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What Romans 9 REALLY teaches about election

By Jeremy Myers
10 Comments

What Romans 9 REALLY teaches about election
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In a previous post I introduced the concept of what the Bible means when it talks about election. You will want to go read that post, or listen to the podcast, before you read this post, as it forms the foundation for the ideas presented below.

And if you really want to learn more about what I discuss in this article, you will want to get my book,(#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God. It provides more information about how to understand Romans 9:10-24. (And yes, I know the title is strange and the cover is boring, but you can find out the reason for WHY by using the “Look inside” feature at Amazon. This will allow you to read the Author’s Note and the Preface to the book, which explains more.)

(#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God

Here are the texts about election from Romans 9 that we want to briefly consider here:

And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, โ€œThe older shall serve the youngerโ€ (Romans 9:11-12).

For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, โ€œFor this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earthโ€ (Romans 9:17).

Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show โ€ฆ wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (Romans 9:21-24).

Brief Overview of Romans (for Context)

It is first of all helpful to recognize the overall message and meaning of the book of Romans.

Despite what some think, Paulโ€™s letter to the Romans is not about justification, or even the righteousness of God. It is not about how great God is or how to go to heaven when we die.

Romans 9 in contextInstead, Paul’s letter to the Romans is about how the gospel โ€œsavesโ€ believers and unbelievers alike (Romans 1:16-17) from wrath. This becomes clearer still when we recall that the word โ€œsavesโ€ does not mean โ€œjustifiesโ€ but โ€œdeliversโ€ (see my study on the word ‘saved’) and “wrath” does not mean “go to hell when you die” but refers instead to the devastating and destructive consequences of sin

Paulโ€™s letter to the Romans is about how the gospel not only delivers people from the eternal and spiritual consequences of sin, but also from the temporal and physical consequences.

Romans 9 fits squarely within the second part of this theme.

Up to this point in Romans, Paul has argued that although sin is a universal human problem (Romans 1โ€“3), God has a divine purpose and significance for all believers, so that if we live in light of our justification (Romans 4โ€“5) and walk by faith (Romans 6โ€“7), God will bless us and work with us to accomplish His will on earth (Romans 8).

In the last part of Romans 8, Paul sets out to encourage his readers that nothing can get in Godโ€™s way of accomplishing His purposes (Romans 8:28-39).

Yet there is one main problem with Paulโ€™s logic up to this point.

Though Paul says that nothing can get in Godโ€™s way of Him accomplishing His purposes in us, the biblical record seems to indicate that something got in the way of God accomplishing His purposes for Israel.

Israel too was Godโ€™s elect, but by all appearances, God โ€œset them asideโ€ and turned to the Gentiles instead. So if Godโ€™s purposes failed with Israel, how can Paul say that Godโ€™s purposes will not fail for the church?

Romans 9โ€“11 contains Paulโ€™s response to this objection.

In Romans 9โ€“11, Paul explains that Godโ€™s purposes for Israel did not fail, and for the most part, Israel herself did not fail.

Nevertheless, if we understand what happened to Israel, we will then be better able to protect the church from something similar happening to us.

Jacob and Esau in Romans 9

In the first part of Romans 9, Paul uses three biblical examples to show that Godโ€™s election of people and groups is to service.

Jacob Esau Romans 9The first example is Jacob and Esau, and it is important to note that both Jacob and Esau were elected, or chosen, by God. It is often assumed that only Jacob was chosen by God, but Paul clearly indicates that God chose the older brother, Esau, to serve the younger brother, Jacob.

This once again proves that election is to service.

Through the way Paul structures his argument and Old Testament quotations, he indicates that that while Isaac and Jacob were chosen to be recipients of the promise, Ishmael and Esau were still chosen by God, but for other purposes and tasks.

Godโ€™s choosing and election in Romans 9 is not to eternal life, but to vocation, mission, purpose, and service.

Esauโ€™s election certainly was a different service than the one to which Jacob was called, but it is clearly a call to service nonetheless.

