Romans Commentary

Ver. 19. — Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?

Here the Apostle obviates a third objection or cavil. The first was, that God is unfaithful, verse 6. The second, that God is unjust, verse 14. This third is, that God is severe and cruel. If God thus shows mercy, or hardens according to His sovereign pleasure, why, then, it may be asked, does He yet find fault with transgressors? This is the only objection that can be made to what the Apostle was stating. Thou wilt say, then, who hath resisted His will? If God wills sin, and if He is all-powerful, must He not be the author of sin? Mr. Fry here remarks, — ’The thought will frequently start in the mind of the inquirer: If Divine grace is bestowed on some, and withheld from others; especially if the sins and transgressions of men are so under the control of the Almighty, that they but serve His purposes, how is it that such blame and censure attaches to the sinner, and that such dreadful judgments are denounced against him? If our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say then, is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? This, it will be perceived, is no other than the difficulty so generally felt in attempting to reconcile the responsibility of man as a moral agent, with a pre-ordination of all events, after the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. This pre-ordination the Apostle had asserted and proved from the Scriptures.

From the Scriptures, at the same time, is evinced the complete responsibility of man as a moral agent: God’s finding fault; His remonstrances with transgressors; the declaration of their amenableness to a just judgment the manner in which the Gospel addresses them, and bewails their hardness and their impenetrable heart, unquestionably establishes this point. The proud wisdom of rebellious man indeed, almost dares to charge the oracles of God with inconsistency on this head; or, what is nearly as bad, takes upon itself either to explain away or to invalidate one part of the Scripture truth in order to establish the other, and, in apologizing for Him before His creatures, to make God consistent with Himself! Such is the wicked presumption of man; such, we may lament to add, is the officious folly of some who mean to be the advocates of revelation; and the weak and imprudent defense of a friend is as dishonorable often as the open accusation of an enemy.’

The objection stated in the verse before us is in substance the same as is urged to this day, and it never can be put more strongly than here by the Apostle. What, then, does he answer? This we learn in the subsequent verses, in which he charges upon those who prefer it, their great impiety in presuming to arraign the ways of God, and to take up an argument against their Maker.

Ver. 20. — Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

To the preceding objection, the Apostle, in this and the two following verses, gives three distinct answers. His first answer in this verse, similar to Isaiah 45:9, is directed against the proud reasonings of man who, though he be born like a wild ass’s colt, and being of yesterday, knows nothing, Job 11:12, presumes to scan the deep things of God, and to find fault with the plan of His government and providence, into which angels desire to look, while they find it incomprehensible. We are here taught that it is perfectly sufficient to silence all objections, to prove that anything is the will of God. No man, after this is done, has a right to hesitate or to doubt. The rectitude of God’s will is not to be questioned.

What men have to do is to learn what God says, and then to receive it as unquestionably true and right. Nay but, O man, who art thou? — And what is man that he should take upon him to object to anything that God says? The reason and discernment between right and wrong which he possesses is the gift of God; it must, then, be the greatest abuse of these faculties to employ them to question the conduct of Him who gave them.

The question of the Apostle imports that it is a thing most preposterous for such a creature as man to question the procedure of God. Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou formed me this? — Can anything be more presumptuous than for the creature to pretend to greater wisdom than the Creator? Any wisdom the creature possesses must have been received from the Creator; and if the Creator has the power of forming rational beings, must He not Himself be infinite in wisdom? And does it not insult the Creator to pretend to find imperfection in His proceedings? Why, as Thou art all-powerful, hast Thou formed me in such a manner that I am capable of sin and misery?

The rebellious heart of man is never satisfied with the Apostle’s answer, and still the question is, Why did He make men to be condemned? Let the Lord’s people be satisfied with the Apostle’s answer, and let it be sufficient for them to know that God has willed both the salvation of the elect, and the destruction of the wicked, although they are not able to fathom the depths of the ways of God. The Apostle tells us the fact, and shows us that it must be received on God’s testimony, and not on our ability to justify it. That God does all things right there is no question, but the grounds of His conduct He does not now explain to His people. Much less is it to be supposed that He would justify His conduct by explaining the grounds of it to His enemies. No man has a right to bring God to trial.

