Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday March 22, 2009

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 9:17-Paul Cites Exodus 9:16 To Illustrate That God Is Never Unfair For Rejecting Unregenerate Israel And Ishmael And Esau

Lesson # 310

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.

This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter nine by noting Romans 9:17 and in this passage, Paul cites God’s confrontation with Pharaoh of Egypt to illustrate further his statement in Romans 9:14 that God is never unfair.

In Romans 9:15-16, Paul views God’s sovereignty and righteousness from the positive side in that He has every right to accept those into His family who exercise faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

In Romans 9:17, he views God’s sovereignty and righteousness from the negative side to further illustrate why God is never unfair for rejecting those in Paul’s day who rejected Jesus Christ as Savior as well for rejecting Ishmael and Esau.

Let’s read Romans 9:1-18 and then concentrate on verse 17 for the rest of the evening.

Romans 9:1-18, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.

Amen.

But it is not as though the word of God has failed.

For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’

That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’

And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’

Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’

What shall we say then?

There is no injustice with God, is there?

May it never be!

For He says to Moses, ‘I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.’

So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’

So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”

Let’s now concentrate on verse 17.

Romans 9:17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’”

This passage advances upon Paul’s statements in Romans 9:14-16 and intensifies them.

As we noted in Romans 9:14, Paul emphatically declares that there is never any unrighteousness with respect to God’s judgment in rejecting unregenerate Israel in his day and accepting those Jews who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

Also, in this passage he indicates that there is never any unrighteousness in God’s judgment with respect to His dealings in the past when He chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau to be members of His covenant people, which is uses in Romans 9:7-13 to illustrate his premise in Romans 9:6 that not all racial Israel is spiritual Israel.

In Romans 9:15, Paul supports this argument by presenting the basis for his statement in Romans 9:14 that God is never unfair.

His reasoning is that God is sovereign and can be merciful and compassionate to whomever He desires.

In Paul’s day, God rejected unsaved Israel and accepted those Jews who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ “because” He is sovereign to do so.

Then, in Romans 9:16, Paul teaches that experiencing God’s grace and mercy and thus eternal salvation is never dependent upon human desire or effort but rather it is based upon God’s grace policy.

So in Romans 9:15-16, Paul views God’s sovereignty and righteousness from the positive side in that He has every right to accept those into His family who exercise faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Now, in Romans 9:17, he views God’s sovereignty and righteousness from the negative side to further illustrate why God is never unfair for rejecting those in Paul’s day who rejected Jesus Christ as Savior as well for rejecting Ishmael and Esau.

In fact Romans 9:17-18 parallels Romans 9:15-16.

The emphasis in these verses is to demonstrate that God is not unrighteousness in His dealings with Israel in Paul’s day or with Ishmael and Esau since Paul is answering further the rhetorical question in Romans 9:14.

Paul uses God’s sovereignty, grace and mercy to demonstrate this principle.

So in Romans 9:17, Paul cites Exodus 9:16, which records God’s confrontation with the unregenerate Pharaoh of Egypt to illustrate further his statements in Romans 9:14-17 that God is never unfair.

This is substantiated by Paul’s statement in Romans 9:18 that God exercises grace to whomever He chooses to extend grace to and hardens whomever He chooses to harden as a result of their unbelief.

Consequently, Romans 9:17-18 present the second reason as to why God is never unjust.

Romans 9:17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’”

“The Scripture” refers to Exodus 9:16, which Paul uses to validate his teaching that God is never unjust in rejecting those who reject His Son.

He is utilizing the “sword of the Spirit” by employing Exodus 9:16 to support his teaching that God is never unjust in His dealings with the human race.

Ephesians 6:17, “Also, I solemnly charge all of you to take hold of your helmet, which is your salvation as well as your sword that originates from the Spirit, which is, as an eternal spiritual truth, God’s Word.”

Paul introduces the quotation from Exodus 9:16 with the statement that the “Scripture says” rather than “God said” simply because is quoting the Old Testament.

“To Pharaoh” refers to Amenhotep II of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.

The statement, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH” is a quotation from Exodus 9:16.

This passage records the Lord’s instructions to Moses about what he is to say to Pharaoh when He sends Moses and Aaron to appear a sixth time before Pharaoh to demand the release of the people of Israel from the slavery of Egypt.

Exodus 9:16, “But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.”

Romans 9:17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’”

“I RAISED YOU UP” is composed of the first person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb exegeiro (e)cegeivrw) (ex-eg-i-ro), “I RAISED UP” and the accusative second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (suv) (soo), “YOU.”

In Romans 9:17, the verb exegeiro is used with God as the subject as indicated by the text of Exodus 9:16 and the first person singular form of the verb.

It is used with Pharaoh as the object as indicated by the verb’s direct object, the personal pronoun su, “YOU.”

The verb means “to raise up” in the sense of causing Pharaoh to ascend to power over Egypt.

The word emphasizes the sovereignty of God over the nations and over human history.

Romans 9:17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’”

“DEMONSTRATE” is the first person singular aorist middle subjunctive form of the verb endeiknumi (e)ndeivknumi) (en-dike-noo-mee), which is composed of the preposition en, “in” and the verb deíknumi, “to show,” thus the world literally means, “to demonstrate or manifest something by arguments or acts, to give outward proof of something that is inherent.”

Therefore, Paul is saying that God caused Amenhotep II to ascend to power as the Pharaoh of Egypt in order to “demonstrate” or “manifest” His omnipotence through Pharaoh’s disobedience to His commands to release the nation of Israel from their bondage in Egypt.

“MY POWER” refers to God’s omnipotence from the perspective of His judgment of Pharaoh as well as from the perspective of His power to save since the manifestation of His power through Pharaoh’s disobedience was designed to evangelize the entire world.

Romans 9:17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’”

“IN YOU” indicates that the Pharaoh of Egypt, Amenhotep II was the agent that God used to demonstrate His omnipotence so that His person would be declared throughout the entire world for evangelization.

God demonstrated His power through Pharaoh by means of the ten plagues and the destruction of him and his army in the Red Sea.

Romans 9:17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’”

“MY NAME” has a four-fold sense: (1) It signifies the “personality” of God distinguishing Him from the heathen gods.

(2) It signifies the “character” of God representing who He is.

(3) It signifies God’s “work” in creation and for the salvation of men.

(4) It signifies the “reputation” of God before men.

“MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED” is the third person singular aorist passive subjunctive of the verb diangello (diaggevllw) (de-ang-gel-lo), which is a compound word composed of the preposition dia, “through” and the verb angello, “to proclaim,” thus the word literally means “to proclaim publicly everywhere.”

“THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH” indicates that the Gentiles throughout the earth in the days of the Exodus generation were evangelized through the demonstration of the Lord’s power through Pharaoh’s disobedience to the Lord’s command to release Israel from her bondage in his country.

Here in Romans 9:17, Paul cites Exodus 9:16, which records God’s confrontation with the unregenerate Pharaoh of Egypt to illustrate further his statements in Romans 9:14-17 that God is never unfair.

Paul wants his readers to see the relationship that exists between God’s dealings with Pharaoh and His dealings with unregenerate Israel in his day.

In the same way that God was glorified among the Gentiles through Pharaoh’s disobedience in the past so in the same way in Paul’s day God was being glorified among the Gentiles through the nation of Israel’s disobedience to his gospel.