In all ages it has been the desire of man to know about God. We have been blessed with the possession of the Bible in which God has revealed much about Himself. He has not revealed Himself completely because it would be impossible for the limited mind of man to understand the unlimited mind of God. We may be assured of this, however, that God has revealed enough of Himself for His purpose with man. We have enough information for our actual needs if not enough for our curiosities.
Many facts about God are set out in scripture. We know that God is all-powerful, that He is all-wise, that He is all-righteous. We know these things, but we cannot really understand such qualities. God’s infinite wisdom we recognize but we cannot understand all that it involves.
Some portions of scripture deal with matters of God’s wisdom. There we gain much knowledge, and at the same time relieve some problems and anxieties. One troublesome problem is predestination. Paul deals with this problem in his letter to the Romans. It would be good to read Romans chapter 9, verses 7-24 to see his line of reasoning. Here we hope to relieve some problems and gain an increased respect for Him with whom we have to do. The main subject here is God’s way of choosing or electing men for an inheritance in His Kingdom. There were, in that day, two beliefs concerning this. The Greeks believed that man had a definite hand in shaping his destiny; that it all depended upon a man’s own merit. The Jews believed that divine acceptance was based on heredity—that because they were blood descendants of Abraham they would receive acceptance.
Paul’s point
Paul is pointing out here that neither idea is correct. He says in verses 7 and 8 that descent from Abraham does not make a person a true son of Abraham; that is based on whether one is of the faith of Abraham. To illustrate further the point he is making, he uses the example of Jacob and Esau. He says that before either was born or had done any evil or good, God chose Jacob. Jacob and Esau were born of the same mother so blood descent could have had nothing to do with the choice. The choice was made before their birth so their own works could have no effect either. Paul says this was done so that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him that calleth. Some would naturally object that the choice was unfair, coming as it did before their birth. Paul simply says, “God forbid.” (More about this later). Paul continues by pointing out the case of Pharoah and using the example of a potter’s power over clay to show God’s right in the case. That must not be denied. God has all the right to do anything with His creation that He wants to. We are all sinners, and no man could survive without the mercy of God.
The Kingdom of God is not a human plan nor will it come by human workings. It is altogether a divine plan with divine purpose and working, and with divine principles of selection. The key to understanding God’s choice of Jacob is foreknowledge. God could pick one over the other ahead of time because of His ability to see the potential in the two men before their birth. It was not a capricious choice; it was based on reason—divine reason and God’s foreknowledge. We can see that God’s judgment was correct because Jacob did become a better man than Esau. Our difficulty in understanding all this lies in our lack of such foreknowledge ourselves. It is a peculiar characteristic of God.
“I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from the ancient times the things that are not yet done.” —Isa. 46:9-10
The baby wolf and Lamb
Suppose you have two baby animals to put into your sheepfold. One is a baby wolf, the other a lamb. Before either one has done any good or evil you can with foreknowledge reject the wolf as unfit for your purpose. Another example is in a recent case where a man was indicted for murder. It was noted that two years previously a psychiatrist had predicted such an end for the man. Here again is limited foreknowledge. We can see the potential in a baby wolf—the psychiatrist did in the man. This did not interfere with the man’s free will. The analyst wasn’t responsible, only the man. So it was in God’s choice of Jacob over Esau. He saw the potential of the two men and made His choice. Both were still free agents, and as such responsible and judgeable. God did not make them the way they were. He saw the way they were and used them for His purpose. God said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” The choice is always God’s. Looking to other scripture we find God’s principle of bestowing this mercy, “to the merciful man thou wilt show Thyself merciful.”
