Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Romans 9:13

Romans 9:13. As it is written (Malachi 1:2-3), Jacob I l oved, but Esau I hated. In the original prophecy the statement that Esau was hated, is proved by the added words: ‘and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.' The reference to the nation of Edomites is therefore clear. ‘As it is written,' however, implies a correspondence with Romans 9:12. We therefore apply the language to Jacob and Esau personally, regarding the national destiny as bound up in the personal position of the two ancestors. The word ‘hated' seems harsh, and hence some explain it as ‘love less,' making the whole passage to mean, ‘I preferred Jacob to Esau.' But, despite such instances as Luke 14:24, compared with Matthew 10:37, this explanation is not allowable. The historical dealings of God with Esau (and with Edom also), indicate, not less love, but the deprivation or absence of love, to say the least. ‘God loves the good, because He produces the very good that is in them; and He elects them not on account of their faith and their holiness, but to faith and holiness. But it cannot be said, on the other hand, that He hates the evil men because He produces the very evil that is in them; for that would be absurd, and destroy His holiness; but He hates them on account of the evil that they do or will do in opposition to His will. While human goodness is the effect of Divine love and grace, on the contrary, human wickedness is the cause of Divine hatred and abhorrence; and on that account alone can it be the object of the punitive wrath, and condemnatory decree of God.' (Schaff, in Lange, Romans, p. 328.) This is implied in the subsequent discussion, where the ill desert of all men is assumed, and salvation in the case of any presented as caused by God's mercy. But whatever be the extent of the preference, or the result of the choice in the case of Jacob and Esau, the main thought is: God does exercise a prerogative of election, independently of the human considerations referred to in these instances. That this is Paul's meaning is evident from what immediately follows. His assertion of the freedom of God might be used to impeach His moral character. If the Apostle's argument thus far had not plainly set forth that freedom, the objection of Romans 9:14 could not have been raised.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Romans 9:13

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