Why are the election passages in Romans 9 so hard to teach?
The election passages in Romans 9 are hard to teach because people confuse election with fatalism, reasoning that if God elects, they need not respond and have no choice. Scripture never teaches that. Election is a doctrine for believers, who accept it by faith, while unbelievers cannot comprehend it and must instead hear whosoever will may come.
Les explains that these verses in Romans 9 are mighty hard to swallow and mighty hard to teach because people confuse the issue and fall into the trap of saying, if it is all up to my being elected, then why should I worry about it? They conclude they will go their own way, and if God sees fit to grab them, they will go to heaven; if not, they will go to hell because they had no choice. Les says the Bible never teaches that. He clarifies that the election and calling of believers since eternity past is a doctrine that should really be studied only by the believer. As a believer, God wants us to know that in our exalted position we did not come in by accident; in eternity past, God chose us. That is something only the believer can take by faith. God said it, and we cannot argue with it, but the unbeliever cannot comprehend this, and it is not for the unbeliever to try to swallow. The unbeliever has to understand whosoever will may come, that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and that Christ died for every man.
More Questions
How should we understand Romans 9-11 in relation to the Old Testament?
We must tie Paul's teaching in Romans 9, 10, and 11 to the Old Testament account.