This call to various forms of service was not only true of the individuals, Esau and Jacob, but also to the nations that came from them, Edom and Israel. Just as Israel was chosen to perform a particular type of service to the world, so also Edom was chosen to perform a particular type of service to Israel.

Therefore, just as Paul is not saying that all Israelites have eternal life, so also, Paul is not saying that all Edomites (the descendants of Esau) are destined for eternal damnation.

The passage is not about eternal destinies at all.

Any Edomite has just as much opportunity to believe and receive eternal life from God as any Israelite. God chose Israel so that they might be a blessing to the surrounding nations, and God chose Esau and the Edomites to help Jacob and Israel in this task.

The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart in Romans 9

The same truths are then applied by Paul to why God raised up Pharaoh during the Exodus events.

The way Paul structures his argument in Romans 9:14-18, Paul shows that Pharaoh too was chosen, or elected, by God. But this says nothing about Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny.

Romans 9:14-18ย is not referring to where Pharaoh will spend eternity.

did God harden Pharaohs heartInstead, God raised up Pharaoh and solidified the proud and stubborn rebellion that was in Pharaohโ€™s heart so that those who witnessed and heard of what happened in Egypt would know that the God of Israel alone was God. Could not God, in His gracious sovereignty, do such a thing with Pharaoh without affecting whatsoever Pharaohโ€™s ability to believe in Godโ€™s promises and thus become part of Godโ€™s redeemed people?

Of course He could!

The hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart, whether it is done by God or Pharaoh, or by some symbiotic combination of the two, has absolutely nothing to do with Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny.

Even if the Exodus account laid all the responsibility for the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart upon God Himself, and none upon Pharaoh, this still would tell us nothing about whether or not Pharaoh concluded His life as one of Godโ€™s redeemed.

Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny is not under discussion in Exodus or in Romans, and so Pharaohโ€™s heart can be hardened so that Godโ€™s purposes are achieved, while still leaving plenty of room for Pharaoh to believe in Godโ€™s promises and become one of Godโ€™s people.

When Pharaohโ€™s kingdom came crashing down around him through the Ten Plagues and the destruction of his army in the Red Sea, one wonders if Pharaoh learned the lesson God had sought to teach him, and had returned back to his empty throne room where he threw himself upon the mercy of the One True God, recognizing Godโ€™s sovereignty and power over allโ€”even over Pharaoh himself.

The Bible does not say this happened, but we can hope.

The Potter and the Clay in Romans 9

Paul uses the image of the potter and the clay from Jeremiah 18 as his third example of how election works. There are numerous interpretive issues with this portion of Paulโ€™s argument, which I explain in more detail in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God. In that book, I propose that the following translation of Romans 9:22-24ย best summarizes Paulโ€™s point:

What if God, wanting to reveal wrath for what it is and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of dishonor which were headed for destruction, so that He might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of honorโ€”which is the plan He has prepared beforehand for gloryโ€”and He did this not only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles?

potter and the clay Romans 9Read this way, God does not create two classes of people, one to destroy and one to bless. God does not create vessels for dishonor, but instead, endures with patience those who are dishonorable in the hopes that they would see His mercy and become vessels of honor.

God is longsuffering toward those who are in rebellion so that He can display His grace and mercy to them, with the hope that the vessels headed for destruction might instead become vessels headed for glory.

Either way, Godโ€™s creative wisdom enables Him to use honorable vessels for honorable purposes and dishonorable vessels for dishonorable purposes.

Once again, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the eternal destiny of these vessels, but instead concerns their role, function, and purpose within this life.

Romans 9 and Election

So Paul believes that election can be both corporate and individual, and that election is not to eternal life, but to service in this life.

Paul illustrates this teaching on election by pointing to Jacob and Esau and the nations that came from them, the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart, and Godโ€™s choice to use both honorable and dishonorable vessels to accomplish His purposes of blessing, reconciling, and redeeming the world.

Romans 9 is not about some strange act of God whereby He chooses some to receive eternal life while others get damned to hell by Godโ€™s sovereign eternal decree.

No, the point of Romans 9 is that God sought to bless the entire world by raising up Israel to be a light and a blessing to others. Having completed this task, God did not set Israel aside.

