There really is no point in me rehashing these points with Scripture with you again. You are not reading Romans 9 in context to the chapter and the book of Romans. Only part of Romans 9 sounds Calvinistic. It is the only part of the Bible that does sound like that if read out of context with a surface shallow reading. But the rest of the Bible is not written in that way. We should trust the whole counsel of God's Word and not just believe what we prefer to see.
So Paul's argument in the
following verses defending God's
sovereign right to dispense mercy
as he pleases, based simply on his
choice to do so and nothing else, using God's election of Jacob to demonstrate his argument, just simply does not exist? To wit:
Romans 9:10-13 is about God's
sovereign choice in election of Jacob, before anything had been done good or bad by either child,
not by works but
by him who calls, in order that God's purpose might stand (Jacob--Israel, was to be the father of the tribes), and
Romans 9:14-16 is a vindication of
God's justice in the rejection of Israel, based in
God's sovereign right to dispense mercy as he pleases, based simply on his choice to do so and nothing else.
And then because the argument (that Paul "did not make" in
Romans 9:10-16) is not repeatedly stated throughout the Bible, Paul's teaching, therefore, cannot be true.
So. . .since
"it is God who works in you to will and to act for his good purpose" is stated only once in the Bible, it likewise cannot be true, and
Jesus' statement that his
"kingdom is not of this world," being stated only once, likewise cannot be true, and. . . .so this is how the Bible works?
Or is this just a desperate solution to your problem of the authoritative teaching of
Romans 9:10-16 disagreeing with your personal theology?
But the rest of the Bible is not written in that way. We should trust the whole counsel of God's Word and not just believe what we prefer to see.
It is, beginning with the very
name of God being his
sovereignty:
Exodus 33:19-20 - "I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
Daniel 4:35 - "All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He
does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand or
say to him: 'What have you done?' "
(
Sound familiar? See Romans 9:20.)
Acts 24:28 - "They did what your power and will had
decided beforehand should happen."
Acts 2:23 - "This man was handed over to you by God's
set purpose and foreknowledge."
Acts 13:28 - "All who were
appointed for eternal life believed."
Luke 22:22 - "The Son of Man will go as it has been
decreed."
Romans 11:30-32 - "Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now
received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient
in order that they too may
receive mercy as a result of God's
mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience
so that he may
have mercy on them all."
Ephesians 1:4-11 - "For he
chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. . .
predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ
in accordance with his pleasure and will. . .In Christ we have been chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 - ". . .from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth."
1 Peter 1:2 - "To God's elect. . .who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood."
(Note the work of the Trinity in the above.)
Actually, the Biblie is written that way. . . God's sovereign right presented in Romans 9:10-16 to dispense mercy as he pleases, based simply on his choice and nothing else, is written throughout the Bible.