Recently I was assigned to write a paper on a topic in Romans. I picked reprobation. I decided to post a slightly edited version of my paper here for your edification. Enjoy! (I decided to take my footnotes out for the blog post and just put in the bibliography so you know what sources I’m citing.)
Introduction
Many debate about God’s justice and righteousness in regard to salvation, and many have attempted to produce solutions to this seeming “issue” in Scripture. The question throughout the ages has always been: how can a loving God send people to Hell? Therefore, people have sought to explain throughout the ages how such a thing could be. They often land on the idea that God allows people to choose their own fate by deciding whether to accept His offer of free grace and salvation through Jesus Christ or not. This is probably the most common rationalization there is of the idea that some are saved, while others are not.
The doctrine of reprobation (that is, the theological belief that God predestined some to destruction as He predestined some to eternal life) is discarded and shuddered at in today’s society. Verses such as 2 Peter 3:9 and John 3:16 are taken to mean that God loves everyone, and therefore the conclusion is that since God loves everyone, He would never willfully condemn someone to Hell. Even many of those who believe in the unconditional election of believers are extremely repulsed at the notion that God would choose some for destruction and some for eternal life.
But is this idea Scriptural? Or is it rather humanity’s attempt to “explain” or “defend” God’s ways apart from Scripture? The key to answer this question is actually largely found in Romans 9.
The Doctrine of Reprobation
Reprobation Defined
In order to fully understand and expound upon the subject at hand, it becomes necessary to define the doctrine of reprobation. The doctrine of reprobation is defined clearly in the insightful resource, Biblical Doctrine. “The decree of reprobation is the free and sovereign choice of God, made in eternity past, to pass over certain individuals, choosing not to set his saving love on them but instead determining to punish them for their sins unto the magnification of his justice.” Simply put, the doctrine of reprobation teaches that God does indeed have sovereign authority, choosing beforehand whom He will elect for eternal life, and whom He will predestine for eternal destruction. Or as Calvin put it, “God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his pleasure to doom to destruction.” This is obviously a difficult doctrine, and one that many struggle to grasp. But is it taught by Scripture, or not?
Reprobation Misunderstood
Before moving to the Scriptural answers for the doctrine of reprobation, it is to be acknowledged that this doctrine has been much misunderstood. First, reprobation does not mean that God is the direct cause of evil, as this is against the teaching of Scripture. For instance, one common misunderstanding of reprobation is that God formerly saw men as unfallen and chose whether they would become evil or righteous. This is not the implication of the doctrine, however; believers in the doctrine of reprobation hold that, in eternity past, God saw all men as sinful and fallen, and chose those whom He would save and those whom He would not.
Another common misunderstanding is that God actively casts men into destruction. This seems to contrast His holy and just character. However, many if not most believers in reprobation hold that the way in which God predestines men for destruction is very different from the way in which He elects others for salvation. This will be covered further in the next section.
The two acts of God in reprobation are separate: preterition is the active willing of God to pass over some men, thus leaving them in their sinfulness, and precondemnation is the active willing of God to condemn those to destruction whom He has passed over. Thus the decree of God in reprobation is active-passive; He passes over some, thus not actively committing evil and preserving His holiness, yet actively willing that those whom He has passed over will be destroyed, thus preserving His perfect sovereignty. Romans 9:14-24 will now be examined to see how this passage determines and defines this doctrine clearly.
Reprobation in Romans 9:14-18
Romans 9:14-16
In Romans 9:14, the foundational truth underlying what Paul is speaking of and will continue to expound upon is God’s righteousness. Paul knows that the topic of reprobation is one that will likely cause many to question God’s justice, holiness and righteousness. Therefore, he clarifies in the strongest possible terms (me ginomai, strong Greek negative) that God has no unrighteousness in Him. This is important to keep in mind.
Romans 9:15 quotes from Exodus 33:19, in which the Lord declares to Moses, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” In the context of this Old Testament passage, Moses requested to see the glory of the Lord. The Lord’s response was that He would make His goodness pass before Moses, indicating that goodness of the Lord’s very nature. But sovereignty is just as intricate to His nature, as He then immediately states the sentence previously quoted. In the words of MacArthur, “…God is absolutely sovereign and does elect who will be saved without violating His other attributes. He determines who receives mercy.”
Romans 9:16 sheds even more light on this truth, stating that a merciful God is the only possible agent for salvation. One could will to be saved and attempt to save himself, but without the mercy of God, his efforts would be useless. God’s decisions whether to elect one to eternal life or eternal condemnation are solely based on His good pleasure and not on anything within man. The same truth is supported earlier in the chapter, when Paul says that God’s election is “not because of works but because of Him who calls.” (Romans 9:11)
Romans 9:17-18
The doctrine of reprobation is further developed in Romans 9:17-18. Paul examines a case in point, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and quotes Exodus 9:16 to show us clearly that God raised up Pharaoh in order to show His power. In the account of the Exodus, it is said multiple times that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but also that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Thus while humanity is guilty for their own sin of hardening their hearts, the Lord is still in ultimate control.
This idea is well described by Moo.
“But it is imperative that we maintain side-by-side the complementary truths that (1) God hardens whomever he chooses; (2) human beings, because of sin, are responsible for their ultimate condemnation. Thus, God’s bestowing of mercy and his hardening are not equivalent acts. God’s mercy is given to those who do not deserve it; his hardening affects those who have already by their sin deserved condemnation.”
Exodus 9:16 also touches on the purpose for reprobation, to be discussed in further detail later. As Moo also points out, God’s purpose in this specific instance is for “the demonstration of God’s power and the wider proclamation of God’s name.”
Reprobation in the rest of Scripture
Before moving on to the implications and purpose of the doctrine through a further examination of Romans 9, a few other Scriptures on the doctrine will briefly be considered for support. While there is not time and space here to thoroughly cover all the references to this doctrine in Scripture, it is important to include a few for context.
Proverbs 16:4
This passage explicitly states that the Lord has made all things for His purposes, “even the wicked for the day of evil.” No matter how one desires to interpret it, one cannot avoid the truth that the author has conveyed to us. One might ask, if God is completely sovereign, why has He allowed evil in the first place? He could have simply made a world without sin and evil. Seeing that He did not, however, indicates that He has a specific plan and purpose in mind. Indeed, according to Proverbs 16:4, God created the wicked specifically for the day of evil.
1 Peter 2:8
“…They stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this stumbling they were also appointed.” The implication Peter makes is that those who stumble over the Stone of Christ were appointed to such condemnation. In fact, the verb for “appointed” is third-person in the Greek, indicating that these people were appointed by someone to stumble. Who could appoint such a thing but God?
Jude 4
“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Jude describes these ungodly people as those who were “long beforehand marked out for this condemnation.” Interestingly, the Greek for this verb “marked out,” porographo, means “to write beforehand.” While the elect were written long before time in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 13:8), the damned were also written long before, as this verse clearly teaches, despite the modern sensibilities that might be offended.
Thus, this doctrine is taught not only in Romans 9, but also in other passages of Scripture, although space and time are insufficient to mention them all here. Some of the implications of the doctrine are clearly seen by examining Romans 9:19-24.
The Implications of the Doctrine
Romans 9:19-24 contains a few implications of the doctrine of reprobation, which will presently be discussed. First is a confession. Subsequently, the purpose of the doctrine will be examined.
The Confession (Romans 9:19-21)
The confession, found in Romans 9:19-21, is that reprobation is a difficult doctrine and simply cannot be fully understood by man. Admittedly, it is a hard teaching. Calvin stated in his famed Institutes of the Christian Religion,
The decree, I admit, is dreadful; and yet it is impossible to deny that God foreknew what the end of man was to be before he made him, and foreknew, because he had so ordained by his decree. Should any one here inveigh against the prescience of God, he does it rashly and unadvisedly. For why, pray, should it be made a charge against the heavenly Judge, that he was not ignorant of what was to happen?…For as it belongs to his wisdom to foreknow all future events, so it belongs to his power to rule and govern them by his hand.
Moo also speaks to this, saying, “No doctrine stimulates more negative reaction and consternation than this one. Some degree of such reaction is probably inevitable, for it flies in the face of our own common perceptions of both human freedom and God’s justice.”
Paul states in Romans 9:19 that a man might ask how God can find mankind guilty of sin when it was all ultimately foreordained and the man precondemned by Him in the first place. Instead of giving an answer, Paul shoots back a sharp reply: who is man to question God? The answer to this question, is both that man is guilty for his sin and that God has all things planned in His sovereign counsel. This seems contradictory to the questioning human mind. Yet, as said by John MacArthur, “God is not subject to fallen notions of fairness, nor will he be tried at the bar of human reason.”
God has power as a potter over the clay, and therefore has the perfect authority to create one vessel for honor (to choose one man for salvation) and to create one vessel for dishonor (to precondemn one man to destruction). For a moment look ahead to verse 22 of the ninth chapter of Romans. The vessels of wrath are described as having been “prepared” (passive) for destruction. This leads us to believe that while God does decree the condemnation of certain individuals, He does so passively. He leaves them in their sin while actively decreeing the condemnation of those so left. Thus, God’s holiness and sovereignty are both preserved.
But the inevitable question arises: how is the doctrine of reprobation fair? How is it just for God to choose one man for destruction and one man for everlasting life, appointing one to glory and one to destruction? As previously stated, the answer is: who is a man to judge the Lord? While men desire to have all the answers and to be fully aware of all things, they must humble themselves and realize that they are nothing compared to the Lord. If the great Lord Yahweh could be understood by finite man, He would be small indeed. This is a doctrine that must be accepted by faith unquestioningly by men who submit their hearts to the Word of God instead of twisting the Word of God to fit their fallen ideas of fairness and justice. Surely the Judge of all the earth shall do justice (Genesis 18:25), and surely He is far more just and fair than the fairest of judges.
