God's Sovereign Choice (Romans 9: 14–29)

Episode Notes: 

Main Theme:

• God’s sovereign choice is taught clearly in Scripture.
• Common objections arise — both about God's fairness and human free will.

Key Objections Addressed:

1. Is God unjust?
   • Paul’s emphatic answer: Certainly not! (v.14)
   • God’s mercy is a sovereign gift, not a human right.
2. What about human free will?
   • Paul reminds us: We are creatures, not the Creator. (v.20)
   • Like clay in a potter’s hands — God has authority over His creation.

Biblical Examples:

• Moses (Exodus 33:19):
  • God's mercy is given according to His will, not human effort.
• Pharaoh (Exodus 9:16):
  • Pharaoh hardened his own heart, then God judicially confirmed it.
  • Through Pharaoh’s resistance, God's power and name were proclaimed.

Key Doctrinal Points:

• Salvation depends on God’s mercy (v.16), not human will or striving.
• God has the right to both show mercy and harden hearts (v.18).
• God's sovereignty and human responsibility coexist, even if mysterious.

Supporting Scriptures:

• Ephesians 1:
  • “Good pleasure of His will” (v.5)
  • “Mystery of His will” (v.9)
  • “Counsel of His will” (v.11)

Reflection:

• Wrestling with the doctrine of election is normal.
• A pivotal moment: acceptance of God's sovereign choice while reading Acts 13:48 — "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed."
• Deciding to let Scripture speak for itself and trust God's wisdom.

Conclusion:

• God’s sovereignty is not injustice—it is righteousness.
• Even when His ways are mysterious, God's will is rooted in wisdom, justice, and love.

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• 11:17 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 12:05 (Cont.) God's Sovereign Choice (Romans 9: 14–29)

Transcript

God's Sovereign Choice (Romans 9:14–29)

Transcript: 

Today we’re tackling a difficult and sometimes controversial truth: The fact that the Bible teaches that God sovereignly chooses some to be saved and that whenever this doctrine is taught clearly, objections arise—many of them passionate, because some are led to ask, does that mean God chooses some people to not be saved .

These objections usually fall into two broad categories: one focuses on God, and the other on human responsibility.

On the Godward side, people say: Isn’t this unfair? Doesn’t this make God unjust? And if God chooses who will be saved, then why should we pray or preach the gospel? Isn't it all predetermined?

On the Human side, people ask: Do we even have free will then? If God elects some, are we just sort of robots without real choices?

Paul actually addresses both types of objections head-on in Romans chapter 9….

In the opening of today’s passage Paul asks: “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?” His answer is immediate and emphatic: “Certainly not!” He points to what God told Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and compassion on whom I have compassion.”

In other words, mercy is never something we can demand from God. It is always a gift, freely given by His sovereign will.

Paul then does what he has being doing all along in the letter to the Roman, he brings up an Old Testament characters to justify his argument. This time he brings up Moses and Pharaoh as examples. And he says: God says, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you.” And the conclusion he offers is this: “He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.”

At this point, Paul doesn’t offer a philosophical explanation. He reminds us of something deeper: Who are we to question God or answer back to him? Can the thing created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” Doesn’t the potter have the right to shape the clay as he wishes?

This isn't meant to dismiss our questions, but it does reorient them. God is not unjust simply because He is not like us. His justice is perfect. His mercy is freely given. And none of us deserves the salvation he has given us.

So, why does God save some and not all? Paul doesn’t explain why God chooses as He does—he only explains that God chooses. And that His choice is always righteous.

That’s the framework we’re working with in Romans 9. In our next segment, we’ll press further into how God’s sovereignty works alongside human responsibility, and how both can be true without contradiction….

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? 22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

(Romans 9: 14-29)

In the last episode, we heard the first great objection: If God chooses whom He will save, is He unfair?

Today, Paul’s is strong and clear: “Certainly not!” Or as the old King James puts it, “God forbid!” The idea that God could be unrighteous is unthinkable to Paul.

But how does he support that response?

In verses 15 through 18, again turns to two Old Testament character and quotations, about them. One about Moses, the other about Pharaoh—and he draws a conclusion from each. So, let’s walk through them.

First, in verse 15, Paul quotes God’s words to Moses:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

That’s from Exodus 33:19, BTW.

The context? Moses asked to see God’s glory. God responded by saying: I will reveal myself to whom I choose. I will show mercy according to My will.

And God did grant Moses a glimpse of himself but not His full glory, but just a glimpse of His back, as He passed by. That was God's sovereign revelation, Moses didn’t earn it. It wasn’t his righteousness or eloquence or effort. It was pure, undeserved grace.

Paul’s conclusion is in verse 16:

“So, then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”

The revealing of God and for that matter salvation is never the result of us choosing or striving—it is a gift of God’s mercy.

And just a note here: Paul is speaking in the singular here.  This isn’t about God choosing groups—it’s personal. God chooses individuals. Election is never corporate; it’s particular and specific to one individual person through relationship.

