There is No Injustice with God

There are sermons that are strong on application. These are passages that most pastors love to preach on. A couple verses, some illustrations, a few action points and people can leave encouraged on how to live for God.

Chapters 9-11 do not fit that mold.

More importantly than how WE need to act, these chapters reveal to us the way God chooses to act. If anything, these are the passages we should spend more time on because our goal ought to be to know God more fully. I encourage you to take time as we study these chapters to place a lower value on the question of, “What do I need to DO for God” and a higher value on the question of, “What do I need to KNOW about God.”

I mentioned several weeks ago that the topic of election is not one you can avoid. You will have to wrestle with it . You will be uncomfortable with it at times . But we come to this point because this is what God’s Word says . We left off last week with this verse:

Romans 9:13 CSB

¹³ As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

God as the Creator of all mankind has the right to show favor to whomever he . He also has the to punish and to use for destruction anybody he wants .  If we believe otherwise then we make the will of man stronger than the will of God and we make God subject to the whim and will of man . And that is not the God that we serve .

Does that make God unjust ?

Romans 9:14–18 CSB

¹⁴ What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! ¹⁵ For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.¹⁷ For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth. ¹⁸ So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Is there injustice with God? Is God being fair?

NOT FAIR:

I don’t know about your house, but I knew in my house growing up, I said the words, “That not fair!” And my boys said it at times, too!

›     ask: what are some things at home that “are not fair”?

Older sibling being able to do things you cannot SEEMS unfair. Similarly, when the younger sibling gets to do things you were not allowed to do, that can seem unfair, right?

He got the bigger half! We solved that one by creating a “fair” system. One cuts and the other one picks which piece they want. AMAZING. I saw candy bars split to the mg!

Three things kids often complain are “unfair”

• Bedtime rules — When a sibling gets to stay up later or when they feel “not tired at all.”
• Sharing expectations — Toys, screens, snacks… anything that feels like theirs becomes a battleground.
• Chores and responsibilities — Especially when they believe someone else has fewer or “easier” tasks.

Three things adults often complain are “unfair”

• Workplace treatment — Unequal workloads, promotions, recognition, or inconsistent policies.
• Financial burdens — Taxes, rising costs, medical bills, or feeling like they’re doing everything “right” but still struggling.
• Family responsibilities — Emotional labor, caregiving imbalance, or being the default problem‑solver.

The biggest difference between fairness and justice is that justice is more formal and often refers to violating human rights or moral laws.

Has God violated human rights or moral law by choosing to show mercy to some and not others?

Romans 9:14 CSB

¹⁴ What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

Paul’s conclusion regarding the question of whether or not God is unfair is.… OF COURSE NOT!

• me ginoito (NO WAY)

Paul expected people to wrestle with this question after he said, “God loved Jacob and hated Esau”. It might even be a question that you wrestled with when you listened last week.

Is it fair for God to love one and hate another? Is that fair to the one God hates?  IF we believe the answer is that it is NOT fair, then we may fall prey to the heresy that God is NOT just.  Paul says, “Don’t go there even for a second! NO WAY!”

So, if God is just, but is seems like something he says/does is unjust, then we can conclude that we are probably NOT understanding something about either God’s character or our condition in this matter.

Paul is going to answer this own question in the next few verses. The outline looks like this:

14 Is God unjust?

15  A      [No], because/for (gar γάρ) it says/tells (lego λέγω) …  [OT reference Moses]

16                     Therefore/so them (ara oun ἆρα οὖν) …

17  B      [No], because/for (gar γάρ) Scripture says/tells (lego λέγω) [OT reference Pharaoh]

18                    Therefore/so then (ara oun  ἆρα οὖν) …

Let me show you in the actual passage. Paul uses the same words in each point he is making to help it stick:

Romans 9:14–18 CSB

¹⁴ What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! ¹⁵ For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth. ¹⁸ So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Let’s look over these verses together and then we will break it down:

Romans 9:15 CSB

¹⁵ For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

FOR he tells Moses.

Paul appealed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the verses we looked at last week. This week we will look at Paul’s appeal to Moses, who represents two things:

1. The exodus of slavery (an this the best analogy of salvation we have)
2. The giving of the law

The passage referenced here is from Exodus chapters 33-34. In that passage, Moses asked to see the glory of God, and God granted his request. God told Moses…

Exodus 33:19 NIV

¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord ‘Yahweh יהוה’, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

The words we just read are the way that God presented his name – his nature, character and being.  God said these words to Moses as he was giving the 10 commandments FOR THE SECOND TIME! Just before this declaration of God’s mercy, the Israelites had made a golden calf and worshiped it saying, “these are the gods that brought us out of Egypt”. The fact that God didn’t wipe them out was certainly proof of his mercy!

God said he will show mercy on those he wants.

