Treasures New and Old

Romans: Jacob Loved and Esau Hated

Beloved, you can’t read or study the Book of Romans without at some point coming headlong into the age-old question about God’s sovereignty. As we face this issue, with positions held on opposite side of the discussions, we tend to harbor a deeper question: is God unrighteous if He is sovereign?

Perhaps we look at the sovereign question all wrong. Can God be totally sovereign while also providing mankind freewill to choose? That is really the issue with which we have difficulty. Some want God to be totally sovereign over everything. Thus, making us merely robots obeying our programming (even evil robots). Some would have us completely abandon any sovereignty by God which demands we accept that, instead of God, each man is sovereign over his life and destiny.

Let’s look at these verses in Romans and see what Paul has said, and then at the end of this article, I’ll postulate a slightly different take on the issue.

Is God Unrighteous?

Romans 9:13-14:

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Verse 13 Notes: “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”

This is a quote from Malachi 1:1-3, and the Hebrew words add a little light to the statement. Sane’ (Strong’s H8130): a verb meaning to hate, to be unwilling, to be hated, to be an enemy. This verb is the antonym of the Hebrew verb ‘ahab aheb (Strong’s H157): meaning to love, to be a friend. God did not chose Esau to be His enemy, but Esau chose to be an enemy of God. Likewise, Jacob chose to be a friend with God.

Malachi 1:1-5:

The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, They border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation forever. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.

At issue here is the fear of the Israelite nation because of the threats of the Edomites who were from the seed of Esau. Reading the context around the Jacob love – Esau hate statement is a discussion regarding a nation, not an individual.

Malachi 1:2: “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” – Have I not shown a greater partiality to the Israelites than I have to the Edomites? “I loved Jacob” – My love to Jacob has been proved by giving him greater privileges and a better inheritance than what I have given to Esau.

Malachi 1:3: “And I hated Esau,” – I have shown him less love (Genesis 29:30, 31). I comparatively hated him by giving him an inferior lot. And, now, I have not only laid waste the dwelling-place of the Edomites by the incursions of their enemies, and they also (verse 4) shall remain the perpetual monuments of my vengeance. Let it be remembered:

1. That there is not a word spoken here concerning the eternal state of either Jacob or Esau.
2. That what is spoken concerns merely their earthly possessions.
3. That it does not concern the two brothers at all, but the posterity of each.

Malachi 1:4: “They shall build, but I will throw down” – We have already seen enough of the wickedness of the Edomites to justify the utmost severity of divine justice against them. The pulling down predicted here was by Judas Maccabeus (1 Maccabeus 5) and John Hyrcanus (Josephus, Chapters 8 & 9). “[T]hey shall call them, The border of wickedness” – A wicked land. Among this people scarcely any trace of good could ever be found.

Malachi 1:5: “[Y]our eyes” – Ye Israelites shall see in your succeeding generations that: – “The Lord will be magnified” – by His kindness in Israel, and His judgments beyond.

Verse 14 Notes: “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.”

Because God has judged a nation or a man, can we really question God as unrighteous because He judges? God forbid – may it never be so that we would consider God’s actions as unrighteous.

Verse 15 Notes: “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

Exodus 33:19: “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

Verse 16 Notes: “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.”

Abraham wanted Ishmael to be the son of promise; Isaac wanted that promise passed to Esau, and both were wrong in their will. God chose differently.

Verse 17 Notes: “For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.”

In the matter of Pharaoh, God could have orchestrated a different outcome and release of His people. Indeed, God could have prepared them without allowing them to become slaves down in Egypt. But, instead, God chose to allow Israel to suffer as slaves (thus, strengthening them as a nation) and harden the heart of Pharaoh twice so that all of the plagues could occur which we know today were direct slams against the major gods of Egypt. God did several things at the same time: freed Israel, punished Egypt for their treatment of Israel, prepared Israel as a nation of people, slammed the false gods of Egypt, and provided the riches of Egypt to Israel as a payment of all their labor.

Verse 18 Notes: “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”

So, because God is all wise and all powerful, He will sovereignly show mercy and judgement where His righteousness desires.

Verse 19 Notes: “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?”

