Romans 9 is sadly often abused to be used to support Calvin's doctrine of predestination which claims that God biases man's will to choose or not choose Him, therefore choosing who gets hell and who gets heaven as if history is a drama or puppet show God is putting on for Himself and the angels. Something like that.
Unfortunately, not only does the Bible not support this doctrine, but this doctrine is very destructive and antithetical to the spirit of Christ which is embodied throughout the Scripture. It is possibly even an "antichrist spirit" if I am permitted to say that.
So on to Romans 9.
Romans 9 is about not arguing with the God who wills who gets his grace/favor/blessing and who doesn't. So what does this mean? What does it have to do with?
First of all, it says that children of the flesh (Jews through Abraham's biological seed/genealogy) are not the children of God. This is Paul confronting the issue of Jew vs. Gentile. The Jews were angry the Gentiles were receiving God's grace by faith because they had worked hard to keep the law and believed they deserved grace and not the Gentiles. Paul then mentions God's choosing of Jacob over Isaac for certain plans to say that it's up to God how things work, not us. He chose to demonstrate favor on Jacob, not Isaac. It was His choosing, no one else's. It then says that he hardened Pharaoh's heart and used Him to demonstrate His glory; proceeding this statement, it says God hardens whom He will. Now it's important here to understand that Pharoah's free will was still involved. The answer to this lies in the Old Testament. In Exodus 7-10, Pharaoh first hardens his own heart, and then God finished the job. This demonstrates that God gives people a certain number of chances, and then stops and hardens their heart if they resist out of pride.
Paul goes on to talk about God's choosing and issues concerning Jews and Gentiles. This extensive passage summed up is Paul rebuking the Jews for not wanting God to give salvation to the Gentiles by faith when they've worked hard to keep the law. He's saying to them, "Who are you to question God and what he wills? So what if he wants to give them grace so easily. Who are you to be self-righteous about your works and contend with God?"
Michael-
ReplyDeleteYou are correct in your basic identification of Paul's main point being God's freedom in granting salvation to Gentiles as well as to Jews. However, this does not eliminate any individual election that is based entirely upon God's freedom. In fact, all of the examples that are given in the text of Romans 9 are individual! For example:
1. God chose Jacob over Esau (you kept saying Issac, who was their father!). This is God's choosing one individual over another.
2. God's freedom in hardening Pharaoh's heart. Again, this is an individual example. Now, you have made a few fundamental mistakes in your dealing with this example which require some correction.
You are quoted above as saying, "Now it's important here to understand that Pharoah's free will was still involved. The answer to this lies in the Old Testament. In Exodus 7-10, Pharaoh first hardens his own heart, and then God finished the job."
The problem with this statement is that it deeply contradicts Romans 9:16, which says, "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who was mercy" (ESV).
If Pharaoh truly hardened his own heart first, apart from God's hardening, then God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart was a reaction to the free will of Pharaoh (I believe this is the exact point you are attempting to make!). This does not fit with verse 16, because in this verse God's hardening is said NOT to depend on human will or exertion. In other words, God's hardening of a person is not conditional upon that person first hardening himself. To quote Romans 9:18, God "has mercy on whomever hi wills, and he hardens whomever he wills."
So, how are we to reconcile the clear teaching of Romans 9, that God hardened Pharaoh's heart apart from Pharaoh's will or exertion, and the words of Exodus 7-10, where it appears as though Pharaoh indeed hardens his own heart first (because Romans 9:16 is so clear, we know this cannot be the case!). The only possible resolution to this apparent problem is really very simple, namely, since God is absolutely free, and absolutely powerful, he has absolute freedom to restrain all sin. Whenever we do sin, it is because God has not restrained that particular sinful desire. So in the case of Pharaoh, the means by which God hardened Pharaoh's heart was simply by not restraining Pharaoh's hardening of his own heart. So, even though Exodus 7-10 first mentions Pharaoh hardening his own heart, we know clearly from Romans 9 that the reason he was able to do so was because God had already chosen to harden Pharaoh's heart by means of refusing to restrain the wickedness of Pharaoh's heart.
I believe that God willed to harden Pharaoh's heart because Pharoah hardened his own heart first. This does not take away from God's Will being the basis, but rather explains what His Will is.
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