God: (1) Wants all people to be saved. (2) But has mercy on whom he wills and hardens whom he wills.

I do not know how those two truths fit together logically because God does not tell me.

John Calvin introduced confusion into the Reformed churches by trying to explain how they fit together logically. He did so by undermining what the Bible clearly says: that God genuinely wants all people to be saved.

Later, a Reformed theologian called Jacobus Arminius tried to correct Calvin’s error, but held on to the desire to try and make the Bible fit human logic. He did this by undermining another thing the Bible clearly says: that all those who come to final salvation do so purely because of God’s grace and mercy that starts from him predestining them from before the beginning of time.

Lutherans understand that it is essential to listen to everything God says in the Bible, even when it is paradoxical to us. And not to speculate beyond what is revealed.

This is now what Paul explains in Romans 9:14-18 as he starts to explain the doctrine of predestination.

Our first two posts in this series addressed Calvin’s confusion about predestination. The third post gave a summary of Paul’s explanation of it in Romans 9-11. In our previous post we looked at the line of promise in Genesis, Malachi and Romans 9:6-13.

Paul did not write Romans 9-11 simply to explain the abstract doctrine of predestination. He’s dealing with the specific issue Jewish Christians have that many other Jews have not obtained salvation in Christ. Then from 11:13 he turns to address Gentile Christians pastorally.

In this discussion he talks about two different types of “election.” Romans 9:1-13 is mostly about the historical election of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the nation of Israel. Paul does not say here that this is to illustrate eternal election in the way Calvin claims. Instead, the historical election of Israel was so that the nation could be a vehicle for Christ to be sent so that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.

The blessing of the whole world is God’s purpose for historical election that Paul mentions, but doesn’t yet define, in verse 11. While the eternally elect are those who actually become children of Abraham because they are in Christ through trusting in this promise—which Paul hints at in verse 8, but doesn’t yet explain.

So in Romans 9:6-13, Paul has explained that God’s Word has not failed, because the historical election of Israel really has fulfilled its purpose in bringing the Christ into the world.

Paul ends v. 13 with Malachi’s very strong statement about the historical election of Israel “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

A natural human objection to this is: How can this be just? If God predestined Jacob, not Esau, to be the father of the nation through which Christ will come—before either of them had even been born or done anything good or bad—then isn’t God being unjust? Paul explicitly states that question in v. 14.

Paul answers by shifting focus from historical election of Jacob to the question it raises: whether God is unjust when his saving mercy depends on him rather than on human worthiness. And in addressing that question he makes use of the book of Exodus and starts to address the deeper issue of eternal election to life.

1) Election to Life in Exodus

In v. 15, Paul quotes Exodus 33:19. The context is that before Moses even came down the mountain, Israel broke the covenant God made with them (Exodus 32). Moses prayed for the people’s salvation, offering his own damnation in exchange (Exodus 32:31-32).

(This event has been on Paul’s mind since the beginning of Romans 9, because he echoes the same thought in v. 3.)

God replies to Moses by saying:

Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. (Exodus 32:33)

This is crucial. God explicitly says to Moses that the reason some in Israel will not be finally saved is because of their sin. God does not say their damnation is because of his predestined choice.

But because Israel have broken the covenant, God will not go up with them into Canaan (Exodus 33:1-6). We’re then told how it is that Moses intercedes as mediator for the people (Exodus 33:7-11).

Moses then intercedes for the people (Exodus 33:12-16). But the key prayer is in verses 13-14:

[Moses said] “Now therefore, if I have found favour in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favour in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And [God] said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Moses’ logic about himself is this:

• If—as you’ve said and I can see by faith—you have loved me…
• …then give me more of your Word (God’s “ways” of working in the world)…
• …to create faith in me…
• …so that I can see by faith that you love me.

God’s gracious heart is toward all. But, having favour in God’s sight is to receive and know that favour personally by faith, through God’s self-revelation. This is the same relationship that Paul will describe in Romans as justification through faith alone, 1,500 years later.

God then promises to reveal himself to Moses, and says:

And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (Exodus 33:19)

This is also crucial. God explicitly says to Moses that the reason some in Israel will be finally saved is because of his grace. God does not say their salvation is because of anything in them.

Exodus 33 shows us that both the Reformed theologians we mentioned in the introduction go beyond the Bible. In contrast to John Calvin, God explains that some in Israel are damned because of their own sin (Exodus 32:33). In contrast to Jacobus Arminius, God explains that some in Israel are saved because of his own grace (Exodus 33:19).

How do these things fit together logically? I have no idea. But it’s no accident that God immediately goes on to say to Moses:

you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. (Exodus 33:20)

There are things God doesn’t tell us. We receive what he does say through faith.