Then Paul gives us a second example—Pharaoh—in verse 17:

“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”

That’s Exodus 9:16. And this is where the weight of the doctrine deepens.

Pharaoh rejected God. But if you read that Exodus narrative carefully, you’ll notice that six times Pharaoh hardened his own heart before it ever says that God hardened it. Only after repeated rejection does God confirm that hardening which was initiated and reproduced repeatedly, getting harder and harder, by Pharoah himself..

God gave Pharaoh time, signs, and chances to respond. And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused, God chose to confirm that hardened heart and use him as an instrument to display His glory.

Had Pharaoh let Israel go at the start, the Exodus would’ve been a quiet event. But through Pharaoh’s resistance, God’s power was made known. The Red Sea was parted. The nations heard about it and God’s name was proclaimed.

And so, Paul draws his second conclusion about God in verse 18:

“Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”

There it is—parallel with the first example. In Moses’ case, God sovereignly chose to show mercy.

In Pharaoh’s case, God sovereignly confirmed judgment.

Paul’s structure is precise: two Old Testament examples, each followed by a logical, theological conclusion. And the point is this:

God is not unjust—He is sovereign.

He has the right to show mercy. He has the right to harden people hearts. And in both, He remains righteous and just.

As 20th century Anglican theologian, Griffith Thomas once put it:

“Everything God does is absolutely just and is based upon reasons—whether we know them or not.”

We don’t know why Jacob was chosen and not Esau. But we do know this: God's choice was not random. It was grounded in wisdom and justice, even if He doesn’t explain all His reasons to us.

And so, Paul’s answer to the charge of unfairness is simple and profound:

God is not unfair—He is sovereign. And His sovereignty is always exercised in righteousness..

We can also refer to three other references on this matter that are helpfu, all found in Ephesians chapter 1. Three powerful phrases that each tell us something vital about the will of God.

In verse 1:5, Paul speaks of “the good pleasure of His will.” This is the big point. God wills something simply because it pleases Him. He is not reacting or responding—His will is rooted in His own love and pleasure.

Then in verse 9, Paul also talks about “the mystery of His will.” That word mystery—how often we encounter it in Scripture and in life. We see it in the story of Isaac and Jacob. We see it again and again in the unfolding events of life. God's will is mysterious, not always explainable—but it is never random.

And finally, in verse 11, we read of “the counsel of His will.” This teaches us something else again. God’s will is never arbitrary. His will is shaped by perfect wisdom. That means we can rest upon this fundamental fact: that even in the midst of mystery, God is righteous. He would not be God if He were not.

God is sovereign. He makes sovereign choices.

Now when I became a Christian as a teenager and all the way through school and college I wrestled with the idea that God makes sovereign choices and how that effected our free will.

But something changed. When one day whilst I was reading my bible, I came to the book of Acts. And then I hit Acts 13:48:

“As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

And I thought—there it is again. That doctrine, the one I don’t like. And I thought, “One of these days, I need to marshal all my arguments against this teaching.” So, I then said to myself, “Why not today?” I had my King James bible to hand so I looked it up there and it said, “As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” And I looked at the best commentaries that were avaible to me at that time and you know what I found?

They all said exactly what the KJV bible said.

I looked at that verse and said to myself if the Bible when approached on it’s own term teaches that God sovereignly chooses people and gives them eternal life.” The I should take that statement at face value.

And that day I did something I made a decision. I’m going to let God be God and accept what the bible says. It doesn’t mean I won’t still wrestle with it, but my starting point will always be what the text clearly says, and see if any other texts can convince me otherwise 

And from that day to this very moment, I have never struggled with this, or many other ideas again.

That doesn’t mean I can explain everything. But I do know this: the Bible teaches that God makes sovereign choices.

I believe that with all my heart, and I believe that one day, when we stand before Him, not a single person will say that God did anything unfair. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess—that He was sovereign, that He was Lord, that He was holy, righteous, and just.

And Paul here anticipates our questions. Romans 9:19 and says:

“You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’”

Notice: this is no longer Paul including himself in the questioning, like he did in verse 14. Now he’s quoting someone else. A challenger. An objector, a literary technique he has used before. 

And Paul says to this objector: “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?”

The word Paul uses here means not just to ask a question, but to answer back, to argue. It’s a rejoinder, a push back. The person Paul is addressing isn’t just curious—they’re combative, and Paul responds in the same way..

And so, Paul replies with an image. Romans 9:20–21:

But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

He’s borrowing from Isaiah 45:9.

The potter has rights over the clay. He can shape one vessel for beauty, another for common use. And both come from the same lump.

Paul’s point? God, the divine Potter, has the right to do what He wills with the clay, and he makes both types of vessels.

And that includes us.

if we zoom out and take the whole chapter into consideration, we get the sense that Paul probably still has Jacob and Esau in mind — those twin brothers he mentioned earlier. They were born at the same time, from the same "lump," so to speak. Yet one was honoured, and the other was not.

