Romans 9:17-19 – Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

Calvinism and Reform Tradition will often point to Romans 9:17-19  as proof text for their doctrine that before creation itself, God had Elected and Predestined, as in selected and designed as per deterministic theism, certain individuals to serve as objects of His wrath, so that those whom He had elected and predestined unto salvation would better appreciate His glory, His power and His mercy toward them. However, neither this passage nor the Old Testament passage that Paul paraphrased implies that God unilaterally  hardens hearts against Him or to keep one from obtaining salvation.

Listen, when God placed the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden of Eden, He did not tempt, coerce or compulse Adam or Eve to eat of its fruit. Instead, God not only commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the forbidden fruit but He also forewarned them that on the day that they did eat of the forbidden fruit, they would surely die. How else would one made Man in the image God to be a moral agents, be moral agents without God providing and enabling them the practical availability and the awareness of a choice to be enacted upon?  Granted, one might say that in God, giving Angels and Man the ability of moral agency, that God created the potential of sin and evil, but God never tempted, coerced, deceived, forced or even necessitated Adam and Eve to disobey, and to choose death. Had that been the case then Eve would not have accused the Serpent of deceiving her – Genesis 3:13 –  but rather she would have accused God of deception.

In light of James 1:13-15, I believe it would be more than just difficult to reconcile that God who does not tempt anyone unto evil would somehow in the normal / conventional sense of the word or action, harden an individual’s heart whereas to necessitate, compel, deceive, blind and or coerce one into unbelief, sin and evil. To claim such a thing would be to confound the righteous purposes of God with the unrighteous purposes of Satan and Man himself,  John 8:44.

When it comes to interpretation, Scripture must be allowed to interpret Scripture over all other methods. Interpretation and Doctrine(s) must be supported contextually, and progressively intact throughout all Scripture. God is not a God of contradiction and so neither does His word contain contradictions or paradoxes. Therefore any interpretation that contradicts Scripture (even in part) or the nature and character of God, must be considered incomplete or completely wrong, 1 Timothy 6:20.

I hope that the posted audio files provided will offer another perspective of “the hardening of the Pharaoh’s heart” that as I believe you will see, fits contextually with both Scripture and the character of God.