⁹ For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; ¹¹ for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, ¹² it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

The Word of God (9:6) is the word of promise (9:9). God had spoken to Abraham about Sarah’s then-coming pregnancy. Prophecy, God’s foreknowledge and promise, all rolled into one. Theologians dissect the relationships among these things, including ideas of election and predestination (see Rom 8:29-30), yet they remain beyond human comprehension. We have no problem thinking of past events as fixed and unchangeable, while surmising that the future is open and freely chosen. The only difference is that the point we call “present” moves along the line of time. We perceive that choices made on the timeline to the left are fixed and unalterable, but those on the timeline to the right are free and open. Yet God sees the entire line of time simultaneously, whereas we see from the present, looking forward or backward. His foreknowledge makes the future as certain to Him as the past is certain to us. This may be why prophecy of future events is often written in the past tense (see Psalm 53 for example).

If we believe in God’s foreknowledge, then we believe He knows what I am going to do tomorrow. In what sense, then, is my choice tomorrow really free? If He says something is going to happen, then the thing cannot not-happen. It must take place as He foreknows it to take place. Thus His foreknowledge (with His promises and prophecies) touches on predestination. Fierce and vitriolic debate heats up at these thoughts, yet this issue is difficult to avoid in the book of Romans. God does command all to repent and believe, and He holds us all responsible for our choice. We are all guilty of volitionally, willfully turning away from our Creator. “All have sinned …” (Rom 3:23). So how do we resolve human responsibility (choice) and God’s foreknowledge?

We can’t resolve it, for we are not God, and it just makes sense there would be things touching eternity that we simply cannot know until we enter that dimension of existence. Paul, while not negating free choice, points out that God’s choice supersedes human choice. Case in point, in order for God’s purposes to take place, He chose Jacob over Esau before either one of them had opportunity to make a choice. Nothing could be clearer. Nothing more stark.

Lord, help me to trust You with things that I do not understand.