God never permanently hardens anyone's heart.
- God is love. Hardening someone's heart against Himself would not be loving.
- The Bible espouses our choice in coming to Christ:
- Behold, I stand at the door and knock....
- By grace are we saved, through faith....
- For God so loved the World...that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Examples.
- Exodous 4:21."The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go."
God hardens the heart of Pharoah. However, He hardens his heart in a specific way; namely against the release of the Israelites. Pharaoh had already earned the judgement God was about to bring against him. Could he have repented and been spared? The Lord hardened his heart against releasing the Israelites, not against turning from his mistreatment of them or any of his other sins. If he had turned his heart toward the Lord, then as in the case of the people of Nineva after Jonah prophesied their impending doom, he too might have been spared. Romans 9. 1 I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-- 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised![1] Amen. 6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."[2] 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."[3] 10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger."[4] 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."[5] 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."[6] 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."[7] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like this?'"[8] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea: "I will call them `my people' who are not my people; and I will call her `my loved one' who is not my loved one,"[9] 26 and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, `You are not my people,' they will be called `sons of the living God.'"[10] 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."[11] 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."[12] 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."[13]
If taken a verse at a time, out of context, some parts of this chapter seem to speak of God arbitrarily Speaks of the hardening of Israel. However it is selective in nature, since the apostles themselves were Jews. From the full context it would appear that God further hardens the hearts of those who have hardened their own hearts against Him. See 9:31, 32.
- Romans 11:25, 26. These verses show that this hardening is temporary. God's promises are irrevocable.
- 2 Peter 1:10. Shows that our election (and therefore other's hardening as well) is based on God's choice, but His choice is based on the grace already promised and given, namely to all who come to Him in faith. Our election or rejection is based on His choice, but His choice is based on ours. His word has already gone out from Him.
