Space-Filling Thoughts

Jacob and Esau, by Matthias Stom It is easy in passages like this to become wrapped up in the controversy between those who emphasis the free will of man and those who emphasize God’s sovereign grace in salvation.  We will have to deal with that of course, but let’s not overlook the primary point in all of this.  The primary point that the apostle Paul is driving home is this: God’s word will not fail.  As we pointed out in our last message, Paul’s thesis statement for chapters 9-11 is the first half of verse 6: “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect.”  The word that Paul uses there to describe what happens to God’s word is to fail or fall to the ground.  This is what Paul denies will happen.  God’s word will not fall to the ground, it will not fail, it will not become useless or ineffective. As the prophet Isaiah put it, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it b...