SINCE; God Damns NO man EXCEPT FOR SIN, THEN, GOD HAS Decreed to Damn NO man EXCEPT FOR SIN.

Just as soon as this Act of God's Decree to Damn some sinful men
FOUND THOSE INDIVIDUAL LOST SOULS LOST IN THEIR SINS

(that this Decree Determines Negatively,
where By NO ACTION TAKEN ON GOD'S PART
some are LEFT WHERE they WERE 'FOUND' IN THEIR SINS,
who would be Passed Over,

since, God's Decree left them RIGHT THERE WHERE IT FOUND THEM,
THEY REMAINED LOST IN THEIR SINS, AND WHEN GOD LEFT THEM THERE,
THEY WERE NO DIFFERENT THAN WHEN THEY WERE FOUND.

GOD SIMPLY LEFT THEM ALONE TO DO WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THEIR OWNS EYES.

This Act of God's Decree to Damn some sinful men
puts nothing into them, NEW, nor DID this Act of
God's Decree to Damn some sinful men place Evil in them,
nor DID this Act of God's Decree to Damn some sinful men
appoint THEM TOWARD any kind of Evil;

man, notwithstanding this Act,
came into the world an upright creature,
and AND THEN became sinful,
NOT by virtue of this Act, but by their own inventions:

• Romans 9 Bible Commentary

1. Bible > Bible Commentary
2. John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible
3. Romans
4. Romans 9

John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible
<< Romans 8 | Romans 9 | Romans 10 >>
(Read all of Romans 9)

"SINCE; God Damns NO man EXCEPT FOR SIN,
THEN, GOD HAS Decreed to Damn NO man EXCEPT FOR SIN."

"The Apostle having Discoursed of Justification and Sanctification,
and of the Privileges of Justified and Sanctified ones, proceeds to treat of Predestination,
the Source and Spring of all the Blessings of Grace;
and to observe how this Distinguishing Act of God's Sovereign Will has taken place,
both among Jews and Gentiles;

"in treating of which, he knew he should go contrary
to the sense of his countrymen the Jews, who have a notion
that all Israel shall have a part in, or inherit the world to come,...
to which he answers by distinguishing between Israel and Israel,

or the Elect of God among them, and those that were not;
wherefore though the latter were Rejected according to the Purpose of God,
the Promise and preaching of the Word
had their effect in the former, Romans 9:6,
and that there was such a distinction, he proves from the two sons of Abraham,
Isaac and Ishmael, who were both Abraham's seed;

"yet one was a child of promise, and the other a child of the flesh,
and were emblematical of the children of the promise,
and the children of the flesh among that people;

"Romans 9:7, and further confirms this by the instance of Jacob and Esau,
who were born of the same parents, and were twins;
and yet one was in the Favour of God, and the other not;

and that this was owing not to works,
but to the Sovereign Will of God in Election,
he proves by observing that this was
before good or evil were done by either of them,
Romans 9:11,

and that this was notified to Rebekah before, Romans 9:12,
as appears from a passage in Genesis 25:23,
and by another passage in Malachi 1:2, which is cited, Romans 9:13,
then an objection is started,
Romans 9:14, that if 'God' Loves one, and Hates another,
both being in equal circumstances,
as Jacob and Esau were, " 'God' must be guilty of Unrighteousness";

Verse 14; "What shall we say then?...."
A form of expression the apostle frequently uses,
when he is about to introduce an Objection, as is what follows:

"is there unrighteousness with God?"
This is not an Objection of his own,
but of an adversary, which he takes up and returns an answer to;
and which itself greatly serves to settle and confirm the true sense
and meaning of the Apostle in this place; as that it could not be,
that Election and Rejection of men should proceed according to their merits;

"or that God chooses some for their good works,
and rejects others for their wicked works,
because no man could ever
pretend to 'Charge' God with Unrighteousness on this account;

nor could it be that God Chose and Rejected men,
upon a Foresight of their good and evil works,
for this also would not be liable to such an Objection;

for this likewise would not be Chargeable with Unrighteousness by men;
but that two persons, as Jacob and Esau,
and the same may be said of all mankind,
being upon an equal foot, not being yet born,
nor having done either good or evil,
an inequality, a difference is made between them, by God Himself;

the one is Chosen, the other Passed by:
now in this is some show, some pretense at least, for such an Objection;

nor is it any wonder to meet with it from the carnal reason of men;
wherefore we may be sure that the latter, and not either of the former,
is the true sense of the Apostle; since only this, and not either of them,
is liable to such an exception: let us attend to the Apostle's answer,
which is "first" in his usual manner, by way of Detestation and Abhorrence,

"God forbid": God is not Unrighteous in His Nature;
nor in any of His Ways and Works;
nor in this, in Choosing some and Rejecting others.

