Romans 9:14-18 – God’s Just and Righteous Will

God’s righteous in all He does. The problem’s not God’s promise but what Israel’s assuming.
God never said every physical descendant would receive the covenant blessing. He made specific promises to specific heirs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—and then to the nation that came from Jacob.
Israel’s thinking was, as shown in John 8:39, that being Abraham’s offspring made them secure. Jesus corrected them, saying their true father was the devil because they rejected Him, the long-prophesied Messiah.
Paul’s reinforcing the same point Jesus made: that being a descendant of Abraham in the flesh doesn’t automatically guarantee the blessings of the covenant. God’s purpose was always known and clearly declared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Scripture shows repeatedly that God’s promise was never based on flesh or works.

So, Paul’s answering Israel’s complaint that “If we don’t receive what God promised, is God unjust and unrighteous?” and his answer is no.
God’s Word hasn’t failed. God’s promises stand. But God never promised salvation to Israel based on flesh or the law. He promised it based on His purpose and His mercy, but it could only ever be received by faith.
Just because Israel’s faith failed and that unbelief stopped the promised salvation from happening when it was offered at Christ’s coming, doesn’t make God unrighteous; it simply shows that they misunderstood how God gives His promises.
Romans 9:15 continues,
For he [God] saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

He quotes God’s word to Moses from Exodus 33:19. Who can say that the Most High, the Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t have the right to show mercy and compassion on whom He wills?
Paul also confronts the false idea that lingers behind Israel’s entitled thinking: that God creates people for damnation.
Some people think God decided ahead of time who would be saved and who would be lost, but Scripture never teaches that. God didn’t create anyone in sin; sin entered through Adam, as Romans 5:12 says. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and constantly calls sinners to repentance.
If God created people to sin and then judged them for that sin that He caused, that would be unrighteous—but Paul insists that wasn’t the case and God is righteous.
He’s made a way for sinners to be made righteous and then spent centuries showing them how to receive that righteousness. It’s man who either receives it or rejects it.

Romans 3 raised a similar issue: if human unrighteousness somehow increases God’s glory, then why judge sinners at all?
Surely that would just be mankind doing what they were created for, wouldn’t it? Paul rejects that reasoning.
God is righteous to take vengeance on sin because sin is always against His will. Sin is never part of God’s will or plan in the sense of being caused by Him. God judges sin because He’s holy, not because sin somehow helps Him.
All people are already condemned by their own sin.
If left to ourselves, we’d all perish.
God offers the gospel of His grace to everyone, but out of all the already condemned people, He chose a man, Abraham, and a nation, Israel, to both receive His grace and communicate it to all mankind. But He didn’t “choose” all the others to be condemned—they already stand condemned because of sin and, more specifically, their rejection of God’s solution for it.
Those who’re saved can thank God. Those who’re lost can’t blame anyone, least of all God, because it wasn’t their sin that condemned them to be lost forever; it was their rejection of what God offered to deal with that sin and save them.
God gives mercy to whom He wills—and He wills to give it through His grace and for it to be received by faith, not through the flesh and human works.

Paul continues answering the charge that God’s unrighteous.
Some accused Paul of teaching, “Let us do evil that good may come,” as if sin somehow helps God. The accusation appears in Romans 3:8. Paul rejects that completely. Damnation is not “good,” and it’s not something God created for man. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. God made mankind to receive His grace, not destruction. People perish because they resist God, not because God made them sinful.
Israel has been in unbelief many times in their history.
Hosea shows God calling them “not my people” and even saying He “hated” them in judgment, yet later promising to love them freely and restore them. Israel’s unbelief does not contradict God’s Word. God’s dealings with Israel have always depended on His will and their response of faith.

Romans 9:15 is Paul’s proof.
God’s words to Moses were:
“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Four times in one verse, God says “I will.” When God wills something, He accomplishes it in His way and in His timing. Israel often misunderstood this. They read God’s “I will” statements and assumed the fulfilment must look exactly as they saw it and as they expected it. When it didn’t happen that way, they accused God of failing. But the problem was their misunderstanding of His will, not His faithfulness.
Paul uses this to expose another error, common even today, of thinking God’s will’s failed because not all are saved.
1 Timothy 2:4 says God “will have all men to be saved,” yet not all are saved. The issue is not God’s will failing; it’s our misunderstanding of how God carries out His will. God accomplishes His will in the way He chooses.

