Video Notes: 

• Romans 3:5-8
• Exodus 33:19 – This is right after the golden calf. God has said He will destroy Israel. Moses pleaded for Israel and God relented. Moses then seeks assurance that God will go with him and Israel in the wilderness. This is God’s response.
• “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” Our desire/will/choosing and our efforts/works have no bearing or influence on God’s mercy. God shows mercy because of His own will. It’s all God.
  • God mercies us. We don’t really have the word in English to convey the Greek, but phrase indicates God’s active mercy. This isn’t an emotion, it’s an action. It’s the same with the word, “compassion” in the earlier quote. It’s active, not an emotion.
  • This is really the focus in this section and through most of chapter 9, God and His mercy. The focus isn’t us, Israel, or anyone else. We need to keep this in mind so we don’t misinterpret the text.
• Exodus 9:13-16
  • Significant Differences:
    • “I have kept you” (diff trans) vs “I have raised you up” – Kept pharaoh from suffering the previous plagues vs put him into the position of power.
    • “strength” (diff trans) vs “power” – power related to God’s power for salvation.
  • Parallel of power and God’s name. God shows His power of salvation so that His name is proclaimed. It is in His name that we are saved.
  • Note that God’s raising up of Pharaoh was not for a negative purpose (to destroy him) but for the positive purpose of displaying His power of salvation.
• God hardens?
  • First, we need to keep this in context of all of 9-11.
  • We also need to consider the sequence of hardening that happens with Pharaoh.
    • God tells Moses what will happen, that Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened. This is a future event, not meaning that God was hardening Pharahh’s heart before.
    • Through the first 5 plagues, the text either indicates Pharahh hardened his own heart or his heart was hard without reference to what/who caused the hardening.
    • After the 5th plague, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart.
    • Pharaoh could have let God’s people go in humble submission at any time before the 6th plague, but he didn’t. He hardened his heart. So, God finally hardens Pharaoh’s heart in response to what Pharaoh had already done.
  • In the NT
    • Acts 19:9 – Indicates self-hardening.
    • Hebrews 3:8 (ref to Psalm 95) – Warning to not harden your hearts.
  • In all of these instances, the person is hardening their own heart or being warned against hardening their heart. The fact that God eventually hardened Pharaoh’s heart is akin to Romans 1 where God gave them up to their immoral lives.
• We need to remember, though, that all this discussion of hardening isn’t the real focus on the text. This is a rejection of the accusation that God is unjust or unrighteous and a warning to those Israelites who are acting like Pharaoh, hardening their heats to the Word of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.
• God’s will is clear (1 Timothy 2:1-6). Our will, however, can resist God. We can harden our hearts against God’s mercy, against His salvation. Do not harden your hearts. Give in to God’s will and receive His mercy.