March 21 Click on verses for Full Scripture

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Today's Pathway: Romans 9:8-13 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Yesterday we saw that the fact that someone was a descendant of Abraham did not guarantee that he was also a child of God. Abraham had seven sons besides Isaac, including Ishmael, who was the firstborn. However, it was only through Isaac that the Jews came, and ultimately that the Messiah came. So, being a child of Abraham, even being his immediate offspring, did not guarantee that the individual would receive all the promises given to Abraham, and it did not guarantee salvation.

Verse 8 mentions that only the "children of the promise" were considered to be the seed of Abraham. What was the promise? Verse 9 tells us that it was God's promise that Sarah, even though she was past the age of bearing children, would indeed have a son (Genesis 17:15-21, 18:14). In verses 10-12 Paul mentions Rebecca, who gave birth to Jacob and Esau. Even though Esau was born first, it was through Jacob that the Jewish line and the Messianic line continued. Both of these situations, Isaac and Jacob, raise a question: why did the line go through them, and not through their brothers? Isaac was not Abraham's first born and Jacob was not Isaac's firstborn. The answer is this: God chose to do it that way.

Unfortunately, verses 11-13 have been used to bolster the false teachings of Calvinism. The Calvinist looks at verse 13 and thinks, "If God loved Jacob and hated Esau, then there are some people today who God loves and some that He hates". From there, the Calvinist teaches that God saves those that He loves, and sends those that He hates to the Lake of Fire. God does this, not because individuals choose to accept or reject His salvation, but because in eternity past He loved some and predestinated them to salvation, and He hated others and predestinated them to eternal damnation. Finally, the Calvinist says that God is justified in doing this because He gets to make choices.

We have already seen that God does get to make choices, but the Calvinist's interpretation of God choosing some to be saved and some to be lost is not what is being taught here. Paul is not talking about individuals. He is talking about nations. Once that is understood the entire passage is clarified. God chose Jacob to be the line through which the Jews came. This has nothing to do with going to Heaven or Hell. He chose him over Esau even though neither one of them had done good or evil (verse 11). Jacob did not merit God's choice; God in His infinite wisdom chose him.

Let's look at verses 12-13. The statement that God loved Jacob and hated Esau is found in Malachi 1:2-3. This was not written before the birth of Jacob and Esau, but 1400 years after. When you read Malachi 1:3-5, it becomes obvious that God is not talking about the eternal destiny of the two men, but rather about the destiny of the two nations that came from them: Israel and Edom. Words like "mountains", "heritage", "places", and "border" all indicate that this has nothing to do with the men themselves, but everything to do with what happened to their respective lineages. The statement in verse 12 that the elder would serve the younger is found in Genesis 25:21-23. However, when did the man Esau ever serve the man Jacob? In Genesis 33:3 Jacob the man bows to his brother Esau. In Genesis 33:11 Jacob the man brings gifts to Esau. This does not sound like Esau is serving Jacob. However the offspring of Esau did eventually serve the offspring of Jacob, but that didn't happen until Israel conquered Edom during the reign of David (II Samuel 8:14). So "Esau" didn't serve "Jacob" until approximately 700 years after they were both dead. Clearly, these verses are not talking about the men, but the nations that they fathered. Thus, to take these verses and come to the conclusion that God arbitrarily chooses some to go to Heaven and some to go to Hell based upon His love for some and His hatred for others is ludicrous. The Bible still says that "God so loved the world" (John 3:16), and that He is

"not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).