Predestination 5: How is predestination fair?

15 Oct

Romans 9:14–24

You’re reading the fifth instalment in a series on predestination. These began as notes for our youth leaders, but gradually evolved into something the internet might accept. Start here for the series introduction.

A potter shaping a clay vessel on a pottery wheel

When people ask me whether predestination is fair, the conversation often comes back to hell. If God chooses whom he saves, what about everyone else? How can it be fair for them to face judgment?

And behind that is a question about God himself. Christians say he’s good and loving. But how does that fit with people going to hell—especially if he could have chosen to save them? It can seem like a contradiction. Can God really be as good as we say he is?

That’s a hard question to get your head around. The whole topic can get emotionally loaded too, especially when you’re thinking about someone you love.

In Romans 9:14–24, Paul has to deal with just this question. When it comes to predestination, is God unjust? His answer is that God is never unfair: he judges sinners justly and saves others by mercy.

Some context

In this part of Romans, Paul is considering whether God’s promises have failed because many Israelites have rejected Jesus. Earlier in the letter, he has explained that everyone has sinned and that we are put right with God through faith in Jesus. He now explains God’s choice and mercy, then addresses the objection this raises: is God unjust?

1. God is free to show mercy (vv. 14–18)

Paul anticipates our objection: isn't it unfair for God to choose whom he saves? His answer is blunt: “Not at all!” (v. 14). He reminds us of God's words to Moses:

I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
Romans 9:15

Mercy isn't a reward for trying hard or being a better person. If we could demand it, it wouldn't be mercy.

Then Paul brings up Pharaoh. God raised him up so that his power would be displayed and his name proclaimed throughout the earth (v. 17). Remember what happens in Exodus. Pharaoh repeatedly refuses to listen to God, and the Bible speaks both about Pharaoh hardening his own heart and God hardening Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh isn't an innocent man forced into wickedness. He's already rebelling against God. Yet God remains sovereign even over his rebellion. So Paul concludes that God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden (v. 18). That's a hard truth to get our heads around. But God doesn't owe anyone salvation. He saves because he chooses to show mercy.

2. God is just in judging sinners (vv. 19–21)

But hang on. If nobody can resist God’s will, how can he still blame us? Paul raises that very objection in verse 19.

His answer is pretty confronting: “Who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?” (v. 20). He uses the picture of a potter making something out of clay. The thing being made doesn’t get to turn around and say, “Why did you make me like this?” The potter has the right to make different things from the same lump of clay (vv. 20–21).

God made us. We didn’t make him. We can ask him questions, and we can struggle to understand what he’s doing. But we’re hardly in a position to tell him he owes us salvation.

That doesn’t mean God gets to be unjust because he’s in charge. Remember, Paul has already asked whether God is unjust. His answer was an emphatic "no" (v. 14). God judges us for sins we’ve willingly committed. And if he shows mercy to someone else, that doesn’t mean he’s wronged us.

If you think about it, if anything was going to seem unfair, it’s that God shows mercy to some sinners at all. How can a just God let guilty people go free?

But when God does show mercy, he doesn’t ignore our sin. He deals with it at the cross. Jesus takes the punishment we deserve. That’s how God can forgive sinners and still be just (Romans 3:25–26). Our forgiveness cost Jesus his life.

3. God reveals his glory through judgment and mercy (vv. 22–24)

Now Paul takes us beyond the question of fairness to what God is revealing about himself. In verses 22–23 he speaks of God's wrath and power, but also of his great patience. Paul says God bears with great patience those who face his judgment. But he also wants to make known the riches of his glory to those he has chosen to save. His judgment shows that he takes sin seriously. His patience shows that he gives sinners time to repent. And his mercy shows just how generous he is towards people who deserve judgment.

Notice the contrast: Paul speaks of objects of wrath 'prepared for destruction', but says explicitly that God 'prepared in advance' the objects of mercy for glory. We shouldn't pretend this answers every difficult question about election and judgment. But Paul wants us to see both God's justice and the extraordinary riches of his mercy. And in verse 24 he says that those God has called include people from the Jews and from the Gentiles. His mercy reaches people who could never have earned it.