God’s mercy is always His choice.
Israel can’t claim God owes them anything. Every covenant, every promise, every blessing was mercy—something they didn’t deserve. God can show mercy to whom He wants, when He wants.
He can also withhold mercy when He wants. He can also give mercy later to those who once lacked it. Scripture shows this repeatedly.
God had mercy on Israel, then withdrew it, then restored it.
God blessed Ishmael, then judged his nation. God judged Israel, then promised to save them. Mercy is God’s sovereign right.
The who and how of that mercy is not a secret decree God made before time, a decree that determined who’d be saved and who’d be damned. It’s wrong and deceiving to fail to understand the difference between God’s foreknowledge- He knows everything- and His election or His decree as to who lives eternally and who dies eternally.
Paul’s quoting events in Israel’s history—times when God gave mercy, withheld mercy, and restored mercy.
God does not decree people to damnation.

Romans 1 teaches that “all men are without excuse” because God’s power and Godhead are clearly seen by every person.
People truly can perceive what God has revealed. Their condemnation’s not because God made them blind, but because, as Romans 1:28 says, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. So He gave them over to a reprobate mind because they rejected Him. He simply allowed them to think what they wanted to think.
This describes all humanity before God called Abraham out of an idolatrous world in Genesis 12.
Abraham was not chosen because he was righteous; he was shown mercy, just as believers today are saved by mercy, not works, as Titus 3:5 states.

Romans 5:12 explains how sin entered the world: by one man. God created Adam and Eve without sin. He warned them clearly. The tree existed to give a real choice.
Adam chose rebellion, and through him sin and death passed to all. So every act of grace God gives is mercy, not obligation. Israel can’t claim God owes them anything. Everything God promised Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel was mercy.
This is why Paul rejects the idea that God’s unrighteous.
The question in Romans 9 arises because Israel is fallen and in unbelief, and some assume that if Israel’s not receiving the promises, God must be failing.
But Scripture shows many times when Israel was not God’s people—Hosea 9 says God “hated” them in judgment—yet later God promised to love them freely and restore them. Their unbelief does not contradict God’s Word; it actually fulfils it.

People have similar objections today.
1 Timothy 2:4 says God “will have all men to be saved,” yet not all are saved. The issue’s not God’s will failing; it’s our misunderstanding of how God carries out His will. God accomplishes His will through His chosen means—grace, faith, and Christ—not through flesh or law. And just because we don’t take the time to learn about those chosen means, but instead expect some sort of blanket miraculous intervention by God, saving all mankind, we accuse and condemn Him.

Paul shows that mercy is not a one‑time decree before creation. In Scripture, God gives mercy at certain times, withdraws it at other times, and restores it later. He had mercy on Israel in Egypt, then withheld mercy at Sinai when they made the golden calf, then restored mercy again. Mercy is God’s choice in time, according to His purpose.
When Paul quotes the exchange between God and Moses in Romans 9:15, that God gives mercy to whom He wants, when He wants, He’s quoting Exodus 32 and using that as proof of the point he’s making. At Mount Sinai, while Moses received the law, Israel made the golden calf. God told Moses in Exodus 32:9-10
And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee [Moses] a great nation.

That was not mercy.
Even so, God would still have been faithful to His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob if He had destroyed the lot of them and started again with Moses, because Moses was of their line; he was of Abraham, so the promise would not have been voided.
God would not have been unrighteous to destroy the idolaters; they were sinners who had already received mercy in Egypt.
But Moses interceded.
He appealed to God’s past mercy, referring to “Thy people, which thou broughtest out of Egypt”, and pointing out God’s reputation among the nations.
He also appealed to God’s promises to the fathers, saying, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel… Thou saidst, I will multiply your seed.”
Moses understood that Israel’s deliverance was mercy, not merit. He asked God to act according to His promise and grace, not Israel’s works. Scripture says in Exodus 32:14, “The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” God changed His course, not because He was wrong, but because He chose to show mercy.

Exodus 33 shows Moses understood God’s mind.
God told Israel He might consume them, and Moses warned them to wait for God’s decision. The people mourned and removed their ornaments of idolatry in fear. Moses set up the tabernacle outside the camp, and everyone watched as the pillar of cloud descended. Moses spoke with God “face to face,” and again appealed to His grace: “If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way.” God answered, “My presence shall go with thee.”

Moses asked to see God’s glory in Exodus 3:18.
God responded in Exodus 3:19 by revealing His character: “I will make all my goodness pass before thee… and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
This is the very statement Paul quotes in Romans 9:15.
God first identifies Himself not as the giver of law, but as the God who freely shows grace and mercy.
Moses found grace, and through his mediation God extended mercy to Israel—though they were stiff‑necked sinners who deserved judgment.

This history proves Paul’s point. Mercy is God’s choice. He can give it, withhold it, or restore it according to His purpose. Mercy is never earned.
Israel’s deliverance from Egypt was mercy. God’s patience at Sinai was mercy. Their future restoration will also be mercy. None of this supports the idea of a timeless decree determining who’ll be damned.
Scripture shows God giving mercy in time, responding to intercession, and acting according to His promises.

