Drew
Member
The purpose of this post (post 1 of a series of 2) is to analyze the text of Romans 9 and contrast two competing views about what Paul is talking about in respect to Jacob and Esau in verses 11 through 13:. Here are the 2 views as I can best characterize them:
V1: Paul is asserting that Jacob has been elected to heaven while Esau has been elected to ultimate loss.
V2: Paul is only asserting that Jacob and Esau have been elected to membership in different “groups†and what this election is “to†is given by the explanation that one group is elected to serve the other.
Posters will not be surprised to know that I believe that V2 is the correct way to see the material about Jacob and Esau.
I plan to parse the text and insert relevant comments.
I speak the truth in Christâ€â€I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised![a] Amen.
[Comment: I suggest that is beyond dispute that Paul here is focusing on the people of national Israel – the set of people reasonably understood to be Jew by “ethnicity†or race.]
6It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
[Comment: Paul is now suggesting that there is “another†Israel that is the true family of God, membership in which is not determined by birth – hence the denial in verse 9 that “natural†children are God’s children and the denial of family membership in virtue of being “descendents†in verse 7. While it may be true that there are overlaps between “national Israel†(the actual descendents of Abraham) and “true Israel, Paul makes it clear that there are indeed two such groups.
At this point it is important to avoid the mistake of thinking that Paul is saying that membership in true Israel is still determined “by birthâ€Â. One might be inclined to think that Paul is saying something like “It is not the all the genetic children of Abraham who are true members of God’s family, it is only Isaac’s genetic branch – and then within Isaac’s genetic branch, the genetic selectivity continues at the next generation with a distinction drawn between Jacob’s genetic branch and Esau’s genetic branch. And so on.
That kind of reading, while perhaps lending support to V1 since it suggests a kind of destiny one is born into, does not really mesh well with what Paul says here in Romans 9, and elsewhere in Romans. Note that here in Romans 9 Paul denies any sense in which birth is a determining factor of membership in God’s family when he argues that it is not by being a “natural†child (or descendent) that one becomes a member of the family of God. And this point is more strongly made in Romans 4 where Paul argues that Gentiles are included in Abraham’s true family – so clearly a genetic connection to any sub-set of national Israel is not the key. Plus, in both Romans 4 and here in verse 9, it is being the recipient of a promise that is the stated criteria for membership in Abraham’s true family.
Now to be fair, the notion of “the promise†does not rule out the possibility of election of specific individuals to membership in Abraham’s family – perhaps God only makes this promise to a pre-destined set of specific individuals. But neither does the notion of the promise endorse such a view. This is because, as per an argument set forth elsewhere, it is indeed entirely coherent for Paul to speak of a family receiving a promise without the members of that family being named. As per that other argument, God can “promise†that there will be team called the New York Yankees, who will take to the field on April 6, 2017 and yet not pre-destine any specific persons to be on that team.
And again to be fair to those who think “eternal destiny†is in view, this is indeed true to an extent. By introducing the very notion of the “true family of Godâ€Â, Paul is indeed hinting at issues of who will be justified and raised to glory. And later in the chapter (verse 23 where he refers to vessels fitted for glory) he makes this explicit. But two points need to be emphasized here. First, as per the preceding paragraph, we have no firm grouds to conclude that God pre-destines the specific members of that group. Second, to this point in the argument Paul is clearly speaking at the level of groups. Although Paul “names namesâ€Â, his rhetorical purpose here is clearly about groups – national Israel and true Israel.
So now we get to the stuff about Jacob and Esau:]
V1: Paul is asserting that Jacob has been elected to heaven while Esau has been elected to ultimate loss.
V2: Paul is only asserting that Jacob and Esau have been elected to membership in different “groups†and what this election is “to†is given by the explanation that one group is elected to serve the other.
Posters will not be surprised to know that I believe that V2 is the correct way to see the material about Jacob and Esau.
I plan to parse the text and insert relevant comments.
I speak the truth in Christâ€â€I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised![a] Amen.
[Comment: I suggest that is beyond dispute that Paul here is focusing on the people of national Israel – the set of people reasonably understood to be Jew by “ethnicity†or race.]
6It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
[Comment: Paul is now suggesting that there is “another†Israel that is the true family of God, membership in which is not determined by birth – hence the denial in verse 9 that “natural†children are God’s children and the denial of family membership in virtue of being “descendents†in verse 7. While it may be true that there are overlaps between “national Israel†(the actual descendents of Abraham) and “true Israel, Paul makes it clear that there are indeed two such groups.
At this point it is important to avoid the mistake of thinking that Paul is saying that membership in true Israel is still determined “by birthâ€Â. One might be inclined to think that Paul is saying something like “It is not the all the genetic children of Abraham who are true members of God’s family, it is only Isaac’s genetic branch – and then within Isaac’s genetic branch, the genetic selectivity continues at the next generation with a distinction drawn between Jacob’s genetic branch and Esau’s genetic branch. And so on.
That kind of reading, while perhaps lending support to V1 since it suggests a kind of destiny one is born into, does not really mesh well with what Paul says here in Romans 9, and elsewhere in Romans. Note that here in Romans 9 Paul denies any sense in which birth is a determining factor of membership in God’s family when he argues that it is not by being a “natural†child (or descendent) that one becomes a member of the family of God. And this point is more strongly made in Romans 4 where Paul argues that Gentiles are included in Abraham’s true family – so clearly a genetic connection to any sub-set of national Israel is not the key. Plus, in both Romans 4 and here in verse 9, it is being the recipient of a promise that is the stated criteria for membership in Abraham’s true family.
Now to be fair, the notion of “the promise†does not rule out the possibility of election of specific individuals to membership in Abraham’s family – perhaps God only makes this promise to a pre-destined set of specific individuals. But neither does the notion of the promise endorse such a view. This is because, as per an argument set forth elsewhere, it is indeed entirely coherent for Paul to speak of a family receiving a promise without the members of that family being named. As per that other argument, God can “promise†that there will be team called the New York Yankees, who will take to the field on April 6, 2017 and yet not pre-destine any specific persons to be on that team.
And again to be fair to those who think “eternal destiny†is in view, this is indeed true to an extent. By introducing the very notion of the “true family of Godâ€Â, Paul is indeed hinting at issues of who will be justified and raised to glory. And later in the chapter (verse 23 where he refers to vessels fitted for glory) he makes this explicit. But two points need to be emphasized here. First, as per the preceding paragraph, we have no firm grouds to conclude that God pre-destines the specific members of that group. Second, to this point in the argument Paul is clearly speaking at the level of groups. Although Paul “names namesâ€Â, his rhetorical purpose here is clearly about groups – national Israel and true Israel.
So now we get to the stuff about Jacob and Esau:]