Coffee Shop Chapel

There is an account in Genesis where it only rained on the unjust!!

The just were high and dry!!!

 

July 14

Romans 9:15, “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.”

Mercy, the Bible stresses mercy. We have seen that election is grounded in mercy. Reprobation forces us back upon mercy, instead of claiming any supposed rights we think we have (in actuality the only right we have is to suffer eternal damnation because of our sin). Even God’s justice is established upon His right to show and withhold mercy as He wills.

We deserve and should expect condemnation, wrath and reprobation, because we freely choose to sin. But, as Boice says, “ ... that God should extend mercy to sinners and so save some of them from His wrath is extraordinary.”

Our text is quoted from 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 shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”

God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob entirely apart from any good that might be imagined in them. These choices demonstrate the text Paul is quoting, for they prove that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion.

God sent Moses to Pharaoh with the command to “Let my people go!” Pharaoh refused saying, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2) As a result, God unleashed a series of plagues on Egypt in which: (1) the waters of the land were turned to blood; (2) frogs were multiplied in huge quantities; (3) gnats infested everyone; (4) flies followed the gnats; (5) the animals were killed; (6) painful boils came upon the Egyptians; (7) hail destroyed the crops; (8) followed by locusts; and (9) darkness blotted out the sun for three days. These plagues were demonstrations of God’s power over the many Egyptian gods. Egypt was destroyed, but Pharaoh would not let Israel go.

It took the tenth plague, the death of all the firstborn, people and animals, to get Pharaoh to let Israel go, but then he changed his mind and chased them, trying to get them back. Ultimately it took Pharaoh’s death to get his attention, that the great I AM was more powerful than all his gods, but then it was too late for Pharaoh.

Israel prepared for the Passover by killing a lamb and sprinkling the blood upon the sides and top of the door frames of their homes. When the angel of death came through the land, he passed over the homes where the blood was sprinkled.

Israel was not a very spiritual nation, their problems in the wilderness attest to that. Many in Israel probably thought that because they were Jews, because they had suffered the indignity of slavery, or because they were morally better than the Egyptians, that if God was just, then He must reward them for all their suffering, and punish the Egyptians.

The way that God delivered Israel dispelled any such mistaken notions. Israel was delivered from Egypt by the grace and mercy of God, alone. Had any Israelites refused to obey God regarding the Passover Lamb, they too would have lost their firstborn, despite any injustice that they had suffered from the Egyptians. Why, “for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:22-23). The Jews were a sinful people, just as the Egyptians were, just as we are. God would later describe them as “stiff-necked” people. But God set His love upon them and saved them for His mercy’s sake.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8, “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

God did not choose us, because we were better than anyone else, because we were more powerful or wealthy than anyone else. God chose us, because “[He] will have mercy on whom [He] will have mercy, and [He] will have compassion on whom [He] will have compassion.” This should drive us to our knees in grateful thanksgiving for His mercy.”

“Mercy” is God’s name.

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.
In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 15

Romans 9:15, “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.”

Yesterday we looked at God’s mercy towards Israel during the Exodus, today we look at God’s mercy towards Israel at Mount Sinai. Israel had left Egypt behind, the last sight of the Egyptians was their cold dead bodies floating in the Red Sea. Israel then traveled to Mount Sinai, where God called Moses up the mountain for forty days. While Moses was with God, the people grew tired of waiting, and persuaded Aaron to make them a calf of gold, which they worshipped. God interrupted His giving the law to Moses to tell Moses what the people were doing. God threatened to destroy Israel, and start again with Moses.

Moses plead for the people, and eventually offered himself for judgment in their place, saying, “And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” (Exodus 32:31-32). Moses and Paul had similar concern for Israel, although, I believe Moses did not know that he could not give himself for another. Moses, as we all are, was a sinner, and deserved to die for his sins, as much as the idolaters deserved to die for their sin.

