God Without Religion_ Can It Really Be This Simple_ - Andrew Farley [31]
Paul is saying that God can do whatever he wants. In his divine wisdom, he chose to include the Gentiles and elect them for salvation as well. This was controversial, since the average Jew thought a Gentile had no business even dreaming of knowing God.
God’s Right to Choose
Next is Paul’s Old Testament reference to Rebecca’s twins, which he uses as an example to argue that God has always done as he pleases:
Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Rom. 9:11–13)
God loved Jacob and hated Esau. And God chose to do this before either of them was born. There is no question about that. The real question is why Paul is bringing this up. Is it to justify the idea that God handpicks Christians today for heaven and leaves others for hell?
Interestingly, Paul doesn’t go there. Paul’s point has nothing to do with individual selection on this side of the cross. Now, I can understand how someone might conclude such a thing. We pick up the Bible and read it and we naturally make it about us, as individuals. But notice how Paul connects the dots for us New Testament saints. Interestingly, he transitions into a discussion of how God made a radical move to include Gentiles in the gospel, not just Jews:
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (Rom. 9:22–24)
Who were the objects of God’s wrath? Gentiles. And what is this passage about? It’s about God’s plan to show off his patience as he saves people, not just from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. On this side of the cross, either Jew or Gentile can receive a heavenly calling in Christ Jesus!
God’s Civil Rights Movement
In the late 1800s, laws in the South resulted in the separation of blacks and whites in the United States. African Americans were considered second-class citizens, while whites were wrongly regarded as superior. In many cases, African Americans were required to use separate schools, restaurants, bus and train seating, telephone booths, and toilets. State laws also prevented interracial marriages and restricted the voting rights of African Americans.
But all of this would soon change.
On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order that stated, “There shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.” From there the civil rights movement, aimed at outlawing racial discrimination, began to transform American society. Schools that were previously segregated opened up to African American students. Buses and restaurants stopped their racial segregation. Slowly, the mentality all over the United States, especially in the South, changed. People began to see African Americans in a new and proper light.
Bigotry in the Bible
Racism is not something we like to think about when reading the Bible. But racism is precisely what was occurring two thousand years ago between Jews and Gentiles. And it wasn’t just an attitude. There was segregation, just as we witnessed here in the United States:
When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.