Here is a question, just because God hardens the hearts of some, does that mean He hardens the hearts of ALL who are condemned? Or do somepeople make a choice not to serve Him?

Meg

What I was trying to do with this post is to demonstrate a couple of things: First, God’s major (only?) concern is His own glory. He acts in ways that brings Him glory, which is appropriate since He is supremely worthy of worship, glory, and honor. (See also John Piper’s book, Desiring God, on this point.) The second point was to demonstrate that God does rule over our “free will” when it comes to matters of His glory. It is not a violation of God’s character to intervene in our decisions.

I’ll cover depravity and reprobation in future posts, but I’ll give the short answer here. Because of Adam, we are all born with a corrupt and sinful nature. Our natural state is enmity with God. We are born estranged from Him and in rebellion against Him. Our hearts are naturally hardened against the gospel. He doesn’t have to harden us. If He does nothing, we have hard hearts. He has to soften our hearts.

Romans 9:18 says “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” There are only two groups of people: those who God has mercy on (i.e., saved people), and everyone else. If He doesn’t have mercy on us, then He hardens us – keeping in mind that we are by nature rebels against Him. Romans 9:21-24 speaks only of vessels made for honor or dishonor, vessels of mercy or of wrath. There’s no suggestion of a third group of vessels, made for no particular purpose, that could go either way.

You really asked two questions, and I’ve only answered the first. The second question is “do some people make a choice not to serve Him?”

Absolutely. Everyone makes a choice. I chose to turn to God in faith and repentance. Every lost, unregenerate man has also made choices. They choose to sin, and if they’ve heard the gospel, they chose to reject it as well.

We are free to make voluntary decisions, but we make those decisions in accordance with our nature. Until God changes us, we all make decisions to rebel against Him and reject Him. It’s just our nature. We act like what we are. We are absolutely free to act according to our moral nature – which is corrupt. After God changes our hearts, we are still free. But now we have a new nature, one that voluntarily turns to God in faith and repentance. It’s all choices. The only thing that binds us is us.

To put it another way – I could not stomp a kitten to death. That doesn’t mean I’m physically unable to do it. It wouldn’t be physically challenging. I am unable because I am unwilling. It’s against my moral nature. I am free, but my nature constrains me.

God’s nature constrains Him as well. If any entity is free, God is. But the Bible says that God cannot lie and He cannot reject His children. It’s against His nature to sin. But is He free? He must be. We can’t be more free than God, and if His nature binds Him, then our natures bind us. What we have to do is recognize the nature of an unregenerate person.

Apparently it’s also in my nature to underestimate the length of my responses. I was wrong when I said this was the “short answer”! :-)

Thank you.

Meg

[Update: Read God's Sovereignty over Pharoah at Dead Man Blogging for more.]

[Update: Read God's Sovereignty over Pharoah at Dead Man Blogging for more.]

Robert Williams latest three entries on Dead Man Blogging are all excellent essays: God’s Sovereignty Over Pharaoh: How God hardened Pharoah’s heart so as to deliver Israel in a way that brought great glory to Himself, to make His name great among the …

Robert Williams latest three entries on Dead Man Blogging are all excellent essays: God’s Sovereignty Over Pharaoh: How God hardened Pharoah’s heart so as to deliver Israel in a way that brought great glory to Himself, to make His name great among the …