In Romans 9, Paul uses Exodus 33:19 to answer the question “Is there injustice on God’s part?” He says no, and explains:

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Romans 9:16)

In Exodus, Israel had sinned, rejected God’s covenant, and deserved punishment. It was not unjust for God to judge them. Neither was it unjust for God to have mercy on some of them. That is Paul’s argument.

But is God’s use of the Law to exercise judgment just? Is that right? That’s what Paul explains next, by using another verse from Exodus: the example of Pharaoh.

2) Hardening of Resistant Sinners in Exodus

In Romans 9:17 Paul quotes Exodus 9:16, and then concludes the whole argument of Romans 9:14-18 by saying:

So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. (Romans 9:18)

Now, this sentence sounds symmetrical, and is frequently misunderstood as symmetrical. But it is not symmetrical.

Paul does not say “God gives eternal mercy to whomever he wills, and eternal damnation to whomever he wills.”

The context of mercy in Exodus 32 and 33 is explicitly eternal life—being written in God’s book. But what God says to Pharaoh is not that he will blot him out of his book. In fact, all God actually does to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16 is positive! God says he has “raised Pharoah up!” Paul is the one who calls this “hardening.”

Paul does not use this word (σκληρύνω) anywhere else in his writings. But earlier in Romans he described a process that fits what is happening to Pharaoh here. In Romans 1:18-32 he describes God’s work of the Law in revealing his wrath, which is the righteous judgment of the Law against sin (Romans 2:5). God reveals his wrath by simply letting resistant and stubborn people behave the way they want to (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). He does this—as all his works of the Law—so that people will see sin for what it is and be driven to Christ (Romans 3:19-21).

This perfectly fits what God says to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:

¹⁵ For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. ¹⁶ But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. ¹⁷ You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. (Exodus 9:15-17)

Even God’s “hardening” of Pharaoh is—ironically—showing him a form of mercy. God could have simply struck Pharaoh off the earth, to face eternal judgment (v. 15). He doesn’t do this.

God is not malicious. God never encourages Pharaoh to do the wrong thing. God is not spiritually binding Pharaoh to the wrong path. God is patient. He keeps speaking, keeps warning, keeps displaying his power—and keeps telling Pharaoh how he could receive blessing instead of curse and plague.

The only activity God has performed toward Pharaoh is to “raise you up”—by giving him power, wealth and glory (v. 16). But rather than thanking God for this, Pharaoh is continuing to respond with resistant, stubbornness and cruelty against God’s people (v. 17).

One point of Calvin’s confusion we’ve noted before is that he thinks God has willed for some to be damned and for this reason the Gospel “is not preached equally to all” (Calvin’s Institutes 3.21.1).

But that doesn’t fit the context of Pharaoh at all—who is the only character in all Paul’s writings where he explicitly says was “hardened.” God does not keep anything from Pharoah. He explains this all to him. In fact, God explicitly tells him he is bringing the consequences of the Law upon him “to show you my power!”

Pharaoh’s problem is not a lack of information. It is his resistance and stubbornness in unbelief. And this stubbornness itself is not actually ascribed to God’s decision in Exodus or Romans—but rather God’s decision is to raise Pharoah up so as to display his stubbornness for the whole world to see. God even patiently keeps Pharaoh alive to do this. That is what Paul labels “hardening.”

And God’s purposes for hardening Pharaoh are good. Ultimately it is for the salvation of the whole world. Because, God says, he has raised Pharaoh up:

so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 9:16)

Because to know God by name is to know him personally, relationally—to have eternal life:

¹⁹ And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (Exodus 33:19)

Or, as Paul quotes from Joel 2:32

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

So, God is not unjust.

God is not unjust when he saves, because people don’t deserve salvation—it is a pure act of God’s mercy.

God is not unjust when he hardens, because hardening—as Paul presents it from Exodus—is right judgment against sin, exercised with great patience, toward resistant people who aren’t listening. In Pharaoh’s case, as Romans 1 describes, hardening is God simply allowing people to do what they want.

The Bible reveals both these truths. But Calvin and Arminius were both wrong to turn those two truths into a false symmetry. Calvin by falsely ascribing to God what is purely the responsibility of sinful human beings. Arminius by false ascribing to human beings what is purely down to God’s eternal mercy and grace.

As I’ve written several times: we don’t know how those two truths fit together, because the Bible doesn’t tell us.

But we do know they are true, and that God’s heart toward everyone of us is only ever good, because God gives us faith to see and know this as we gather around his Word to receive this Gospel.

So, come and gather with us around God’s Word together:

• In person at Manchester Lutheran Curch every Sunday.
• Online with the Confessional Lutheran Church every Wednesday.

Come and hear the name of the Lord proclaimed.

Because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.