So God isn't unfair when he judges sinners, and he isn't unfair when he saves them. In both, he reveals what he's like: perfectly just and wonderfully merciful.

Pushback questions

So God literally creates some people just so he can send them to hell?

Romans 9 really does teach that God is sovereign over both salvation and judgment. But saying God creates people just to send them to hell goes further than Paul does. God is patient towards sinners (Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9), and those he judges are responsible for rejecting him—they chose to reject him. Paul doesn't describe innocent people desperately wanting to come to God while God refuses them. Remember, nobody deserves salvation. If God judges sinners, he isn't being unfair; the amazing thing is that he chooses to save anyone at all.

Notice the careful wording in verses 22–23. Paul says the objects of wrath are 'prepared for destruction', but explicitly says that God 'prepared in advance' the objects of mercy for glory. He doesn't say who prepared the objects of wrath for destruction. Christians disagree about what that difference means, so we shouldn't claim the verse settles every question about God's sovereignty over judgment. His point is that judgment is just, God is patient, and salvation comes through undeserved mercy.

So does God send people to hell for his glory? How could that glorify him?

Romans 9:22–23 says God's judgment makes his wrath and power known, while his mercy shows the riches of his glory. That doesn't mean God delights in people's suffering or that hell is something to celebrate. His judgment shows that evil is bad and that he won't ignore it forever. His patience shows that he doesn't rush to judge, and his mercy shows the astonishing kindness he gives to sinners who deserve judgment. Judgment reveals something of God's glorious character: he is just. And that's what we'd want, isn't it? None of us wants an unjust God. That's why we're asking whether predestination is fair in the first place.

“Who are you to talk back to God” sounds like a convenient way of shutting down any difficult question, doesn’t it?

I can see why it sounds that way. But notice that Paul himself asks these questions: 'Is God unjust?' and 'Why does God still blame us?' He's not saying we should never ask.

There's a difference between asking God questions and putting him in the dock, as though we're qualified to declare him guilty. That's Paul's point with the potter and clay. God is the Creator, and we're not. It's okay to struggle with this passage. But we need to be careful about assuming that God must be wrong simply because we don't understand him.

So what?

Be amazed by mercy rather than feeling entitled to salvation.

If salvation depended on our goodness or effort, we might have something to boast about. But Paul says it depends on God's mercy. If you're a Christian, you haven't earned a place with God. He's shown you mercy, and you've got absolutely no reason to feel superior to someone who doesn't believe.

So be thankful. And don’t look down on people who don’t believe. You’re a sinner who’s been shown mercy. You can trust God to do what’s right with them too.

And where do we see that mercy most clearly? At the cross. Jesus took the punishment our sins deserve so that we could be forgiven. God didn't save us because we deserved it. He saved us because he's merciful.

Study 5. How is predestination fair?

Pray and get going

Q1. When someone says, “That’s not fair!”, what usually makes them think something is unfair?

Read Romans 9:14–24

Q2. What question does Paul ask in verse 14? How does he answer it?

Q3. According to verses 15–18, does receiving God’s mercy depend on our desire and effort, or on God? What does Pharaoh’s example add to Paul’s argument?

Q4. What objection does Paul raise in verse 19? How does it follow from what he’s just said in verse 18?

Q5. How does the picture of the potter and clay answer that objection (vv. 20–21)? What does it remind us about God and ourselves?

Q6. Look at verses 22–24. What do they show us about God’s patience, judgment and mercy? What does God want those he saves to understand about him?

Q7. Someone says, “If God were fair, he’d save everyone.” After reading this passage, how would you respond? What do you still find difficult?

Q8. If you trust Jesus, you’ve received mercy you didn’t earn. How could remembering that change your attitude towards someone who isn’t a Christian? Think of one way you could show that in how you treat them this week.

Pray and give thanks

Father, you are just and merciful. Thank you for showing us mercy through Jesus when we hadn’t earned it. Help us trust you when we find these things hard to understand. Keep us from looking down on others, and help us show them the kindness you’ve shown us. Amen.