I'm going through Romans right now. I slogged through the "sketchy" chapter 9 where Paul writes about how God chooses whom He pleases and we have nothing to contribute and nothing to detract. I got through chapter 10 okay. And then I hit chapter 11. This chapter asks about why it is that Israel is not a nation of believers. Paul says, "God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew" (Rom 11:2). Okay, good. But Israel failed to obtain what they were seeking (which was righteousness of their own -- see Rom 10:2-3); the elect did (Rom 11:7). And then Paul writes this.
As it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see, and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." (Rom 11:8)Does that collide with your thinking at all? Is there not something in you (as there is in me) that says, "God does not prevent people from seeing and hearing"? It's not like this is new. In the Gospel of John we read, "Therefore they [the Jews] could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 'He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.' Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him" (John 12:39-41). And I had just muddled through the same concept in Romans 9 where Scripture declares, "He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills" (Rom 9:18). Can He do that? Is God allowed to harden whomever He will? My gut says no, but these texts seem to say yes.
So I wander back over Scripture to see what I can see. I see that the first sin was predicated on a human being who lied to herself about God (Gen 3:3-6). I see that this is a standard for humans (Rom 1:18-19). It is my conviction that all sin originates in our suppressing the truth about God, falling short of His glory (Rom 3:23). And Paul urges us to "Let God be true though every one were a liar" (Rom 3:4). Because, after all, our hearts are deceitful (Jer 17:9). So let's just admit the possibility that we might be wrong about what God can or cannot do in this context and commit ourselves to letting God be true even if we're wrong.
Then I look at what I just covered in Romans 9. There Paul addresses the question of the authority of the Potter. "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" (Rom 9:20-21). So there's that dangling question. Does the potter -- God, in this situation -- have the right to make whatever He wants out of His own clay? You have to feel the tension here because we're on the edge of answering, "Yes, God can make wicked people." And that can't be right. Except, it is precisely the claim of Scripture. "The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble" (Prov 16:4). Ouch!
I think I'm all but done here. Yes, we have a tendency to be wrong about God. Yes, God is always true and we are not. Yes, God has the right to do what He wants with His own creation. Yes, God claims to blind and harden some. Now, we can dig a little further if we want (and we ought). How does He do that? Is it direct or indirect? Does God cause it or does He simply allow it? We can find biblical correlations and precedents (and, yes, they're there). I certainly would need to correct my thinking about God. But this text in Romans 11 claims that God, in whatever sense it actually means, "gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see, and ears that would not hear." It's not God on trial here; it's me. I'll have to let God be true and correct my own understanding ... again.
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