God had planned, before the foundation of the universe was laid, to send His Only Begotten Son to earth, as a sacrifice (substitute for us) for sin. Based upon the anticipated sacrifice, God required O.T. saints to trust (faith) that God would sent the Redeemer, and in mercy He saved those who believed. Today, based upon the actual sacrifice, God requires us to trust (faith) that God did send the Redeemer, and in mercy He saves those who believe. The Passover was a type or picture of God’s redeeming mercy, grace, and sacrifice for our sin.

“Mercy” is God’s name.

In Exodus 33, God spared the vast majority of the people, following their apostasy at Sinai. When God first called Moses, God told Moses that He would lead the people, “ And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large,” (Exodus 3:8). Now God promised to send an angel to lead Israel to the promised land, “And I will send an angel before thee;” (Exodus 33:2). Boice says, “... Moses was not satisfied with this arrangement. In his judgment, to be led by an angel was less than being led by God, and he did not want any lessening of the special relationship between God and the people that he and they had enjoyed previously.” Because the people were sinners, any special relationship between them and God was based solely on God’s mercy and not their deserving. “Still,” as Boice says, “they must be led by God or not at all. Moses did not want to lead the people, even with the help of an angel, unless God Himself were with them.”

Moses went to God with three requests:

1. Moses asked to be taught God’s ways so “that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight:” (Exodus 33:1). Moses recognized that he was a sinner, and needed to be taught and kept by God so that he would not fall into the same sins the people had committed. God promised to be with him and teach him.

2. Moses pleaded for God’s continual presence, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” (Exodus 33:15-16). Moses knew that Israel could never be distinguished from any other people, unless God was with them. God promised Moses that He would do as Moses asked.

3. Moses last request, “I beseech thee, shew me Thy glory.” (Exodus 33:18) To this request, God said, No. No one could see the face of God and live. But God said that He would reveal His goodness and proclaim His name to Moses. God did this by placing Moses in the cleft of a rock, covering him with His hand, and then causing His goodness to pass before him.

It is in this context that God spoke the words quoted by Paul in our text. “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 shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” (Exodus 33:19). This verse is the climax of this account, and its point is that the very name or character of God is bound up in His mercy. Boice says, “The display of His name is the proclamation of His compassion.”

“The record of God’s dealings with Israel in her election, deliverance, and preservation, even when the people had sinned against grace, as well as this climactic revelation of glory, show that “Mercy” is God’s name.”

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 16

Romans 9:15, “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.”

Election and the corresponding doctrine of reprobation are the means by which God’s compassion and mercy, as well as His power and wrath are made known.

John Piper writes, “In its Old Testament context, Exodus 33:19 is not merely a description of how God acted in any particular instance toward Moses in granting him a theophany or toward Israel in renewing the covenant. Rather it is a solemn declaration of the nature of God, or a proclamation of His name and glory.”

Here are some conclusions regarding mercy:

1. We need mercy if we are to be saved. Most people think in terms of justice, because they suppose that they are deserving of salvation. The only thing the human race is deserving of is eternal punishment. If we are to be saved, we cannot come to God pleading our just deserts, we must come to God on the basis of His mercy. We need mercy, apart from mercy, we will perish.

2. God is a God of mercy. This is the good news, God is a God of mercy. He is also a God of justice and wrath, and sin will be punished, but in our text, Paul emphasizes God’s mercy. God offers us mercy, but only on His terms. We must come to Him on the basis of the shed blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but died to be our Savior. God’s mercy is seen at the cross of Christ. As Boice says, “That is the ultimate expression of mercy and the basis for God’s election of some to salvation.”

3. We can appeal to mercy. God has the sovereign right to show His mercy to whom He will and to show His compassion to whom He will. God is not compelled in any way to do this, or it would not be mercy, nor would it be compassion. This does not mean that we cannot appeal to it, because we can. The Scripture gives many examples.

The Pharisee and the tax collector is one such example. The Pharisee, who highly regarded himself, was moral, did not steal, was not an adulterer, he tried to obey the law, fasted twice a week, and tithed all he had. But he was not moral enough to please God, and he had no sense of needing God’s mercy. As a result, his prayer was not heard, and he was not justified.

