In Daniel Whedon’s Comentary on Romans 9, he argues that Paul’s quotations of the old testament support the Arminian view of the passage. In some ways, I found Whedon to be a prototype of more recent Arminian explanations of the passage. Specifically, his digging into the context of “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” in Exodus 32-33 was a big step in the right direction. Whedon explains the verses and then refutes Barnes’ (a Calvinist) view. He notes the Calvinist interpretation of defending God’s justice is really a “might makes right” kind of view. He objects: “Power increased infinitely cannot change right. A creature can be supposedly wronged by even an infinite being. The predesinarian interpretation makes Paul pretend to give a reason, but really resorts to force, and seeks to frighten his opponents out of reasoning.”

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In Joseph Agar Beet’s commentary on Romans 9 (pages 255 -288 in his A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans) he explains that Paul is teaching that God’s plan was to save through the Gospel not the Law. Beet is a good author – he asks good questions and gets right to the point. I love the way he explains why the word ‘faith’ doesn’t appear in the first part of the text. “Paul puts, not faith, but Him that calls, in contrast to works. For God’s purpose is no more a result of faith than of works.” The objection in verse 14 is that “we are working so hard and God is letting in believers who hadn’t been previously working”. Paul responds by explaining God is being merciful, so merit doesn’t come into play. Beet sees hardening as a punishment for prior sins that makes obedience more difficult, but not impossible.

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