罗马书 9:10

And not only [that], but Rebecca having conceived by one, Isaac our father,

本节注释

The Setting of Romans 9:10

Paul has just shown that not every natural descendant of Abraham is a child of promise — Isaac was chosen, Ishmael set aside. But a Jewish objector could still escape that argument by pointing to Hagar's slave status. So Paul presses a closer, unanswerable case: Rebekah, a true wife, conceiving twins "by one, even by our father Isaac."

Why Rebekah's Case Closes the Argument

The previous example (Isaac vs. Ishmael) might be sidestepped on the ground that Hagar was only a bondmaid; but the case of Esau and Jacob removes every such excuse.

But it might be alleged that Hagar was a slave. But Esau's case excluded even this saving thought. The same mother bore both sons of one father, and God had chosen Jacob and rejected Esau. It was thus on the principle of sovereignty and election, that God had decided that the seed should be called in the family of Isaac.

J. N. Darby

But what of Rebecca? She was in no sense a bondmaid, but bore to Isaac twin sons. No case can be conceived therefore more in point. Yet without the children being yet born or having done anything good or ill which could determine between them, God revealed His purpose respecting the younger or lesser of the two, so that election might thus stand fixed and indisputable where His authority is owned.

William Kelly

"By One, Even by Our Father Isaac"

The phrase "by one" is loaded. Both boys came from the same father at the same conception, so no human factor — descent, mother, timing — can account for the difference. The choice rests entirely outside them.

Both he and Esau were children of one mother, and produced at one birth, for they were twins; Esau having first place by a few moments, according to nature. Again, however, God set aside the first, and selected the second, saying, "The elder shall serve the younger" (verse 12)... showing us thus that God chooses because of what HE IS IN HIMSELF, and not because of what men may be as expressed in their works.

F. B. Hole

The Purpose of God According to Election

The point is not arbitrary preference but the standing of God's own purpose. Election is God making a choice in view of a plan formed before the parties existed.

God had a purpose from everlasting, and His election is in view of that purpose. He is absolutely sovereign; it is His prerogative therefore to have a purpose and to carry it out... God's purpose stands. Now this purpose of God was formed before ever we existed; He had, therefore, in view those who were to be the objects of His blessing... before Jacob and Esau were born, and before they had done either good or evil, it is manifest that God had His eye on Jacob for a certain blessing. His choice of Jacob did not depend on what Jacob would be.

C. Crain

Choice Before Works — Not After

Some imagine God merely foresaw who would behave better. The text refuses that reading: the children had done neither good nor evil when the word came.

Even before they were actually born did God select the younger son Jacob to receive the place of earthly supremacy. This proves that they were not blessed on the ground of their own works, for at the time God spoke of their relative positions, they were not born; they had done neither good nor evil. Subsequently they both did evil: but God secured, by His own faithfulness to His promise, the place of supremacy for Jacob.

W. H. Westcott

A Caution About "Jacob I Loved, Esau I Hated"

The verse at hand (v. 10) speaks of God's word to Rebekah — "the elder shall serve the younger" — given before birth. The harsher saying about Esau is quoted from Malachi, written long after Esau's character had been displayed.

It was said to her — to Rebekah — The elder shall serve the younger. (See Gen. 25:23.) But it was more than thirteen hundred years after this that it was written, even in the very last prophet, Malachi, "as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Surely God's love to Jacob did not lessen the wickedness of Esau in despising his birthright.

C. Stanley

Summary

- One father. Esau and Jacob shared one mother and one father at one conception, removing every human ground for differing treatment.

- Closes the loophole. The Ishmael case could be dismissed by pointing to Hagar's slave status; Rebekah's case allows no such escape.

- Before works. The verdict was spoken before the twins were born or had done good or evil — proof that election is "not of works, but of him that calls."

- God's purpose stands. Election exists to safeguard a purpose God formed in eternity; His sovereignty is His prerogative, and His word to Rebekah held firm.

- Two stages. "The elder shall serve the younger" was told to Rebekah at conception; "Esau have I hated" was written 1,300 years later in Malachi, after Esau's character had been displayed.