Please explain Romans 9:15.
Let’s begin looking at your good question by reading Romans 9:14-16, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”
“Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” Have you ever questioned the righteousness of God? I expect most of us have questioned it when something happens that doesn’t seem fair. Perhaps we know of someone who passed away at a very early age; perhaps we have read about someone being killed savagely by a criminal; perhaps we consider the injustice in the world and question the Lord’s righteousness. We are re-assured throughout the scriptures that the Lord is, indeed, righteous. What He does is ALWAYS the right thing to do! As we mature in the things of the Lord, may we learn to NEVER question His righteousness.
Ezra 9:15, “O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous…”
Psalm 11:7, “For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness…”
Revelation 16:5, “And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord…”
Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” This is a quote from the book of Exodus. The Lord had promised to be with Moses, because he had ‘found grace’ in the eyes of the Lord. Moses asked to see the Lord’s glory as a sign of His promise to go with him. We read in Exodus 33:17-19, “And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”
Is it unrighteous of the Lord to choose whom He will have mercy and compassion? We have already seen that there is NO unrighteousness in the Lord! So, how do we understand this? In fact, NO ONE deserves the mercy of the Lord. We all deserve death and judgment! We read in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. For that, we all deserve death as we read in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” That’s what we deserve!
The remainder of that verse reads, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rather than give us what we deserve, the Lord offers a gift…eternal life through faith in His Son. In the portion in Exodus 33, the Israelites had been unfaithful, but the Lord decided to show mercy to them in spite of their actions. Was He unrighteous in doing this? Is the Lord unrighteous in punishing those who oppose and sin against Him?
“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” Divine favor is never earned by the works of man, no matter how hard they may work to earn the grace of God. Mercy is never earned, nor can it be earned. It is bestowed freely by our loving God to guilty people as He sees fit. How thankful we should be for this! (198.8)