If God wants everyone saved, why does He harden some?
Question:
Hi,
Scripture says God wills all to be saved (I Timothy 2:4), yet Paul says that God hardens whom He wills, and that we are not to talk back to God or question why He hardens vessels of wrath such as Pharaoh (Romans 9:16-19)
How can the two be reconciled, or is this an intentional paradox?
Thank you.
Answer:
Yes, God desires to save everyone. "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:3-4). Yet, notice the condition. Men need to come to the knowledge of the truth. God isn't going to force salvation on people; they must desire to come to God. "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9). God wants to save people, but they have to repent of their sins.
So what about people who refuse God's offer? They are lost because of their own choice, not God's. "'Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,' declares the Lord GOD. 'Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,' declares the Lord GOD. 'Therefore, repent and live'" (Ezekiel 18:30-32).
Yet, God makes use of all people to accomplish His will, the good and the bad. Thus, God placed an evil man in charge of Egypt when it was time to free the Israelites from slavery. He gave Pharaoh difficult choices that God knew he would respond to with stubbornness, refusing to let the Israelites leave. God controls the governments (Romans 13:1; Daniel 2:21). So why did God place such a wicked man into power over Egypt? He could have raised up a pharaoh who looked kindly on the Israelites, did not impose severe burdens on them, and would have freed them without a fuss. However, such a ruler would not have driven the Israelites to willingly follow Moses. Many, if not most, would have been happy to stay in Egypt under a kind ruler. A kind ruler would not have given God the ability to show His power, causing the nations to fear Israel and their God. So God put a wicked man in charge of Egypt and then used Pharaoh's wickedness against him.
Ah! Then someone would say that it wasn't Pharaoh's fault that he was killed and Egypt was plundered. God manipulated him. It was God's fault! It wasn’t Pharaoh’s fault that he chose to be stubborn; God put him in a situation where he would be stubborn. Paul's argument is "no."
"For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth." So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" (Romans 9:17-22).
It was still Pharaoh's fault. God put up with Pharaoh for years, instead of removing him as He well could have done. Instead, God used the evil that Pharaoh chose to do against him. The point is that God gets His way with the righteous and the wicked. The wicked can't stand in God's way any more than the righteous.
Do we blame God because we are placed in difficult situations or have to make difficult decisions? We cannot blame God for our lives. We may not be favored. We may not be blessed. The blessings are not automatic. The question remains: What do we do with what we are given? God has the right to use us as He sees fit. His use of us does not justify our rebellion against Him. "Why wasn't I born rich, pretty, strong, athletic, or talented?" I don't know, but what will you do with your life as it is? Do you yield to God or dig in your heels as Pharaoh did?
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