Why grace is a paradox:
"For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (Jn 3: 16)
"For He says, 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and show compassion to whom I will show compassion.'... Therefore, He hardens whom He will, and whom He will, He has mercy on." (Rom 9: 15, 18)
"I AM who I AM"? Or "I AM who you want me to be?"
There are those who understand God in merely a one-dimentional way. They have what I consider to be "romantic" ideas about God, which in the light of His word - when "the whole counsel of God" is taken into consideration on the subject, are seen to be merely incomplete snapshots. Preferred pictures which "cast Him in a favourable light", in their opinion. They are spiritually immature in their understanding and willingness to accept God as He has revealed Himself - "I AM who I AM". It almost seems as if they change His self-revelation and try to make Him, "I AM who they want Him to be."
THE FREE WILL VIEW ON GOD'S HARDENING SOMEONE:
By clinging to a "comfortable" verse, one they think they fully understand and can explain, which "fits" with the picture (dare I say 'imagination' or even 'idol') of God they have in their mind's-eye, they assume God both does and must love all men equally. "God (they claim) could not harden anyone, just because He chooses to, as that would be unjust if He did. Since He is not 'unjust', He could not 'harden' someone whom He wants to save.Therefore, if He does 'harden' anyone, it can only be because He sees them as utterly un-repentant and unwilling to yield to His authority."
THE VERDICT OF ALL MEN:
Lets examine this idea. First of all, all men without exception are "sinners" (Rom 3: 10 - 12; Ps 53: 1- 2). All apart from His grace and the new-birth, are "dead in tresspasses and sins" and were or are, by nature, children of wrath" (Eph 2: 1, 3-4). All are "cut off" and "separated" from God. Of their own human ability or initiative, there is "none that understand, none that seek God" as Paul said. God therefore, cannot "wait until we choose to seek Him" before He intervenes on our behalf in the personal sense and "grants us repentance" (2 Tim 2: 25 - 26). If He only waited to grant us repentance, after we first choose to seek Him, He would never grant it to us, because as His word says, there is NONE that seek God"! Furthermore, if He only grants us repentance after we have first chosen to repent and seek Him, then in fact, He "grants" us nothing! For we have already, by our own power and choice, chosen to repent. The "free will" arugments and "answers" here, apart from being so plainly repudiated by scripture, are very illogical as well. I do not say this to be rude, unkind or arrogant - God forbid! The truth - HIS truth of HISA GRACE is far too important to not be clear on and about.
Therefore, if God is going to "harden" someone because they are a "sinner", then why did Jesus come into the world to save "sinners" as Paul said? Isn't that somewhat of a contradictory, mutually imcompatible notion? Or did God perhaps not know what "sinners" apart from His grace were like? Was He somehow uncertain as the true depravity of the sinful nature? Those whom He was said to have "chosen", were "by nature (their human, sinful nature) children of wrath just like the others" Paul said, So there was NOTHING in those chosen by grace, which was/is qualitatively different or morally "better" than those "hardened" by Sovereignty. Indeed, as Isaiah said, "We are ALL as an unclean thing and all OUR righteousness is as filthy rags" (Isa 64: 6). Apart from His own grace, God views our supposed "righteousness" as filthy rags! Where then does that place our sin? Was God perhaps unaware that sinners not only sin, but that they enjoy their sin? Did He not know what pride, stubbornness, and evil lurks within the human heart apart from grace? Which heart, He described as being "desperately wicked and deceitful above all things" (Jer 17: 9)? Stating it was not possible for any human to truly "know " their own heart. Of course, He did know all of these things. For, "He knew what was in man" as John said of Jesus.
If all men are sinners, why are only some 'hardened'?
