The Sovereignty of God and the Free Will of Man

Romans 9, v17 onwards. For 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.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’

v17 is a direct quote from Ex. 9:16. As we read these verses, it seems to indicate that God would overwrite our free will in order to accomplish His sovereign will. Does this text indicate this? Did He really harden Pharoah’s heart so that His power is displayed? Let’s look at this Pharoah from the book of Exodus.

At the burning bush, God says, “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go… (Ex. 3:19). This is fairly early in the book and this text does not indicate that God will harden Pharoah’s heart.

This Pharoah (the Bible did not name him) was a descendant from another Pharoah that we see in Exodus 1. To this earlier king Joseph meant nothing (1:8) and he led Egypt to deal shrewdly with the Hebrews (1:10); he put slave masters over the Hebrews to oppress them with forced labor (11); he worked them ruthlessly (13); made their lives bitter with harsh labor (14) and he also ordered the Hebrew midwives that if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him (16).

After this king dies (4:19), the next Pharoah was just as evil (there was no indication otherwise) and it was probably this king that God was talking about Ex. 3:19.

Before the unleashing of the plagues, God again told Moses twice that He will hardened Pharoah’s heart.

But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go (4:21)

But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart… (7:3)

Further along into the book, we see Aaron’s staff turning into a snake… yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard… (Ex. 7:13). This was the first confrontation between Moses, Aaron and Pharoah and this text seems to indicate that Pharoah hardened his own heart.

A little illustration here that I think would be helpful – I read this somewhere many years ago. What happens when you place butter and clay out in the hot sun? One will melt and the other will harden. The sun was not the differentiating factor – it was the makeup of the butter and the clay that cause the end result. You can see where I’m going with this. God is not the differentiating factor, it’s the condition of our hearts that matter.

Back to the Exodus story and we’re moving further along into the plagues.

1. The Plague of Blood. …and Pharaoh’s heart became hard (Ex. 7:22)
2. The Plague of Frogs. But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart (8:15)
3. The Plague of Gnats. But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen (v19)
4. The Plague of Flies. But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart (v32)
5. The Plague on Livestock. Yet his heart was unyielding… (9:7)
6. The Plague of Boils. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart (v12)
7. The Plague of Hail. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard… (v35)
8. The Plague of Locust. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart (10:20)
9. The Plague of Darkness. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart… (27)

 Notice that after each plague Pharoah hardened his heart but 3 times it says the Lord hardened his heart. Did God force His will upon Pharoah? Pharoah already was an evil, arrogant, prideful king and he repeatedly hardened his own heart. God did not suddenly hardened his heart.

I believe God had always known Pharoah’s heart and He knew how He would react to Moses and the plagues. He took Pharoah’s arrogant and prideful heart and use it to display His power and might.

Let’s look at some other examples and my imagination of what might have happened.

Was Judas’ betrayal of Jesus predestined so that scriptures might be fulfilled (Jn 13:18; 17:12)? I think Judas made his choices out of his own free will. It’s likely that money was one of the motivating factors. We read in Matthew 26 and Mark 14 that he went to the chief priests after Jesus was anointed at Bethany with some expensive perfume. John 12 tells us why Judas objected.

What if Judas had repented during the Last Supper? I believe Jesus would have forgiven him and would have rejoice with him (Lk 15:10).  

If Judas had repented, scripture would still be fulfilled. The chief priests and elders would probably have someone else betray him or they would have figured out some other way to arrest Jesus. It was not like they were waiting for Judas to come forward. They were actively conspiring against Jesus (Mk 11:18, Lk 19:47, Mt 26:3-5, Mk 14:1, Lk 22:2).

But Judas persisted with the idea for so long that he allowed the devil to prompt him to betray Jesus (Jn 13:2). Eventually, Satan entered into him (v27). I believe from that point forward, there was little chance of turning back.

But even then, I think Judas still had free will. Remember the demon-possessed man from Gerasenes? (Mark 5, Luke 8). When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him (Mk 5:6). Now I don’t think the legion of demons that were inside of him force him to fell on his knees in front of Jesus… Jesus was their enemy; they had no reason to bow down and worship Jesus. But this man did and I believe he did it out of his own free will.

Let’s look at Peter on the night of his denial. I imagine that when Jesus told Peter about it at the last supper, Peter must not have believed him. He would have thought, “we’ve been together for over 3 years… surely Jesus made a mistake. I am ready to go [with you] to prison and to death for Jesus (Lk 22:33)”.

This is from Matthew’s account of Peter’s denial (Mt 26:69ff). First, he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”. Then He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”. Finally, he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”.

This was not a slip of the tongue. Peter made the decision to deny Jesus out of his own free will.

When Peter heard the rooster, he remembered. The shame, agony and sorrow he must have felt especially when the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter (Lk 22:61).

Let’s quickly look at some other examples. Zacchaeus in Luke 19 out of his free will said, I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. This was much more (nearly 3 times) than what was prescribed in the Mosaic Law (see Lev 6:5) Only after his free will offering did Jesus said that salvation has come to this house.

The rich young ruler in Mark 10 and Matthew 19. There was no indication that he did what Jesus asked of him. Jesus did not force His will upon this rich, young man.

The 10 lepers from Luke 17. Ten were healed but only 1, a Samaritan, came back, praising God in a loud voice (v15). Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” (17-18). Jesus was probably disappointed that the other 9 were not grateful. He would have love it if all 10 came back to glorify and praise God for their cleansing. Could God have made them go back to Jesus to thank Him? But that would have violated their free will.

Because of His great love for us, God do not want any of us to perish. His grace and His offer of salvation is freely available to all people.

Read some of these verses from the New Testament that talks about the love of God – John 3:16; Romans 8:35, 38-39; Ephesians 2:4-5, 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 John 3:1, 16, 4:7; 2 John 4:9-10.

2 Peter 3:9. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Titus 2:11. For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

God has made his offer of salvation available to all and He does not want anyone to perish. But is everyone saved by grace through faith? We all have free will to make our own choice. God did not make this choice complex or hard to understand either.

Deuteronomy 30:19. …I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

Matthew 7:13-14. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity says:

“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata — of creatures that worked like machines — would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free.