I'm always intrigued as this topic comes up how people reconcile Romans 9 with their views, and in particular, the verses concerning the potter and his power to make both to honor as well as destruction. When you have a chance, can you share your understanding?
Hi Cameron. Yes, Romans 9 does present some difficulties, let's admit that. But you know Peter said:
"His letters contain some things that are hard to understand" (2 Pet 3:16) so imo if there's a difficulty in a text of Paul, they should be clarified by a clear text from Jesus Christ.
But let's look at Romans 9. This is
16-18: 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “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.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."
On Pharoah in particular, I read an excellent article recently, so I'm sharing it here: "Here we are able to draw several conclusions. First of all, in plagues 6-10, we hear four times that God has hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Can you see how this is a distinct change from plagues 1-5? In those stories, Pharaoh explicitly hardened his own heart (plagues 2 and 4), or the source of the hardening was ambiguous (plagues 1, 3, and 5). Interestingly, in the seventh plague of hail, we first see Pharaoh harden his own heart (
Exodus 9:34), but afterward the narrator uses the ambiguous verb “became hard” to describe it. This means that all of the other uses of the ambiguous verb (plagues 1, 3, and 5) do not imply that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but just the opposite!
The Point
Why does the author use this back-and-forth technique in describing Pharaoh’s heart? It’s all part of the brilliant diagnosis of the human condition in this story, which is about the mysterious nature of human evil. God called Pharaoh to humble himself and acknowledge that God is his authority and that he cannot redefine good and evil on Egyptian terms. Pharaoh’s response (see
Exodus 5:1-2) is to balk at the God of Israel.
After this, God gives Pharaoh five opportunities to repent and humble himself. And five times Pharaoh hardens his heart. "
From:
https://bibleproject.com/blog/pharaohs-heart-grew-harder/
And so, even in this case, it was Pharaoh who hardened his heart first, and refused many opportunities God gave him. And so, beyond a point, knowing Pharaoh would not repent anymore, God allowed his heart to be hardened further, and used him for His own purposes. That's how I would read it. How would you, Cameron?
Imo, it doesn't mean God never gave Pharaoh any chance to be saved or repent. He just refused to, and beyond a point, God allows man to choose what he wants. As one Pastor put it: "Some say to God: "Thy Will be done". Others, after refusing God for a long time, God says to them: "All right then, have it your way". I believe that happened to Judas and Pharaoh etc.
God Bless.