by Jacob Ninan
There are controversies about the passage, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated," with people wondering how God could be so unjust and others claiming that it shows the total sovereignty of God (Rom.9:13). Paul goes on further to quote God saying, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion" (v.15). "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy" (v.16). Many people jump to the conclusion from passages like these that God is arbitrarily (unconditionally) choosing some people to give them salvation and damning others to hell.
But, of course, we must be absolutely clear that there is no injustice with God. There cannot be. As well as being loving, merciful and kind, He is also righteous, just and impartial. What we need to keep in mind is that all of His attributes and aspects of His character are simultaneously true and He cannot ignore one in order to show another. For example, He cannot stop loving people even when He is disciplining them (Heb.12:6). What we need to do is to recognise, in this example, how His love works, and that is to desire the eternal good of everyone He has created, not wishing that any should perish (2Pet.3:9).
Therefore, what appears to be injustice in the passage above must not be seen as injustice at all, because God cannot ever be unjust. We have to understand these kinds of passages, keeping in view both the sovereignty of God and His justice and love. Then we will see that they may not mean what they appear to at first glance. "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Psa.115:3). This tells us that He is able to do whatever He wants, but then, He will want only what is consistent with His character! For example, He will not tell lies or go back on His promises. His being places a boundary over His sovereignty! In other words, His sovereignty operates within the domain of His nature. If God cannot lie because His nature is truth, He cannot be unjust and partial to unconditionally elect some people for salvation while judging the others to damnation.
God did not predestine Jacob to salvation and Esau to judgment! As far as salvation is concerned, God offers it to all people, and those who humble themselves and believe will be saved. The passage Paul quotes is from Malachi chapter 1, where it is clear that God is talking about choosing Israel (Jacob) for the special role as His model nation. It might look as if He loved Jacob and hated Esau as individuals, but once we see that it was related to the plan for the nations that would come from them, this confusion will disappear.
It was not that God arbitrarily chose to harden Pharaoh so as to show His glory, as it might look from a casual reading of Romans 9. We can read from Exodus that Pharaoh kept hardening himself, and the point came when God gave him over to his own choice. Romans 1 describes this kind of experience. There was nothing 'unconditional' or unjust about it.
Even when we try to understand the idea about God showing mercy to some and not to others, we must keep in mind that there cannot be anything unjust about it at all since it is impossible for God to be unjust. Paul is making the point in Romans 9 that God has every right to choose Israel to be a special people in His plan of salvation, and that He was not being unjust towards the Gentiles. Paul wants us to also learn that we have no right to question God (Rom.9:20). On the other hand, even though God has the right to show mercy to whomever He wants, because of who He is and His character, He shows mercy only to those who repent, and not to those He arbitrarily chooses.
To take passages like these to teach in a way that gives the impression that God is an arbitrary Person who shows injustice and partiality to favour some people with salvation and damn others is blasphemy! That discredits God and contradicts His character. It also fails to explain many other passages and the Gospel itself that talk about His love for all mankind, His willingness to suffer in our place in order to be able to provide us salvation which we do not deserve, His invitation which is given out to 'whoever wills', etc. Surely, in seeking to describe the sovereignty of God, we must not negate other precious characteristics of God such as righteousness, justice, impartiality, love, mercy, kindness, etc.
"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow" (Jas.1:17). God does not ever change in His being or His character. Whatever He does, it will be consistent with every aspect of who He is. What we experience on our side depends on how we respond to God (Psa.18:25,26).