The tax collector knew he was a sinner. He did not try to remind God of his “ethical attainments.” He stood at a distance, beat upon his breast, and not even looking up to heaven, cried out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13). Jesus said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:14).

Mercy is God’s unique prerogative. But as Boice says, (and I cannot resolve this in my own feeble mind, but believe it with all my heart, because it’s taught in Scripture) “But I will tell you who those are upon whom God has set His mercy. They are those who appeal to Him on the basis of it. And I will tell you who those are who are elect. They are those who turn from their own self-sufficiency and trust Jesus. How else can anyone know who God’s elect are? In what way other than by faith are the children of God made known?”

4. We can proclaim God’s mercy to others. God is sovereign, and He passes by (reprobation) those He has not chosen for salvation. He has mercy on whom He wills to have mercy, and He has compassion on whom He wills to have compassion. But there is nothing in the Bible that hinders, indeed the Bible commands that we preach, teach, and testify that “His very name is Mercy.” And because His name is Mercy, if you will come to Him, believing on Jesus Christ, then you will find mercy.

The hymn writer says it well:

Come, every soul by sin oppressed,
There’s mercy with the Lord,
And He will surely give you rest,
By trusting in His Word.
Only trust Him, only trust Him,
Only trust Him now.
He will save you, He will save you,
He will save you now.

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 16

Romans 9:15, “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.”

Election and the corresponding doctrine of reprobation are the means by which God’s compassion and mercy, as well as His power and wrath are made known.

John Piper writes, “In its Old Testament context, Exodus 33:19 is not merely a description of how God acted in any particular instance toward Moses in granting him a theophany or toward Israel in renewing the covenant. Rather it is a solemn declaration of the nature of God, or a proclamation of His name and glory.”

Here are some conclusions regarding mercy:

1. We need mercy if we are to be saved. Most people think in terms of justice, because they suppose that they are deserving of salvation. The only thing the human race is deserving of is eternal punishment. If we are to be saved, we cannot come to God pleading our just deserts, we must come to God on the basis of His mercy. We need mercy, apart from mercy, we will perish.

2. God is a God of mercy. This is the good news, God is a God of mercy. He is also a God of justice and wrath, and sin will be punished, but in our text, Paul emphasizes God’s mercy. God offers us mercy, but only on His terms. We must come to Him on the basis of the shed blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but died to be our Savior. God’s mercy is seen at the cross of Christ. As Boice says, “That is the ultimate expression of mercy and the basis for God’s election of some to salvation.”

3. We can appeal to mercy. God has the sovereign right to show His mercy to whom He will and to show His compassion to whom He will. God is not compelled in any way to do this, or it would not be mercy, nor would it be compassion. This does not mean that we cannot appeal to it, because we can. The Scripture gives many examples.

The Pharisee and the tax collector is one such example. The Pharisee, who highly regarded himself, was moral, did not steal, was not an adulterer, he tried to obey the law, fasted twice a week, and tithed all he had. But he was not moral enough to please God, and he had no sense of needing God’s mercy. As a result, his prayer was not heard, and he was not justified.

The tax collector knew he was a sinner. He did not try to remind God of his “ethical attainments.” He stood at a distance, beat upon his breast, and not even looking up to heaven, cried out, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13). Jesus said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:14).

Mercy is God’s unique prerogative. But as Boice says, (and I cannot resolve this in my own feeble mind, but believe it with all my heart, because it’s taught in Scripture) “But I will tell you who those are upon whom God has set His mercy. They are those who appeal to Him on the basis of it. And I will tell you who those are who are elect. They are those who turn from their own self-sufficiency and trust Jesus. How else can anyone know who God’s elect are? In what way other than by faith are the children of God made known?”

