God's Hatred of Esau

Had a gentleman in my church ask about Romans 9 and God's hatred of Esau and his hardening of Pharaoh's heart. This is what I emailed to him.

My own opinion of Romans 9 is that it has to be read in context through to Romans 11. This is Paul's wrestling with how salvation has come to more people than the Jews and what the Jewish "vocation" was and has now, because of Christ, become. What I will do is talk about Esau and then outline Paul's intent through Romans 11.

First, God's hatred of Esau, quoted from Malachi, is in the context of God raising up the Jewish nation, just returning from exile. Malachi is about God's plan for Israel and Malachi's word to those who will be leading it (priests, etc.). By this time, Esau's descendants had formed a new people (Edomites) completely separate from the twelve tribes of Israel. God's selection of Israel meant destruction for those opposed to them. This was not hatred for Esau individually, as God wrestled Jacob in order to change Jacob's demeanor and give him courage to face Esau (Gen. 32-33) and be reconciled.

Paul then gives the example of Pharaoh: Another person God has hardened for his purposes. What Paul has done is give two examples of the negative side of God's selection of Israel: the selection of Israel meant the dis-selection of others. He does this to show that God's current dis-selection of ethnic Israel is not out of God's character. (This is why Paul is wanting to be cut off himself for his race at the start of ch. 9.) But even in the midst of this dis-selection of ethnic Israel is the selection of some Israelites. Stay with me.

Then he asks a question some will think (9:19): Why does God still blame us? Paul's answer: Who are you to talk back to God? God's dis-selection of ethnic Israel, the objects of wrath prepared for destruction (9:22), was to make his glorious salvation known for both those from the Jews and the Gentiles. So, God creates a people from those who were not his people (9:25), but this had to happen by the dis-selection of ethnic Israel. This brings us to the last part of chapter 9 where Paul says that those who pursue righteousness by works (meaning "works of the Law"--that which demarcates ethnic Israel) have stumbled (9:31). They've missed the point of the Law. (Think back to the notion I talked about from Jeremiah, with God writing the law on hearts and minds.) Paul is in true anguish, then, at chapter 10 because he knows the zeal ethic Israelites have for God (10:2). But this zeal is not based on true knowledge of God, nor is it based on God's righteousness. Why not? Because Christ is the end of the Law (10:4) so that everyone (both Jew AND Gentile) may be part of the people of God. Paul then shows that there is no great difference between Jew and Gentile (10:5-13).

Skip ahead to chapter 11 and Paul comes to his conclusion: Does this mean God has dis-selected Israel forever? No...God will always have a remnant of Jewish people come to be part of the people of God. So, being ethnic Israel does not mean one has stumbled beyond recovery: It has only been for the sake of Gentiles who God calls. So that Gentiles don't boast this selection of non-Jews and dis-selection of Jews, Paul says Gentiles are like wild shoots grafted into the real branches.

Paul's conclusion (11:26), then, is to reveal the "mystery" (meaning 'purpose') of God: Israel has been hardened (what I have been calling 'dis-selection') for the Gentiles to come in, making one new people out of the two. [This is why Paul says in Eph. 2 that Christ made peace between Jews and Gentiles by abolishing the Law in his flesh, preaching to those who were near (Jews) and to those who were far away (Gentiles).] With this new people, all "Israel" (people of God, not ethnic Israel) will be saved (11:26). You'll notice that Paul changes the quote in verse 26, saying, "The deliverer (Jesus) will come FROM Zion," when its original quotation (Is. 59:20) says, "the deliverer will come TO Zion." The point isn't salvation for the Jews, but salvation through the Jews and their Messiah. And of course Paul ends all this talk of election and God's choosing and God's picking with the phrase, "God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all" (11:32).

In sum, I believe Paul is saying this: God's selection of Israel meant dis-selection of some (Esau and Pharaoh). Now God's dis-selection of Israel, part of his eternal plan, is for the sake of the Gentiles. And this was his eternal plan: To form one new 'Israel,' one new people of God, from both Jews and Gentiles. Paul is so amazed at this providence of God and his knowledge in selecting and hardening for the good of ALL, that he ends with praise!

Re-thinking Confession

My pastor preached on Sunday and said that when we stop learning, we start concluding. This got me thinking about confession and its place in opening us up to learning, again.

A few months ago I finished some research on how listening and speaking can help us give new meaning to our lives. (Maybe some of us can think of a time we were sharing a story about a problem and suddenly the light clicked on about how to handle the problem or what the problem was about....) Some counselors describe their clients as having lives, or life-stories, that are "stuck." They have lost the plot of their life. By speaking about their stories, though, and having them listened to and interacted with, the clients' stories, or lives, began to unstick. As their stories began to unstick, they can move forward and progress.

James 5 urges us to confess our sins and pray to be healed. When we think about the benefits of speaking and listening to one another, it is no wonder that Christians have considered confession a discipline. I think we have to expand our thinking on confession: Confession doesn't have to be about our deepest and darkest sins, it can be about any way that we have become "stuck" in life:

"I'm no longer seeing my job as an act of worship."
"I have lost the point of building-up and encouraging my wife."
"I have given up on my husband."
"I just don't care about much anymore."

All of those statements (and more) are confessions of being "stuck." Confessing it--speaking it out--is the first step to getting unstuck. Confession opens the door for God to start working on those places where we are stuck. (And always follow confession with prayer because the point of confession is not just venting, but healing.)

Inconsistent Jesus

John 20:17: Jesus said [to Mary Magdalene], "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

John 20:27: Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, "Put your finger here ; see my hands. Reach out your and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Two stories.
The first has Jesus telling Mary not to hold on to him for he has not yet returned to the Father. The second has Jesus telling Thomas to touch him.

The first has Jesus telling Mary to return to tell his brothers of his resurrection.
The second has Thomas confessing Jesus as Lord and God, in defiance of Emperor Domitian's title.

Why would Jesus tell Mary not to hold him, but for Thomas to touch him?
Why would Jesus refer to his subjects as brothers and allow Thomas to confess him as Lord?

While I think much could be said about the doctrine of the Ascension, what is currently on my mind is the personal response of Jesus to disciples in two different places. What Mary needed was not a reassurance that it was Jesus; she needed an expanded picture of who Jesus was becoming: Lord and God. Jesus says, "Do not cling to me: I am bigger than who you want to cling to."

Thomas, on the other hand, had all the resources to understand who Jesus had become: Lord and God, but he did not believe that the same Jesus had been risen--he wants to see the evidence that it was this crucified Jesus, scars and all, who is risen. Once he knows it is the real, flesh and blood Jesus, he's all set to see how big Jesus is. Jesus says, "Stop doubting and believe it's me, your friend."

Jesus met both people where they were. He challenged both of their shortcomings. He did this in different ways. The personal Jesus is the King of the Cosmos and knows his subjects personally.