• Main Idea: Our salvation was an act of God’s mercy that should humble, comfort, and embolden us to share Christ with others.
• Head Change: To know that in Christ we are recipients of God’s mercy.
• Heart Change: To feel gratitude that God has chosen to be merciful to us.
• Life Change: To share the good news of God’s mercy with those who are not yet followers of Jesus.

What’s something awe-inspiring you sometimes wonder about—the expanse of the universe, why people think a certain way, how birds can fly? Have you found answers to satisfy your curiosity?

There are questions we ask regularly, some more answerable than others, that confound us. In Romans 9, Paul asks some of the stickiest questions that Christians and non-Christians alike both grapple with: Who does God’s choose? What does it mean to be chosen by God? Why does God choose some and not others? For that reason, this chapter is often regarded as one of the most difficult to understand in all the Bible.

But in this session, J.D. will show that Romans 9 is written not to confuse or confound us, but to provide the people of God with hope and encouragement and to strengthen our resolve to share Christ with others.

Read Romans 9:1–33.
Show Session 4: Romans 9:1–33 (14 minutes).

After writing what many consider the greatest chapter in the Bible—Romans 8—Paul turns to address the tension between God’s sovereignty and our free will, making it one of the most difficult passages of Scripture in the Bible. After reading this chapter and hearing J.D.’s teaching, what were some of the difficulties that stood out to you? What makes them so challenging?

Paul opens chapter 9 writing about the sorrow and anguish he feels for his fellow Israelites who don’t acknowledge Christ. He even says in verse 3 that he wishes he “were accursed and cut off from Christ” for their sake. What does it communicate about his love for these people that he’s willing to be “cut off from Christ” for their benefit? Are there any unbelievers in your life whom you feel similarly toward? To what lengths are you currently going to share the good news with them?

 Speaking of the Israelites, Paul says that the story of God belongs to them and that from their ancestors “came the Christ.” Yet they missed him. It is the same for people around us in everyday life. Many hear about Jesus, maybe even grew up in church, but they do not see him as Lord. In what ways are we tempted to chastise people for not recognizing Christ? With Paul as our example, what would be a more appropriate response to unbelief?

What can we do to cultivate compassion for the people in our lives who don’t yet believe in Jesus?

After mentioning and lamenting over the unbelief of many Israelites, Paul addresses a question that he supposes his readers are likely to raise because of the promises God had made with Israel: “Has God failed to keep his word?” How does Paul answer this question? Have you ever asked a similar question? What answers did you arrive at?

In verses 6–8, Paul makes a couple of statements that his readers may have found surprising. He says that not all who come from Israel are actually Israelites, because being a member of God’s people is not a matter of physical lineage. In other words, being God’s child is not determined by one’s ethnic identity, but personal trust in God’s promises. How does this passage help to reassure you that you are God’s child?

 In verses 9–12, Paul, points readers back to the book of Genesis. He recounts the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Esau, highlighting what theologians refer to as the doctrine of election, or God’s freedom to extend mercy to those he chooses. What thoughts and emotions come to mind when you encounter Paul’s argument for election? In what ways is the doctrine of election comforting to you? In what ways do you find it troubling?

Paul assumes some of his readers will object to the assertion that God elects some as his children and not others. But in verse 15 he persists in his argument, pointing back to the Old Testament once again—this time to Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. What can we learn about God through his interaction with Pharaoh? How can the example of Pharaoh instruct us how we respond to God?

Commenting on God’s prerogative to extend mercy to some and not others, J.D. noted that mercy, by definition, “excludes any sense of obligation.” To receive mercy is to receive something that we do not deserve. God owes us nothing, but by his grace, he freely gives us mercy. Why do you think we sometimes assume that mercy is something we’re owed? If we have received God’s mercy, in what ways should we respond?

 In what ways does God’s mercy embolden us to share Christ with others? What do you do to share God’s mercy with those around you?

From Jacob and Esau to Pharaoh, Paul makes his point that God extends mercy to whomever he pleases. But the mercy and hardening he effects naturally leads us to a follow-up question: Why does God still find fault with those who don’t believe his promises if God is the one who “wills” their unbelief? How would you answer this question? How does Paul answer this question?

J.D. used Pharaoh as an example to help us understand why we are still held accountable for our unbelief. He said that God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart came only after Pharaoh had hardened his own heart. Have you ever experienced hard-heartedness? How long did it last? What did God use to soften your heart?

Have you ever considered that it was God’s mercy to soften your heart and not further harden it, as he did with Pharaoh?

Paul uses a series of contrasting words and phrases to make clear that God is God (and can do what he wants), and we are not. He contrasts “mere man” with “God,” “what is formed” with “the one who formed it,” and “clay” with “potter.” In what ways does acknowledging that God is our creator help to correct our objections or discomfort with God choosing who receives his mercy? What are some of the practical effects of recognizing the creator-creature distinction between God and us?

In the next few verses, Paul uses several attention-grabbing words like “wrath,” “power,” “patience,” “mercy,” and “glory” to help illuminate what he imagines God is doing in the world. And, before quoting the Old Testament, he ends with the idea of glory. As Paul sees it, the purpose of God extending mercy to us is that we might see and enjoy his glory. In a sentence, how would you describe the glory of God? In what way can the reality that we are destined for God’s glory change the way we live today?

Paul makes it clear that God is calling both Jews and Gentiles to himself and, grounding this assertion in God’s Word, he proceeds to quote from the Old Testament. He tells us that God will welcome people who were once not his people—people like us. What was your life like when you were not a part of God’s people? How has your life changed since being called to become one of God’s people? In what ways does being beloved by God shape the way you live every day?

What might your life be like now if God hadn’t adopted you into his family?

J.D. closed this session by reminding us that “salvation is something that God owes to none of us, but he offers it to all of us.” He said that we should respond to that truth in at least three ways. It should humble us, embolden us to share Christ with others, and comfort us. In what ways have you been humbled by God’s mercy on you?

Who in your life needs to hear the good news of God’s mercy today? 

How has God used the reality of his mercy to comfort you personally? In what ways do you need the comfort of his mercy right now?

For those who have been adopted by the Father, saved by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit, though, the mercy of God is our lifeboat. And because God has shown us mercy, we can be assured that he will keep us and embolden us for our mission to share his mercy with others.

Let’s commit ourselves to receive God’s mercy with humility and gratitude and share it with those who are “not [his] people” so they can “be called sons of the living God.”