There are several verses claiming that God does harden
hearts, even to coerce people to commit sin. Paul had written several verses
that seem to indicate that God is unjust – hardening and deceiving certain people.
Let’s look at them. Afterwards, we will try to answer each:
1.
2
Thessalonians 2:11-12 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that
they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not
believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (see Ezekiel 14:9;
Revelation 17:17)
2.
Romans
9:17-18 (ESV) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I
have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might
be proclaimed in all the earth.” [quoting from Exodus 9:16] So then he has
mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
3.
Romans
11:7-10 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect
obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a
spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to
this very day.” [quoting from Isaiah 29:10; 6:9-10] And David says, “Let their table become a
snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes
be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.” [quoting
from Psalm 69:22-23]
Let’s start with the first example. This one is relatively
easy to explain. In this case, it is clear that God hadn’t deceived the
innocent but rather those who were already
practicing self-deception. They had refused
to “believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” They had committed
their lives to the darkness rather than to the light of truth (John 3:19-20).
However, as Paul explained elsewhere, this is the result of a
gradual process of our rejecting and suppressing the truth. Only after
continually rejecting the light, God gives them over to the desires of their
heart to believe those things they want
to believe and do:
·
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their
hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served
the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason
God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural
relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up
natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another,
men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due
penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God
gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (Romans
1:24-28)
There is no indication here that they were born with
“dishonorable passions” or a “debased mind.” Instead, this corruption was the
result of exchanging “the truth of God for a lie,” as Paul had claimed in 2
Thessalonians 2:10: “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”
They had the truth but rejected it.
Also, Paul was explicit that when we suppress the truth
about God (Romans 1:18), we are “without excuse”:
·
For his invisible attributes, namely, his
eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the
creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without
excuse. (Romans 1:20)
Instead, had we been born without the ability to choose God,
we would have a perfect excuse for our rejection of God – “We just couldn’t
have done otherwise, right!” Consequently, it would be like blaming a cat for
meowing or a fish for swimming.
When we fail to combat such excuses, we mitigate sin and
place the responsibility for our sin on the wrong party – God. Besides, we are
essentially telling people that they are not responsible, and when they belief
this, it will undermine their resolve to resist their sinful impulses.
Admittedly, there are a number of verses that claim that we
cannot come to God on our own. However, were we born with this inability, or
did it result from our own choices? Consequently, we become like a drug addict
who hardens himself against any purpose apart from getting the next fix.
Similarly, humanity must take responsibility for their rejection of God. Jesus
had lamented:
·
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the
prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered
your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37)
Admittedly, there are a number of verses that claim that we
cannot come to God on our own (John 6:65). However, were we born this way or
did we harden our heart against the Lord (John 3:19-20; Romans 1:18-32) so that
we became His enemies (Romans 5:8-10; 8:5-9)? Scripture consistently insists
that the problem resides with us (James 1:13-15) and not with God.
This brings us to the
second example – God hardening Pharaoh’s heart to accomplish His purposes
through him. Was God was unjust? Rather, it seems that He gave Pharaoh the
very thing that he had wanted. Pharaoh wasn’t a mindless puppet in God’s hands.
He too had been a willful moral agent who had hardened his own heart:
·
But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite,
he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said. (Exodus
8:15)
·
Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would
not listen to them, as the LORD had said. Then the LORD said to Moses,
“Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. (Exodus 7:13-14)
While some verses indicate that God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart, others indicate that he had
hardened his own heart. Our natural inclination is to conclude that it was
either Pharaoh or God who had hardened his heart. Why not both? Perhaps our God
is great enough to accomplish His plans through our freewill choices! There are
many verses that indicate that both parties are involved.
If we are going to understand the justice and righteousness
of God, I think that we have to accept the oft-mentioned Biblical fact that God
is able to direct us, even through our freewill choices. Therefore, it is correctly
commented: “Hell is God giving us what we want.”
Somehow, our freewill works in concert with God’s plan. While
Paul claimed that he had worked harder than the others, he also claimed that
whatever good had come out of his life was primarily the result of the Spirit
working through him:
·
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his
grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of
them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians
15:10)
Joseph had invoked this principle of dual responsiblity to
explain why he had forgiven his brothers who had sold him to merchants going to
Egypt:
·
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God
meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as
they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.”
(Genesis 50:20-21)
Admittedly, this interaction is a great mystery, but it is
also the glory of God and the message of His Word. Dual causation is found in
many forms. While Scripture is entirely “God-breathed” out (2 Timothy 3:16),
unsurprisingly, it also reflects the humanity of its writers – their vocabulary,
associations, feelings, and experiences.
Let’s now go to the
final example. David prays:
·
“Let
their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for
them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs
forever.” (Romans 11:10; Paul quoted from Psalm 69:22-23)
Why had David uttered such a damning curse on Israel?
Because Israel had previously
hardened their hearts and had given themselves over to rebellion! Immediately
before these verses from Psalm 69, David had written:
·
You know my reproach, and my shame and my
dishonor; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so
that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for
comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst
they gave me sour wine to drink. (Psalm 69:19-21)
These were not innocent people. Rather, David had been
cursing the very people who God already given over to the hardness of their own
hearts because of their rebellion, as we had read in Romans 1. In light of
this, David was merely asking God to give them the darkness that they had already chosen for themselves.
Let’s look at one last problematic verse that had often been
quoted in the New Testament (John 12:40; Acts 28:26-27):
·
And he [God] said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)
Were these Israelites born this way or did their rebellion
make them this way? Hadn’t God merely affirmed the rebellion that Israel had
already chosen! In each context where the Bible teaches about Israel’s
inability to come, there is never a hint that this inability was the result of
the Fall or God giving birth to a depraved Israel. In Matthew 13:14-15, Jesus
cited Isaiah 6 as the appropriate consequence of Israel first rebelling against
God:
·
“This is why I speak to them in parables,
because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they
understand.” (Matthew 13:13)
It was because Israel had already refused to see and hear
that God would then give them the blindness that they had chosen. The fault is
ours and not God’s:
·
“…My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile
hill. He [God] dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice
vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in
it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men
of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my
vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why
did it yield wild grapes?” (Isaiah 5:1-4)
The failure belonged entirely to Israel as many of her prophets
had charged. Israel had accused God of many things. However, never once did
they accuse God of not giving them the freedom or inclination to come to Him.
Instead, Scripture is consistent in insisting that we must take total responsibility for our rebellion.
Consequently, we are “without excuse.”
In heaven, His saints sing the song God had given to Moses
to teach to Israel:
·
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of
God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O
Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who
will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All
nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
(Revelation 15:3-4)
We might continue to wonder how God’s acts are all
righteous. However, there will come a time when all the nations will come and
acknowledge His righteousness.
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