Now we come to Pharoah. The objection aroused here is that if God raised up Pharoah and hardened him for a purpose, then Pharoah couldn’t help being what God had made him, so why should he be punished ? First notice the purpose. It was that God’s power might be known and His name declared in all the earth. Again God’s right in the case cannot be denied. The potter hath power over the clay. God can do as He wishes with His own. In verse 22 we have the key to understanding. Notice the phrase—”vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” Pharoah was such a vessel of wrath and he was fitted for destruction, that is, self-fitted, so God used him for His purpose. God’s foreknowledge allowed Him to see the potential in Pharoah so He set him at the head of Egypt. As to God’s hardening of Pharoah, we must notice what happened just before the mention of this hardening. What happened was that God blessed Israel and removed a plague from the land. This was the cause of Pharoah’s hardening. Pharoah regained this obstinance after each plague was lifted. So in this sense God hardened Pharoah. He was a free agent but a very predictable one in God’s eyes. Suppose you knew two brothers who were keenly envious of each other. By giving a gift to one of them, the other one, in his envy of his brother’s possession, becomes very angry. By your good act to the one, you have caused anger in the other. This was the case with Pharoah. God hardened him by relieving the land of a plague. In the example just used we can see that if you were well acquainted with these two brothers you could predict ahead of time that one would become angry. So it was with God. He knew what was in Pharoah and how he would react. Yet Pharoah remained completely responsible for his actions. And even he was suffered long by God.
The difficulty lies in our Failure
Much difficulty lies in our failure to understand foreknowledge. But we, ourselves, have a very limited degree of it. You give a child a box and tell him not to look inside. When the child is alone, what will he do? Most will sneak a peek inside. Children are like that, they are predictable. So are we in so much larger a degree that it is incomprehensible. God has left us free to do as we please, but He knows what we please to do.
God has the right as man’s Maker to choose or elect whom He will. The choice is made on certain principles. God can make a choice ahead by foreseeing the possibilities within a man. The choice does not mean that God wills a man to eternal life no matter what. What it means it that upon seeing certain possibilities God may elect a man by giving him a call. That call involves God’s Word whether as a promise to an Abram in Ur or through the Gospel to men now Man is left free to follow that call or to reject it. A man may be called and yet rejected, for it is written, “Many are called but few are chosen.” Peter, there. fore, exhorts us to “give diligence M make our calling and election sure.’ There are many similar warnings to the elect.
God cannot be blamed
Some would say that if God makes a choice of men to receive the call based or certain possibilities within a man, then can a man be blamed for not being born with these possibilities? No, he cannot but neither can God be blamed. That apparently, is left to chance. Only once did God appear to control the genetic make-up of a man. That was Christ who was the only begotten of the Father. In Timothy we read that God wills that all men should be saved (II Pet. 3:9). But not all men will. It is as the parable of the sower. Some seed by chance falls onto a stone; some falls into good soil. But even then it is only the start of the growth. We, as sinners, must receive many graces and put forth much effort however feeble to be finally acceptable.
Christ was God manifest, so any characteristic of God we may find also in Christ. Thus it is with foreknowledge and choice. Christ made a choice in his apostles without any prior meeting or trial. He saw Levi sitting at the receipt of custom and said, “Follow me” and Levi followed. He was hardly the man you or I would pick. Yet Christ saw the possibilities in the man; in fact, he saw them so clearly that in every case his “called” apostles followed. It is much like the early choice of Jacob. These men picked by Christ were free to do as they wished, but they followed when called. Even in Judas—Christ saw the potential of a traitor. A man such as Judas was needful so he was picked for his purpose. Just as Pharoah was picked to be the instrument by which God’s glory and name would be declared.
Christ stated Truths
Christ, it seems, deliberately stated truths in such a way as to harden the Pharisees. He said they must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have life—knowing how repulsed and angered the Pharisees would be at such a suggestion. He said also that he and his Father were one. This, too, was blasphemous to them. They were not trying to understand Him, so the result of such remarks was their hardened attitude. They were hardened as Pharoah was hardened to the point of murder. These men were still free, still responsible for their act, yet it was foreknown and predetermined. Christ, it is said, was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.
We hope these many examples will make it clear that God can, through foreknowledge, pick a man according to fitness and use him for His purpose. This He does without restricting free will, and in complete justice. As men are born, some are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, as Esau, Pharoah, and Judas; others are vessels of mercy such as Jacob, the prophets, and Apostles. Yet all are free, and as free the vessels of mercy, the elect, and called of God must yield themselves to God as soft pliable clay in the hands of a potter. This they do by having faith in God and trying to pattern their lives after His example. Yet, in the end, all must receive His grace who enter His Kingdom. We stand now — called out, elected, in possession of Truth, the recipients of many graces for which we ought to be very thankful, the greatest of which is symbolized before us on the table each Sunday morning.
“Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:10-11)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One