Romans 9: God's Election Always Aims at Salvation

Introduction

On that Sunday, many Protestant churches in the Netherlands observe Israel Sunday. At the Vrije Evangelische Gemeente Kampen, the message is brought by Peter Hartkamp, who has come from Wapenveld. He opens the Bible to Romans 9 and Romans 11, where Paul speaks about his own people and about the place of believers from the nations.

The preacher starts from an observation: for years, Christians have debated how to look at Israel. Some think the Church has taken Israel's place. Others go so far in their love for Israel that they approve of everything the present-day State does, or they believe in two paths of salvation. Both ways of thinking are found in the Church, "sometimes in the same congregation."

His aim is simple: to do justice to God's Word and to God's path with his people, then to ask honestly how the Church can best show its love for God's ancient people. Along the way, he sheds light on a word that often frightens people: election.

Outline of the Message

1. Two Ways of Looking at Israel

The first is replacement theology: "the Church has replaced Israel." The promises made to Israel are then applied to the Church, while the reproaches are left to Israel. Baptism replaces circumcision, Sunday replaces the Sabbath.
Since the Second World War, a new attention to Israel has arisen. Why did this people suffer so much? What does the return of a State of Israel in 1948, on the very land of the biblical story, mean? Many began to read the Bible differently: certain promises made to Israel seem irrevocable, and the Church cannot simply claim them for itself.
At the other extreme, some believe in two paths: Israel would be saved by the covenant with Abraham and by keeping the law, the Church by faith in Christ. For them, speaking about Jesus to a Jew would be arrogance, especially after years of persecution of the Jews by the Christian West.
Peter Hartkamp acknowledges that Israel is "our big brother." But he wants to let the text speak.

2. Paul's Sorrow for His People

Paul feels "great sorrow" and "unceasing pain" because many of his fellow countrymen have not known salvation in Jesus. He would even be accursed, cut off from Christ, for the sake of his brothers (Romans 9:2-3).
His desire is that they be saved (Romans 10:1). Paul therefore does not believe in the doctrine of two paths: his Jewish brothers according to the flesh also depend on the Messiah Jesus for their salvation.
The same attitude is found in Moses after the golden calf: "Yet now, if you will forgive their sin, and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written" (Exodus 32:32).
Yet Moses and Paul both suffered greatly at the hands of their own people. Paul was even criticized by Jews who had become disciples of Jesus, because he brought the Gospel to non-Jews without asking them to be circumcised.

3. Everything God Had Given to Israel

Paul is astonished: how could a people that received so much from God fail to recognize the Messiah? He lists the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship and the promises (Romans 9:4-5).
The covenants: with Abraham, confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob, renewed at Sinai, then with King David and his house.
The law: the word is Torah, which means "teaching." We often hear the word "law" in a negative way, but these are laws for life. The preacher gives the example of the purification rules: when the plague struck, the Jews, who washed their hands at set times, were less affected, and they were accused. "These rules for living from God are simply healthy."
The worship, at the tabernacle and then at the temple, allowed the people to approach the holy God. Everything there spoke of God's forgiveness, the sacrifices as well as the blood of atonement.
Finally, the promises: the existence of Israel as a people and the coming of a Messiah, a prince of peace. And when this Messiah comes, part of the people reject him. Has God's word then become ineffective?

4. Descending from Abraham Is Not Enough, and Neither Is Being Baptized

"For they are not all Israel that are of Israel" (Romans 9:6). At that time, many thought it was enough to be a descendant of Abraham to belong to God.
John the Baptist already said it: do not say, "We have Abraham for our father," for God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones (Matthew 3:9).
The preacher draws a warning for the Church from this: if descent from Abraham is not automatic, belonging to a church is no more so. Some rely on their baptism.
Baptism has value: in it, God says he wants to welcome us as his children. "But this baptism does not save you. You are saved by faith." God's offer calls for a response of faith. Without it, we run the same danger as the unbelieving Israelites.

5. Chosen for Something, Not to Be Lost

Election is a sensitive subject. Some Christians think, on the basis of a few texts, that God decided in advance who would be saved and who would not. It has become a frightening subject, one people prefer to avoid, or one that leads them to ask themselves all their lives: "Am I elect or not?" The Bible speaks of it differently.
First example, the sons of Abraham. Ishmael, born of Hagar, then Isaac, then, after Sarah's death, the sons of Keturah: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah (Genesis 25:1-2). Eight sons in all, but only Isaac is the son of the promise.
Does God reject the others for that reason? "I don't think so." He chooses a particular path with Isaac so that the others can share in it. "God's plan is salvation. Always." In Abraham's offspring, all the nations will be blessed (Genesis 22:18).
"You are chosen for something": Abraham to be the father of Israel and of all who believe, Sarah to be a mother, Isaac to be the son of the promise in place of Ishmael.
Second example, Jacob and Esau. Before they were born, God decides that "The elder will serve the younger" (Romans 9:12). By human law, the line should have passed through Esau, but God chooses otherwise, and he is free to do so. Esau is not rejected for eternity: he could have shared in Jacob's salvation.

