. His mercy is for anyone who believes whether Jew or Gentile. His wrath is for anyone who does not believe whether Jew or Gentile. We must never forget or lose the doctrine of both the kindness and severity of God.

God’s dealings with unbelieving Israel clearly show His unchanging nature toward pride and unbelief. Since He didn’t spare them, He will not spare anyone else either. Is God going to destroy all who have not been humbled and brought to repentance and belief through the Gospel? Yes!

God’s dealings with the believing Gentiles clearly show His unchanging nature toward humble repentance and belief. Since He grafted them in, He will certainly graft in anyone else who believes. Is God going to redeem all who have been humbled and brought to repentance and belief through the Gospel? Yes!

Israel's Rejection is Bringing Salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15)

In Romans 11:1-36, the apostle Paul proves that God has not rejected Israel and that He is not through with them as a nation. God is faithful! He keeps His promises and nothing or no one can stop Him from doing what He has said He will do. This is the thrust of Paul’s argument from Romans 9 through Romans 11. Paul is proving in these chapters that Israel’s past election was by God’s grace and not their deeds (Romans 9 – God’s sovereignty); that Israel’s present rejection of salvation by grace is by failure to submit to God’s Word (Romans 10 – human responsibility); and that Israel’s future reception of salvation by grace is by God’s faithfulness in spite of Israel’s rejection (Romans 11 – God’s wisdom and ways).

So Romans 11:1-36 is proving that God has not forever rejected Israel and that He is a faithful, promise-keeping God. We could outline Romans 11 like this: Israel’s rejection is only partial (Romans 11:1-10). Israel’s rejection has its purposes (Romans 11:11-24). Israel’s rejection is passing (Romans 11:25-32). Israel’s rejection is to the praise of God’s glory (Romans 11:33-36).

Romans 11:1-10 proves that Israel’s rejection is only partial. Paul gave three proofs in those verses that Israel’s rejection is only partial: (1) Paul was proof - Paul was a saved Israelite so God hadn’t totally rejected Israel (Romans 11:1). (2) A past remnant was proof – in Elijah’s day of widespread apostasy God reserved for Himself 7,000 (Romans 11:2-4). (3) A present remnant was proof – there were other saved Israelites in Paul’s day and continue to be to this day (Romans 11:5-10).

Romans 11:11-24 proves that Israel’s rejection has its purposes. There are two main purposes that God is accomplishing through the rejection of Israel: (1) Israel’s rejection is bringing salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15) and (2) Israel’s rejection is serving as a warning to the Gentiles (Romans 11:16-24). For now we will consider that Israel’s rejection is bringing salvation to the Gentiles.

Israel’s Rejection is Bringing Salvation to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11-15).

Not only is Israel’s rejection partial – God is preserving a remnant so that He can fulfill His promises to them – Israel’s rejection has its purposes. God is using Israel’s rejection to bring salvation to the Gentiles.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because Israel’s fall is not permanent – “They did not stumble so as to fall did they” (Romans 11:11). The word Paul used here for “fall” is a word that means to fall completely out of sight or beyond recovery. In other words, did their stumble injure or paralyze them beyond healing? Perish the thought! That could never happen or else God’s Word will fail.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because Israel’s fall is for a purpose – “But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous” (Romans 11:11). Israel’s transgression – her rejection of the Gospel of salvation by grace through Jesus Christ – has brought salvation to the Gentiles. Israel refused it so God offered salvation to the Gentiles – “To the Jew first and then to the Greek.” In one of His parables, the Lord Jesus said that those who had been invited to the King’s wedding feast refused to come so He sent His servants to the main highways to invite as many as they found to the feast (Matthew 22:1-14). He was speaking of the rejection of the Jews that would precipitate the invitation to the Gentiles.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because if Israel’s fall is profitable, then their fullness will be perfection (Romans 11:12). Here Paul argues from the lesser to the greater – he is saying that if Israel’s fall (transgression) is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles then their fullness will mean the restoration of all things (see Acts 3:17-21)!

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because Israel’s fall and Gentile blessing is provoking some of Israel to salvation (Romans 11:13-14). When Israel sees others receiving their promises and their blessings by faith rather than by works – some of them will get saved.