So then, why does He harden only some, when all alike deserve to be? Lest you are tempted to dispute the claim that all alike are indeed worthy of the same judicial "hardening" by God, consider well the words of James - "For he who keeps the whole law, yet stumbles in just one point is guilty of the whole law" (Jas 2: 10),and again, "For we all stumble in many ways" (Jas 3: 2). That being the case, it is obvious that the reason for why some sinners are "hardened" by God while others are "granted repentance" by Him (2 Tim 2: 24 - 26), is and cannot be merely attributable to their "sinfulness". It would also make some sinners "better" in God's sight than others, an idea expressly repudiated by James' statements above. Furthermore, "mercy" is not something God is in any way obligated to show to anyone, let alone everyone. By its very definition, "mercy" must be UNMERITED favour. Since it is "un-merited", it is not and in fact, cannot be "earned" in any way, to any degree, by anyone! Only if God were somehow obligated to grant it to someone who had a right to demand it as their "due", for which He declined, could He properly be charged with "injustice", if He chose to withhold it. Since no "claim" upon God can be made by anyone who is a fallen "sinner", every charge of "injustice" should God choose to withhold His mercy from anyone falls on "deaf" ears before the high-court of heaven.
As it stands, apart from the truth of sovereign-grace - that as He plainly said of Himself, He reserves the right to "show mercy to whomever He chooses", while also "hardening" whomever He chooses, there is no answer to the aforementioned questions or point. Not without doing serious violence to either the truth of the universal sinfulness of all humanity, or the very definiion of "mercy", or the fact that God knew full-well what was "in" us in terms of our sinful condition, when He decided to implement His plan of redemption. By upholding all these things, the only conclusion we can come to for why it is only some (whomever they are and how many there are only God knows) who are hardened, though all alike deserve to be, is the truth expressed by sovereign-grace.Let the reader honestly and faithfully apply diligence into scrutinizing these points, and the axiom of sovereign-grace will in fact become "self-evident"!
Thus, grace is indeed a paradox! For many, a deeply disturbing one at that! For how can the God whom they have come to see as so kind, patient, merciful and compassionate, forgiving and good to them, when they admit they are a fallen-sinner worthy of naught but His wrath, be the same God who would choose to not show the same kindnes and grace to all others? How can this "paradox" be? Dear friend, the same God who slew Ananias and Saphira for one act of wilful transgression and rebellion allowed Peter to remain a "chosen vessel" after 3 times denying His Lord! The same God who turned Lot's wife into a "pillar of salt" for one momentary "look back", is the same God who forgave David for murder, deceit and adultery. The same Lord who shows kindness to one, can show devastating judgment and severity to another. "Behold the goodness and severity of God", Paul tells the objects of mercy.
Why are some 'repentant' while others are not?
The truth is, God is sovereign over His mercy, and if anyone assumes they have a "handle" on it or a "claim" to it, they might find themselves rudely awakened by His judgment. But , and O how this comforts the longing in our soul, stills our anxieties, and "dispells all fear" in His presence, 'HE GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE'. Yet that "begs the question"; Who is 'humble' in His sight? The answer is: anyone who comes to understand their spiritually depraved condition in the light of His holiness and justice, and who by reason of that enlightened understanding, come to Him acknowledging their sin, seeking His forgiveness and trusting solely and wholly is His remedy by and through the cross of Jesus alone! Such a person is the "humble" to whom God "gives grace" to. However, the ability to "come to their senses", "acknowledge the truth" and "escape the snare of the evil one who has them held in captivity to do his will" is not within their own power. Rather, as Paul plainly said, it is only possible "In the hope that God grants them repentance so thay they can ..." (2 Tim 2: 24 - 26). Thus, we're back to the paradox of grace. Unless God "grants" it to someone to be able to "come" to Christ, as Jesus plainly said the Father must do for anyone to be able to come to Him (Jn 6: 37, 44, 65), they will do not, because they cannot do so!
Even a cursory examination of Ezekiel 36: 26 -31, will reveal that all true humility and repentance, as well as true returning to God, are the consequences of what He first does in the human heart ... not ever a condition for His doing it in the first place. Since He "has mercy on whom He chooses", only He can so alter and change the human heart, so as to make it want to come to Him, soft and tender, rather than "a heart of stone", and truly "broken and contrite" over its own sinfulness. This is truly the work of the Holy Spirit in us, and not our own doing. As such, it is His work ... done for His glory ... not for our sake, but for His own as He said to Israel, and how thankful we who stand as the recipients of His mercy can and must be for the "gift" of repentance!
In His grace,
(c) 2007, John M. Platanitis