In this episode Adam, Brett, and Jason continue a series studying Article 11 of the Formula of Concord which deals with the topic of God’s eternal foreknowledge by doing a Bible study on Romans 9:19-24.
One Comment
As a follow up to how Adam points Pharaoh hardening is own heart is placed alongside God hardening his heart (see Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 7:13; 7:14; 7:22; 8:15; 8:19; 8:32; 9:7; 9:12; 9:34; 9:35; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27; 11:10; 14:8; 14:4; 14:5), I think it’s important when talking about this to point out two things:
1. Gods actions are done through means. In what way did God harden Pharaohs heart? Was it by a direct operation of sovereignty upon him, as if Pharaoh was just minding his own business and God zapped him with a beam of evil? No it was done by means of God giving him grace; that is, second, third, fourth chances. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard over the 10 plagues because God withheld immediate and ultimate punishment from him while waiting for him to repent. The means of hardening his heart was the kindness, goodness, patience, grace of God. If God doesn’t act by means of this grace Pharaoh doesn’t have a hard heart, however God cannot manifest His goodness apart from Pharaohs rejection, so God raises him up to manifest His attributes (Rom 9:17).
2. The Scriptures never divorce God’s sovereignty from His goodness. Even in the most extreme case of Job being crushed by God (as the hosts pointed out) God rebukes Job for making this mistake, and further the book opens and closes with the recitation of Gods goodness to Job. Consider also Prov 21:1 “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He pleases.” The extreme Calvinist reading of “God can make even the innermost part of a man do what He wants and you don’t get a say in it!” is wrong because it misses the goodness of God. The water channel is being turned to irrigate the barren places, not make places barren. His goodness brings life to where it wasn’t before, like a farmer diverting the river to water his crops. The point is not a bare display of power, it’s to make the goodness visible.
As a follow up to how Adam points Pharaoh hardening is own heart is placed alongside God hardening his heart (see Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 7:13; 7:14; 7:22; 8:15; 8:19; 8:32; 9:7; 9:12; 9:34; 9:35; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27; 11:10; 14:8; 14:4; 14:5), I think it’s important when talking about this to point out two things:
1. Gods actions are done through means. In what way did God harden Pharaohs heart? Was it by a direct operation of sovereignty upon him, as if Pharaoh was just minding his own business and God zapped him with a beam of evil? No it was done by means of God giving him grace; that is, second, third, fourth chances. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard over the 10 plagues because God withheld immediate and ultimate punishment from him while waiting for him to repent. The means of hardening his heart was the kindness, goodness, patience, grace of God. If God doesn’t act by means of this grace Pharaoh doesn’t have a hard heart, however God cannot manifest His goodness apart from Pharaohs rejection, so God raises him up to manifest His attributes (Rom 9:17).
2. The Scriptures never divorce God’s sovereignty from His goodness. Even in the most extreme case of Job being crushed by God (as the hosts pointed out) God rebukes Job for making this mistake, and further the book opens and closes with the recitation of Gods goodness to Job. Consider also Prov 21:1 “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He pleases.” The extreme Calvinist reading of “God can make even the innermost part of a man do what He wants and you don’t get a say in it!” is wrong because it misses the goodness of God. The water channel is being turned to irrigate the barren places, not make places barren. His goodness brings life to where it wasn’t before, like a farmer diverting the river to water his crops. The point is not a bare display of power, it’s to make the goodness visible.