What If God

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

WHAT IF GOD

Rom 9:22-33

22 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? 23 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— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"  

Oh, Paul has far more to illustrate the character of God, but it is all too much to bite off all at once. Yet the same theme of his argument will be the same. Once again, we are faced with a loving and caring God who is also just in his sovereignty. First, we have to understand this is not about electing certain people or a nation of people to simply destroy them. This would be so counter to the fact that God so loved the world, which means every man, woman, and child in every part of the world, throughout the time from creation, that he made a way for all of mankind to be fully restored to the position of his first man. However, the point is that Paul is saying that “what if God”, which is not a definitive statement that God did choose to show his wrath. Second, we should understand this Greek word translated as prepared. This same word is used to to be made perfect or rendered as. The fullest of this idea is that even if God decided to demonstrate his wrath on those he foreknew would reject him, it is for the purpose to make his power known. But we also have to remember that this is “What if God” and that in the “What if” he also showed that his power gives him all the authority to bear great patience with the objects of wrath.  This gives us another reason to believe, that although he foreknew their rejection, his eternal hope is they will repent and come to him. This also applies to those he foreknew would accept his mercy, which means we are destined for glory. His call for mercy is for all the Jews and Gentiles. However, because the majority of Jews, the nation as a whole who he has called his people, rejected his call, he now calls us Gentiles, the ones who accepted his mercy, as according to the words given to Hosea, God now calls us “My people” and he also calls us his loved ones, who were once not his loved ones, as Israel first occupied that designation. Therefore,  as we proceed through all of these illustrations of God dealing with his creation, they are in the context of “What if God”.