“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” Romans 9:16
THE overriding message of the ninth chapter of Romans is the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation, that “salvation is of the Lord”. In verse 15 we read God’s clear declaration that “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion”, demonstrating that salvation lies in the will of God, not in the will of man, and in the calling of God, not in the works or the merits of man (9:11), “so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy”.
This truth of God’s sovereignty in calling those whom He wills unto salvation, in showing mercy to whom He wills, in showing compassion to whom He wills, is described in verse 11 as “the purpose of God according to election”. God has a people whom He has elected to save, a people whom He has chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) having predestinated them “according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:5). These are those unto whom He shows His mercy, His compassion and His grace. For salvation does not rest upon the weak, fickle, corrupt and changeable will of man, but on the eternal will and purpose of God “according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” Ephesians 1:9.
How often the scriptures repeat this truth. How clearly they show the contrast between the fallen will, desires and intents of mankind, and the perfect sovereign will and purpose of God. Man’s will by nature is always set in opposition to God and His grace, springing forth from the hearts of those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), who walk according to the spirit of the children of disobedience, according to the “prince of the power of the air”, in the lusts of their flesh, the “desires of the flesh and of the mind” Ephesians 2:2-3. How can such choose to follow the God of the scriptures? They can not and they will not. But in contrast God, in the good pleasure of His will has purposed from all eternity to show mercy, to show compassion, to those who sought Him not, to those who had no will to seek Him, those who had no strength to run to Him, to those, who when taught their condition before God, when shown their sin and depravity, when awakened to the eternal consequences of their rebellion against God, could, and can, only throw themselves upon the mercy of God, upon His compassion, His grace. It is such as these whom God has purposed to save – those whom He has chosen in Christ unto salvation, those whom He has purposed to show unto mercy, and those whom He teaches, in time, their need of that mercy.
Romans 9 sets forth this truth of God’s sovereignty in considering the position of both the Jews and the Gentiles in relation to the promises of God. From the earliest of days God always had a people in this earth who were set apart from others. The nation of Israel was chosen of God as a people separate from others, to whom God showed great mercy, giving them the promises, the priesthood and the scriptures. God’s dealings with Israel throughout the scriptures stand as a clear picture of His sovereignty in salvation, of His electing purposes. God always did choose some, and not others. But as this chapter shows, Israel itself, as a physical nation, was merely a figure, a pattern, a type, of that which was to come. God’s eternal purposes in electing grace are set upon not a physical nation, but a spiritual. Not those born of the flesh, but those born of the Spirit. For those whom He saves are chosen out from amongst both Jews and Gentiles, and as one whole they form the true spiritual Israel of God, of whom Israel of old was but a picture, “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall they seed be called. That is, they which are of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” Romans 9:6-8.
Hence the chapter having considered both those to whom God shows mercy, and those whom He hardens in their sin – those whom He raises up as vessels of mercy to make known His glory, and those described as vessels of wrath to make his power known in judgment – goes on to conclude that God has a people called out from amongst both Jews and Gentiles who are “afore prepared unto glory” to whom He shows His mercy. These are the people of God, the true Israel of God, the “children of the living God”.
“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 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.” Romans 9:22-26
But this truth of God’s sovereignty and of His divine election unto salvation is not one that sits well with the natural man. By nature we oppose it. By nature we have a high regard for ourselves, our own abilities and our own will. By nature we feel that we have a right to choose our own destiny. That salvation be by the will of God, and not by our own, we consider to be unfair. But the reality is, by nature, we never receive the things of God, we never seek after God (Romans 3:11), our will never desires Him or His salvation, and in our fallen depravity, with hardness of heart we simply shake our fist at our Maker in complaint. But God has a reply to this complaint, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” 9:20-21.
No, man by nature may not react well to the truth of God’s sovereignty. But that is because “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7), because “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Except God reveal these truths to us by His Spirit they will always remain foolishness to us, something which we oppose.
Yet the truth is, if it were not for the rich mercy of God, for His undeserved compassion towards a people who sought Him not, who having turned from Him sought their own things, living life in the lusts and desires of their flesh, for their own ends, and for their own glory, in the depths of sin and rebellion, yea, if it were not for God’s mercy to such as these, none would be saved. Yet God, in His glory, in His mercy, has chosen a people in Christ whom He has called out from amongst all people, all races, Jews, Gentiles, male and female, all ‘vessels of mercy’, whom He has saved by the blood of Christ, by the death of His own Son who loving them gave Himself for them. Oh! What love for sinners this shows. And were it not for this love, for this purpose of God according to election, for the immutable will of God in saving “all Israel” none would be saved. But because salvation is of the Lord, because God is sovereign in salvation, because He has mercy on those whom He will have mercy, salvation is sure and certain to every last one for whom Christ suffered and died, to those whom He purchased with His own blood upon the cross.