See: "There is NO Unrighteousness with God
in that part of Predestination, commonly called Election;"
in the following post;

 

"There is NO Unrighteousness with God in that part of Predestination,
commonly called Election;

"for this is neither an Act of Justice, nor Injustice;
not of Justice, but of Grace and Mercy;
of Undue and Undeserved Grace and Mercy,
of mere Sovereign Grace and Mercy;
and is what God was not Obliged to Do;

"wherefore FOR GOD to Choose some and not others, is no Act of Injustice;
because injustice is a Violation of Justice, which has no place in this affair:

"if it is an Act of Injustice,
it must be either an Act of Injustice,
to them that are Chosen or to them that are NOT;

However, it can not to be concerning them that are Chosen,
to them it is an Act of Favor and Goodwill,
they are Chosen to Undue and Undeserved Grace, Glory, and Mercy,
by this Sovereign Act of God's Grace and Mercy, FROM ETERNITY PAST,
to Holiness here, and Happiness Hereafter, FOR ALL 'TIME' AND ETERNITY;


NOT to them that are Passed By,
because they had NO Right nor Claim to the Grace and Glory,
which by this Act OF HAVING BEEN CHOSEN BY GOD is denied them,
and therefore NO Injustice is done them.

"Every prince may choose his own ministers and favourites,
and who he will have of his privy council, without doing any injustice,
to those he takes no notice of;

"every man may choose his own company who he will communicate with,
without doing any wrong to such he does not think fit
to admit into his circle of most intimate confidantes,
with whom could converse comfortably;

"and yet men are not willing to allow the Most High that SAME LIBERTY,
which every man daily takes, and may lawfully make use of:

"nor is there any Unrighteousness with God
in the other Branch of Predestination, commonly called Reprobation,
which is either Negative or Positive;

"Negative Reprobation is the Act of Preterition,
or God's Passing by, Leaving, Taking NO Notice of some,
while He Chose others:

"Now the Objects of this Act are to be considered...
in the pure, or in the corrupt mass;

From among all men during their State in the Pure Mass,
i.e. in their State of Creatureship,
which seems to be the Apostle's meaning,
as being not yet Created, made, or born,
and having done neither good nor evil; NO Injustice is done by this Act,

because just as soon as this Act of God's Decree to Damn some sinful men
FOUND THOSE INDIVIDUAL LOST SOULS LOST IN THEIR SINS
(that this Decree Ensures that there will be some left who are then Passed Over),
since, God's Decree left them RIGHT THERE WHERE GOD FOUND THEM,
LOST IN THEIR SINS, AND WHEN GOD LEFT THEM THERE,
THEY WERE NO DIFFERENT THAN WHEN THEY WERE FIRST FOUND, BY GOD.

This Act of God's Decree to Damn some sinful men
puts nothing into them, NEW,

nor DID this Act of God's Decree to Damn some sinful men
place Evil in them,

nor DID this Act of God's Decree to Damn some sinful men
appoint any kind of Evil ONTO THOSE SOULS;

man, notwithstanding this Act,
came into the world an upright creature,
and AND THEN became sinful,
NOT by virtue of this Act, but by their own inventions:

...since God was NOT AND NEVER WILL BE Obliged
to save any of the sinful race of men,
SINCE WITHIN EVERY ONE OF whose destruction was of themselves,
it could be NO Injustice to Pass By ALL OF THEM,
MUCH LESS, SOME OF THEM in THEIR LOST CONDITION,
when GOD DOES Choose others
AND SAVES THEM OUT OF THEIR LOST CONDITION;

"Because if it would have been NO Injustice
to have condemned all,
as He did the Angels that sinned, whom He Spared NOT,
it can be NO Act of Injustice in Him,
to leave some of them in that condition,
which sin had brought them into, whilst He has Mercy on others;

unless to have Mercy on any, can be thought to be an Act of Injustice:
what Unrighteousness can there be in this Divine Procedure,
any more than in drowning the world of the ungodly,
whilst Noah and his family were saved in the Ark?

or in raining showers of Fire and Brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrha,
and the Cities of the Plain,

"whilst Lot, his wife, and two daughters, were delivered from the same?

"Positive Reprobation is the (NEGATIVE)-Decree,
or Appointment to Damnation:

"Now SINCE; God Damns NO man EXCEPT FOR SIN,
THEN, GOD HAS Decreed to Damn NO man EXCEPT FOR SIN."

"and if it is NO Unrighteousness
in Him to Damn men for sin,
as to be sure it is NOT,

so it can be NO Unrighteousness in Him
to Decree to Damn any for sin:

"upon the whole it appears, that whatever show, upon first sight,
there may be for 'a Charge of Unrighteousness'
against such a Procedure of the Divine Being, there is NO Real Foundation for it.

That Objection is to be Treated with Abhorrence and Indignation.