What if God? Romans 9 pt. 3

Paul writes:  "What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory."

Remembering that the question Paul is answering in Romans 9 is: “Has God’s word failed in regard to God’s election of Israel?”  What is Paul’s intent in this passage?

 Is Paul concluding that there are some people who are destined before time began to be objects of wrath and others destined to be objects of mercy, as Calvinists conclude?  If so, how does that really answer the question posed by the apostle?  How does that fit with Paul’s expression of unconditional love for these hardened, cut off, stumbling people of Israel in the beginning of this chapter?  How does this fit with the fact that Paul expresses God’s longsuffering patience to a people who He has held out his hands too for generations (Rm. 10:21, Matt. 23:37)?  How does this Calvinistic interpretation fit with the fact that those cut off in Romans 9 may be grafted back in, those hardened may be provoked by envy and saved, those stumbling haven’t stumbled beyond recovery, as recorded in Romans 11? 

Is there more than one perspective here?  Could Paul be addressing the exact same argument that was addressed in Romans 3:1-8 where the Jewish people argued, “If my unrighteousness highlights God’s glory why am I to blame?”

Isn’t it clear that God is speaking of Israel’s objections against being used to bring redemption to the world by being temporarily cut off, blinded and stumbled, and not of the reprobates objection to being rejected by God from before the creation of the world?

 Let’s dive into the text and find the true intent of the author.  If you’d like to enter the discussion join us at www.soteriology101.com