We can praise God’s wisdom and ways because if Israel’s fall is reconciliation of the world then their acceptance will be resurrection (Romans 11:15). God will revive Israel! He is going to grant Israel repentance (Zechariah 12:10); deliver Israel from ungodliness (Romans 11:26; Isaiah 59:20); and keep His covenant with them (Romans 11:27; Isaiah 59:21). The Lord will come and set up His kingdom and Israel’s acceptance will be resurrection from the dead (Revelation 19:11 – 20:6).

One of the purposes of Israel’s rejection is to bring salvation to the Gentiles. We can praise God’s wisdom and ways and for the glory of His grace.

Israel’s fall is not permanent but has the purpose of bringing salvation to the Gentiles, restoration to the world, revival to Israel, and resurrection from the dead.

Israel's Failure to Heed the Gospel (Romans 10:18-21)

I would like to give a quick summary of Romans 9-11 so that we can keep our text in its proper context to better understand what God is saying in this portion of Scripture. These three chapters are dealing primarily with the reasons for Israel’s rejection of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans chapter 9 describes Israel’s false hope of salvation by works rather than by grace. As a whole, most Jews believed they were guaranteed God’s favor because of their ancestry and their ability. In essence, they believed God chose Abraham because of Abraham’s ability to please God rather than the truth that God saved Abraham by grace (a truth firmly established in Romans 4). All through Scripture we see the Jews appealing to their ancestry and claiming Abraham as their father. Romans chapter 9 obliterates this false hope of salvation and establishes the truth that salvation is by grace and not by ancestry or ability.

Romans chapter 10 describes Israel’s failure to heed the message of salvation by grace. Since it was true that the majority of the Jews had a false hope of salvation based on their ancestry and ability, their failure to heed the message of salvation by grace was the logical and inevitable outcome. Their false hope of salvation by works led to their failure to heed the message of salvation by grace.

Romans chapter 11 describes Israel’s future salvation by grace after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Chapter 11, while dealing with Israel’s rejection and the good that God would accomplish through it (bringing salvation to the Gentiles), tempers the bad news about Israel’s stubborn disobedience with the good news that God will one day save Israel by grace.

As we conclude chapter 10 we will be considering the truth that Israel’s failure to heed the message about salvation by grace in Christ was predicted in Scripture. Chapter 10 deals with both the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ (God doesn’t save any other way than through faith in Christ) and the inclusiveness of salvation in Christ (it is for anyone who believes, Jew or Gentile). Israel failed to heed both of these aspects of the Gospel message and therefore Christ became a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to them.

Israel failed to heed the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ (10:18). Had they ever heard? Sure they had! Over and over God sent His prophets and they preached of the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ. In Genesis 3, God promised Adam and Eve that He would send an exclusive deliverer through the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head.

When giving the promise to Abraham and his seed, God spoke in the singular and not the plural (Galatians 3:16), speaking of Christ and the exclusiveness of salvation through Him. Moses also stated that God would raise up one exclusive Prophet to whom you shall give heed to everything He says or utterly be destroyed from among the people of God (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22-23). God proclaimed through Isaiah about the exclusive Suffering Servant who would pay sin’s penalty for His people.

Instead of trusting in the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ, Israel trusted in ancestry and ability rather than the finished and sufficient work of Christ. The exclusiveness of salvation in Christ was a stumbling stone to the Jews.

Israel failed to heed the inclusiveness of salvation in Christ (10:19-21). They didn’t know that God was going to include the Gentiles did they? Well, Paul gave two Scriptures that Israel failed to heed concerning the truth of the inclusiveness of the Gospel of Christ:

First, what Moses said in Deuteronomy 32:21. Here we see that the Scriptures predicted the inclusion of Gentiles in salvation in order to make Israel jealous (Romans 11:11) so that they might also be saved (Romans 11:14).

Second, what Isaiah is very bold and says in Isaiah 65:1. Here we see that God through Isaiah preached the truth that He was going to include the Gentiles who did not seek Him or ask for Him because salvation is by grace and not by works. The Jews were seeking God through their works but salvation is by grace through faith. Israel thought salvation was exclusive in the sense that they believed it was for them because of their works and not for the Gentiles because they weren’t even trying.

Paul could have given more Scripture showing that Israel should have known about the inclusion of Gentiles because of the predictions of Scripture. Paul said in his letter to the Galatians, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you’” (Galatians 3:8). The truth that God would include the Gentiles in salvation was reprehensible to the Jews. The inclusiveness of salvation in Christ was a rock of offense to the Jews.

