Dear Friends, 

Out study passage concludes with some of the most exalted words of praise to God ever formed by human lips or expressed by human language.  What prompted Paul at this particular point in his Roman letter to offer such praise?  God is God!  He deserves our praise and worship at all times, but why here at this point in Paul’s letter to the Romans?  In this week’s study I suggest that Paul’s reasoning through these three chapters of that letter not only enlighten our minds, but that they also enlightened Paul’s mind.  He begins this section with heart-rending grief for the people of whom he writes.  What moved him from such grief to such incredible praise to God?  I believe this note of praise that punctuates these three chapters flowed out of Paul’s heart specifically because of his conclusions and reasoning in these chapters.  God’s wisdom, grace, and knowledge transcend our superficial ability to understand or to know.   

Let us pause at the feet of such an incredible God.  Indeed let us bow before the deserving throne of the one and only being in the universe who alone commands and deserves such praise. 

God bless,
Joe Holder

Deserved Worship 

For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.  ( Romans 11:32-36 ) 

            With these verses Paul concludes a major section of the Roman letter.  The ninth through the eleventh chapters take us through some of the most challenging ideas to be found in the Bible.  At each step along the way Paul has surprised and blessed us with conclusions that “unscrew the inscrutable” and consistently magnify the character and goodness of God.  Most sermons I’ve heard from these verses disconnected them from their context and left me wondering why at this point Paul felt moved by the Holy Spirit to write such reverential and worshipful words.  Yes, God always deserves our adoration and worship, but why at this point does Paul make such a point of injecting this amazing praise? 

            When we accept the contextual link of the verses with the whole section of Paul’s Roman letter, they become yet more amazing, but they now take on meaning and purpose that we might otherwise miss. 

            When Paul considered people whom he had reason to believe were God’s elect, despite their failures—major failures—to honor the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s Messiah and Redeemer, he twice voiced his personal grief and prayed for these people.  Despite the best of his writings and preaching, Paul could not move these people to repent of their low view of Jesus.  Believers in synergistic salvation, that God contributes “His part” and you contribute yours, rather consistently make belief in Jesus a rigid prerequisite to salvation.  In fact they often teach that Jesus died for all the sins of all humanity with one solitary exception; they assert that He didn’t die for the sin of unbelief.  In this conclusion they compromise the very passages they use to allege their universalistic view of the atonement. 

            The current populist view that Jesus died for all the sins of all humanity with the exception of the sin of unbelief is examined by the old Puritan writer John Owen. 

“The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:

1.         All the sins of all men.

2.         All the sins of some men, or

3.         Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

a.         That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so, none are saved.

b.         That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.

c.         But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?

You answer, "Because of unbelief."

I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!"

            Others who claim to believe more strongly in the doctrines of grace offer an equally deficient view of these chapters and of the theological problems that Paul worked through in them.  Turning from the historical and Biblical view of divine preservation—God preserving His chosen people so that none shall finally fall away from their eternal security based on the work of God’s perfect Surety—they hold forth an equally deficient view of these chapters.  Their usual response is that, apart from convincing (“convincing” typically measured by their own personal performance) visible evidence to them, anyone they encounter is probably not an elect at all.  I find it fascinating that despite the fierce polarity these two groups manifest against each other, they both end up with exactly the same people saved in the end.  Could it be that their belief systems are not as diverse as they would like you to believe?  In the end both errant and extreme systems of belief build their salvation theology on the same basic premise; unless you act like a child of God, you aren’t a child of God.  How would they apply this principle to their own family?  Does this mean that upon their child’s continued rebellion and disobedience, they will disown and banish the child?  That they will profess that this person is in fact not their child and never was their child?

            There is a fine point of balance in all Biblical doctrines.  Over time a few folks here and there use Paul’s broad base of grace to rationalize that almost, if not all, humans are saved.  Others, thankfully again, just a few, devalue godliness and embrace true—and abominable—antinomianism.  However, for the most part those who embrace the balanced truth that Paul here teaches carefully avoid both extremes and attempt to follow Paul through his full line of reasoning.  What are Paul’s conclusions?  God’s grace is not universal; all humans are not elect and shall not be saved.  Neither is God’s grace so narrow that, even if you believe in grace, you have to quasi-earn it or you likely don’t really possess it in the first place.  Biblical grace carefully threads its way between these two extreme views.  It is narrower than the universalist’s view, and it is broader than the perseverance- legalist’s view. 