What He tells us of Himself, or of ourselves, let us receive as unquestionably right. ‘Paul,’ says Calvin, ‘doth not busily labor to excuse God with a lying defense. He would not have neglected refuting the objection, that God reprobates or elects, according to His own will, those whom He does not honor with His favor, or love gratuitously, had he considered it to be false. The impious object, that men are exempted from guilt if the will of God has the chief part in the salvation of the elect, or destruction of the reprobate. Does Paul deny it? Nay; his answer confirms this truth — that God determines to do with mankind what He pleases, and that men rise up with unavailing fury to contest it, since the Maker of the world assigns to His creatures, by His own right, whatever lot He chooses. If we cannot declare a reason why He vouchsafeth to grant mercy to them that are His, but because it pleaseth Him, neither also shall we have any other cause in rejecting of others than His own will; for when it is said that God hardeneth or showeth mercy to whom He will, men are thereby savored to seek no cause elsewhere than in His own will’ ‘Mere human reason,’ says Luther to Erasmus, ‘can never comprehend how God is good and merciful; and therefore you make to yourself a God of your own fancy, who hardens nobody, condemns nobody, pities everybody.

You cannot comprehend how a just God can condemn those who are born in sin, and cannot help themselves, but must, by a necessity of their natural constitution, continue in sin, and remain children of wrath. The answer is, God is incomprehensible throughout, and therefore His justice, as well as His other attributes, must be incomprehensible. It is on this very ground that St. Paul exclaims, “O the depth of the riches of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” Now, His judgments would not be past finding out, if we could always perceive them to be just.’

Ver. 21. — Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?

This is the Apostle’s second answer to the objection contained in the 19th verse, in which, by another reference to Scripture, he asserts that the thing formed ought not to contend with Him that formed it, who has a right to dispose of it as He pleases. The words in the original, translated ‘power’ in this verse and the following, are different. The word here employed is variously applied as signifying authority, license, liberty, right; but in its application to God there can be no question that it denotes power justly exercised. The mere power or ability of doing what God pleases, cannot be the meaning, for this is not the thing questioned. It is the justice of the procedure that is disputed, and it is consequently the justice of this exercise of power that must be asserted. With respect to all other beings, the license, liberty, or right referred to, may be, as it is, derived from a superior; but in this sense it cannot refer to God. When, therefore, it is said here that God has ‘power,’ it must mean that He may, in the instance referred to, use His power in conformity to justice. The right has not a reference to a superior as conferring it, but a reference to His own character, to which all the actions of this sovereignty must be conformable.

Power, then, in this place, signifies right or power which is consistent with justice. It is this right or power according to justice that is here asserted.

When the potter molds the clay into what form he pleases, he does nothing contrary to justice; neither does God do injustice in the exercise of absolute power over His creatures. Out of the same original lump or mass He forms, in His holy sovereignty, one man unto honor, and another unto dishonor, without in any respect violating justice. Here it is implied that as there is no difference between the matter or lump out of which the potter forms diversity of vessels, so there is no difference in mankind, Romans 3:22; all men — both those who are elected, and those who are rejected, that are made vessels of mercy, or vessels of wrath — are alike by nature in the same condemnation in which God might in justice have left the whole, but out of which in His holy sovereignty He saves some, while He exercises His justice in pouring out His wrath.

That we are all in the hand of God as the clay in the potter’s hand, is humbling to the pride of man, yet nothing can be more self-evidently true.

If so, God has the same right over us that a potter has over the clay of which he forms his vessels for his own purposes and interest. The same figure as is employed by the Prophet Isaiah, in declaring the right that God had over him and all the people of Israel, God likewise employs, Jeremiah 18:6: ‘O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel.’ A potter forms his vessels for himself, and not for his vessels. This determines the question with respect to God’s end in the creation of man. Philosophers can discern no higher end in creating man than that of making him happy. But the chief end of the potter in molding his vessels has a reference to himself, and God’s chief end in making man is His own glory. This is plainly held forth in a multitude of passages in Scripture. Let man strive with his Maker as he will, still he is nothing but the clay in the hand of the potter. There cannot, indeed, be a question but that God will act justly with all His creatures; but the security for this is in His own character, and we can have no greater security against God’s power than His own attributes. God will do His creatures no injustice; but this is because justice is a part of His own character. Our security for being treated justly by God is in Himself. One vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. — Some endeavor to explain this as implying that certain vessels may be made for a less honorable use, while they are still vessels for the Master’s service. But it is not said that they are made for a less honorable use, but that they are made to dishonor, is the Apostle’s assertion. It is true, indeed, that even vessels employed for dishonorable purposes are useful, and it is equally true that the destruction of the wicked will be for the glory of God. If any are condemned at all, and on any ground whatever, it is certain that it must be for the glory of God, else He would not appoint it to take place.

On the verse before us, and the preceding, it is to be observed that the Apostle does not say that his meaning in what he had previously affirmed had been mistaken, and that he had not said that it was agreeable to the will of God that the hardness of men’s hearts should take place as it does; he implicitly grants this as truth, and that he had asserted it. And so far from palliating or softening down the expression to which the objection is made, if possible, he heightens and strengthens it. All mankind are here represented as originally lying in the same lump or mass; a great difference afterwards appears among them. Whence does this difference arise? The Apostle explicitly answers, It is God who makes the difference. As the potter makes one vessel as readily as he makes another, and each vessel takes its form from his hand, so God makes one man to honor and another to dishonor. And God’s sovereign right to do this is here asserted; and he who objects to this, the Apostle says, speaks against God. Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus? This representation is entirely consistent with all that the Scriptures elsewhere teach. In the fundamental doctrine of regeneration and the new creation in Christ Jesus, it is expressly inculcated, and is entirely coincident with the question, ‘Who maketh thee to differ from another?’ 1 Corinthians 4:7.

Ver. 22. — What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; In this and the following verse, in which the substance of the doctrine of predestination is contained in a few words, the Apostle gives his third and final answer to the objection stated in the 19th verse, subjoining the reasons of God’s different proceedings with one man and with another.

Hereby God manifests His great displeasure against sin, and His power to take vengeance on sinners; He exercises great patience towards them, seeing they are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction by their own wickedness, to which God shuts them up in His judgment. On the other hand, what can be said against it, if He proceed in mercy with others, thereby manifesting the riches of His glory, or His glorious grace, since they are vessels of mercy, whom, by His sovereign election from eternity, and the sanctification of His Spirit in time, He had afore prepared unto glory? The sum of the Apostle’s answer here is, that the grand object of God, both in the election and the reprobation of men, is that which is paramount to all things else in the creation of the universe, namely, His own glory. With the assertion of this doctrine, however offensive to the natural man, which must always appear to him foolishness, Paul winds up, in the last verse of the eleventh chapter, the whole of his previous discussion in this Epistle. What if God, willing to show His wrath. — Here the purpose of God, in enduring the wicked in this world, is expressly stated to arise from His willingness to show His wrath against sin. We see, then, that the entrance of sin into the world was necessary to manifest the Divine character in His justice and hatred of sin. Had sin never entered into the creation of God, His character would never have been fully developed. Let wicked men hear what God says in this place. They flatter themselves that in some way, through mercy, or because great severity, they suppose, would not be just, they will finally escape. But God here declares by the Apostle, that He has endured sin in the world for the very purpose of glorifying Himself in its punishment. How, then, shall they escape? And to make His power known. — The entrance of sin was also an occasion of manifesting God’s power and wisdom in overruling it for His glory. The power or ability of God, according to the original word used here, is different from the power (another word in the original) in the preceding verse, as is strikingly seen in this place. The 21st verse asserts the right of God to act in the manner supposed; this verse shows that His doing so was to manifest His wrath against sin, and His power to make even sin to glorify His name. Sin is in its own nature to God’s dishonor. He has overruled it so that He has turned it to His glory. This is the most wonderful display of power. Endured with much long-suffering. — How often do men wonder that God endures so much sin as appears in the world. Why does not God immediately cut off transgressors? Why does He not make an end of them at once? The answer is, He endures them for His own glory, and in their condemnation He will be glorified. To short-sighted mortals, it would appear preferable if God would cut off in childhood all whom He foresaw should continue in wickedness. But God endures them to old age, and to the utmost bounds of wickedness, for the glory of His own name. Vessels of wrath, — vessels ‘full of the fury of the Lord,’ Isaiah 51:20. Here Paul calls the wicked vessels, in allusion to the figure which he had just before used. Fitted to destruction. — They are vessels, indeed, but they are vessels of wrath, and by their sins they are fitted for destruction; and it is in the counsel of Jehovah that this shall be so.

Ver. 23. — And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory.

In the preceding verse, Paul had declared that God exercised much long-suffering towards the vessels of wrath — that part of Israel which were not of Israel; and here he shows that it was the will of God to make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy whom He had afore prepared unto glory. In men’s rejection of the salvation of Christ, the exceeding sinfulness of sin is manifested; and we learn that no external means, in truth, nothing short of almighty power, could save a guilty and lost creature. Those, therefore, who are called and saved are saved by a new creation; not effected by a word, as the old creation was, but by the power and calling of the Holy Spirit through the incarnation and death of the Son of God for the sins of His people, and His resurrection for their justification, made known in the everlasting Gospel.

In this verse it is implied that the awful ruin of the wicked is necessary for the full display of the riches of Divine mercy in saving the elect. Both the righteous and the wicked are by nature equally exposed to wrath; and the deliverance of the elect from that situation to be made heirs of glory; wonderfully illustrates the infinitude of mercy. The salvation of the elect is mercy, pure mercy; and it is wonderful mercy, when we consider what was the doom they deserved, and would have experienced, had they not been delivered by God through Jesus Christ. These vessels of mercy were previously prepared for their happy lot by God Himself. Which He had afore prepared unto glory. — In the preceding verse it is said that the vessels of wrath are fitted for destruction, and in this verse, that the vessels of mercy are prepared unto glory. The wicked are fitted for destruction by their sins, and the elect prepared before by God unto glory. No particular stress is to be laid on the word fitted , as if it could not apply to the righteous, for they also are fitted for glory. It is usual to say that the wicked were fitted by Satan and their own folly for destruction. No doubt Satan is concerned in it, but as no agent is asserted, it is not necessary to determine this. They also may be said to fit themselves; yet it appears that it is not the agent, but the means that the Apostle has in view. It is their sins which fit them for destruction. On the other hand, the elect are afore prepared unto glory. This cannot be by themselves, but must be by God as the agent. This is expressly stated: ‘Whom He hath prepared.’ The elect are not only afore prepared unto glory, but it is God who prepares them.

It is suggested, by what is said in this and the preceding verse, that God does not harden sinners or punish them for the sake of hardening or making them miserable, or because He has any delight or pleasure in their sin or punishment considered in themselves, and unconnected with the end to be answered by them, but He does this to answer a wise and important end. This great end is the manifestation and display of His own perfections; to show His wrath, and to make His power known, and to make known the riches of His glory. That is, He does it for Himself — for His own glory. It is also suggested that what God does in hardening sinners, and making them vessels unto dishonor, and enduring with much long-suffering those vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, is consistent with their being blamable for their hardness, and for everything which renders them dishonorable. Consequently it is also consistent with His high displeasure at their conduct, and proves that He may justly destroy them for ever for their hardness and obstinacy in sin. This is supposed and asserted in the words, otherwise sinners could not be vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. To allege that these scriptures import no more than that God permits sin, and orders everything respecting the event, so that if God permits, it will certainly take place, does not obviate any difficulty which has been supposed here to present itself. For this is still representing God as willing that sin should take place, or, on the whole, choosing that it should exist rather than not.

Many who admit the doctrine of predestination object to the use of the term reprobation, so often employed by the first Reformers, and the old and most esteemed Christian writers. In its place they would substitute the word rejection. But that word does not always convey the full import of what is intended by the term reprobation; and whether this term be used or not, all that is comprehended under it is strictly according to Scripture. Reprobation includes two acts: the one is negative, which consists in what is called perpetration, or the passing by of those who are not elected, — that is, leaving them in their natural state of alienation or enmity against God; the other is positive, and is called condemnation, — the act of condemning on account of sin those who have been passed by.

That first act consists in God’s simply withholding His grace, to which no man can have any claim. For this, accordingly, the Scriptures give no reason but the sovereign pleasure of God, who has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and who might justly have left all men to perish in their sins. In the second act, God considers man as guilty, and a child of wrath; and as on this account He punishes him in time, so from all eternity He has ordained to punish him. In electing sinners, then, or in passing them by, God acts as a sovereign dispensing or withholding His favors, which are His own, as to Him seemeth good. In condemning, He exercises His justice in the punishment of the guilty.

He may impart His grace to whomsoever He pleases, without any one having a right to find fault, since in regard to those whom He destines to salvation He has provided means to satisfy His justice. On the other hand, those who are guilty have no right to complain if He hath appointed them to wrath, 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 1 Peter 2:8; Jude 4; for God was under no obligation to exercise mercy towards sinners. Both these doctrines of election and reprobation are exemplified in the case of Jacob and Esau, in which there is nothing peculiar. Jacob was loved and chosen before he was born, and Esau before he was born was an object of hatred and reprobation. Under one or other of these descriptions, all who receive the above doctrines must be convinced that every individual of the human race is included. Whence comes it, then, that so many venture to set aside the obvious import of these words, ‘Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated? ’ The term reprobation has been used, then, because it expresses the idea intended, which the term rejection does not; if any are offended at it, it is to be feared that the offense taken is not at the word, but at its import.

Unless men reject the Bible, they must admit that all were condemned in Adam; and if they were justly condemned, there can be no injustice in leaving them in that state of condemnation, and punishing them as sinners.

It is only from the sovereign good pleasure and love of God that any of the human race are saved. He had no such love to the fallen angels, and they all perished; nor has He such love to those of the human race that shall perish, for He says, ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, I never knew you.’ Men had no more claim upon God for mercy than the angels. Whatever may be thought of these things at present, God informs us that there is a day coming when His righteous judgment shall be revealed. Then He will be clear when He speaketh, and just when He is judged. No one shall then feel that he has been treated unjustly. Happy they whose high imaginations are cast down by the proclamation of mercy in the Gospel, and who receive the kingdom as Little children, becoming fools that they may be wise. The high imaginations of all will be cast down at last, but with very many it will be too late, except to make them feel their condemnation to be juSt. In strict conformity with the truths contained in the above verses, it is said in the Westminster Confession of Faith, which contains so scriptural a summary of Christian doctrine: — ’The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to His own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.’ ‘The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass. God executeth His decrees in the works of creation and providence. God’s works of providence are, His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.’ And again, ‘God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.’ ‘By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others fore-ordained to everlasting death.’ In these articles it is asserted that God fore-ordained, decreed, and willed the existence of all the evil which ‘comes to pass.’ It is also said that God brings His decrees or His will into effect by creation and His governing providence, by which, in the exercise of His wisdom and holiness, He powerfully governs His creatures, and superintends and directs, disposes and orders, all their actions.

According to the above truths, so well expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith, to which so many profess to adhere as containing their creed, everything without exception, great and small, that has ever taken place, or shall ever take place in heaven, or on earth, or in hell has from all eternity been ordained by God, and yet so that the accountableness of the creature is not in the smallest degree removed. This is declared in the clearest manner respecting the greatest sin that ever was committed, even the crucifying of the Lord of glory. It took place according to the express ordination of God, yet the wickedness of those by whom it was perpetrated is explicitly asserted. ‘Truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined; but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed’ Luke 22:22. ‘Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.’ ‘Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done,’ Acts 2:23, 4:25. The crucifixion, then, of the Messiah was ordained by God, ‘according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord,’ Ephesians 3:11, and was carried into execution by the wickedness of men, while God was not the author or actor of the sin. f53 Every objection that can be made against the ordination of God respecting any wicked act, lies equally against these last two declarations. The crucifixion of Christ was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. If, then, the doctrine be chargeable with the consequences which some attribute to it, the admission of it in one case is just as impossible as in every case. It makes no difference how many evil actions are ordained, if it be admitted that one was ordained. The ordination of that one event must have been without reproach to the holiness of God, and this shows that the ordination of all others may be equally so.

Ver. 24. — Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Hitherto the Apostle had been showing that the promise of God was never made to the carnal seed of Abraham. This argument he began, ver. 6, 7, and had continued it till he comes to these words, in which he plainly states who are the true seed of Abraham and the children of the promise, even the called of God of all nations. The natural and easy manner in which, after several exemplifications, Paul here in a direct manner reverts to the main purpose of his discussion, ought not to be overlooked. Here he shows who are those vessels of mercy to whom he referred in the preceding verse. They are not only Jews but also Gentiles, and none of either Jews or Gentiles but those who are called by the Spirit and word of God. After expressing his unfeigned sorrow for the rejection of the Messiah by his countrymen in general, Paul had intimated at the 6th verse, that, notwithstanding this, the word of God had not been altogether without effect among them. He had next declared the reason why this effect had not been produced on the whole of them, namely, that all who belonged to that nation were not the true Israel of God, nor because they were descended from Abraham were they all his spiritual seed. This he had proved by the declarations of God to Abraham, and also by His dealings in regard to him, and especially respecting Isaac. In Isaac’s family God had in a remarkable manner typically intimated the same truth, and displayed His sovereignty in rejecting the elder of his sons, and choosing the younger.

Paul had further proved that this was according to God’s usual manner of proceeding, in showing mercy to some, and hardening others. God had, notwithstanding, endured with much long-suffering that great multitude of the people of Israel who proved themselves to be vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; and, on the other hand, had displayed the abundance of His free grace in preparing vessels of mercy both among Jews and Gentiles. The word of God had thus been effectual by His sovereign disposal to some among the people of Israel, corresponding with the examples which Paul had produced from their history; and in the exercise of the same sovereignty God had also prepared others among the Gentiles on whom He displayed His mercy. None of the Jews or Gentiles were vessels of mercy, except those whom He had effectually called to Himself.

This verse incontestably proves, contrary to the erroneous glosses of many, that the Apostle is here speaking of the election of individuals, and not of nations.

Ver. 25. — As He saith also in Osee, I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

In the preceding verse, the Apostle had spoken of those who were called among the Jews and the Gentiles, whom God had prepared unto glory. In this verse and the following, he shows that the calling of the Gentiles was not an unforeseen event, but that it was expressly foretold by the Prophets. God, by the Prophet Hosea 2:23, alluding to the calling of the Gentiles by the gospel says, I will say to them which were not My people, Thou art my people; that is, the Lord, at the period alluded to, would call to the knowledge of Himself, as His people, persons who were formerly living in heathenish, not having even the name of the people of God. And her beloved, that was not beloved. — The Jewish nation was typically the spouse of God. The Lord had betrothed Israel. But when Christ should come, He was to betroth Gentiles also, and to call her beloved that had not been beloved. Paul therefore shows, by this quotation, that the calling of these Gentiles as vessels of mercy was according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will — according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus.

Ver. 26. — And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

Among the nations which formerly served idols, and of whom it was usually and truly said that they were not God’s people, there will be those of whom it shall be said that they are the children of the living God, Hosea 1:10. They shall be the children of the living God, in opposition to the dead idols or gods of their own imagination, which they formerly worshipped. This proves that, in their former state, they were without God in the world, Ephesians 2:12, 4:18; and consequently that the Scriptures hold out no hope for those Gentiles who are left uncalled by the Gospel. This awful truth, though so many are unwilling to receive it, is everywhere testified in the Scriptures. It is held forth in what is said of the empire of Satan, the God of this world; and also in the character everywhere given in Scripture of heathens, who are declared not to have liked to retain God in their knowledge, and to have been ‘haters of God.’ It is also held forth in all the passages that affirm the final doom of idolaters; as likewise in all that is taught respecting access to God by Him who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Men may devise schemes to extend the blessings of salvation to those who never heard of Christ, but they are opposed to the plain declarations of His word. How thankful, then, ought we to be that we have lived not in the days of our heathen fathers, when God suffered them to walk in their own ways, but in the times when the Gospel has visited the Gentiles! How thankful, above all, if we have been made indeed the children of the living God! The nations of Europe are in general called Christians; but it is only in name that the great body of them bear that title. God will not recognize any as His children who are not born again of His Spirit, and conformed to the image of His Son.

Ver. 27. — Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: Having spoken in the 24th verse of those whom God had called, both among Jews and Gentiles, and having referred in the two preceding verses to what had been foretold of the Gentiles, the Apostle, in the verse before us and the two that follow, introduces the predictions relative to the Jews.

He quotes the Prophet Isaiah, as loudly testifying the doctrine which he is declaring. Hosea testifies with respect to God’s purpose of calling the Gentiles; and Isaiah, in the passage here quoted, 10:20-22, testifies of the rejection of the great body of the Jews, and of the election of a number among them comparatively small. The Israelites looked on themselves as being all the people of God, and on the Gentiles as shut out from this relation. The Prophet here shows that out of all those vast multitudes which composed their nation, only a remnant were to be among the number of the true Israel of God. Whatever fulfillment the prophecy had in the times of the Old Testament, this is its full and proper meaning, according to the Apostle.

