faith for faith

They deem it enough that they have some kind of zeal for religion, how preposterous soever it may be, not observing that true religion must be conformable to the will of God as its unerring standard…It is easy to see how [their] superstition, with its false glosses, mocks God, while it tries to please him…Those, therefore, who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore their own delirious fancies; indeed, they would never dare so to trifle with God, had they not previously fashioned him after their own childish conceits (John Calvin, Institutes I.iii.3).

I must make a confession of sorts. In my last post concerning the coexistence of truth and peace, I said that I do not know which is more valuable–the declaration of truth or the semblance of peace, but that is not entirely true. I do know quite clearly in my mind and soul which is chief among the two, but I have been torn lately by my fleshly desire to be accepted by men and by my heart’s desire to make God known and to see him worshiped. I must confess and repent from such fleshly desires, for, if I do not, God will not be glorified by me and my life will be in vain.

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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matt. 5:9).

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matt. 10:34).

Believe it or not, I actually do think before I put my pen to paper. I think that people might actually read what I write and that they might actually have some sort of reaction to it. I do think that when I write, I write, to the best of my understanding, what is true according to Scripture and think that truth will set people free when it is brought forth in the power of the Spirit (cf. John 8). And I admittedly default to a Lutheran stance on the subjects of truth and peace and say just as Luther himself said, “Peace if possible; truth at all costs.”

But I do wrestle mightily with the desire for peace. I genuinely believe that the Church of Christ is supposed to be a united body with Christ as her head, and it grieves me deeply to see the innumerable divisions in her. I wonder why these divisions exist and why a Universal and United church has never existed apart from compulsion by fear.

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Continued from III. Jacob I Love; Esau I Hated, Pt. 1

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Romans 9 is filled with hard and divisive texts, and there perhaps are none more hard than Paul’s quotation from Malachi 1:2, 3: “I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” But before we begin to explore the actual meaning of this text, let me preface this study by laying my hermeneutic before you. First, I believe that every word of Scripture is inspired by God through the Holy Spirit and therefore every hard saying and every doctrine that we encounter are divinely placed in Scripture for a particular end. Second, which is contingent upon the first, I do not water down texts, and I will not water down today’s text. God inspired the Prophet to write, “Esau I have hated,” and inspired the Apostle to quote from that text, and he did both without apology, and I will humbly do the same. If you disagree with my hermeneutic, please do not bother to attempt to argue with me on this subject, or any subject for that matter. I do believe that discussion and argument are edifying when done in love and truth, but if we have different hermeneutics (e.g. I believe Scripture is all Inspired revelation, and you believe that Scripture and tradition are equal revelation, et al.) discussion and argument are at most times futile and destructive.

With that said, in the present text we see that God loves one person and he hates another. Before we raise our hands to object, we must understand that God is not like us. He loves perfectly, and he loves differently than we love. We recognize this in Scripture, and we apply it to other actions and attributes of God. God judges perfectly, whereas we do not; God vindicates perfectly, he condemns perfectly, and he gives mercy and grace perfectly. Therefore, when we see in Scripture that God hates, we must recognize that his hate is as comparable to our hate as his love is to our love. He hates perfectly and without unjust malice, whereas we never hate rightly and never apart from perceived injustice or prejudice.

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After Paul reveals to us his deep love for brothers according to the flesh in Romans 9:1-5, he begins to address the chief subject of this passage, namely God’s faithfulness to his promises. For there are those who look at the promises to Israel before Christ and then look at the rejection of physical Israel by God after Christ and question the validity of God’s promises. They might ask, “If God cannot be trusted to keep his promises to his people Israel, why should we expect God to keep his promises to Gentiles who are followers of Christ?” This is a valid concern indeed, if it were in fact true.

To address this, Paul goes directly to its root—the promise given by God to Abraham. Paul does not look at the promise itself, but to whom the promise is given. He writes:

Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” … For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son” (vv. 9:7, 9).

These statements are significant because, if you remember, Isaac was not Abraham’s first son. Abraham had taken Sarah’s maidservant and had a son with her by the name of Ishmael who by law and custom was the rightful heir of Abraham’s inheritance. Yet God had chosen Isaac over Ishmael as the one through whom the promise would be fulfilled.

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