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Romans Commentary Chapters 9-16  /  Romans 9:10-13 the Two Nations from Jacob and Esau Part Two  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 4
The transcript pushes back on Calvinistic “arbitrary predestination” by insisting eklog? means “choice” without implying randomness; how does the way we load theological terms (like “election”) with later debates influence what we think Romans 9 is saying, and what would it look like to read Paul more like the early Christians did?
Another way to ask: How do later arguments about words like “election” or “predestination” affect how we read Romans 9 today? What might change if we tried to read Paul the way early Christians did?

Direct Answer The transcript argues that later theological baggage can make readers hear Romans 9 as teaching “random” predestination, when Paul is using an everyday word for “choice” to stress God’s freedom and foreknowledge. Reading Paul more like the early Christians, in Terry’s framing, means hearing Romans 9 as God choosing based on foreknown character and as a defense of Gentile inclusion—not a claim that God picks people “at random.”

Support from Transcript:

  • Clifton translates *eklog?* as “his choice rather than as election” due to how “ever since John Calvin” election became tied to “arbitrary predestination.”
  • He defines “arbitrary” as: God’s selection “is not based on his foreknowledge of their faith or actions… he picks people at random.”
  • “In Greek, [*eklog?*] has no direct or implied meaning of predestination, arbitrary or otherwise.”
  • The Greek/Latin/English terms are described as “everyday words without any special theological significance.”
  • Paul’s point: “God is free to choose whomever He wants… not bound” by Jewish ethnicity and “not prevented” from choosing Gentiles.
  • Early-Christian-like reading includes foreknowledge: “He has perfect foreknowledge… God chose Jacob and Esau based on his foreknowledge of what their characters would be.”
Discussion Follow-ups What key terms in Romans 9 trigger strong assumptions for you (choice, mercy, calling)? How can you test whether those assumptions come from the text itself or later debates?

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