Let's look at Rom 9:17-18,
"For the Scripture says to Pharoah: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."
I believe we've reached an important 'pivot' point in chapter 9.
As we've been seeing, vs. 6-16 teaches us of God's sovereignity in bestowing
His BLESSINGS (for which human 'deservedness' is not an issue); but from
vs.19 onwards Paul will be talking about the sovereign JUDGMENT of God
upon the guilty.
Rom 9:17-18 thus can be seen as the 'bridge' between amazing grace and righteous judgement. So again my approach will be to first present my interpretation and comments of the verses, followed by a look at Calvinist/Reformed theology's views on the matter.
The next two essays are thus:
This should be followed by the third installation of the critique
of Reformed Theology: Is
divine hardening 'proof' of total unconditional divine sovereignity?
Now, what better way to drive home the point that EVEN THE WORST OF US can be shown mercy, than to bring up one of the major 'Bad Guys' in Israel's history and demonstrate how even he wasn't absent from God's merciful purposes?
First of all, a better translation of 9:17 would be, '...I SPARED YOU for this very purpose', and not the misleading 'I RAISED YOU UP...' which, anyway (emphasis mine):
"...is not strictly a reference to Pharoah's emergence in history, but to God's providence in sparing him up to that time." (Harrison, '76).See where Rom 9:17 came from i.e. Exo 9:13-18, "(God said to Pharoah), 'Let my people go...or this time I will send My full force of plagues against you...For by now I could have stretched out My hand and wiped you off the earth. But I have spared you for this very purpose, that I might show you My power and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.""...is not merely to God's raising up Pharoah to be king; but to His patience in preserving him alive, in spite of his disobedience" (Bruce, '63)
God's mercy is the only thing which prevents Egypt from being justly 'wiped off the earth' for Pharoah's non-compliance to God's requests, despite six 'warning' plagues. The fact that God REPEATEDLY asks Pharoah to let Israel go (and doesn't blow him away after Exo 7:13) surely shows us God's great compassion for even the most rebellious of men.
Here was a guy who thoroughly deserved death, YET God was willing to spare him and be patient with him in the hope that Pharoah and the Egyptians would 'know that He is Yahweh' (Exo7:5, 17; 8:10, 22; 9:14; 14:4, 18). John Sanders explains (in God Who Risks):
"This means more than intellectual awareness of a fact; it means to become oriented towards Yahweh in one's life. God intends to bring about changes in the lives of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, not just with Israel."This may be a real paradigm shift for some of us, but I believe that God's actions in Exodus were performed not merely for the sake of delivering His people, but also in the hope of a positive relationship with the populace of Egypt. He wants them to repent, humble themselves and come to fear and love Him. In fact, many Egyptians eventually believed and JOINED the Israelites when Pharoah finally let them go (Exo 12:38), and I think this group would include some of Pharoah's own officials as well (9:20).
Pharoah himself came close to surrendering to God and even showed some sorrow over his actions (Ex 9:27, 10:17) but sadly his further actions only prove the point that faith simply cannot be 'forced'.
Nevertheless, God's compassion is still immortalized by Paul in 9:18a, "...God has mercy on WHOM(ever) He wants to have mercy...".
Yes, on even a God-hating enemy like Pharoah. How much more those who cling on to Him always...
Moving on to
9:18b...