[4] Romans 9:14-22
What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God? God forbid. - Romans 9:14
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. - Romans 9:15
So then [it is] not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. - Romans 9:16
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. - Romans 9:17
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will [have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth. - Romans 9:18
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? - Romans 9:19
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made me thus? - Romans 9:20
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? - Romans 9:21
[What] if God, willing to shew [his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: - Romans 9:22
Consider, what Scripture has to say of the hardening of the heart:
And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. - Exodus 7:13
And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart [is] hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. - Exodus 7:14
And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said. - Exodus 7:22
But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. - Exodus 8:15
Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This [is] the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. - Exodus 8:19
And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go. - Exodus 8:32
And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go. - Exodus 9:7
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses. - Exodus 9:12
And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. - Exodus 9:34
And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses. - Exodus 9:35
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: - Exodus 10:1
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. - Exodus 10:20
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. - Exodus 10:27
And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land. - Exodus 11:10
And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. - Exodus 14:8
But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as [appeareth] this day. - Deuteronomy 2:30
And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. - 2 Chronicles 36:13
[He is] wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened [himself] against him, and hath prospered? - Job 9:4
O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, [and] hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. - Isaiah 63:17
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: - Daniel 5:20
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 7:12
He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. - Matthew 19:8
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. - Mark 3:5
For they considered not [the miracle] of the loaves: for their heart was hardened. - Mark 6:52
And when Jesus knew [it], he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? - Mark 8:17
And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. - Mark 10:5
Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. - Mark 16:14
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. - John 12:40
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; - Romans 2:5
The hardness of heart comes from the personal unbelief of the individual person, in rejecting the miracles, signs, wonders, convictions, and truths that the Holy Spirit brings to each person.
It is not that God deliberately sets out to destroy any person, far be it from Him, and God Forbid!, but rather He desires to save everyone, but He will not violate the free choice to love Him or reject Him that He has given to every person. The cross proves this. He sends signs, wonders, miracles, truths, etc and the Holy Spirit to bring conviction, that we all might come to repentance and belief. Remember, it is written, that God “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” [1 Timothy 2:4], and that included Pharaoh, etc. The miracles were given to Pharaoh [and the Egyptians, etc], so that he [and they] would be without excuse in the final day. If they had believed, they too could have been delivered! God desired to not only deliver the Hebrews, but also the Egyptians from their idolatry, etc. Though God knew that many would refuse, that is not to say that God chose for them, or made them choose to be destroyed, though He already knew what they would choose, even in the mercy and grace of God, through His many signs, wonders, etc.
Most do not understand the all-knowing of God [Isaiah 46:9-10], and how that fits with free choice/will [“freewill”, Leviticus 22:18, etc, Psalms 54:6, 119:108; Revelation 21:6, 22:17]. God knows already, in the future, who will be in the kingdom, and who will not, but that does not stop Him, in the present of each individual, from giving every man, every chance to come to repentance, and to choose His salvation in Christ Jesus, for God is long-suffering [Romans 2:4]. This long-suffering of God already takes into account His foreknowledge [Romans 9:22]. God is not in Heaven, arbitrarily deciding, but offers to every man [individual person] that which is needful at any and every step in life to choose the right way. That God knows that the majority since the beginning would choose the wrong, He ever offered to them the possibility/choice to choose otherwise. There comes a time [known only to God], however, when God knows that the heart of man [individual persons] is beyond listening to Him, and so the Holy Spirit is grieved away, even as it was in the days of Noah [Genesis 6:3; 1 Peter 3:20], just as it had for King Saul and for Judas, for Ananias and Sapphira, and many others.
Pharaoh's heart was hardened [Exodus 7:14,22, 8:19, 9:35], but how did this happen? Why does the Scripture say in some texts that it is God that hardens the heart of Pharaoh [Exodus 7:13, 9:12, 10:1,20,27, 11:10, 14:8], and other texts reveal that Pharaoh hardened his own heart [Exodus 8:15,32, 9:34, even using the word “at this time also” in Exodus 8:32, and “...neither did he set his heart to this also ...” Exodus 7:23]? How do we understand this?
Please notice Exodus 8:19, wherein the magicians of Pharaoh recognize something, which Pharaoh refuses, in that they say, “This is the finger of God...”. This terminology reveals to us, that the Holy Spirit was at work upon Pharaoh's heart/mind and the Egyptian nation, bringing conviction [John 16:8] through the almighty power and miracles God was sending to him [like as the those in Mark 6:52]. How do we know?
