Yesterday, Pastor Todd talked about reading Romans 9 with a collectivist perspective as opposed to an individualist perspective, which is so common in Western Christianity. By doing so, we see Romans 9 is much less about the idea of predestination of individuals and more about God’s dealing with people groups (whether tribes, nations, or kingdoms). Below, we will look at how that plays out in how we understand some tough/complex passages in Romans 9.
Esau I Hates; Jacob I Loved
This is a concept that Christians have struggled with for ages. How do we harmonize passages like “For God so love the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him shall be saved.” (Jn. 3:16), with God hating Esau. We are left to conclude that either God changed his mind from the Old to the New Testament, or that there were two different gods represented (a.k.a. Marcionism).
Given the tools scholars have had at their disposal for the last millennia, the best we can come up with is either that God saw the character of Esau from eternity past and decided he was a bad apple, despite Jacob’s deceitful ways (or) God arbitrarily chooses people to love and hate (and why not, He is God after all).
However, that way of thinking about this passage is no longer viable due to ancient documents that have been discovered and translated over the past century. With documents known as the Nuzi texts Suzerainty-Vassal Treaties and dating back to 1000s BC and earlier revealing contracts, we have gained new insight into treaties and covenants in the ancient world that influence Jewish terms in the Old Testament.
Love and Hate
At first glance, we come away from Romans 9 thinking, Poor Esau didn’t have a chance. God decided He didn’t like the man from before He was born. We are also left to conclude that God just decided He liked Jacob better.
What is not as evident, until we look at comparable documents from the same time period is that the language of Love and Hate have nothing to do with affection nor with personal animosity. Love and Hate is covenant language.
Love = To choose to enter into covenant with a people group.
Hate = To reject a people group for a covenant relationship.
Jacob and Esau
Another thing to note (and this can be seen in some Old Testament passages) is that people groups are often identified by their patriarch of origin. Most of the references to Jacob outside the book of Genesis is in reference to the nation of Israel (the people group: Israelites). The same goes for Esau. Esau was the patriarch to the Edomites. References to Esau are references to the collective group of Edomites.
So when consider the new information gleaned from the Nuzi Texts and the Suzerainty-Vassal covenants, we see that the language of love and hate, coupled with Jacob and Esau referring to people groups casts new light on the meaning of Romans 9. Namely, that God chose beforehand the accept the people of Israel to enter into a covenant relationship (love) and rejected Edom for covenant relationship (hate).
More could be said of God’s dealing with Pharaoh as well as vessels for wrath, common use, honor, and mercy. For more on that, you can listen to the sermon here.
Hopefully, this post helps you make better sense of the complexities of Romans 9. Let us know in the comments below. And as always, may this post create a good environment for God’s