4. We can proclaim God’s mercy to others. God is sovereign, and He passes by (reprobation) those He has not chosen for salvation. He has mercy on whom He wills to have mercy, and He has compassion on whom He wills to have compassion. But there is nothing in the Bible that hinders, indeed the Bible commands that we preach, teach, and testify that “His very name is Mercy.” And because His name is Mercy, if you will come to Him, believing on Jesus Christ, then you will find mercy.

The hymn writer says it well:

Come, every soul by sin oppressed,
There’s mercy with the Lord,
And He will surely give you rest,
By trusting in His Word.
Only trust Him, only trust Him,
Only trust Him now.
He will save you, He will save you,
He will save you now.

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

Got a little hasty and double posted this, have a good day, and God bless,

Dan Todd

 

July 17

Romans 9:16, “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

Salvation is of the Lord. That statement says that salvation is not of man, but of God. It is God Who shows mercy, as our text says.

This text also says a great deal about our modern methods of evangelism. Many preachers, teachers, witnesses, etc. have a formula they use, or try to evoke a feeling. “Give your heart to Jesus,” “Pray the sinner’s prayer,” “Hold up your hand and come forward,” “Fill out this card,” etc. all represent something we must do. Boice says , “The feeling is something we try to work up in evangelistic services by certain kinds of music, moving stories, and emotional appeals.”

There is no doubt that God has sometimes used these methods, or that He sometimes works through feelings. Boice says, “The problem with these ways of doing evangelism is not that God has not occasionally been gracious enough to use them, but that they distort the truth about salvation by making it something we do or to which we can contribute and thus, to that degree, detract from the glory of God.” In addition, these approaches contradict our text, which says that salvation “is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

There is a negative and a positive teaching in this text, today we will look at the negative. We are told that salvation “is not of him that willeth (desire), nor of him that runneth (effort).” Desire and effort are all inclusive, they include everything a human may be capable of. This negative removes everything, and reduces everyone to the position of being saved by the mercy of God, or not being saved. Desire concerns volition, effort refers to active exertion. These terms deny that we are saved by “seeking God,” “wanting to be saved,” “choosing Jesus,” “surrendering our lives to Jesus,” “taking Jesus into our hearts,” or doing anything else of which we may think ourselves to be capable. Yes, there is a faith to be exercised, a choice to be made, a life to be surrendered, and seeking to be done, but those are the result of God’s working in us according to His mercy, and not the conditions on which He does.

Robert Haldane wrote, “It is true, indeed, that believers both will and run, but this is the effect, not the cause, of the grace of God being vouchsafed to them.”

Somewhere, someone is about to quote John 1:12 to me as an argument, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” “See, I told you we had to believe, we had to receive, to be saved!” My friends, the answer to this argument is found in John 1:13, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Boice writes, “That fixes the sequence rightly, just as Paul has expressed it in Romans 8 and Ephesians 1-2 ... first, election; then, rebirth; third, faith accompanied by repentance; and lastly adoption into the family of God along with other benefits.” John 1:12-13 teach that “it does not ... depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Romans 9:16).

Others will quote Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Their argument is that this verse teaches that we give our hearts to Jesus and then confess Him as Lord to be saved. Jesus said, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). The critical question is: What kind of a heart is it that confesses, “Jesus is Lord”? It is the new heart, given to us by God, not the old Adamic heart, which is enmity against God. The Bible teaches that the Adamic heart is corrupt. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Ezekiel called it a “stony heart” (11:19). Boice asks, “Can a stony heart repent of its sin and come to God? Can a heart as wicked as this “choose” Jesus? Impossible! We can no more change our hearts than a leopard can change its spots.”

Therefore, if we are to repent and believe the gospel, we must be given a new heart. “An heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19) is Ezekiel’s term for it. This heart is given to us by the new birth. It is this heart only that believes on Jesus.

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 18

Romans 9:16, “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

The positive teaching of this verse is that salvation is entirely of God. Remember that God said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Romans 9:15).

Jonah is an excellent illustration that salvation does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but solely on God’s mercy. The entire account of Jonah is an account of God’s mercy: mercy to the sailors; mercy to Nineveh’s inhabitants; and mercy to Jonah. But what of man’s desire and effort in the account of Jonah? Jonah did not desire God’s will, he certainly did not strive to do God’s will, in fact, Jonah did just exactly the opposite of what God wanted done.