Israel failed to heed God’s offer of salvation (10:21). Immediately after God told Israel through Isaiah 65:1 the truth that He was going to include Gentiles in salvation, He told them the sad truth of their condition in Isaiah 65:2 – “All the day long I have stretched out My hand to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

The apostle Paul, making application with the Scriptures, showed that Israel’s failure to heed the message of the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ and the inclusiveness of salvation in Christ, was predicted in Scripture.

The Parameters of Salvation (Romans 10:11-17)

Paul has been establishing the truth of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In his defense of the gospel he has shown that all men, including the Jews, are incapable of attaining to the righteousness of God because of men’s sin nature. Therefore, only those who have faith in Jesus Christ and His work of living a sinless life, dying a sacrificial death, and experiencing a supernatural resurrection, on their behalf, are saved.

In Romans 9-11 Paul was primarily answering the question of why the Jews who had the Word of God were mostly or as a whole rejecting the gospel of Christ and salvation by grace. Let me attempt to briefly summarize the problem of why most of the Jews rejected the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ:

(1) The Jews believed they were God’s elect and special people because they were better people than all other men in the world. This means that they believed in conditional election rather than unconditional election which would make salvation by merit and not by mercy; by works and not by grace.

(2) Since most of the Jews rejected the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, they also rejected the notion that God would save and include Gentiles in His family. By rejecting salvation by grace and attempting to exclude Gentiles from the promises and covenants of God, they excluded themselves. As a result, they did not pursue God’s righteousness by faith but as though it was by works.

(3) Since most of the Jews rejected the Gospel of grace, they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own. This caused them to reject Christ and the promises of God that are yes in Him. Instead of believing in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead and confessing Jesus as Lord, they did not believe in Him and they did not call on His name. Through this they missed the wonderful promises of God: “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed,” and, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

That brings us to our text where we will see the parameters of salvation.

Anyone can be saved who believes (Romans 10:11-13). I want you to notice something very important in the particular order of the promises found in verses 11 and 13. In verse 11 the promise is that “whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed” and in verse 13 the promise is that “whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The order here gives you an idea of the parameters of salvation that Paul is talking about in these verses. The logical order is that you believe in Him before you call on Him. It is your belief in Christ that enables your calling on Christ. What is it that you believe? You believe in His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection on your behalf as the only way a holy God can pardon your sins. This enables and motivates you to call out, “Lord, save me.” These two must always go together; believing in the work of Christ and as a result of that belief calling on the name of Christ. Anyone can be saved who believes.

Anyone who believes must hear (Romans 10:14-15). Here we see the parameters of salvation in reverse order. To be saved you must call on Him and to call on Him you must believe in Him and to believe in Him you must hear about Him and to hear about Him someone must tell or preach about Him and to preach about Him you must be sent by God with God’s message about Him and not your own. What do these verses say about people who have never heard God’s message about His Son? Can men be saved without hearing? Must what they hear be the truth about Christ? Look at the description the Bible gives of those who are sent and preach the good news – they are considered to have beautiful feet because they are the vehicles by which the good news about Christ is told.

It is impossible to believe in someone of whom you have never heard. Anyone who believes must hear.

Anyone who hears must heed (Romans 10:16-17). The word “heed” means to obey. The KJV puts verse 16 this way, “But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, “Lord, who hath believed our report?” The ESV puts it like this, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” Notice how the Bible equates obeying or heeding with believing. Hearing the message and not heeding the message is because one doesn’t really believe the message.

In verse 16, many heard but did not heed. They heard but did not believe. They heard but did not obey. Had they believed what they heard they would have obeyed what they heard and would have called on the name of the Lord. Simply put, this means that they would have seen their works as filthy rags and His as beautiful and all sufficient.

Romans 10:16 has to be the most disappointing response to the gospel recorded in Scripture – “They did not all heed the good news.” Isaiah not only experienced this disappointing response from his countrymen, he prophesied about their future rejection of the Gospel – “Lord, who has believed our report?”

Isaiah wasn’t speaking to God as a co-author of the Gospel but was referring to himself and the other prophets as heralds of that message. Isaiah was sent with a message and didn’t manufacture one.

The conclusion is that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word about Christ (Romans 10:17). Men must hear the gospel to believe in Christ and call on His name for salvation. While hearing the gospel doesn’t guarantee faith because men must heed what they hear; not hearing the gospel guarantees no chance for faith in Christ and no chance for salvation.
Anyone can be saved who believes; anyone who believes must hear; anyone who hears must heed. These are the parameters of salvation.

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.