Is God Fair?

The problem is our notions of fairness and unfairness are polluted with our selfish desires. All too often we accuse God of being unfair when He's not unfair at all. Ever.

“I just want to be treated fairly.” With this simple statement, my friend revealed his greatest weakness.

We all want to be treated fairly. That makes perfect sense.

But that always depends on how you define “fair.”

In the end, this demand for fairness often masks something much more childish and selfish. Typically, a demand for “fairness” is actually a request for preferential treatment. My idea of “fairness” always seems to mean my comfort, and it rarely means my receiving just punishment.

To be “fair,” this fantasy of fairness exposes my weaknesses and childish motives.

So, is God “fair?” Honestly, He is the only One Who is!

Look at our lesson today in Romans 9:6-19:

BRETHREN, it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants. For this is what the promise said, “About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call, she was told, “The elder will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So it depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy. For the scripture says to Pharoah, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

Don’t forget, St. Paul is writing our Roman brothers and sisters ahead of his arrival there to stand trial before Caesar. And Paul is using this “letter” to the Romans to outline his teachings on the Christian faith.

Paul doesn’t avoid any controversial topics. Not at all!

One of the most controversial topics is the charge that God isn’t “fair” or that He is “unjust” because He plays “favorites” with some people.

Paul is specifically dealing with the charge that most of the Jews of Jesus’ day did not accept Him as the promised Messiah. They, in fact, colluded with the Roman occupying authorities to have this Jesus crucified! Some had suggested to Paul that if the majority of the Jews who had been expecting the Messiah all these centuries rejected Jesus as the Messiah, then maybe we should reject Him too.

Paul deals with this in two ways: First, he anticipates their objection that God was being unfair by condemning those who rejected Jesus as the Messiah. And he does this by teaching that just because someone was born into a particular family doesn’t automatically make them a believer. He reminds the Romans that Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, but God chose to bless the lineage of Isaac with the fullness of the Faith.

Was God being unfair to Ishmael and his descendants? No. God was choosing because He knows the end from the beginning.