What standard does God use to choose whom he will show mercy to?

If you were given the opportunity to show mercy to someone, what would you use as the basis for making your choice?

ILLUS: someone sent to prison for doing something wrong may be shown mercy and have their sentence reduced for “good behavior”.

Romans 9:16 CSB

¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.

This is important.

• It is not our will.
• It is not our work.

One’s will. You cannot will your way into God’s favor. You cannot want it so badly that you deserve it.

One’s effort. You cannot work your way into God’s favor. You cannot do enough that you deserve it.

Our efforts do NOT grant us mercy. They cannot because then it would cease to be mercy.

Mercy = unmerited, or underserved favor. If it was owed to you it is no longer mercy. So who has a CLAIM on mercy? Who can say that they DESERVE mercy? That would be an oxymoron.

Nothing you and I can do, no matter of will power, no amount of money, no list of activities, can make God have to love us and forgive us. That is what the LAW proved. Remember, Paul is referring back to Moses, and at the very time that God appeared to Moses on the mountain in Exodus 34 was the SECOND time Moses was getting the law of Go on the tablets of stone. The law reminded us, and the situation in that wilderness reminded us, that mercy is given just because… God.

Together, the will and efforts of a person “sum up the totality of man’s capacity”  and yet in regard to earning God’s favor or mercy they sum up the totality of man’s incapacity.

Romans 9:16 CSB

¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.

It is purely a matter of God’s choice. There is no way to explain this away. Paul wants to make sure that you and I understand that we are not shown mercy because of something we have done or will do, but simply because God chooses.

God can harden

Paul could have stopped there, but of course he didn’t…

Romans 9:17–18 CSB

¹⁷ For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth. ¹⁸ So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

As if we were not wrestling with the mercy section enough… lets go one step further. Not only can God choose to show mercy to whomever he wants, and it is NOT injustice; he can choose to harden the heart of someone and it is not injustice.

Paul turns to the great antagonist of the Exodus narrative -> Pharaoh.

To harden a heart is to make it not only insensitive, but incapable of acknowledging or responding to Yahweh AS the God of the universe.

We mentioned that God calls, and elects people for his purpose. He also hardens and rejects people for his purpose. And in all of this he remains just.

• GOD raised up Pharaoh (all leaders are appointed by God – both good and bad – Rom 13:1-2)
• GOD hardened Pharaoh’s heart
• GO ultimately destroyed Pharaoh

NOTE: some will say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharaoh has already hardened his own heart. A few thoughts on that. 1. That is not what Paul is saying in this chapter. 2. Before we read anything about Pharoah’s heart being hardened in Exodus 7-9, we have twice God saying that HE will harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exod 4:21; and also in Exodus 7:3 “3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.”  These declarations were made before the first sign was given!

Let’s read that passage in Exodus 7:

Exodus 7:1–13 CSB

¹ The Lord answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ² You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land.³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. ⁵ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the Lord commanded them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh. ⁸ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.’ ” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers—the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices. ¹² Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs. ¹³ However, Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

“As the Lord had said” could refer to Pharaoh not listening, and I am sure it does. It also could refer to God hardening his heart, and I think it does that as well. It was GOD who chose to harden his heart. And in Romans 9 it is even more pronounced in that God said he established Pharaoh and hardened his heart – with a purpose! What was that purpose?

1. To demonstrate the power of God.
2. To have Yahweh’s name know throughout the earth

God is saying that he has the right to love those he wants, and to hate those he wants, and he does so for his own purpose -> which is to demonstrate his power and bring glory to his name.

Now that we have covered the verses, let’s go back to the original question.

IS THERE INJUSTICE WITH GOD?

WRESTLE: what we wrestle with, when we work through those verses is, “What about the people God does NOT choose to show mercy to? How is that FAIR to them? Is that an injustice?

NOTICE: we do not question if it is fair to the one that gets the benefit, right? But the question is equally as valid, “Was it fair for God to love one?”

Let me give you a human illustration to help your process this:

Let’s assume that someone that is in prison is there because they have broken the law. (I know that is not always the case, but for the illustration sake, lets go there).

Our constitution gives the president the ability to grant pardons. The exact legal wording that gives a U.S. president the power to issue pardons comes directly from our Constitution. The authority is found in Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, commonly called the Pardon Clause.

“… he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”

This is a power given to presidents to wipe out a sentence that someone has been handed for breaking the law.

• Joe Biden (2021–2025)
  Pardons issued: 80
• Donald Trump (2017–2021)
  Pardons issued: 144
• Barack Obama (2009–2017)
  Pardons issued: 212

By far the record setter was FDR:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945)
  Pardons issued: 3,687

(He served four terms, including during the Great Depression and World War II.) That total is far higher than any other president — largely because he served longer than anyone else and governed through two national crises that generated many clemency petitions.