            From the Biblical record, particularly Jesus’ own words (for example, the eighth chapter of John’s gospel), there were many religious Jews in the first century who were not numbered among God’s elect, and who—in Jesus’ own words—could not escape the damnation of hell.  Hell is a real Bible doctrine, a real place, and it shall be populated by wicked men and angels for all eternity. 

            If the advocates of Arminian theology are correct, there will be a precious few folks who ever make it to heaven, and hell will suffer a population explosion.  If the advocates of extreme, human-centric perseverance are true, the same problem exists. 

            So where do we find the balance between these and countless other extreme and unbiblical ideas?  Simple; we follow Paul instead of leading him where we want him to go.  In these chapters he has demonstrated this balance.  Among the Jewish people of his day who rejected Jesus as their predicted and promised Messiah, there were no doubt many who were not numbered among God’s elect, but, praise God, Paul here has repeatedly asserted that there were some among that number who were chosen vessels of mercy—do not overlook the point; they are vessels of mercy, not vessels of merit, be it Arminian vessels of merit or human-centric perseverance vessels of merit. 

            When Paul considered the incredible complexity of the human condition, he concluded in amazed admiration of God’s wisdom, knowledge, and judgment.  It was for this reason that he gave form to these words of incredible worship. 

            If we were to engage the followers of Hymenaeus and Philetus who advocated that the resurrection had already occurred, we might walk away from the conversation wondering how someone with the testimony of divine grace in their heart could possibly be so confused.  However, when we read Paul’s conclusion to that problem, we realize that God knows His own, even if false teachers have confused and bewitched them.  If we had a conversation with some of the people who believed the legalistic purveyors of error in the Galatian churches, we would be amazed that someone who once truly embraced the doctrines of grace could wander so far afield from them, but we must remember that Paul continuously referred to them as “brethren,” as “my little children,” as “children of the freewoman,” not the bondwoman, and with many other similar descriptive terms that leave no doubt as to his belief in their status as God’s chosen vessels of mercy.  We might assess the Corinthian church with its multitude of errors, both practical and theological, and think that this church must have fallen away from her calling and joined with spiritual Babylon in abject opposition to God.  However, Paul confronts, rebukes, and reasons with the Corinthians through each of those errors.  Some eighteen months later when he wrote Second Corinthians, we see evidence, amazing evidence, that Paul’s first letter was successful. 

            We read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and think this church had it all together and couldn’t possibly go wrong, but then we read John’s letter to that same church in the second chapter of Revelation, and we can’t believe how the mighty have fallen. 

            How do we make sense of it all?  How do we discern between God’s faithful children, His disobedient children, and those who are not His children at all?  Do not miss the central point.  God didn’t assign us the responsibility of judging who is and who is not chosen.  He reserves that assignment for Himself alone.  He knows them that are His.  While we look at superficial external appearance and reach harsh conclusions, He looks at the heart where He has applied the cleansing blood of His darling Son, and He knows them that are His.  More central to this question is a more obvious point.  God provides assurance of His work of grace to His regenerate children through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, not through humans.  The Arminian believer presumes the role of the Holy Spirit in thinking that he is capable of causing the new birth, while the believer in extreme human-centric perseverance presumes the role of the Holy Spirit in assuring God’s children upon himself.  Adherents of both errors presume a role that belongs to God upon themselves. 

            Friends, it is the incredible truth of God’s amazing grace that knows—and never forgets—them that are His that compelled Paul to write the words of praise and worship in our text.  We wrestle with these “Jews” in these three chapters.  We don’t especially like them.  In fact we probably struggle with rather strong negative feelings against them.  How could they live in the very time of God Incarnate, see Him speak as no man ever spoke, heal the sick, raise the dead, and even rise Himself from the dead after three days in the grave, and still not believe that He was the promised Messiah and Redeemer?  Pause and look past the rationalized whitewash you’ve rubbed on your own façade.  Consider how amazing God’s grace is that saved you!  Why should you then limit divine grace in those folks? 

            The foundational premise of electing, redeeming, saving grace does not lie in our merit, be it Arminian merit or perseverance merit.  It is the Redeemer who comes out of Zion and turns away our sins from us.  It is amazing grace that chooses vessels of mercy, not vessels of merit.  It is equally amazing grace that witnesses to the hearts of God’s regenerate elect and nudges them to faith and godliness.  Some of those so touched by divine grace will indeed respond, but some will not.  The heart of God, the compilation of all the divine attributes that define God as being alone in all the universe—God, eternal, all-wise, and merciful—the only being in all the universe cries out of grace and mercy.  He alone deserves and commands our worship.  Sing His deserved praises!