Divine Sovereignty: Understanding Predestination and Election

"For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.'" [00:01:25]

"Paul does not say here that they - that God had not known what they were going to do, or that He had known what they were going to do. He simply declares that the twins hadn't been born yet, and they hadn't done anything. So all the text explicitly teaches is that God's choice of Jacob over Esau was made before they were born." [00:04:05]

"The emphasis again in the passage is on God's purpose, and what Paul is saying is that the reason why the decision is made before they're born, before they've done anything good or evil, is so that it's God's purpose that will stand. Do you see that the flavor of this passage is totally opposed to the concept of a foreknowledge view of predestination?" [00:06:42]

"The foreknowledge view says that God looks down into the future and He sees that some people will make the correct choice and others will make the incorrect choice. And what the foreknowledge view suffers from is that election in that view is based upon a good work, believing this is the work of God, to believe in the one whom He has sent." [00:08:04]

"The Arminian view - it has very, various styles, and shapes, and forms - bottom line makes the final decision for our salvation rest upon a human choice, not upon a divine action. And I think Paul is annihilating that position here, as strongly as he could possibly do it, by emphasizing the fact that it is not because of works, but because of the one who calls." [00:08:46]

"Verse 14 is a rhetorical question. 'What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there?' How does Paul answer his own question? Does he simply say, 'No, there's no injustice with God'? No, he uses the most powerful form of emphasis that he can. Some translators read, 'May it never be!' or other ones, 'God forbid!'" [00:10:08]

"The whole point of the passage is that some people receive a measure of mercy that others do not. Again, no one receives injustice at the hands of God. Esau is not selected as an object of divine mercy, but that is not an injustice against Esau, because Esau, even before he is born, is known by God as a fallen person because when God does do His electing, He always does it in light of the fall." [00:14:59]

"Jacob receives mercy. Esau receives justice. Now is there anything wrong with that? Well, we say it's not fair. What we mean by that is it's not equal, and what lurks in our minds is this problem: Well, if God is going to be gracious - If we have two men who are judged guilty and they're under the sentence of death - and God is gracious to this one, shouldn't He also be gracious to the other one?" [00:16:25]

"Mercy is something that God does voluntarily. He's not bound to do it. He doesn't have to do it. He's not required to do it. He does it out of the sheer goodness of His heart. And we can never say to a merciful God - and this is the thing that scares me. I hope you will never say to a merciful God, 'God, you are not merciful enough.'" [00:18:00]

"So the election depends upon human choices in the foreknowledge view. And Paul says, 'No it doesn't.' How could he say it any more clearly? This is not based upon the one who wills or upon the one who runs, but upon God. There's where the dependency is. Who has the mercy?" [00:20:15]

"Now, we also speak in terms of what we call 'positive positive' decrees. Now the positive positive schema looks like this: It would say, that in the case of the elect, God so predestines certain people, like Jacob, to be saved, that God ensures their salvation by unilaterally intruding into their lives and creating faith in their hearts; and in the case of the reprobate, God also so predestines their damnation that He intrudes into their lives by creating evil or unbelief in their hearts." [00:24:03]

"However, the schema is 'positive negative.' Now what that means is that in the case of the elect, God does in fact intrude into their lives and sovereignly creates faith in their hearts. But in the case of the rest of mankind, He lets them to themselves. He does not come in and create evil in their hearts, or create unbelief in their hearts, He passes over them, letting them to themselves, so that God's activity here is negative, or passive, rather than active." [00:26:24]