6. Esau, Pharaoh and the Heart That Hardens

"I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated" was not a word spoken to Rebekah at the birth of the twins. It is a quotation from Malachi (Malachi 1:2-3), written centuries later.
By then, Jacob and Esau had become two peoples, Israel and Edom. Israel had sinned gravely and known exile. Just as Esau had hated his brother, Edom had refused to seek its salvation from the God of Israel.
God had brought Israel back and had the temple rebuilt. Edom, for its part, had said with pride that it would rebuild its own ruins itself (Malachi 1:4). Edom's rejection is therefore just, and has nothing of a capricious choice by God. "God did not harden Esau's heart. He did it himself."
The same goes for Pharaoh. During the first five plagues, the preacher explains, it was Pharaoh who hardened his own heart. Five times he had the opportunity to let the people go. In the end, God handed him over to the consequences of his own thinking, and there was nothing unjust in that.

7. The Olive Tree: Grafted In, Not Substituted

God cut off some branches of the cultivated olive tree and grafted in their place shoots of a wild olive tree: believers from the nations (Romans 11:17).
"The Church has therefore not taken Israel's place, but it shares in the salvation that God promised to Israel." That is why it must never exalt itself above Israel: "it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you" (Romans 11:18).
The branches were cut off because of unbelief, and we were grafted in by faith. If the branches that were cut off turn back, they will be grafted in again (Romans 11:23-24). This is what Paul so strongly longs to see.
Israel did not stumble so as to fall. Its fall served the salvation of the nations, so that Israel might be provoked to jealousy (Romans 11:11). The goal remains the same: God wants to save.

8. To Love Israel Is to Tell Israel About Jesus

For the preacher, "it would be a form of antisemitism not to proclaim the Gospel to Israel." Serving this people, to whom we owe so much, by lovingly bringing them into contact with the name of the Messiah Jesus is precisely an act of love.
We have a great deal in common with Israel. This people handed down to us the Word of God: three quarters of our Bible, the Old Testament, is also the Bible of the Jewish believer.
Our Savior is, by descent, a son of David, from the tribe of Judah. Children's Bibles sometimes show Jesus and Mary with a European face. But Mary was a young Jewish girl whose name was Miriam, and Jesus was a Jewish man. "We owe our salvation to a Jewish man."
God chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Israel, and he chose the Lord Jesus. It is by this path that salvation is possible, and the Church can proclaim it to the world, to Jews as well as to Greeks.
He concludes by inviting us to pray that the Jewish people will discover that Jesus wants to be their Messiah, for God does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Key Takeaways

In this passage, election is not a sorting between the saved and the lost: God chooses people for a mission, and his goal is always salvation.
"Esau I hated" comes from Malachi and is aimed at Edom, a people that had refused to seek God. It is not a rejection decided before birth.
The Church has not replaced Israel: it is grafted onto the olive tree and shares in its salvation. It is the root that supports it.
Neither descent, nor baptism, nor belonging to a church saves automatically. God's offer awaits a response of faith.
To love Israel is also to lovingly make the Messiah Jesus known to Israel.

Personal Application

Has the word "election" ever frightened you? What changes for you if God chooses first to save and to entrust a mission?
Do you rely, without realizing it, on your baptism, your upbringing or your place in the church rather than on a living faith?
How can you cultivate gratitude toward Israel, who handed the Bible down to you and from whom your Savior came?
Is there spiritual pride in you, a way of placing yourself above others, that the image of the root that supports you comes to correct?
For whom in your circle could you carry the same sorrow and the same desire as Paul, and pray that they will come to know Jesus?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "I loved Jacob and I hated Esau" mean in Romans 9?

Peter Hartkamp points out that Paul is quoting Malachi, written centuries after the birth of the twins, when Jacob and Esau had become two peoples, Israel and Edom. Edom had refused to seek its salvation from the God of Israel. This rejection is therefore deserved and does not come from an arbitrary choice by God before Esau was born.

Does election mean that God decided in advance who would be saved?

For the preacher, in this passage, no one is elected to be saved or to be lost: people are elected for something. Abraham is chosen to be the father of Israel and of all who believe, Sarah to be a mother, Isaac to be the son of the promise. God's goal is always salvation, never rejection.

Has the Church replaced Israel?

No. According to Romans 11, believers from the nations are shoots of a wild olive tree grafted onto the cultivated olive tree. The Church does not take Israel's place, it shares in the salvation promised to Israel. It must therefore not exalt itself above Israel: it is not the Church that supports the root, it is the root that supports the Church.