Results 1 - 5 of 5
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Was Pharaoh responsible? | Rom 9:17 | Ric | 119 | ||
Was Pharaoh really responsible for his rebellion against God, according to Romans 9:17? |
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2 | Was Pharaoh responsible? | Rom 9:17 | Brent Douglass | 154 | ||
There is certainly room for disagreement on how much control God exercised over Pharaoh's heart and decisions at this time, but I think Romans 9:19-23 laves no question that Pharaoh was held guilty for the attitude that he had toward the Lord and his people. -- -- I am not of a Beza-Calvinist position that would suggest deliberate control over a person's final responsiveness to the Holy Spirit's conviction. Immediately before this exposition of God's control is the sequence of Romans 8:28-30, where God's foreknowledge of his people is followed by predestination to conform us to his image, then calling, justification and glorification in respective sequence. -- -- I assert that Pharaoh's heart was against God and his people. However, even a king who refused to worship God and love his people would be expected to exercise wisdom through temporary repentance. It is this temporary repentance that God prevented. His objective was not to have his people go into the desert, worship him, and return to slavery under a pagan king; his objective was to lead his people into a new life free from slavery and under willing submission to Himself as Lord and Savior. God controlled circumstances and even intervened in Pharaoh's heart and plans to accomplish this purpose and to bring himself glory. -- -- God does not choose to crush the wicked (whom he foreknows) before they are born but endures them despite his knowledge that their creation will result only in rebellion and destruction. However, he intervenes as he wishes in order to reveal Himself and to keep his plans for the righteous on course. -- -- I don't know whether the totality of what Pharaoh saw finally convicted him -- bringing him to repentance -- or whether he went the route of (most of) the Pharisees in blaspheming the Spirit in the face of unquestionable demonstration of God's power and authority in the world. His part in the Bible story ends at the Red Sea, but there is no indication in the history that I know that either Pharaoh or the Egypt of Pharaoh's time turned from their idols to God. Instead, those who turned to God apparently left with the Israelites as part of the "mixed multitude" (Ex.12:38). | ||||||
3 | Was Pharaoh responsible? | Rom 9:17 | Ric | 155 | ||
Thank You Brent! The "temporary repentance" you talked about is a new one for me, thanks again - that gives me more to study. God Bless! |
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4 | Was Pharaoh responsible? | Rom 9:17 | Brent Douglass | 222 | ||
Thanks, Ric, for pointing out my unfortunate use of vocabulary, which I feel I need to correct. To be honest, I don't like the wording, "temporary repentance" -- even though it was my own choice of words at the time. I think it could tend to mean something I didn't intend. It's not completely off but needs to be understood more as a logical or pragmatic repentance rather than an actual deep change. The action is temporary; the deep motivation and attitude is simply unchanged. This may be parallel (but not identical to) an interpretation of the seed falling by the road in the parable of the sower, where the surface response to the good news was great but short-lived because the deeper ground of the true heart was not fertile to actually receive the conviction of the Spirit; this gave a temporary but false impression of saving faith. | ||||||
5 | Was Pharaoh responsible? | Rom 9:17 | Ric | 563 | ||
I believe you are right on the topic! Thanks again! In God's Grace, Ric |
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