“As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.'”
This is Paul’s theodicy – his justification of the natural objection to the doctrine of unconditional election and its counterpart reprobation. Many do not wish to deal with such a hard doctrine as that of reprobation, but they do so at their own peril. No Bible teacher can seriously teach the Bible without considering the doctrine of reprobation. The Bible clearly teaches that God rejects some persons to eternal condemnation in a manner parallel but opposite to the way He ordains other to salvation. It may be difficult for our flesh to bear, but may, by the grace of God, we come to the place where we can even give thanks for this Truth, even as the Lord Jesus himself did in Matthew 11:25-26, when he said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.”