Instead, He transitioned from having an elect group of people in part of the world to calling all people in the world to join Him in the new elect people. So although Israel was elect, she fulfilled her task and became a non-elect nation so that the non-elect world could become elect.

This is what Paul continues to explain in Romans 11 as he answers the objection about how Godโ€™s promises and purposes do not fail even if Godโ€™s elect people do.

Romans 11 Supports this Reading of Romans 9

Paul returns to discuss election in Romans 11. Here are the pertinent texts:

Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5).

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded (Romans 11:7).

Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers (Romans 11:28).

As seen in the discussion above about Romans 9, the entire discussion in this part of Romans is about how Godโ€™s promises to the church can be trusted, since Godโ€™s promises to Israel seem to have failed.

Since Paul argued near the end of Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from Godโ€™s loving plan for us, the natural objection to this is, โ€œBut what about Israel? Werenโ€™t they separated from Godโ€™s plan due to their sinful rebellion and failure to serve as a blessing to the world?โ€

Paulโ€™s initial response in Romans 9 is that election is not to eternal life and glorification, but to service in this life.

divine electionHaving made this point, Paul goes on to argue in Romans 10 that Israel did not fail, but actually succeeded, and in fact, can continue to be elect by joining the elect people of God in the church. This is why Paul calls the church to proclaim the gospel to the Jews as well.

If the church does her job of proclaiming the gospel, any Israelite who believes in Jesus will become elect and join Godโ€™s plan and purposes in this world. This is what Paul goes on to describe in Romans 11.

The church has not replaced Israel in Godโ€™s plan for the world, but has been grafted in to supplement Godโ€™s plan, which, as it turns out, was Godโ€™s plan from the very beginning.

Even within Israel as a whole, there is always a remnant of believers who carry on the original task and purpose which God gave to the people of Israel (Romans 11:5). Though most of Israel is blinded, those Israelites who believe in Jesus for eternal life are thus part of the church and elected to participate in Godโ€™s purposes for this world (Romans 11:7).

Furthermore, a day is coming when Israel will return to her true calling, thereby bringing about the resurrection of the world (cf. Romans 11:12-15). Though many Israelites are antagonistic to the gospel, they nevertheless continue to serve role in Godโ€™s plan, and will do so in the future as well. In this way, though they are โ€œenemiesโ€ to the gospel, they are beloved friends regarding election (Romans 11:28).

Note that, once again, nothing in this part of Romans 11 has anything whatsoever to do with peopleโ€™s eternal destinies.

Paul is not talking about whether or not people can lose their eternal life. He is talking about positions of service in Godโ€™s plan for the world. God wants to bless the world, and while He chose Israel for this purpose, He now seeks to do it through the church, until ultimately all will be blessed by God (Rev 21:23-26; 22:2).

Just as God elected Israel to serve His purposes in the world, God chose the church for similar purposes.

Godโ€™s election of Israel and the church is not His choice of who will receive eternal life, but His choice of who will serve Him by being a blessing to this world.

Such an understanding helps make sense of some of the notoriously difficult verses in Romans 11. For example, Paul writes in Romans 11:17-21ย that the elect branches were cut off so that non-elect branches could be grafted in, which in turn will lead to the elect-which-became-non-elect to be re-grafted back in and become re-elect.

If Paul is referring to eternal life when he speaks of election, none of this makes any sense. How can a people or a nation whom God elected โ€œto eternal lifeโ€ before the foundation of the world go from being elect to non-elect and then re-elect?

Romans 11:17-21 makes perfect sense, however, when we recognize that election is not to eternal life but to service. God wants to bless the world through His people. Israel accomplished their role in this, which led to the birth of the church.

But this does not mean that the church replaced Israel in Godโ€™s plan, but that God grafted Gentiles into His overall plan, and now invites all Israelites to be included in this ongoing plan, just as God invites all Gentiles as well.

branches grafted in Romans 11 electionIn this way, when Paul writes about branches being cut off so others can be grated in which will lead to the cut off branches being grafted back in again, he is not talking about people losing and regaining eternal life, but about losing and re-gaining places of privilege and purpose in Godโ€™s plan for this world. Godโ€™s plan of redemption started with Israel, shifted to the church (consisting of both Jewish and Gentile believers), so that โ€œof Him and through Him and to Him are all thingsโ€ (Romans 11:36).