Again, MacArthur speaks to this point. “The sinner’s responsibility is not to discern the secret counsels of God’s decree but rather to heed the clear commands of Scripture to repent and believe the gospel.” One must simply receive the Word of God by faith.
The question that is asked in reply to the inquirer is as follows: “Who are you, O man, to reply against God?” Or similarly, as the Lord once said to the wayward children of Israel who accused God of unfairness, “Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right?” (Ezekiel 18:25b)
The Purpose (Romans 9:22-24)
Nearing the conclusion of our present discussion, one may wonder what would be God’s purpose for electing some to damnation. Why would He do so? Romans 9:22-24 gives us the answer.
As mentioned above, Romans 9:22 implies that, while God did precondemn some, He did so passively as to not be the direct cause of evil and yet actively to retain His sovereignty. Romans 9:22 tells us that God has patiently endured these “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” Why? As Romans 9:23 says, “…in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory…”
Thus, God elected some to damnation in order to lavish His glory all the more on His elect! While the “vessels of wrath” are prepared for destruction, the “vessels of mercy” God has specifically chosen and actively prepared for glory—eternal glory. The darkness of the doctrine of reprobation causes the diamond of the election, mercy, and grace of God to sparkle all the more brightly.
As MacArthur puts it, “God is not less glorious but more glorious because he has ordained evil, and the more he magnifies his glory, the greater is his love to his people.” Or as Jonathan Edwards said as quoted by MacArthur,
And as it [is] necessary that there should be evil, because the glory of God could not but be imperfect and incomplete without it, so it is necessary in order to the happiness of the creature, in order to the completeness of that communication of God for which he made the world; because the creature’s happiness consists in the knowledge of God and the sense of his love, and if the knowledge of him be imperfect, the happiness must be proportionably imperfect.
Therefore, the purpose, hearkening back to verse 17, of God’s reprobation of some—to show His power, proclaim His name, and display His goodness, mercy, and glory to His own elect.
The Application of the Doctrine
The application of this doctrine has multiple points. First, as has already been mentioned, this is a doctrine to be believed by faith rather than understood by human means. It is one to bring us to our knees in humility, confessing that our God is so much more infinitely wiser than we, and that we submit our theology to His Word instead of vice versa. Instead of making one resent the Lord’s wisdom or question it, it should humble one to realize that he is not infinite and has no right to question the Almighty.
Further, this doctrine should inspire praise and gratitude in the believer. He should be filled with thanksgiving to the Lord for opening his eyes instead of blinding them, for no reason of himself but merely the Lord’s good pleasure. The believer should be awestruck in worship and adoration for the Lord’s greatness and His mercy.
The final application of this doctrinal point is evangelism. While it may not seem to be the conclusion of such a hard doctrine, it very much is. The believer does not know the infinite counsel of the Lord and whom He has predestined for life or damnation. Therefore, the believer ought to be all the more passionate to share the gospel of Christ, hoping and praying that he will be the vessel ordained by God used to show His astounding grace and mercy to the lost.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Romans 9 clearly supports and teaches the doctrine of reprobation, along with other passages of Scripture. While it is offensive and even despised by many today, the believer’s theology must be shaped by the Word of God instead of being subject to his personal feelings, notions, and opinions. And God’s Word declares that God condemns some to eternal destruction—for the praise of His glory and the brightness of His mercy to the elect. Humanity is unable to question the justice and righteousness of God. And through this study, we catch a greater glimpse of the greatness and mercy of God. To close, Calvin has another powerful statement about the doctrine of reprobation:
At last, he concludes that God has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth (Rom 9:18). You see how he refers both to the mere pleasure of God. Therefore, if we cannot assign any reason for his bestowing mercy on his people, but just that it so pleases him, neither can we have any reason for his reprobating others but his will. When God is said to visit in mercy or harden whom he will, men are reminded that they are not to seek for any cause beyond his will.
Bibliography
Calvin, Jean. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Hendrickson Publishers, 2008.
MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue. Biblical doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth. Crossway, 2017.
MacArthur, John F. The MacArthur Bible commentary: A Faithful, Focused Commentary on the Whole Bible. Thomas Nelson, 2005.
Moo, Douglas. Moo, Douglas J. The Letter to the Romans. New International Commentary, 2018.
Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Hendrickson Publishers, 2007.
If the reader is interested, a few further passages to study are Isaiah 29:10, John 12:40, 1 Kings 22:20, Ezekiel 14:9, and Romans 11:8.
All Scripture is taken from the Legacy Standard Bible.
