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In our verse by verse study of Romans we are in Rom 9:17; where Paul quotes Exod 9:18; and uses the Pharaoh to illustrate how God uses man's free will to accomplish His work under the principle of Psa 76:10;
Our translation of Exod 9:16; "But on the contrary for this purpose I have established you, in order that I might show you my power; and in order that my reputation may be proclaimed in all the world."
This verse is in between the sixth plague of the boils and the seventh plague of the hail. Between these two plagues our Lord has a special message for the Pharaoh that in Paul's genius becomes a very special message for us.
Up until this point in time Pharaoh had always hardened his own heart using his own negative volition. Then there was the pressure from the plagues that caused him to initially relent and say yes but after the plague ended he reverted to no.
This is sort of like Iran today. When we bomb them they say yes we will negotiate but when we stop bombing they revert to no. Maybe God is using Iran in the resurrection generation similar to the way He used Egypt in the Exodus generation.
So what he has really said all the way through this event is 18 major no's. Those "no's" are described as Pharaoh hardening his heart from his own free will because he is doing exactly what he wanted to do.
But when we get to the seventh plague and suddenly we read in Exod 9:12; "And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not listen to them (Moses and Aaron)."
Exod 9:14; these plagues are being sent to the right lobe or heart of Pharaoh's soul. Pharaoh is not only going to personally feel the pressure but he will also link up his thinking with his emotion and his volition, and he is going to have the privilege of saying no but to also establish the all-time record for rejecting God.
God did not reach into Pharaoh's heart and just put him on negative. All He did was to give him greater opportunity to reject God than anyone in history.
Exod 9:15; God's omniscience in eternity past knew all of the facts; the actual and the probable. The probable is not fed into the decree, only the actual. The probable is described in verse 15, "if I had destroyed you and taken you off of the earth."
So the printout is this passage tells us that God is keeping all of the Egyptians alive so that Pharaoh can say no to God and God will use his no's from that point on to demonstrate of God's power, not only to the Egyptians but also to the entire world.
And in this way a whole generation of people throughout the earth who have positive volition at God consciousness are going to respond. The entire world is going to be evangelized and many people are going to be positive at God consciousness and positive at gospel hearing.
Exod 9:16; tells us what God is going to do. Paul has already described this demonstration of God's power in Rom 1:20; "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made. So that (the human race) is without excuse."
Until the 6th plague the Bible is consistent in saying Pharaoh hardened his own heart. In other words, as a free agent he uses his own free volition as the ruler of Egypt to say "no" to God.
But no one up to this time in history had ever been able to say no as many times as Pharaoh would from this point on. At this point God hardened Pharaoh's heart that means He gave him the opportunity to carry his negative volition to the absolute maximum. Paul also describes this principle in Rom 1:28-32;
We understand now that we are discussing the heart as part of the soul, invisible yet real, the hardening of Pharaoh's heart or right lobe. This man has developed so much scar tissue of the soul from his negative volition because he has been exposed to the truth and he has repeatedly rejected it.
The hardening of Pharaoh's right lobe in BC 1441 becomes God's means of evangelizing the entire world. This is illustrated by the fact that 45 years later Rahab was saved in Jericho because she had heard about what happened in Egypt. Josh 2:10-11;
God's justice gave Pharaoh numerous opportunities to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Jehovah Elohim. He rejected them all. Pharaoh saw many demonstrations of God's power, designed to evangelize him personally, but he refused as described in Exodus 7:13.
When our Lord Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross everyone's sins including Pharaoh's were imputed to Him and judged, that Jesus Christ died for Pharaoh's sins.
Furthermore, God was not willing that Pharaoh should perish: 2 Pet 3:9. Pharaoh had many opportunities for positive volition, as per Exodus 7:22; 8:15, 32; 9:34,35.
But Pharaoh had so much scar tissue in his soul from repeatedly saying no to God that it provided God with more opportunities to intensify the manifestation of His power from his negative volition. This is the context for God being described as hardening Pharaoh's heart after the 6th plague.
Unbeliever reversionism results in locked in negative volition from scar tissue of the soul that results in implacable maladjustment to God's justice. Therefore beginning in Exodus 9:12 "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart" is used.
God's justice gave Pharaoh maximum opportunity to express negative volition by keeping him alive and exposing him to plagues 7,8,9 and 10. This is recorded under the category, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart" - Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:8.
God hardened Pharaoh's heart by giving him more opportunities to say no than are normally permitted. God actually preserved Pharaoh and kept him alive in great human power and authority in Egypt to demonstrate that God's power is infinitely greater than human power and human authority.
In fact, legitimate authority is an extension of divine authority because it is a delegation of divine authority. To keep Pharaoh alive to say no so many times God impressed upon the entire world the overwhelming greatness of God's power to condemn and destroy Pharaoh and to deliver Israel.
Therefore the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is a description of his negative volition from the scar tissue in his soul became the means of evangelizing the world of that time.
