esponse

We have already addressed this passage in regard to God’s omnibenevolence,38 and

few verses
are more misused by extreme Calvinists (especially those who hold to double-
predestination).39
First, again, God is not speaking about the individual Jacob but the nation of
Jacob (Israel). In
Genesis, when the prophecy was given (25:23 NKJV), Rebekah was told, “Two nations
are in your
womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body … and the older shall serve the
younger.” The
reference is not to individual election but to the corporate election of the chosen
nation (Israel).
Second, despite the corporate election of the Israelite nation, each individual had
to accept the
Messiah, by faith, to receive God’s salvation (cf. Rom. 11:20). Paul said, “I could
wish that I myself
were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own
race, the people of
Israel” (Rom. 9:3–4; cf. 10:1).
Third, God’s “love” for Jacob and “hate” for Esau is directed to the nations of
Jacob (Israel) and
Esau (Edom). What is more, Paul, in Romans 9:13, is speaking of them not before
they were born (c.
2000 B.C.) but long after they lived—the citation is not from Genesis but from
Malachi 1:2–3 (c. 400
B.C.). The deeds of the evil Edomites, perpetrated upon the Israelites, are well
documented (e.g.,
Numbers 20), and even though it was for these actions that God “hated” them as a
nation, Scripture
does not teach that no Edomites would be saved. In fact, the Bible says there were
believers from
both Edom (cf. Amos 9:12) and the neighboring country of Moab (cf. Ruth 1), as
there will be people
in heaven from every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue (Rev. 7:9).
Fourth, the word translated into English as hated means “loved less.”40 To
reillustrate, Scripture
says that Jacob “loved also Rachel more than Leah.… And when the LORD saw that Leah
was
hated…” (Gen. 29:30–31 KJV).41 Similarly, Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and
does not hate
his father and mother … he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).42 A parallel idea
is expressed in
Matthew 10:37: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me.”
Fifth, and finally, the statement “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy” (Rom.
9:15; cf. Ex.
33:19) should be understood as intensive, not limiting. That is, the emphasis is on
the intensity of the
merciful action, not on the limits of its object. Clearly God loves all (cf. John
3:16; 1 John 2:2; 1 Tim.
2:4) and even “bore with great patience the objects of his wrath” (Rom. 9:22),
waiting for them to
repent (2 Peter 3:9).
Romans 9, then, does not teach that God hates the non-elect (or even that He does
not love them)
but instead that His love for those who do receive salvation is so amazing—so
splendid, so
magnificent—that His love for those who reject it looks like hatred by comparison.
The same loving stroke that makes a kitten purr seems like an expression of hatred
if she turns the
opposite direction and finds that her fur is being rubbed the wrong way. God’s
expressed love is the
same for both believer and unbeliever: The believer is already experiencing God’s
love, while the
Lord is patiently waiting for the unbeliever to repent (i.e., to turn his life in
th