God told Jonah, “Go to Nineveh, and preach against it.” What did Jonah do? He ran in the opposite direction, probably towards the far coast of Spain, beyond the Rock of Gibraltar. God told Jonah, “Go east,” Jonah went west.

Why did Jonah disobey God? Let’s let Jonah tell us in his own words, “O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” (Jonah 4:2). Jonah did not want God to be merciful to the Ninevites, because they were the enemies of his people. But we must be warned from Jonah, no one can successfully run away from God. Though Jonah went west instead of east, God intervened, and brought him back, for the God of creation caused a great storm to stop Jonah in his tracks.

Now the sailors come into the account, for the judgment of Jonah affected them also, and soon they were in as much danger of drowning from the storm as Jonah was. These pagan sailors had enough spiritual perception to understand that the storm was supernaturally fierce, and they reasoned that some powerful god was angry with at least one of them. Jonah drew the short straw, providentially so.

I heard it said, “That I don’t have to be hit upside the head to get my attention.” Unfortunately Jonah and most of us do “have to be hit upside the head to get our attention.” Jonah understood that God had found him, and he also understood that great truth found in Numbers 32:23, “be sure your sin will find you out.”

You know the account, Jonah went for a swim. Boice says that Jonah did not know that God had prepared a great fish for him, so his asking to thrown overboard meant he was willing to drown, which is to say, “I would rather die than submit to God’s will.” That is what Ezekiel means when he wrote about that “heart of stone.” That’s what it means to have a hard heart.

Was Jonah a genuine believer when the great fish swallowed him? There are some who say, “No.” If Jonah was a believer, he was an example of how stubbornly disobedient some Christians are with God. If he was not saved, he got saved in the belly of that fish.

What did Jonah do in the belly of the fish? He prayed, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” (Jonah 2:2). God had not abandoned Jonah, but Jonah thought He had, and Jonah’s despair was the first step in his conversion.

Jonah’s prayer had four characteristics of all true prayer, and these have a bearing on the question of correct biblical evangelism:

1. He was honest, his disobedience had gotten him into a mess, and he acknowledged it. Boice writes, “Before we get to this point, when God is working in our lives, we tend to explain away the hard hand of God’s judgments. We tell ourselves that we are only having a temporary setback, that things will get better, that they are not as bad as they seem.” Jonah finally admitted that his misfortune was caused by God, “I am cast out of thy sight” (Jonah 2:4).

That acknowledgment increased his terror, Jonah was not fighting the sailors or bad circumstances, he was fighting God. This is terror beyond words. But as Boice says, “God is merciful, and it is always better to fall into the hand of God, even the angry God, than of men.”

2. Jonah repented. He acknowledged that what had happened to him, while caused by God, was his own fault. Jonah asked nothing from God. How often do we, or those about us, barter with God to try to get His mercy. Repentance is not a good work, just as faith is not a good work. Salvation does not come that way. Jonah knew that all he deserved was damnation, and he was willing to wait upon the mercy of God, if it should come, without demanding anything.

3. Jonah was thankful. Thankful from the belly of the fish! Thankful, though he was but a short time from death! What could Jonah be thankful about? In physical terms, nothing. In spiritual terms, Jonah had found the grace of God, “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving;” (Jonah 2:9).

4. Jonah was willing to take his position alongside the ungodly, all of whom need salvation by the mercy of God only. The final portion of Jonah’s prayer was, “I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” (Jonah 2:9). The mariners offered a sacrifice (Jonah), when they saw and understood the power and holiness of Jonah’s God, “Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.” (Jonah 1:16). In Jonah 2, Jonah takes his place alongside the heathen, and offers his sacrifice.

Earlier Jonah had said he did not want to preach to the pagans, after all, he was a Jew, and he wanted God to judge the pagans. Now, Jonah had discovered that he deserved God’s judgment as much as the pagans did, and he was willing to come to God seeking mercy.

