Commentaries:
People's Commentary (NT)
Romans 9:18
Therefore he hath mercy. Romans 9:15 has shown that he hath mercy
according to his own sense of right, not according to any human code.
The case of Pharaoh shows, in addition, that
whom he will he hardeneth. Godet says:
``What must not be forgotten, and what appears distinctly, from
the whole narrative in Exodus, is that Pharaoh's hardening
was at first "his own act". Five times it is said of him that
he himself hardened, or made heavy his heart
(Exodus 7:13 7:22 8:15 8:32 9:7), before the time when it is
at last said that God hardened him (Exodus 9:12), and even
after that it is said that he hardened himself (Exodus 9:34).
Thus he at first closed his own heart to God's appeals; grew
harder by stubborn resistance under God's judgments, until at
last God, as a punishment for his obstinate rejection of
right, gave him over to his mad folly and took away his
judgment.'
At first Pharaoh hardened his own heart; God's judgments only made it
harder, and then God "gave him over" (Romans 1:28). God only made
harder, by his judgments and by leaving him to his folly, one who had
already hardened his own heart. That he was given over to madness is
shown in the record. Even his magician said, "This is the finger of
God" (Exodus 8:19). He himself once said, "I have sinned; the Lord is
righteous" (Exodus 9:27). Had he not hardened himself again, the
result would have been different. Then God gave him up to his own
folly, "to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind". The Jews approved
of all this in the case of Pharaoh, but held that God could never
abandon them on account of their sinful course. Paul's argument is,
that if they, the favored people, should pursue Pharaoh's course, they
might experience Pharaoh's fate. They, also, hardening themselves,
might be "delivered over to hardness", for God is not limited by race,
or by any limitation, but hardens whom he wills. "He wills to harden
those who harden themselves". I have dwelt upon this passage at greater
length than usual because it is so little understood. Godet well says
that in this whole passage Paul is not writing theology, but answering
the arrogant pretensions of Jewish Pharisaism, and hence he asserts the
Divine liberty. Had he been replying to those who have exaggerated this
liberty into a purely arbitrary and tyrannical will, he would have
brought out the opposite side of truth.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Romans 9:18
2 Thessalonians 2:13
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