And I get it — that sounds almost arbitrary, right? A bit like God is being random, erratic even. But let’s slow down and really think about the metaphor Paul uses: The potter and the clay.

No potter ever sits down, forms a vessel, and says, “Ah, I made this just to destroy it.” Every vessel is made with a purpose.

The point here isn’t that God is random or arbitrary. It’s that He’s purposeful. And Paul is saying: God reserves the right to do as He wills. 

But then the objector says, “Well, if that’s the case, why does God still find fault with anyone?” And Paul comes back hard — affirming again that God is sovereign.

Now, that raises a big question: Just how far does God’s sovereignty go? And what about human responsibility?

Right here — in verses 22 to 24 — Paul does something really fascinating. He introduces this long, complicated, grammatically unfinished sentence. He poses a hypothetical scenario... and then just leaves it hanging in the air.

Here's what he says:

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

(Romans 9: 22-24)

And… that’s it. No resolution. No final clause. Just a “What if?” that lingers.

So, what’s going on here?

Well, Paul is pushing the boundaries of our human understanding. He’s asking: What if God did, in fact, create some vessels knowing they would be destroyed? Would we still have the right to question Him?

And here’s the thing — Paul doesn’t say that God did create them for destruction. He just says, “What if?” He stops short of declaring that he prepared anyone for destruction. He doesn’t say that. He just puts the question out there.

But look at the phrase again: “God endured them with much longsuffering.” That sounds like Pharaoh, doesn’t it? God gave him six opportunities — six plagues — before his heart was hardened. And yet, God still used him to demonstrate His power, parting the Red Sea, displaying judgment as Pharaoh’s army was swallowed up.

Maybe Paul still has Pharaoh in mind. But again — he never answers the hypothetical. Instead, he shifts the focus. Who are we to argue?

Then Paul anchors this with Scripture. In verse 25, he quotes Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people.

    and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

and,

“In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Originally, Hosea was speaking about the northern tribes of Israel — those who had wandered. But Paul repurposes it to speak of the Gentiles. They weren’t God’s people by covenant — but now, through mercy, they are.

And guess what? That includes us.

Then in verse 27, Paul brings in Isaiah as well:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,

    only the remnant will be saved.

He’s quoting Isaiah 10, reminding us that God has always been working with a remnant, even among His chosen people. If God hadn’t preserved a seed, Isaiah says, we would’ve ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah.

So again — Paul is weaving Scripture together to make his point. God shows mercy to Gentiles — that’s from Hosea. God preserves a remnant among Israel — that’s Isaiah.

So he basically says: Don’t argue with God. He's the potter. We're the clay.

Does that feel like a non-answer? Maybe. But what Paul is doing here is reasserting God’s sovereign right — while still hinting that human responsibility hasn’t gone anywhere.

That tension? It’s deliberate.

Paul isn’t resolving it — at least not yet. But if you hang in there, tomorrow in verse 30 and beyond we will see him pick up how even within God’s sovereign choices, humans remain fully responsible for their response to God.

So, here’s where we finish today:

Romans 9 gives us this powerful and mysterious truth — that God is sovereign in salvation. 

But next time, we’ll see how this sovereignty never cancels out human responsibility.

Stick with us — because Romans 10 is where these two truths start to come together.

So, let’s land this today. What have we seen so far?

Romans 9 challenges us—yes—but it also comforts us. It shows us a God who is absolutely sovereign, and yet it never negates our responsibility as people made in His image. 

Scripture holds both truths together without apology and without contradiction: God reigns, and we respond. And somehow, in the mystery of His wisdom, those two realities are not enemies, but friends.

And here's the hope at the heart of it all: God's sovereignty is not something to be feared, but something to be trusted. He is not a tyrant with unchecked power—He is a Father full of mercy. He does not crush the repentant, 

He calls the weary to Himself. His sovereignty does not exclude us; it includes us. It is not a cold doctrine—it is a warm invitation.

As J.I. Packer so beautifully reminded us: 

“If you pray, then you already believe this. You already trust that God is the one who saves, that He’s the one who opens hearts, who changes lives, who draws people to Himself. And if you’ve ever thanked God for your salvation, then deep down, you know you didn’t get there on your own. He sought you. He saved you. He sustained you.”

So yes—pray. Pray for your family, your friends, your neighbours. Pray for the hardest hearts you know. And while you pray, also share. Share the gospel with boldness, knowing that God can take your words and use them to awaken dead hearts. 

Because He’s done it before—He did it with you.

And finally, rest in this: The God who sovereignly chose you, is the same God who keeps you. He does not make mistakes. He does not let go. His grace is not fragile. His love is not fickle. His call is irrevocable.

So today, maybe you don’t understand how it all fits together. Maybe you feel the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility, but that’s okay. You’re in good company. 

But let that tension lead you not to frustration, but to worship.

Bow the knee. Trust the God like you should trust your Father. And let God be God.