The Sovereignty Of God In Reprobation: Part Four
“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God”(Rom. 11:22).
Verse 18. “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth.” The “therefore” announces the general conclusion which the Apostle draws from all he had said in the three preceding verses in denying that God was unrighteous in loving Jacob and hating Esau, and specifically it applies the principle exemplified in God’s dealings with Pharaoh. It traces everything back to the Sovereign will of the Creator. He loves one and hates another. He exercises mercy toward some and hardens others, without reference to anything save His own Sovereign will.
That which is most repulsive to the carnal mind in the above verse is the reference to hardening-“Whom He will He hardeneth”-and it is just here that so many commentators and expositors have adulterated the truth. The most common view is that the Apostle is speaking of nothing more than judicial hardening, i.e., a forsaking by God because these subjects of His displeasure had first rejected His truth and forsaken Him. Those who contend for this interpretation appeal to such Scriptures as Romans 1: 19-26-“God gave them up,” that is (see context) those who “knew God” yet glorified Him not as God (v. 21). Appeal is also made to 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12. But it is to be noted that the word “harden” does not occur in either of these passages.
But further. We submit that Romans 9:18 has no reference whatever to judicial “hardening.” The Apostle is not there speaking of those who had already turned their back on God’s truth, but instead, he is dealing with God’s Sovereignty, God’s Sovereignty as seen not only in showing mercy to whom He wills, but also in hardening whom He pleases. The exact words are “Whom He will”-not, “all who have rejected His truth”-“He hardeneth,” and this, coming immediately after the mention of Pharaoh, clearly fixes their meaning. The case of Pharaoh is plain enough, though man by his glosses has done his best to hide the truth.
Verse 18. “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth.” This affirmation of God’s Sovereign “hardening” of sinners’ hearts-in contradistinction from judicial hardening-is not alone. Mark the language of John 12:37-40, “But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the saying of Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Therefore they could not believe (why?), because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts (why? Because they had refused to believe on Christ? This is the popular belief, but mark the answer of Scripture) that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” Now, reader, it is just a question as to whether or not you will believe what God has revealed in His Word. It is not a matter of prolonged searching or profound study, but a childlike spirit which is needed in order to understand this doctrine.
Verse 19. “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?” Is not this the very objection which is urged today? The force of the Apostle’s questions here seem to be this: Since everything is dependent on God’s will, which is irreversible, and since this will of God, according to which He can do everything as Sovereign-since He can have mercy on whom He wills to have mercy, and can refuse mercy and inflict punishment on whom He chooses to do so-why does He not will to have mercy on all, so as to make them obedient, and thus put finding of fault out of court?
Now it should be particularly noted that the Apostle does not repudiate the ground on which the objection rests. He does not say God does not find fault. Nor does he say, Men may resist His will. Furthermore; he does not explain away the objection by saying: You have altogether misapprehended my meaning when I said ‘Whom He will He treats kindly, and whom He wills He treats severely.’ But he says, “first, this is an objection you have no right to make; and then, This is an objection you have no reason to make” (vide Dr. Brown). The objection was utterly inadmissible, for it was a replying against God. It was to complain about, argue against, what God had done!
Verse 19. “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?” The language which the Apostle here puts into the mouth of the objector is so plain and pointed, that misunderstanding ought to be impossible. Why doth He yet find fault? Now, reader, what can these words mean? Formulate your own reply before considering ours. Can the force of the Apostle’s question be any other than this: If it is true that God has “mercy” on whom He wills, and also “hardens” whom He wills, then what becomes of human responsibility? In such a case men are nothing better than puppets, and if this be true then it would be unjust for God to “find fault” with His helpless creatures.
Mark the word “then”-Thou wilt say then unto me-he states the (false) inference or conclusion which the objector draws from what the Apostle had been saying. And mark, my reader, the Apostle readily saw the doctrine he had formulated would raise this very objection, and unless what we have written throughout this book provokes, in some at least, (all whose carnal minds are not subdued by Divine grace) the same objection, then it must be either because we have not presented the doctrine which is set forth in Romans 9, or else because human nature has changed since the Apostle’s day.
Consider now the remainder of the verse (19). The Apostle repeats the same objection in a slightly different form-repeats it so that this meaning may not be misunderstood-namely, “For who hath resisted His will?” It is clear then that the subject under immediate discussion relates to God’s “will,” i.e., His Sovereign ways, which confirms what we have said above upon verses 17 and 18 where we contended that it is not judicial hardening which is in view (that is, hardening because of previous rejection of the truth), but Sovereign “hardening,” that is, the “hardening” of a fallen and sinful creature for no other reason than that which inheres in the Sovereign will of God. And hence the question, “Who hath resisted His will?” What then does the Apostle say in reply to these objections?
Verse 20. “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” The Apostle, then, did not say the objection was pointless and groundless; instead, he rebukes the objector for his impiety. He reminds him that he is merely a “man,” a creature, and that as such it is most unseemly and impertinent for him to “reply (argue, or reason) against God.” Furthermore, he reminds him that he is nothing more than a “thing formed” and, therefore, it is madness and blasphemy to rise up against the Former Himself.
Ere leaving this verse it should be pointed out that its closing words, “Why hast thou made me thus,” help us to determine, unmistakably, the precise subject under discussion. In the light of the immediate context what can be the force of the “thus”? What, but as in the case of Esau, why hast thou made me an object of “hatred”? What, but as in the case of Pharaoh, Why hast thou made me simply to “harden” me? What other meaning can, fairly, be assigned to it?
It is highly important to keep clearly before us that the Apostle’s object throughout this passage is to treat of God’s Sovereignty in dealing with, on the one hand, those whom He loves-vessels unto honour and vessels of mercy; and also, on the other hand, with those whom He “hates” and “hardens”-vessels unto dishonour and vessels of wrath.