There are two things we can learn from Jonah:

1. Salvation is by the mercy of God and is without conditions.

2. What Jonah teaches us about the proper way to do evangelism. Evangelism is the teach the Word of God, not just a few favorite evangelistic portions of it, but all of it. Gordon Clark expresses it by saying, “Evangelism is the exposition of the Scripture. God will do the regenerating.”

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 21

Romans 9:17-18, “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew 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.”

What is the ultimate goal of evangelization?

Boice’s definition of evangelism is: “the proclamation of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that those who hear might respond in faith, join with God’s other children in the fellowship of the church, and continue growing in Christ as His disciples.”

But is that the ultimate goal of evangelism? Is it merely to get people saved? The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” It answers, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” Taking off of that statement, we can say that the ultimate goal of evangelism (and everything else we do) is to glorify God.

In evangelism, God is glorified two ways: (1) The grace and mercy of God are glorified in the saving of those who will be saved, and (2) The justice and power of God are glorified in the case of those who are not saved, but are instead judged for their sins. Today’s text teaches us that the power of God is made known in His judgments, just as His mercy is made known in saving those to whom He wills to show mercy.

Before we look at the text, we are going to look at the first phrase of the text, and discover why Paul wrote, “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh.” Boice writes, “This is particularly unusual because the Scriptures did not even exist at that time. Why did Paul write, ‘For the scripture saith...?’”

Boice quotes “The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible” by Benjamin B. Warfield, former Princeton Theological Seminary Professor of Theology (died 1921). The book contains ten classic studies on the Bible’s nature and authority, and one of them is on the phrase “Scripture says.” The chapter is entitled, “Its says: Scripture says: God says.” Warfield looked at a number of Bible passages in which, on the one hand, the Scriptures are spoken of as if they are God and, on the other hand, God is spoken of as if He is the Scriptures. Warfield writes:

“Examples of the first class of passages are such as these: Galatians 3:8, ‘The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed’ (Genesis 12:1-3); Romans 9:17, ‘The Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up’ (Exodus 9:16). It was not, however, the Scripture (which did not exist at the time) that, foreseeing God’s purposes of grace in the future, spoke these precious words to Abraham, but God Himself in His own person. It was not the not yet existent Scripture that made this announcement to Pharaoh, but God Himself through the mouth of His prophet Moses. These acts could be attributed to ‘Scripture’ only as the result of such a habitual identification, in the mind of the writer, of the text of Scripture with God as speaking, that it became natural to use the term ‘Scripture says,’ when what was really intended was ‘God, as recorded in Scripture, said.’”

“Examples of the other class of passages are such as these: Matthew 19:4-5, ‘And he answered and said, Have ye not read that he which made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the twain shall become on flesh?’ (Genesis 2:24); Hebrews 3:7, ‘Wherefore, even as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye shall hear his voice,’ etc. (Psalms 95:7) ....It is not God, however, in whose mouth these sayings are placed in the text of Scripture as spoken to or of God. They could be attributed to God only through such habitual identification, in the minds of the writers, of the text of Scripture with the utterances of God that it had become natural to use the term ‘God says’ when what was really intended was ‘Scripture, the Word of God, says.’”

“The two sets of passages, together, thus show an absolute identification, in the minds of these writers, of ‘Scripture’ with the speaking God.”

Warfield’s purpose in writing the book was to counter modern attempts to lower the authority of Scripture, such attempts that try to make Scripture a mere word of man about God rather than God’s inerrant word to man. Paul’s use of “For the scripture saith” is Paul’s way of calling attention to the authority of Scripture on the point he is making.

Robert Haldane writes, “By the manner in which the apostle begins this verse, we are taught that whatever the Scriptures declare on any subject is to be considered decisive on the point.” As I close today’s devotional, my point is that the things Paul writes in Romans 9 is God’s Word, these words are authoritative, even though they are hard for many people to understand and accept.

2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd