Election Determines History Not Eternal Destiny

By Hazel Holland

In the past I have recoiled with abhorrence every time the following passage of Scripture has been quoted to prove that God elects some individuals to be eternally condemned, while choosing others to be eternally saved. Somehow this explanation of how God predetermines who will be saved and who will be lost, without ever giving the individual any choice or responsibility in the matter, never seemed to line up with God’s righteous character, or His already revealed will in many other places in Scripture.

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles” Romans 9:21-23 (NASB).

Today, instead of running from this Scripture in horror, I chose to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my study so that I might be able to gain a better understanding of what God is saying to us through these verses. In order to better understand the context, I decided to read the whole chapter of Romans 9, hoping that it would perhaps shed further light on what was being discussed.

As I studied the chapter I began to understand that these complex verses, along with other previously difficult verses in this same chapter were not proof texts for predestination. Instead, the issue at stake was not about the eternal destination of individuals being predetermined, but rather the election of peoples and nations so that God’s purposes in salvation history would be fulfilled. Moreover, I learned that even though certain groups and people are elected to fulfill God’s sovereign purposes, it is still the individual’s choice as to how they will respond to God’s call.

Paul begins Romans 9 by sharing his sorrow and grief over the fact that not all who profess to be Abraham’s descendants truly are.

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel” verse 6 (NASB).

He goes on to further explain that it is not the children of the “flesh” (Ishmael) who are the children of God, but rather the children of the “promise” (Isaac) who are children of God, and true descendants of Abraham (Romans 9:7-9).

In these verses God is not issuing eternal damnation for Ishmael and eternal salvation for Isaac. Instead, He is describing the history of Israel by using the analogy of these step-brothers. He is illustrating how he uses both nations to accomplish His eternal purposes in history, NOT their eternal destiny.

Next Paul goes on to describe the history of Israel by reminding us of the analogy of the two twin brothers, Jacob and Esau.

“And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER." Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED" Romans 9:10-13 (NASB).

Here Paul goes a step further to explain that we cannot define “Israel” on the basis of genealogy. Jacob and Esau were full-bloodied, twin brothers, and God sovereignly chose the lineage of Jacob to continue the line of salvation history before the twins were even born. Thus, God’s choice of Jacob had nothing to do with his good works, but rather God’s purpose by means of sovereign election.

Now let’s take a further look at the problem phrase, “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated” and find out where it originally was spoken, and what it means. I discovered that this phrase is not a quote from the book of Genesis, but rather a quote from the prophet Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says the LORD, but you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the LORD “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.” Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!” Malachi 1:2-5 (NASB).

As we look at these verses in context it is clear that God is not talking about the eternal destiny of either Jacob or Esau, but rather the deeds of the descendants of Jacob and Esau, namely the Israelites and the Edomites. God is saying here that he hates the behavior of the people of Edom. Again, going back to the context of Paul’s discourse in Romans 9, God is saying that no one can make a claim to election based on their ancestry.

Now let’s go to Genesis 25 and see how God identifies Jacob and Esau as two nations even before they were born.

“Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger." When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb” Genesis 25: 21-23 (NASB).

It must be noted here that even though God sovereignly chose Jacob to carry on the line of promise before he and his brother were even born, God did not reject Esau, or refuse to be gracious to him. In fact the following verses from Deuteronomy reveal that the Israelites were forbidden at one point to make war against the descendants of Esau, the Edomites.

“And the LORD spoke to me, saying, 'You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, and command the people, saying, "You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink” Deuteronomy 2:1-6 (NASB).

Clearly we see from this passage that although God didn’t elect Esau to carry on the line of promise, He provided land for his descendants. Furthermore, He told the descendants of Jacob that they must respect the sons of Esau and not try to make war with them.

Now before we come back to the difficult verses in Romans 9 that began this study, I think it will be helpful if we take a look at Romans 1 and see how Paul outlines the progression of events in a person’s life as they are headed down the path of destruction.

“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them” Romans 1:24 (NASB).

“For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural” Romans 1:26 (NASB).

“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” Romans 1:28 (NASB).

From the following verses we learn that God allows men and women to choose to reject Him because we are all free moral agents. God did not cause these people to do these evil things. They chose darkness rather than light. Therefore, God allowed them to choose their own destiny, and gave them over to their lusts, degrading passions and depraved minds.

Now let’s return to the original verses in Romans 9 where the issue of “vessels of wrath” and “vessels of mercy” is being discussed.

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles” Romans 9:21-23 (NASB).

In order to clarify the meaning of this passage let’s go back to the original Greek. “Vessels of wrath” are described as being “prepared for destruction” or “fitted for destruction” in some translations. In Greek, as in English, there is the passive and active verb. So it is important for us to realize the difference between the passive and the active verb that is being used when reading this passage of Scripture.

In the active verb it means the subject of the sentence does the acting, and in the passive verb the subject receives the action. These two serious distinctions make all the difference in how we interpret this passage of Scripture!

In verse 22, the verb “prepared” is passive, and the subject is the “vessels of wrath” that receive the action of “destruction.” God is not the subject here at all! However, in verse 23, the verb “prepared” is active, and the subject is “God” who does the acting. He prepared “vessels of mercy beforehand for glory”.

In other words, God is saying, “I prepare vessels for glory”, but “vessels are prepared for destruction”. The meaning of this passage now lines up with the rest of God’s revealed Word. Everywhere in Scripture the responsibility for such preparation for destruction always lies right in the very heart of the man or woman who will eventually go to their eternal destruction in hell. Although we as human beings were never designed to occupy hell, because it was only created for the devil and his angels, we are preparing ourselves for destruction if we continually refuse to respond by faith to the Spirit of God, and choose eternal life in Christ.

If the Holy Spirit is revealing to you right now that the progression of events in your life are leading you down the path of destruction, stop and listen to His voice! God never chose you to become a “vessel of wrath”. Never! In spite of what you may have been told by well-meaning Christians, the Bible never teaches us that God elects some people to be saved and others to be lost. As we have seen in our study today, the Scriptures clearly teach us that God sovereignly elects people groups and individuals to fulfill His sovereign purposes in fulfilling salvation history, not to determine their eternal destiny. Election determines history, not eternal destiny!

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ took God’s wrath against sin upon Himself, so that you and I do not have to experience His wrath. God’s alternative to wrath is mercy. Instead, God’s wants you to become a “vessel of mercy” that He prepared beforehand for glory. He wants you to experience the mercy of God that has been poured out upon you through Jesus Christ’s finished work for you. He has already taken your sins upon Himself and given you His perfect righteousness. Your eternal destiny is Jesus Christ! Choose to believe this gift that God has already given you in His Son, and you will become His “vessel of mercy” forever.

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