And when such sinners are brought to see the love and mercy of God towards them, through the revelation of God’s Spirit, and feel the application of that mercy within their own hearts, then the truth of God’s sovereignty in salvation, that He by His own will sought them out to save them, is not something they resist, but something they rejoice in, something they glory in, something which will cause them to praise God’s Name for evermore!
Oh! Praise God for His mercy in saving sinners freely by His grace!
RELATED AUDIO MESSAGES
“That Our Eyes May Be Opened” Matthew 20:33
So does God desire for all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth? 1Timothy 2:4
Thanks for the question. The inference of which is perhaps that in 1 Timothy 2:4 ‘all men’ must refer to all men and women who have ever lived without exception, and that if God desires that everybody be saved, then how can He show mercy to some, but not others?
In order to answer the question faithfully however, we must consider the verse you have quoted within its context in the scriptures. To take any phrase or verse out of context and interpret it in isolation is a sure way to come to a wrong conclusion. So let us check the context:
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. ” 1 Timothy 2:1-4
Now, take a look at that passage. Just who are the ‘all men’ of verse 4? Are they every single human who has ever lived? No, verse 1 defines the context. Verse 4 follows on from what Paul is speaking of in verses 1 to 3. He exhorts that prayers be made for ‘all men’, and gives an example of what he means by ‘all men’ – he means ‘for kings and for all that are in authority’. In other words for all types and classes of men.
Paul is saying, ‘Don’t just pray for your own class’. In writing to those who were perhaps servants and ‘working class’, he says that they should pray for kings, pray for rulers, pray not just for those like themselves but for other ranks and positions. God has His people in every tribe and kindred. He saves some poor and He saves some rich, some lowly and some kings and queens. And God will have all types of men to be saved.
Now one might argue that I’m putting ‘types’ into the phrase there, and yes I am, but I’m doing so because verse 1 makes it abundantly clear that that is Paul’s meaning by ‘all men’ here. Not everyone that has ever existed, but all types and ranks and classes and races.
We must interpret scripture in its context and in the light of other passages. John 10 tells us that Christ said “I lay down my life for the sheep”, and He goes on to say to the Jews whom he addresses in verse 26, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep”. What does that tell us? Does it tell us that they weren’t his sheep because they didn’t believe? Or that they didn’t believe because they weren’t his sheep? Which is true? The latter is. These were goats, not sheep. And Christ laid down His life for the sheep, not the goats. Hence Christ did not die for all men, and neither does God desire the salvation of all men universally – He desires the salvation of ‘all men’ as defined as that elect company which He has chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world, that company chosen out of every tribe, race and kindred, of all classes.
Hence if Christ died for the sheep and not the goats it is clear that 1 Tim. 2:4 cannot mean that God would have all men universally without exception to be saved, otherwise Christ would lay down His life for sheep and goats! But what it means is that all the sheep will be saved and those sheep include both the poor and also kings and rulers!
I trust this answers your question, by considering the passage in its proper context and meaning.
Oh, Okay, But what about 2 Peter 3:9?
What I mean is does he not want any of his sheep to perish but them come to repentance?
Well, it is certainly true that God does not want any of His SHEEP to perish, and indeed none will, for they will all be brought to repentance. But the point here is, that the sheep are God’s elect, that people chosen by God from eternity unto salvation – not all mankind.
With regard to the meaning of 2 Peter 3:9 again we must consider that verse within the context of the passage in which it is found. Have another look:
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
That phrase at the end “not willing that any should perish” is in the context of the question “where is the promise of his coming?” Peter is answering the question of why the Lord has not yet returned. Why not? Because He has other sheep, other souls elected unto salvation, others whom He has yet to call unto repentance, and until all His people are brought to faith Christ will not return. Because God is not willing that any of His people should perish, but that all of them should come to repentance. Therefore He will not return until every last one has been gathered in.
That is the context of the passage, and the context in which that verse is written. Also notice the “us-ward” in that verse. God is long-suffering to us-ward – that is, towards the US to whom Peter writes, which are the elect, those who have “obtained like precious faith with us” (2 Peter 1:1). Obtained… not exercised their own natural faith or will, but obtained faith from God to believe in what God has done for them.
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So, to summarise… all God’s sheep, all the elect will be brought to repentance, and none shall perish, because God is not willing that any should perish. What God wills He gets – He is sovereign. He isn’t willing that any of His people should perish, so He doesn’t return until all have been brought to repentance – not one is lost.
(Note, that if the verse was ‘universal’ in application, meaning that God isn’t willing that ANY PERSON should perish then everyone would be saved, otherwise God would be disappointed in His will. But we know that not all men are saved, so it is clear that the ‘any’ of 2 Peter 3:9 does not refer to all men, but to all God’s sheep, all His elect – none of whom will perish, but all of whom will be brought to repentance.)