Moo: Pharaoh in Romans 9

Moo notes two common attempts to mitigate the problematic (seemingly Calvinistic) reference to Pharaoh in Romans 9.

First is the salvation-historical reading (e.g., N. T. Wright). The second is the idea that God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was only in response to Pharaoh hardening his own heart.

Salvation-Historical

Regarding the salvation-historical explanation, Moo says:

The term “harden” (Gk. sklērynō) occurs 14 times in Exod. 4–14, where it has the connotation “make spiritually insensitive.”[231] Many scholars, noting that Pharaoh’s role in Exodus is purely salvation-historical and that reference to his own final spiritual condition is foreign to the context, insist that Paul applies God’s hardening only to the processes of history. God prevents some people, or nations, from understanding his work and message in order to further his plan of salvation; no implications for the ultimate destiny of the individuals concerned are present.[232] However, this limitation of Paul’s language to the sphere of historical process, which we have seen to be unlikely in earlier texts (vv. 12–13, 16), is particularly difficult here. In addition to the points I have made earlier with reference to Paul’s purpose in this section as a whole, we may note the following.

First, structural and linguistic considerations show that v. 18 is closely related to vv. 22–23, where the “vessels of mercy, destined to glory” are contrasted with “vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction.” As God’s mercy leads to the enjoyment of glory, God’s hardening brings wrath and destruction. Second, the word group “harden” is consistently used in Scripture to depict a spiritual condition that renders one unreceptive and disobedient to God and his word.[233] Third, while the Greek word is a different one, most scholars recognize that Paul’s references to Israel’s “hardening” in Rom. 11:7 and 25 are parallel to the hardening here.[234] Yet the hardening in Rom. 11 is a condition that excludes people from salvation.[235] Fourth, it is even possible that the references to Pharaoh’s hardening in Exodus carry implications for his own spiritual state and destiny.[236]

— The Letter to the Romans, 2nd ed, pp. 616–617.

Footnotes 231, 233, 234 and 235 are worth reading, but here I’ll just quote 234 since it addresses a likely objection to the third point:

The Greek word in Rom. 11:7 is πωρόω and in 11:25 πώρωσις. See, e.g., K. L. and M. A. Schmidt, TDNT 5.1030: σκληρύνω has “exactly the same sense as πωρόω.” This word and its cognate πώρωσις also refer to a person’s spiritual obduracy throughout the NT (Mark 3:5; 6:52; 8:17; John 12:40; 2 Cor. 3:14; Eph. 4:18). For a brief lexical analysis of the words, see Schmidt, “Verstockung des Menschen,” 1–17.

And a part of footnote 238, further down on page 617, provides further evidence that the different words in this instance aren’t significant:

The LXX does not use σκληρύνω in [Exodus] 8:15 and 32 (LXX 8:11 and 28), but the concept is the same, and it is likely that Paul would have viewed all the references to hardening in this context together, whatever the Greek or Hebrew word involved. In all, there are three relevant Hebrew words (חזק [4:21; 7:13, 22; 8:15; 9:12, 35; 10:20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17], כבד [7:14; 8:11, 28; 9:7, 34; 10:1], and קשׁה [7:3; 13:15]) and three Greek words (σκληρύνω [4:21; 7:22; 8:19; 9:12, 35; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 13:15; 14:4, 8, 17], κατισχύω [7:13], and βαρύνω [7:14; 8:15, 32; 9:7, 34]).

Pharaoh Hardened His Heart First

Regarding the idea that God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was only in response to Pharaoh first hardening his own heart, Moo says:

…whatever our conclusion on this matter, the appeal to the Exodus background in this manner is probably not justified. Taken as a whole, the narrative in Exod. 4–14 does not clearly indicate that Pharaoh’s hardening of his own heart was the basis for God’s hardening. Before Pharaoh is said to harden his own heart, God twice predicts that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart (4:21 and 7:3), and there are also five references, in the passive voice, to Pharaoh’s heart being hardened (7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19). The understood subject of these passive verbs is probably God.[239]

If the Exodus narrative that Paul uses provides little basis for the idea that God hardens in response to human hardening, Paul’s own emphases render this conclusion even more unlikely. Paul’s “whomever he wishes” certainly suggests that God’s decision to harden is his alone to make and is not constrained by any consideration having to do with a person’s status or actions. Moreover, as we noted earlier with respect to election (see on vv. 12–13), the “silence” of vv. 19–23 is eloquent: responding to objections to his teaching, Paul says nothing about any human basis for his actions.[240]

— pp. 617–618

Footnote 240 says, in part,

As [James] Dunn puts it, “to look for reasons for God’s hardening in Pharaoh’s ‘evil disposition’ or previous self-hardening … is a rationalizing expediency” (2.555). It is interesting that the rabbis later criticized the minim (e.g., Jewish Christians) for using Exod. 10:1 — “I [the LORD] have hardened his [Pharaoh’s] heart” — in stressing too strongly God’s sovereignty with respect to evil (Exod. Rab. 13; see Str-B, 3.269).

On pages 618–619 Moo cautions against rushing to the conclusion that such hardening is irreversible and from trying to draw an equal ultimacy implication from double predestination.

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For a list of all of my posts on Douglas Moo’s commentary on Romans, see here.