While others were being impressed with the power of God Pharaoh was being impressed with his own power, his ability to say no and still live. His negative volition and his free will to resist God only increased his arrogance.
Pharaoh did not understand that his expression of human arrogance and power only revealed to the entire world God's greater omnipotent power. This became a factor in both God consciousness as well as gospel hearing not only for the Egyptians and the Ethiopians but for Jews and the Canaanites as well.
Therefore we have the pattern of Rom 2:5; that becomes the perfect description of the Pharaoh. "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed!"
After the 6th plague God hardened Pharaoh's heart by removing all restraint from the expression of his negative volition. After God hardened Pharaoh's heart he still had several opportunities for repentance or a change of mind about the Lord Jesus Christ. Exodus 9:27; 10:16,17.
God's purpose in the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is stated in Exodus 7:3-5; where it is prophesied. God's second purpose is described in Exodus 9:16, the evangelization of the entire known world.
That purpose is reiterated in Paul's quotation of Exodus 9:16 in Romans 9:17.
The conjunction "hoti" is used here for quotation marks. It is a conjunction that is sometimes used to initiate a purpose clause, a final clause, or a clause that describes a special objective.
But in many cases it is simply used for quotation marks, so it does not have to be translated, or if it is translated as the word "quote." With it is a prepositional phrase "eis" (into) that is used here to express a short purpose clause.
"Eis: with the accusative neuter singular from the attributive use of the intensive pronoun "autos" (same). This is a rather unusual use of "autos" *same) because it is normally used as a third person personal pronoun.
Here it is translated "same." With it the accusative neuter singular from the immediate demonstrative pronoun "houtos" (purpose). So we have "For this same purpose" or "For this very purpose."
Next is the aorist active indicative of the verb "echegeiro" (raise up or to bring into being) in Attic Greek, but in the Koine Greek it means to cause to appear in history or to call into existence so a better translation in this case is "I have caused you to continue to live in history."
The Lord permitted Pharaoh to remain in history and permitted him to say no, and no, and no, and no in plagues 7,8,9, and 10. Four times above the record book he said no.
Each time there was a greater manifestation of God's power, and each manifestation of God's power not only triggered more God consciousness but it also opened up the opportunity for gospel hearing so that when the Jews left Egypt many Ethiopians and Egyptians left with them.
They believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The culminative aorist tense views the historical existence of Pharaoh Amenhotep II in its entirety but also regards it from the viewpoint of the existing results of God being glorified by His overruling of Pharaoh's deceitfulness and lack of integrity.
The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb by controlling history. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of God's preservation of Pharaoh in spite of his bitterness from negative volition. It was God's power that was actually keeping Pharaoh alive and in power.
With this we have the accusative singular direct object from the personal pronoun "su" (you). This is a reminder of Psa 76:10; "For the wrath of man shall praise you."
The principle is clearly demonstrated. God uses the tyranny of man to demonstrate His power and to evangelize the human race. Therefore, Pharaoh's rejection of Jesus Christ and subsequent lack of integrity is used to advance God's plan.
Pharaoh thought that because he had all of that power and all of that sovereignty that by saying no he was hindering God's plan. That is an arrogant idea that many people have.
So far we have in our translation: "For the scripture says to Pharaoh (Exod 9:16), 'I have caused you to continue in history.'
We see from this that just like Ishmael and Esau, Pharaoh Amenhotep II was an unbeliever who had the opportunity to be saved many times, but he rejected the gospel every time he rejected God's demand to release Israel.
God's justice was not arbitrary in blessing Moses and cursing Pharaoh. God's justice gave Pharaoh extra time but Pharaoh used the extra time to reject God's plan. Blessing was imputed to Moses at maturity adjustment to the justice of God from maximum doctrine resident and circulating in the thinking of Moses' soul.
But Pharaoh was an unbeliever. He used his great power and lack of integrity to perpetuate tyranny and slavery to the Jews.
We see here that God's plan is never hindered by negative volition. In fact God used the wrath of Pharaoh to accomplish His plan. Pharaoh's negative volition and his deceptive hypocrisy did not frustrate God's plan or His purposes.
Pharaoh's resistance only fulfilled the plan of God by causing the entire world to be evangelized. We must remember that Amenhotep II was a great man from the standpoint of power and authority. He was an absolute monarch at the peak of his power.
But God's omnipotent power combined with His omniscience through His decree is infinitely greater than the power of any tyrant or dictator including modern day autocrats who have even more concentrated evil power.
There is no evil that satan can inspire, no power, no authority, and no tyranny that man can devise, that can compete with the power of Jesus Christ. 1John 4:4.
God did not create evil in Pharaoh but Pharaoh by his own self-determination became what he was. God recognized it in His decree but God did not originate it as supralapsarianism falsely alleges.
In fact, Pharaoh from his own free will rejected God's restraints as well as God's Word. While God did not make Pharaoh evil He used Pharaoh's self-made evil to advance His plan.
Therefore God's integrity remains the issue because God's righteousness cannot do wrong and God's justice cannot be unfair.