Explain in Detail Romans 9: 10-23 and in So Doing Answer This : Is It Not Unjust to Deliberately Raise Pharaoh and Harden His Heart in Order to Destr?
1) Direct Answer
No. It is not unjust. Romans 9:10–23 shows God’s sovereign right to show mercy and His righteous judgment to harden the stubborn. Pharaoh was not made evil; he repeatedly resisted the Word, and God judicially confirmed him in that path to display His power and deliver His people.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Romans 9:10–13: Before Jacob and Esau were born, God declared, “the elder shall serve the younger,” and “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” The point is the purpose of God according to election—not of works, but of Him that calls. God’s choice stands on His foreknowledge and purpose, not on human merit (1 Peter 1:2). Esau later proved the nature of that choice by despising the birthright (Genesis 25:34; Hebrews 12:16).
- Romans 9:14–16: “Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” Mercy is God’s to give. “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” If mercy could be demanded, it would be wages, not mercy. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”
- Romans 9:17–18: Concerning Pharaoh, Scripture says God “raised” him up—that is, set him on the stage of history and sustained him—so God’s power and name would be declared. Exodus records both that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34) and that God hardened his heart (Exodus 9:12; 10:20). God’s hardening is judicial: He gives men over to the stubbornness they choose (Romans 1:24–28; 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12). The same Word that softens the believing heart hardens the rebellious one.
- Romans 9:19–21: “Who hath resisted his will?” Paul answers, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” The potter has authority over the clay. As Creator, God owes no man mercy, yet He wrongs no man in judging sin.
- Romans 9:22–23: God “endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”—they store up wrath by hardness and impenitence (Romans 2:5). Meanwhile He makes known “the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory” (Ephesians 1:4–5). Notice the patience: He endures the rebellious, then judges righteously; and He prepares His own for glory.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- God is just to judge sin. No sinner can claim injustice when judged.
- Mercy is not owed; it is sovereign grace. Therefore choosing to show mercy to some is not injustice to others.
- Hardening is not God making a good man evil; it is God confirming a rebel in the path he refuses to forsake after light is given. Pharaoh saw signs, heard God’s command, and kept resisting; God then hardened him to fulfill His purpose and to free His people.
- Scripture holds both truths: God rules in sovereign mercy, and man is responsible for unbelief (John 3:19–20; Acts 13:46). “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7–8).
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, the Judge of all the earth does right. He raised Pharaoh to manifest His Name, He bore long with him, and He righteously hardened the man who hardened himself. At the same time, He had mercy on those who believed. That’s the mystery of grace and justice—sovereign mercy to the willing believer, righteous hardening to the persistent rebel.
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