Israel, the elect nation, became non-elect once she had completed her task of bringing Scripture, the Messiah, and the elect church into the world.

God now joins believing Gentiles with believing Israelites together to form the church so that as the elect people of God, they will be a blessing to the world.

Godโ€™s plan did not fail, but simply transitioned from one group (Israel) to another (the church), so that the second group (the church) could be a blessing to the first (Israel) as well as to the whole world.

Election, Romans 9-11, and the Theme of Romans

This understanding fits perfectly with Paulโ€™s overall theme in Romans about the gospel as the power of God unto salvation for all believers.

Remember, salvation is not about believing in Jesus for eternal life (though that is a central part of the gospel), but is also about living with purpose and significance as members of the new creation in this life.

This is Paulโ€™s message in Romans, and Romans 9โ€“11 fit perfectly into this overall theme. The gospel is good news for all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile.

It tells believers that our God is on the move in and through us; that His plan is moving forward. If we follow Him in faith, we will play a thrilling part in His plan for this world.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: divine election, election, election is to service, Esau, gospel dictionary, Jacob, One Verse Podcast, Pharaoh, potter and the clay, Romans 11, Romans 11:17-21, Romans 9, Romans 9:1-12, Romans 9:17, Romans 9:21-24

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The God of the Exodus is a God of Violence

By Jeremy Myers
17 Comments

The God of the Exodus is a God of Violence

I finally watched “Exodus: Gods and Kings” last night. I watched it with my wife, Wendy.

Well, we watched part of it … we got too tired and went to bed after 90 minutes.

exodus gods and kings

I wasn’t too happy with many of the changes in the movie from the biblical account, but whatever. It’s Hollywood. Frankly, I’m a little more upset at the travesty of the 3-part “The Hobbit” than I am at what Hollywood did to the Exodus story. But that’s not the point here either.

What I found most fascinating was how Yahweh, the God of Israel, was portrayed in the movie. And I’m not talking about how he was a little boy. I don’t care about that.

What I found most interesting about the movie is that God was portrayed as this violent, blood-thirty, thoughtless, bumbling, vengeful deity. There was a clear power struggle in the movie between God and Pharaoh (who thought he was a god). That probably explains the subtitle for this movie: “Gods and Kings.”

And frankly, though there were many ways that the movie strayed from the biblical account of the Exodus, the way that the book of Exodus portrays God is not one of the ways the movie strayed. If we really read the book of Exodus without our Christian rose-colored glasses, the God of the book of Exodus is quite similar to the God portrayed in the movie “Exodus.” Several things about the book of Exodus which have always bothered me about how God is portrayed in that book were brought into clear focus in the movie.

What I found most interesting was how the movie stayed true to the biblical text … specifically in regard to the violence of God in the book of Exodus.

I know nothing about the director, Ridley Scott, but he is either a fundamentalist Christian who believes the book of Exodus accurately portrays God as He really is, or he’s an atheist who wants to point out how bloodthirsty the God of the Exodus is.

Isn’t it interesting that both atheists and fundamentalist Christians have a similar view about the God of the Exodus?

exodus gods and kings

Anyway, here is a short list of how God is portrayed in this movie:

1. 400 Years of … Absence

When Moses first encounters God on the mountain, he wants to know why God has waited 400 years to do anything about the slavery of his people. Good question! He gets no answer. But this theme comes up later …

2. Leave Your Wife and Child

When Moses heads off to Egypt, Moses’ wife gets it right when she says, “What kind of a God asks a man to leave his wife and children?” I actually laughed at this part of the movie, because not three seconds earlier my wife asked the exact same question. Same exact words. Same tone. Everything.

Moses’ basic answer was, “I don’t ask questions. I just follow orders.” Of course, later God denies that He ever told Moses to leave his wife and children. That was Moses’ decision.

Hmmm… So is God saying that Moses could have brought his wife and young son into the hell-hole that became Egypt?

3. Freedom through Warfare

Moses begins his attempt to free the Israelites by engaging in guerilla warfare. After numerous cycles of vengeance and retaliation increase the bloodshed, pain, and suffering on all sides, God shows up again and tells Moses he’s taking too long.

Moses says, “What? You wait 400 years and now you’re in a hurry?”

God doesn’t really answer him again, but simply says “Just step back and watch what I can do.”

4. Any war you can do, God can do better

Crazily enough, this is when the pain, suffering, bloodshed, and slaughter really begins in earnest. First we get a scene of crocodiles tearing people limb from limb in the Nile river. Apparently, this is how the Nile turned to blood. All the fish die. Rice fields are ruined. People starve.

Plague follows upon plague, each one more bloody, brutal, and terrifying than the last. Worst of all, these plagues hit Egyptian and Hebrew alike. Moses brings this up to God. He basically says, “You know, if you want to be loved by the Hebrew people, you probably shouldn’t inflict the same plagues on them that you inflict upon the Egyptians.”

God responds by saying, “Oh! Good point!” and starts sending plagues just upon the Egyptians.

The scene where the poor, starving Egyptian farmer wails in misery over his last dead cow is especially touching.

5. God will have His bloody revenge!

At one point, Moses tells God that enough is enough. He grew up with these Egyptian people. He was one of them. It is difficult, he says, to see people you love suffer so greatly. Basically, Moses points out that these plagues from God don’t seem to be doing anything more than the guerilla warfare was doing, and God was behaving a little too violently.

God gets angry at Moses at this point, and tells him, “Don’t talk to me about violence! I have watched my people suffer under slavery for 400 years, and now you think that I am being too violent?! I will have my revenge!” …

So God waited through 400 years of violent oppression and slavery so that He could exact violent revenge upon the Egyptians?

6. When it comes to a killing contest … God wins!

By now, Pharaoh is pretty upset. So late one night, in a fit of (justifiable?) anger, he declares that Moses and Moses’ God have gone too far, and if this is a contest about who can kill the most people, he will kill all of the young Hebrew children. He will prove that Pharaoh is better at killing that Moses or the God of Moses.

God hears this, and basically says, “Oh yeah? Watch this.” And then he kills all the firstborn sons of Egypt. In other words, “You think you’re good at killing? You know nothing. When it comes to a killing contest, I always win. Watch this …”

Then all the firstborn sons of Egypt die, including Pharaoh’s own son.

As a result, Pharaoh finally tells Moses that he and the Israelites can leave Egypt, but in so doing, he asks the most poignant question of the movie. He says to Moses, “What kind of God kills little children? How can you worship such a God?”

We, as the movie viewers are supposed to see the irony. Pharaoh seems to have forgotten that he, as an Egyptian deity, was planning to kill children, and therefore, his question proves that he is not a god or, if he is, he is not worthy of worship.

But doesn’t the same logic apply to the God of Israel? It seems so.

Pharaohs dead son

Closing Questions about the Exodus

That’s where I stopped watching the movie. I will finish it tonight.

Look. I believe the Bible too. And yes, in case you are wondering, I believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. Yes, every word.

So how can I write what I did above? Because I believe that the truth which the inspired and inerrant biblical text teaches us is not the truth that many Christians say it is.

I plan on writing a lot more about this in the months ahead, so stay tuned.

Until then, if you are troubled by what I have written above, or if you were troubled by the way God was portrayed in this movie, but you are not troubled by the way God is actually portrayed in the book of Exodus, you might want to ask yourself “Why?” How is it that you would get upset if Pharaoh killed children, but not upset when God does it?

Why are some Christians upset that the cast of Exodus was mostly “white” people, but not too upset about the violence of God in the movie?

Why are some Christians upset that God was portrayed as a child, but not upset that God was horribly violent?

Why are some Christians upset at the “naturalistic” explanation for the plagues, but not upset at how God was the primary source of this violence?

Why are Christians upset about everything in the Exodus movie, except for how God was involved with violence?