When a president issues a pardon, is that unjust? NO. He has that authority. It is deserved by the recipient? NO. It is a reprieve, or a releasing to a sentence. He chooses someone that he wishes to show mercy to and gives them mercy. If the president of the United States exercises executive clemency and pardons somebody in prison, is he then obligated to pardon everybody? No.

Is it UNFAIR or an INJUSTICE to the others that did not receive the pardon. ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Their sentence was handed down, and it has not been removed. If all were pardoned there would be no justice. That some are pardoned showed grace and upholds justice.

This is true in a spiritual sense.

We are all guilty of sin. We are all sentenced to death for our sins. That is justice. The mercy of God is evident when he chooses some to show his compassion to and does not show it to all.  And the greatest proof of that is salvation!

What is the condition of every human since Adam?

• We have ALL sinned

Romans 3:23 CSB

²³ For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

• unable to do anything that pleases God

Romans 8:8 CSB

⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

• hostile to God

Romans 8:7 CSB

⁷ The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so.

• worthy of death

Romans 6:23 CSB

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The condition of every human since Adam is that we have been found guilty of disobedience to God and are sentenced to death because of our sin.

This is justice. This is what we deserve.

God choosing to show mercy is like the president choosing to pardon the sentence of a prisoner.  We are sentenced fairly, but God chooses to show mercy on whomever he want, and sets those prisoners free.

QUESTION: is it FAIR for God to show mercy on whomever he wants? NO, it is NOT fair because it is NOT an issue of justice. FAIR would mean that someone deserves mercy. Fair would mean that someone has a RIGHT to be shown compassion.

• Mercy is receiving favor that you do not deserve.
• Compassion is receiving love and grace that is not owed but free given.

ILLUSTRATION: candy bars. give out a few SMALL candy bars to a few, but not all in a row. ask, “Is that fair?”. YES. I did not OWE them a candy bar, I just chose to give them out and I own the candy so I can give it to whomever I choose, right? THEN, give a BIG candy to someone that did not get a small one. ask “Is that fair?” YES. I can choose how much I want to give to someone as well. There is no injustice here, no unfairness. Why? Because I am giving a gift – not something owed, not something deserved, but just because I chose to.

Let’s go back and revisit what Paul said:

Romans 9:16 CSB

¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.

So there is no injustice if God chooses to show mercy and compassion on some and not on others. It is simply his choice, and no one has been wronged in the process, so there is no injustice to be concerned about.

When I looked up a definition of “mercy” I was also given some examples of the greatest demonstrations of mercy:

Three Greatest Acts of Mercy

• Forgiving an undeserved wrong — Releasing someone from a debt they truly owe you. Mercy at its purest is choosing compassion over justice when justice is fully justified.
• Helping the helpless — Stepping in for someone who cannot repay you, cannot fix their situation, and cannot offer anything in return. This is the Good Samaritan kind of mercy.
• Withholding rightful punishment — When someone has clearly earned consequences, and you choose restraint, patience, or restoration instead. This is the heart of divine mercy in Scripture.

Isn’t that the perfect picture of what God does for those he calls?

The justice of God is seen in that all people are sinners and all people are worth of death. The mercy of God is seen in that he will choose to call some of them to life.

The Apostle Paul

There is perhaps no greater example of God’s election, calling, purpose and mercy than that of the Apostle Paul.

Romans Justice and Mercy

Jesus faced his enemies. There was Caiaphas the high priest; there were the members of the Sanhedrin. Jesus was condemned by Pontius Pilate, who spoke on behalf of the Roman magisterium. However, the most vicious and hateful opponent of Jesus on the pages of the New Testament was the man who wrote the very words we are studying. The apostle Paul had hated Jesus more than Pilate or Caiaphas or the scribes and Pharisees. There was never a day when Paul walked along the street and said, “Maybe I had better think this over a bit more clearly,” and after giving it further scrutiny changed his mind and decided to exercise his free will and become a disciple of Jesus. No, Paul became a disciple while breathing out animosity and hostility. Jesus knocked him off his horse, blinded him with the brilliance of his glory, and called him to be his apostle. Jesus intervened in the life of Paul in a way he did not do for Pontius Pilate or Caiaphas or for the scribes and Pharisees.

Was that unfair to Pilate? No. It was an act or mercy for Paul, and if anyone understands this mercy, it would be him.

BTW – Paul never offers—here or anywhere else—a logical solution to the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility that he creates… Paul is content to hold the truths of God’s absolute sovereignty—in both election and in hardening—and of the need to act in faith without reconciling them.

What Paul says, what is recording in Scripture, is that God shows mercy on whom he chooses and hardens whom he chooses. He calls and elects according to his purpose, and those who place their faith in Christ receive the fullness of that mercy.

God is merciful. God is just. There is no conflict.

Is there any injustice in God? Absolutely not!