Romans 11:33-36 - The Riches Are In the Depths

You've been unconditionally elected by a sovereign God whose grace is stronger than you are.

Weathered sign reading "REFORMED CHURCH" on a red brick wall, conveying a historic and rustic mood.

Romans 11:33-36 (NIV)

CONTEXT: Romans 9-11 are some of the most difficult chapters in the Bible as they explain that in His sovereignty, God has chosen some for salvation, and has passed over others, leaving them eternally liable for their sin. This short doxology comes at the end of this difficult section.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out!

34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay them?”

36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Articles 1-14

Article 18: The Proper Attitude Toward Election and Reprobation

To those who complain
1. about this grace of an undeserved election
2. and about the severity of a just reprobation,
we reply with the words of the apostle,
1. “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” (Rom. 9:20),
2. and with the words of our Savior, “Have I no right to do what I want with my own?” (Matt. 20:15).

Summary

Paul wrote these beautiful words to wrap up his most difficult teaching (Romans 9 - 11), so it's good for us to glorify God with these words as we finish the longest and most difficult teaching contained in the Canons of Dordt. Next week we'll move on to the second canon (point) out of five.

We've read 84 passages together now this year, all of them focused on God's unconditional election of those He's ordained for salvation. We've also wrestled through the corresponding reality that if God chose some, He necessarily passed over others, leaving them in their sin.

So it's good to pause here for a moment, and with Paul stand in awe of the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. One aspect that continually comes to the forefront of so many passages, regardless of the topic, is the need for the faithful to continually grow in this divine knowledge. Learning ought to be a lifelong pursuit for those who've been unconditionally elected as we come to share in the rich wisdom and knowledge of the one in whose image we've been created (and now re-created) in!

This year we've also found the end of some of those intellectual roads as well - times when we so badly wanted to know more, but where God closed His mouth, so to speak. So too we sing out with the Apostle as he acknowledges that God's judgments are unsearchable, and His paths are beyond tracing out!

Dig Deeper

Many of us get so used to seeing the word that we don't even notice it any more, but it seems so odd to others. As they look at the name of our church, they become curious. It makes sense to see words like grace or faith in a church's name; even words like catholic, methodist, or presbyterian just seem to fit a church, even if most people don't really know what they really mean.

But why on earth, people want to know, do so many of our churches have the word REFORMED in our names? Often their assumption is that we're something like the old word for prisons - a reformatory - in which bad people are made good. I guess that's not the worse thing in the world for them to think of us.

One of the hallmarks of Reformed churches is that we focus on God's sovereignty - His control, authority and presence in every aspect of life. Paul captures the concept of God's sovereignty so well in the final verse of his doxology:

For from Him

and through Him

and for Him

are all things.

You've been unconditionally elected by a sovereign God whose grace is far stronger than you are. This means that there is no place that you can go and nothing you can do or that can be done to you that could ever separate you from God's loving grace. The more you learn about and understand this awesome reality (especially the deep & difficult parts), the more you will experience the unspeakable peace that comes with this knowledge.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, to whom be the glory forever!
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will continue to grow in the wisdom and knowledge of God;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: