Today I heard a sermon on Malachi 1.1-5.  This passage came with a warning from the speaker due to the harsh language about God hating Esau while loving Jacob. I am not bothered by this language because we must (1) let the intensity of the prophet’s message hit us in the face and (2) we must develop our distinctly Christian doctrine of God through his revelation in Jesus Christ. What I found a tad more bothersome was the speaker’s teaching on how this statement is used by the Apostle Paul in Rom. 9.13.

He went on to say that this is an example of the doctrine of election from a bit of a Reformed angle. We have all heard it taught this way. In Rom. 9.1-29 we have several analogies by Paul explaining why God is vindicated in electing a remnant. God hated Esau for no apparent reason and he loved Jacob the same (9.6-12). God will have mercy on whoever he wants for no apparent reason while rejecting others, like Pharaoh, because he is God and he can do those things (9.13-18). If this seems unjust, remember you’re just a dumb human, or a lump of clay that God can make for glory or wrath depending on how he feels (9.19-23). So the sermon ends with a reminder that we don’t know who is part of the elect, but if you care and you are showing “fruits of repentance” this likely means you are in the right crowd.

I am not rejecting all that is said here, though I think most of the sermon was based on half-truths. What bothered me most was the statement that he was going to give a “plain reading” of the text (as if other readings are trying to be creative in order to avoid the gut-sinking truth of the passage). Honestly, I don’t think he gave a plain reading.

In Rom. 8.1-25 we see Paul’s eschatological vision of the resurrected people of God joining the resurrected Christ as the new humanity ruling over the redeemed created order. In this passage Paul tells believers that they are adopted sons of God. There adoption will be finalized when they are resurrected into the age to come.

If anyone doubts this remember the Spirit is with us (vv. 26-27) and God has everything in his control (v. 28). God foreknew his people, therefore he has predestined their salvation, which means becoming like his Son, Jesus. These are those whom he has justified and whom he will glorify (vv. 29-31). This is comforting to the believer because it tells the reader that if you have placed your faith in Christ you do not worship a God who may change his mind on the day of judgment. Rather, God knew you and God has predetermined your vindication. Paul writes a bit more reminding us that nothing can change this (vv. 32-39).

Paul knows this surety causes great concern: OK, wait, Israel was the children of God and hardly any Jews seems to follow Jesus as Messiah. In Rom. 9.1-29 we have Paul answering the question of Israel, specifically. This is not a treatise on how predestination works, but rather how God has time after time after time called a remnant from amongst his “people”. In other words, God’s people are not OK simply because they are descendants of Abraham. This does not guarantee salvation.

In 9.6-14 we have a specific example of how God has found his true remnant people in the midst of Abraham’s descendants. Abraham had Isaac and Isaac had Jacob and Esau. Esau is the older brother, therefore the one who should become the patriarch and the one of favor. God says this is not how it will be. Jacob will be the one who is a natural descendant, but more importantly part of the people of promise. Within the line of Abraham we have a “remnant” and we have apostasy.

In vv. 15-18 we have another analogy showing how God can elect a people while discarding another. The example of the pre-Exodus story where Pharaoh is harden by God. If it has been said once, it has been said twice: Pharaoh is a terrible example for a doctrine of hyper-predestination. If we read the Exodus story he was given many chances by God, he continues to harden his own heart, and God goes along with it. God knew Pharaoh’s heart and he drove Pharaoh further toward the judgement he deserved.

In vv. 19-24 we do not have cosmic “duck, duck, goose” as many seem to say we do. Rather, we have God putting up with a single lump of clay from which vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy come. In other words, God has put up with this lump called Israel in order to find his remnant people in the midst of a wicked and rebellious people. Is this still strong language? Yes! Does this still raise some questions about God’s grace, God creating people he knew would rebel, and so forth? Yes! But it is not about God choosing to create me before time for salvation and my unbelieving cousin before time in order to condemn him. It is about God putting up with Israel in order that his remnant may emerge from the same ball of clay.

In vv. 25-26 Paul quotes Hosea 2.23 and 1.10 as examples of God doing such a thing and this time Paul applies it to Israel’s rebellion bringing forth a remnant which includes Gentiles as well. In vv. 27-28 Paul mixes quotes from Is. 10.22-23 with some commentary showing how God has judged Israel as a whole in the past, while retaining a remnant. In v. 29 we see the same idea as Paul quotes Is. 1.9.

Why does Paul say all this about his people being judged righteously while God righteously proves faithful because he saves a remnant while judging those who deserved to be judged? In v. 30 we find out that this time the Messianic remnant includes Gentiles. It was part of God’s plan to preserve Israel, no matter how rebellious she became, because in doing so the day would come when Messiah would emerge from her midst and God’s salvation would reach the nations as it had been promised to Abraham (Gen. 22.18).

So why is there people who are judged while on the other hand there is a remnant who finds themselves in the mercy of God? Is it a big mystery? Is it just because God is God and he answers to no one? Those two things can be true, but the plain reading of the text actually gives Paul’s logic: The Gentiles did not pursue the law; apostate Israel did. The law became a stumbling block preventing apostate Israel from receiving something to wicked Gentiles easily received by faith because they were not fixated on the idea that law-obedience would result in the fulfillment of God’s promises. Some Jews and many Gentiles had no such expectations or their expectations changed over time (vv. 30-33).

What separates the remnant? Faith. The true people of God responded in faith. In 10.1 Paul begins unfolding this very idea: faith is juxtaposed to trying to obtain righteousness through law adherence. This does not have to be seen as Luther saw it (faith v. “deeds”). Rather, it seems that Paul is criticizing the idea that the covenant faithfulness of God is dependent upon continual adherence to the law. If the law leads to missing the Messiah, the law was not being pursued in faith, because those who were living by faithfulness find Messiah (1.16-17). The rest of the tenth chapter spells this out very clearly.

So, we may go elsewhere for a stricter, Reformed vision of election (?) but we have to toss the narrative of Israel aside, acting as if that is not Paul’s concern, if we are to get it from Rom. 9.1-29. Paul is concerned with how God draws forth his true people from his supposed visible people. He is concerned with providing hope to new Christians who wonder how they can trust a God who seemingly rejected Israel, his “former” people.