At first sight, it might seem that the Prophet speaks only of the return of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon; but, in regard to this, two things must be remarked. One is, that all the great events that happened to the Jews were figures and types, representing beforehand the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ. Thus the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, their passage through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness, the passage of Jordan, and their entrance into Canaan, were representations of what was to take place under the Gospel as is declared, 1 Corinthians 10:11, ‘Now all these things happened unto them for examples (types), and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.’ Hence it follows that the deliverance from the captivity of Babylon, and consequently the predictions respecting it in Scripture, are typical of the future condition of the Church of Christ. This prophecy, then, has two meanings, — the first literal, the second mystical. The other thing to be remarked is, that in the work of God in regard to His Church, there being several gradations which follow each other, it often happens that the Prophets, who viewed from a distance those future events, join together many of them, as if they related only to one and the same thing, — which is a characteristic of the spirit of prophecy. The Prophet, then, in this place joins the temporal re-establishment of the Jews with the spiritual building up of the Church of Christ, although these two things are quite distinct and separate.

These words in this prophecy, ‘They shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth,’ can only have their full accomplishment in believers in Jesus Christ. The same is the case respecting the words, ‘The remnant shall return;’ for this returning or conversion denotes much more than that of the return of the Jews from Babylon — even that glorious turning to God which takes place by the Gospel. And when the Prophet says, Though Thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return it is clear that this is an allusion to the promise made to Abraham, that his posterity should be as the sand of the sea, and that he means to say that whatever confidence the Jews might place in that promise, taking it in a carnal and literal sense, yet that those who were saved would be a small remnant, whom God would take to Himself in abandoning all the rest to His avenging justice. As one event, then, in Scripture prophecy is often made to shadow forth and typify another, so the events of the Jewish history are made to illustrate the spiritual things of the kingdom of God. In this way the prophecies quoted in the New Testament from the Old are to be viewed, and not to be explained in a manner which ascribes to the Apostles of Christ that false and deceitful mode of quotation called accommodation, so disparaging to their character as stewards of the mysteries of God, and so degrading to the Holy Scriptures.

Ver. 28. — For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

This refers to God’s judgments poured out upon the Jews for rejecting the Messiah. They were then cut off manifestly from being His people. He cut short the work in righteous judgment. The destruction determined, denotes the ruin and desolation of the whole house of Israel, with the exception of a small remnant. It was to overflow in righteous judgment, which gives the idea of an inundation. But this not having place in the re-establishment of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, must necessarily be understood of the times of the Gospel. It was then that the consumption decreed took place; for the whole house of Israel was rejected from the covenant of God, and consumed or dispersed by the fire of His vengeance by the Roman armies, with the exception of a small remnant. Formerly God had borne with them in their sins; but now, when they had heard the Gospel and rejected it, they were destroyed or carried away into captivity as with a flood. The Lord made a short work with them at the destruction of Jerusalem. This verse and the preceding confirm what is said in the 22nd verse, that although God endures the wicked for a time, He determines to punish them at last with sudden and overwhelming destruction.

Ver. 29. — And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.

This, again, verifies another prediction of Isaiah 1:9. It was no doubt fulfilled in the events of the Jewish history; but in its proper and full sense, it extended to the times of the Messiah, and predicted the small number of Jews who were left, and the purpose for which they were left.

The Jews who escaped destruction at the overthrow of their city by the Romans, were spared merely as a ‘seed’ from whence was to spring all the multitudes who will yet arise to Jesus Christ out of the seed of Abraham.

Had it not been for this circumstance, not one individual at that time would have been left. They would have been all cut off as Sodom and Gomorrah. ‘Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened,’ Matthew 24:22. Instead of remnant, the word employed by the Prophet, the Apostle substitutes the term seed, from the Septuagint translation, which, though the expression is varied, has a similar meaning, implying that after the whole heap besides was consumed, the remainder was reserved for sowing with a view to a future crop.

By this quotation from Isaiah, the Apostle proves that the doctrine of the unconditional election of individuals to eternal life — that doctrine against which such objections are raised by many — far from being contrary to the ideas we ought to entertain of the goodness of God, is so entirely consistent with it, that except for this election, not one of the nation of Israel would have been saved. Thus the doctrine of election, very far from being in any degree harsh or cruel, as many who misunderstand it affirm, is, as we see here, a glorious demonstration of Divine goodness and love.

Had it not been for this election, through which God had before prepared vessels of mercy unto glory, neither Jew nor Gentile would have escaped, but all would have remained vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. In the case of the angels who sinned there was no election, and the whole were cast down to hell Had there been no election among men, the whole must in like manner have perished.