Well… maybe some people were upset about these things, and I just didn’t hear about it.

How about you? Did you watch the movie “Exodus”? What were your thoughts? Share below!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Exodus, Moses, Pharaoh, ten plagues, violence of God, violence of Scripture

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Why did God harden Pharaoh’s Heart?

By Jeremy Myers
30 Comments

Why did God harden Pharaoh’s Heart?

did God harden Pharaohs heartIn Romans 9, Paul writes about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart for the purposes of making God’s glory known. This seems rather harsh to some.

What does Paul mean?

Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart First?

In this debate, Calvinists say that God hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart first from eternity past because God needed a vessel of destruction through whom to reveal His wrath. They say that the text is quite clear in teaching that God hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart (Exod 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8).

Non-Calvinists respond that in the Exodus account, the text frequently states that Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened it (Exod 8:15, 32; 9:34). There are also several references which state that Pharaohโ€™s heart was hardened without giving indication about the source of this hardening (Exod 7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35).

hardening pharaohs heartBut in response to this, Calvinists argue back that although the text says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened it, before Moses even went to speak to Pharaoh, God told Him that He planned to harden Pharaohโ€™s heart (Exod 4:21; 7:3).

As one is reading all the exegetical and theological arguments surrounding this debate about who hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart first, it begins to sound a bit like the question of which came first: the chicken or the egg.

It Doesn’t Matter Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart First!

Rather than summarizing all the exegetical and theological arguments on both sides of this debate, it seems best to avoid all the rhetoric and cut through to the main question which neither side seems to be asking.

The real question is this: โ€œWhat does it mean for Pharaohโ€™s heart to be hardened?โ€

pharaohs heart hardenedThe issue is not about who hardened Pharaohโ€™s heart firstโ€”though that is where most of the ink has been spilledโ€”but rather about what it means for Pharaohโ€™s heart to be hardened.

People on both sides of the debate often assume that the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart means that Pharaoh was solidified in his status as an unregenerate person headed for hell.

But what if the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart doesnโ€™t mean this at all? What if it simply refers instead to the resolve in Pharaohโ€™s heart to keep the Israelites as his slaves, and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny?

What if God, in His desire to make His glory known to both the Israelites and the Egyptians, made certain that Pharaoh would resist the will of God to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt, so that all those who witnessed and heard of these events would know that the God of Israel alone was God?

Could not God, in His gracious sovereignty, hardenย Pharaoh’s heart without affecting whatsoever Pharaohโ€™s ability to believe in Godโ€™s promises and thus become part of Godโ€™s redeemed people?

Of course He could!

Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter makes a similar point:

The awesome words to Pharaoh can be faced in their full forceโ€”โ€œEven for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.โ€ The words โ€œraised thee upโ€ do not mean that God had raised him up from birth for this purpose: they refer to his elevation to the highest throne on earth. Nay, as they occur in Exodus 9:16, they scarce mean even that, but only that God had kept Pharaoh from dying in the preceding plague, so as to be made the more fully an object lesson to all men. Moreover, when Paul (still alluding to Pharaoh) says, โ€œAnd whom He will, He hardenethโ€ (Exod 9:18), we need not try to soften the word.

God did not override Pharaohโ€™s own will. The hardening was a reciprocal process. Eighteen times we are told that Pharaohโ€™s heart was โ€œhardenedโ€ in refusal. In about half of these the hardening is attributed to Pharaoh himself; in the others to God. But the whole contest between God and Pharaoh must be interpreted by what God said to Moses before ever the contest started: โ€œThe king of Egypt will notโ€ (Exod 3:19). The will was already set. The heart was already hard. The hardening process developed inasmuch as the plagues forced Pharaoh to an issue which crystallized his sin. โ€ฆ Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny is not the thing in question (Baxter, Explore the Book, VI:88-89).

This means that the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart, whether it is done by God or Pharaoh, or by some symbiotic combination of the two, has absolutely nothing to do with Pharaohโ€™s eternal destiny.

Even if the Exodus account laid all the responsibility for the hardening of Pharaohโ€™s heart upon God Himself, and none upon Pharaoh, this still would tell us nothing about whether or not Pharaoh concluded His life as one of Godโ€™s redeemed.

did god harden pharaohs heartPharaohโ€™s eternal destiny is not under discussion in Exodus or in Romans, and so Pharaohโ€™s heart can be hardened so that Godโ€™s purposes are achieved, while still leaving plenty of room for Pharaoh to believe in Godโ€™s promises and become one of Godโ€™s people.

If you want a longer and more detailed explanation of why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, check out my new book:ย The Re-Justification of God.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, election, Pharaoh, Romans 9, Theology of Salvation, TULIP, Unconditional Election

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The Re-Justification of God (Romans 9)

By Jeremy Myers
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The Re-Justification of God (Romans 9)

I have just published a book called The Re-Justification of God.

Here’s the cover:

The Re-Justification of God

The Justification of GodIt is probably the ugliest book cover I have ever designed, but if you compare it with the cover from John Piper’s bookย on the right,ย you’ll see why I created the cover as I did.

Why did I write The Re-Justification of God?

Ever since I read John Piper’s The Justification of God about twenty years ago,ย I have wanted to write a book in response called The Re-Justification of God.

Why?

I believe that Piper’s book does more to malign the name of God and His character than uplift and glorify it. To put it bluntly, I don’t think Piper’s book does anything to accomplish “The justification of God” but actually does the opposite!

So I wanted to write a book which explains Romans 9 in a way that presents God in light of Jesus Christ, in a way that does not make Godย responsible for hating Esau, hardening Pharaoh’s heart, and condemning a large majority of mankind to everlasting damnation in hell.

Look, I have great respect for John Piper, but much of his theology really gets my blood boiling, and this book of his ย on Romans 9 was no exception.

But it wasn’t just his book. Most of the explanations of Romans 9 I have read from Calvinists seem to be completely off track and do more to undermine the character of God than glorify it.

So in light of all the bad theology that has been taught from Romans 9, I wanted to write a book that explained the text of Romans 9 in a way that truly presents God in the light that Paul presents Him, as a God of light, love, mercy, grace, and longsuffering toward all.

That would be a great book, right?

Well, guess what?

Despite appearances, the book I just published is not that book. My The Re-Justification of God is not a point-by-point refutation of Piper’s The Justification of God. My book is not even a point-by-point refutation of the typical Calvinistic understanding of Romans 9. That is the book I set out to write, but it is not the book I am announcing here.

…Sorry to disappoint you.

However…

…My book IS the first draft in what will hopefully become that book.

While I believe my newย book does provide an overall big-picture analysis of Romans 9:10-24 that is neither Calvinistic nor Arminian, and while I believe my bookย provides logically and theologically sound explanations for why God “hated” Esau, why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and how God treats the “vessels of wrath” destined for destruction, I was not able to provide ALL the scholarly and exegetical details that a book like this requires.

So this book is the brief summary of the book I initially set out to write so many years ago. It is not finished, however. It is less than half-way done. Oh, the ideas are all there, but the book contains very little of the exegetical evidence which is needed to defend the ideas.

So why am I publishing this book now if it’s not done?

In the opening pages to this new book, I explain why, but in a nutshell, the reason is that if I didn’t publish it now, it would probably never get done. Also, having the book out there allows people to respond to it and interact with it so that in a future edition I can correct or attempt to better explain the ideas I present in the book.

And following the theme in the cover image above, here is an image of some of the edits I performed on this manuscript:

re-justification of God

As with many of my books, there are probably still several typographic mistakes in it. If you find some, please send me an email, or use the “Contact Me” section on my About page to let me know where they are so I can correct these mistakes in future editions of the book.

So how can you get and read this book?

This book is available for purchase on Amazon.

Re-Justification of God

Once you have read it, let me know what you think by leaving a review on Amazon.

And hey, would you let others know about this new book by using the share buttons below? Thanks!

God is Redeeming Books, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, Esau, Pharaoh, potter and the clay, Romans 9, Romans 9:10-24, Theology of Salvation, TULIP, Unconditional Election

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