So, there are those, then, who wish to play devil’s advocate (remember, devil’s advocate takes the place of the Devil who is a deceiver and an accuser). The argument goes as thus: “Well, if God is sovereign, and He alone determines who He hates and loves and, therefore, whom He gives mercy and judgments to, then I cannot be blamed for my behavior – God is to blame. I’m just doing what He forced me to do. Flip Wilson got it wrong. The Devil didn’t make him do it, God did!

Verse 20-21 Notes: “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?”

Whoa! What a dangerous and deceptive logic path to follow. Who is man to question a holy, righteous, all knowing, all powerful, infinite God? You do so at your own peril.

Paul then compares a pot and a potter as an illustration of the ridiculousness of making that argument against God. The clay is totally unable to form itself into anything. It merely exists for the pleasure of the potter. The potter has a vision of what he wants from that lump of clay and then works the clay until he gets what he wants. The clay cannot even begin to fathom what he is to be used for – a fine eating vessel or a garbage can.

Verse 22-23 Notes: “What of God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,”

As a sovereign God, it is His choice whom He blesses and whom He punishes.

Verse 24 Notes: “Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?”

Jacobus Arminius versus John Calvin

Bottom line is simply that God’s sovereignty has chosen us and all those whom He has called to be saints – we are the benefactors of His mercy.

Calvinism versus Arminianism

Total Depravity – As a result of Adam’s fall, the entire human race now has a sin nature. All humanity is dead in trespasses and sins. Man is unable to save himself (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10-18). Versus Partial Depravity

Unconditional Election – Because man is dead in his sin, he is unable to initiate a response to God. Therefore, before the world was even created, God elected certain people to salvation. Election and predestination are unconditional. They are not based on man’s response (Romans 8:29-30; 9:11; Ephesians 1:4-6, 11-12) because man is unable to respond, nor does he want to. Versus Conditional Election – Man can choose to respond to God.

Limited Atonement – Because God determined that certain people should be saved as a result of God’s unconditional election, He determined that Christ should die for the elect alone. All whom God has elected and Christ died for will be saved (Matthew 1:21; John 10:11; 17:9; Acts 20:28; Romans 8:32; Ephesians 5:25). Versus Unlimited Atonement – “Whosoever will may come”.

Irresistible Grace – Those whom God elected He draws to Himself through irresistible grace. God makes man willing to come to Him. When God calls, man responds (John 6:37, 44; 10:16). Versus Man can resist God’s grace as a free agent.

Perseverance of the Saints – The people God has elected and drawn to Himself through the Holy Spirit will persevere in the faith. None whom God has elected will be lost; they are eternally secure (John 10:27-29; Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:3-14). Versus Conditional Salvation – Man can lose his salvation.

What does it all boil down to?

Are you really a totally free agent? Were you not born with certain traits and talents? Did not God give you the spiritual gifts He chooses to give you? Did you choose your biological parents? Height? Date of birth? Etc.
Did not God already lock into you certain instincts and abilities that others may not have? A baby sucks almost instantly after birth – Why? Math versus languages skills, athletic talents versus intellectual prowess.
The world is in the final stages of rejecting God and saying, “NO GOD”, with gender identity, transgender, homosexuality, abortion, global warming, CRT, and all these other movements that say loudly, “God – Why have you made me thus? I reject the way you made me!”

My Postulate:

God is totally sovereign. Total sovereignty does not preclude allowing man freewill. In fact, only a totally sovereign God can give man such a gift. Like a sovereign, despotic king delegates authority to lessors in his kingdom, in effect, God has done the same. He delegated responsibility for the way we conduct our lives and, therefore, He is able, without any contradiction, to hold us responsible for the actions and decisions we have made in our lives.

As such, kings may from time-to-time hold “audits” over their lessor ministers in their kingdom, and, subsequently, either reward or punish them for good or poor results. So then, too, our sovereign God has made it clear through His word that we too will one day give an account for our words, actions, and thoughts.

The issue Christians have today is that of total submission to our Lord God because that would mean giving up some or all of the freewill we were granted. It is a matter of absolute trust on our part that God does, indeed, not only have the right to rule in our lives, but that we ought to let Him by daily submission to Him.

Sovereignty and freewill are simply two sides of a coin. We may have trouble seeing both sides at the same time, but they are there just the same. So as Joshua once said:

Choose you this day whom you will serve.

May God Bless you!

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe

References

Strong, J. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. Meyers, R. (2005). e-Sword. [computer software] . Franklin, TN: Equipping Ministries Foundation. (Original work published 1539)

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