Scripture Daily

Context No. 3960 of 4322 · Romans

Context · Reflection

Romans 9:14-18: in context

14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! 15For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

Paul faces a hard question head-on: is God unjust in his sovereign choices? His answer is emphatic, by no means, and he grounds it in God's own words to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, Paul concludes, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

This is a humbling truth. Our standing with God does not rest on our own willing or striving, as though we could earn or command his favor; it rests on his mercy, freely given. Mercy, by its very nature, is not something owed or deserved; it is a gift. If it could be earned, it would not be mercy. This should not make us resentful but grateful and humble. We do not deserve God's favor, and cannot demand it; that any of us receives mercy at all is pure gift. The right response to God's sovereign mercy is not to argue that it is unfair, but to fall on it in gratitude, knowing that we live entirely by grace we did not earn.

Do I rest my standing with God on his free mercy rather than my own willing and striving, receiving it with gratitude and humility as the gift it is, since I could never earn or demand it?

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