• Predestination means that God predetermined the destiny of certain individuals for salvation and others for condemnation. Predestination has two parts: choosing to save some (election) and choosing not to save others (reprobation).
• Election is positive predestination: God sovereignly and graciously chose to save individual sinners. God predestined certain individuals (i.e., predetermined their destiny) for salvation.
• Reprobation is negative predestination: God sovereignly and justly chose to pass over non-elect sinners and punish them. God predestined certain individuals (i.e., predetermined their destiny) for condemnation. (The word “reprobation” does not appear in the Bible, but it is a common label that theologians use for a biblical reality.)

1. God gave Israelites unique privileges, yet they are rejecting the Messiah (9:1–6a)

• theirs is the adoption to sonship.
• the divine glory
• the covenants
• the receiving of the law
• the temple worship
• the promises
• their forefathers are the patriarchs
• from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all.

2. God’s promises to Israel do not contradict the new twist in salvation history in which God is saving some Israelites and many Gentiles (9:6b–29)

When God made covenantal promises to Israel, he was not promising to save every ethnic Israelite without exception. Paul’s argument in this section breaks down into three parts:

1. God unconditionally elected only some Israelites (9:6–13).
2. God has the right to do whatever he wants with his creatures (9:14–23). *
3. God has effectually called both Israelites and Gentiles (9:24-29).

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          * In 9:14–23 Paul answers two objections (verses 14 and 19)

1. It’s not fair for God to choose to save individuals unconditionally (9:14–18). This first objection is a wrong inference of 9:6–13.
2. It’s not fair for God to blame people for doing what he ordained they would do (9:19–23). This second objection is a wrong inference of 9:15–18.

This sermon owes a debt to Douglas J Moo’s “The Letter to the Romans”; and Andrew David Naselli’s “Romans: A Concise Guide to the Greatest Letter Ever Written”; and “Predestination: an Introduction”