Notice in Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10, that the Ten Commandments were written by the “finger of God”. And the Ten Commandments are “spiritual” [moral] [Romans 7:14]. What then does this “finger of God” phrase mean? Turn to the New Testament and read again, “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” [Luke 11:20]. However, if we turn to the other Gospels, wherein the exact same events occur, we find other words used in the same place, notice, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” [Matthew 12:28]
The “hardness of heart” is connected to “unbelief” [Mark 16:14; Romans 2:5].
Job 9:4 asks a very important question, which we should all consider, “He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?”
Romans 9:22, is conclusive, notice, “[What] if God, willing to shew [his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:”
If God made them to do evil or be wicked, why then does Paul, under inspiration say that God had to “endure” them even with “much longsuffering”? If God truly made them to be that way, choose for them [which would make us all automatons/robots without any choice whatsoever], then what enduring needed to be done, or what longsuffering of God was there to be? For instance, if I make a house poorly on purpose, even designed to fail/collapse, I do not say I endured it, or was longsuffering with it, because I designed it that way, for I had purposefully designed it to fail. I expected it to accomplish what I designed it to do, which is fail.
God already knew/knows the final decisions of all of the finally impenitent [“the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”], yet He “endured” [and even now endures] them “with much longsuffering”. He pleaded with them many times all along their life, and yet they ultimately choose not to repent, and hardened themselves against conviction, against the Holy Spirit of God. It was not that God did not desire that they be delivered/saved, it is that He already knew from the beginning that they would choose otherwise, even after God entreated them throughout their life to turn.
Most people look at the end result of God's knowing, and say that God made them to choose that end result, but this would make God not only the accomplice to Sin, but the very author and sustainer of it. Yet this is furthest from the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus. Think of the Pharisees, briefly, and all of the miracles that Jesus did before them, healing, restoring, resurrecting, etc, and yet they refused to believe. Think of all the Truth Jesus spake unto them, that they might go and learn what was meant from the Word of God, and yet they refused to study aright. Think of all the times that Jesus sought to correct their misunderstandings, and yet they stubbornly refused to be corrected. Think of all the light and sight that Jesus desired to give to them freely, yet they chose to remain blind and in darkness, though they claimed that they could see. Think of all the prophets and messengers sent unto them, yet the spurned their message, even refusing baptism against themselves [Zechariah 7:12; Luke 7:30]. Like Pharaoh, they asked for a sign.
Pharaoh [Tutmoses III], perhaps more than any other single man in historical existence, refused and denied God, in the face of the most awesome miracles, teachings, etc sent unto him. God proved Himself [the Great I AM] before Pharaoh, perhaps moreso than He has ever done before any other single man in history. Pharaoh, hardened his own heart, in exaltation, refusing to bend, even demanding a sign from God, though Scripture declares men already know God [Romans 1:19-22, they became “fools”, as Pharaoh was – Psalms 14:1, 53:1, for God says, “I AM”, and they say, “No, you're not...”]. God provided the miracles, Pharaoh refused them hardening his own heart. It is thus that the Scripture says that the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, for God “gave them up” [Romans 1:24,26] to their own selves/choices. God knowing what Pharaoh would choose in each instance [“Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you ...” Exodus 7:4], knowing full well what Pharaoh would ask [“Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you ...” Exodus 7:9], used each instance to demonstrate the goodness of God in His mercy [in letting up the plagues, etc, Romans 9:14,16], forgiveness and His justice [which is Just]. God had even let the Pharaoh live longer still after all of the plagues were done, yet Pharaoh, choose to pursue after the Israelites and still wage war against God. Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea, in his rebellion, when he never had to. Satan will likewise, even after 1,000 years, will still seek to pursue his goal of dethroning God. He too will perish in a red [fiery] sea [see Revelation 20].
Furthermore, we can also peek behind the scenes, as in Daniel, and know that Satan was the one instilling rebellion into Pharaoh, through his magicians, natural explanations of phenomena, etc.
Therefore, go back to Romans 9:14, and read again the question Paul asks, “Is there unrighteousness with God?” Paul says, “God forbid!”
If God had made men [or any creature] to violate His Law [Ten Commandments], then how is it their fault, and if not their fault, why then are they guilty, and if not guilty, why then a death penalty, or a saviour? The Calvinistic theology, OSAS, etc makes God to not be Love, but something else entirely.