Romans 9:17 – A Hardened Heart
For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For 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 earth.”
Truth to Learn
God chooses to do what He does to bring glory to Himself.
Behind the Words
“Says” is from the Greek verb legō, which means “to lay forth, declare, or proclaim.” It is expressed here in the present tense not the past tense (the Scripture said to the Pharaoh …), thus underscoring the eternal nature of God’s word.
Meaning Explained
Paul has demonstrated that it is God who directs the destiny of mankind. All of us deserve eternity in Hell because we are sinners; we are not righteous. God on the other hand cannot sin and cannot allow sinfulness to be in his presence. Therefore, the only way for God to have any fellowship with mankind is to choose to declare some of us righteous even though we don’t deserve it and can’t do anything to earn it.
But God’s sovereignty goes even further than choosing whom He will show His mercy to, whom He loves, and whom He hates. In order to demonstrate his sovereignty and power, God allows some to fully demonstrate their sinfulness.
God instructed Moses to go into Pharaoh’s presence and demand that he allow the Israelites to go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God. However, Pharaoh wouldn’t allow them to go. Moses then told Pharaoh that God would visit various plagues upon Egypt. But he still would not let the Israelites go because his heart was hard. In chapters seven through fourteen, we repeatedly see the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart:
Exodus 7:14 Pharaoh’s heart is hard.
Exodus 7:22 Pharaoh’s heart grew hard.
Exodus 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw … he hardened his heart.
Exodus 8:32 Pharaoh hardened his heart.
Exodus 9:12 But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh.
Exodus 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw … he hardened his heart.
Exodus 10:1 the LORD said … I have hardened his heart.
Exodus 10:20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
Exodus 10:27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
Exodus 11:10 and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
Exodus 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh.
We can see from these verses that God did not make Pharaoh evil; that was Pharaoh’s own doing (his sin nature). God simply chose not to change Pharaoh’s heart; instead, He hardened it further. It was not out of spite or malice on God’s part, it was done so that He would be glorified. That’s what Paul is referring to in the current verse when he says,
For 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 earth.
Compare this to Isaiah 65:1 where God says,
I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ To a nation that was not called by My name.
Application
God can harden the heart of whomever He wants. But He can also open the spiritual eyes of a lost sinner, allowing him or her to see and believe that Christ died on the cross to pay for his or her sins. And He gets all the glory!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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