Israel believed God owed them mercy because of their flesh and their works. Paul corrects this. God doesn’t owe mercy to anyone. If it were owed, it would be debt, not mercy.
If people don’t respond to God the way He requires, He’s still free to show mercy when He chooses. The right attitude is simply gratitude that we still breathe.
Israel should have remembered that God always keeps His word and that His word always has an effect.
Paul points back to Exodus, because Exodus is the very Word of God he’s explaining.
If God behaves toward Israel in Romans 9 the same way He behaved toward Israel in Exodus—mercifully and graciously toward sinners—then no one can say God’s failing His word.
God didn’t have to give mercy at Sinai. He could’ve destroyed the nation and started again with Moses and still have been righteous and would still have fulfilled His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because Moses was of their line.
It would have produced a remnant, a small surviving group—exactly what Jesus later said would happen when He divided Israel between believers and unbelievers in Luke 12:51–53; Matthew 10:34–36 and other places.

Romans 9:16 also quotes Exodus 32.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Paul expects us to remember the whole scene, not just the verse. The point is not that God randomly chooses people. The point is that when men are sinners, God shows mercy according to His will. The Israelites standing at their tent doors couldn’t demand mercy. God alone decides whether He shows mercy or judgment.
When Paul says, “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy,” he’s showing that the promise can’t be based on works; it must be by faith. But even faith doesn’t earn mercy. Mercy is always God’s gift.
Even if someone did right, salvation would still be mercy. God owes nothing to anyone. He gave Israel the law, but He could show mercy to those who broke it and judgment to those who tried to keep it without faith. This is how God’s always acted.

John 1 teaches the same truth.
Jesus came to His own, and they did not receive Him. But those who believed were born “not of blood… but of God.” God’s will, not man’s will, determines mercy. If people misunderstand God’s will, that’s their error, not God’s failure.
And who does God show mercy to?
Scripture always answers: those who believe His word. Hebrews 11 lists example after example—people who believed what God said and received mercy. Israel’s unbelief does not make God unrighteous. They simply did not believe.
Paul says later in Romans 11:32 that God “concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.”
Even in Israel’s fall, God’s showing mercy to all people today. Israel’s not getting what they want, but they’re not the ones who decide how God gives mercy.

Then Romans 9:17–18 adds another example: Pharaoh, and we read- Paul speaking,
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Scripture says God “raised” Pharaoh up to show His power and declare His name. Romans 9:17 quotes Exodus 9:16 word‑for‑word, and Romans 9:18 summarises the whole Exodus pattern of Pharaoh’s hardening — both Pharaoh hardening himself and God hardening him.
Pharaoh was not a believer, nor was he an example of obedience. Yet God used him to display His power. Paul concludes: God has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills, He hardens.
Now, this doesn’t mean God created Pharaoh for destruction.
Exodus shows how God raised him up in time, not before creation. God’s dealings with Pharaoh, Israel, and all nations demonstrate the same truth: God’s Word stands, His mercy is His choice, and His purpose is always fulfilled.
When people resist God, He has two righteous options: He may show mercy, or He may judge. Both reveal His character. Mercy displays His gracious desire to save; judgment warns others not to oppose Him. Pharaoh becomes Paul’s example.
God used Pharaoh’s stubbornness as a public display of His power, so future generations would say, “Don’t be like Pharaoh.” Scripture repeatedly looks back to Pharaoh as a warning.
This pattern appears throughout the Bible.
If God never judged, people would assume He never will. That’s why one of the earliest major events in Scripture is the flood—God showing He’s both Creator and Judge.
Pharaoh’s defeat is another early example.
God raised Pharaoh up in time, not before creation, so that His name would be declared through the plagues and Israel’s deliverance.

God’s purpose is always revealed in Scripture, not hidden in an unknown decree.
His purpose was to bless all families of the earth through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as Genesis 12 shows us. When people oppose that purpose, God may harden them to accomplish what He’s already declared.
Deuteronomy 2:30 shows this: Sihon, king of Heshbon, resisted Israel, so God hardened his spirit to deliver him into Israel’s hand. God intervened to fulfil His promise, just as He intervened when barren wives conceived so the promised line could continue.

Joshua 11:20 gives another example.
Many Canaanites attacked Israel because “it was of the Lord to harden their hearts,” so Israel would conquer the land as God promised. Their sins had built up over generations, and God used their hostility to complete His purpose.

In 1 Samuel 6, even pagan priests understood this principle.
When the Philistines suffered plagues for stealing the ark, the priests warned, “Do not harden your hearts as Pharaoh did.” They remembered how God judged Egypt and urged their people to return the ark immediately, which they did. They could have hardened their hearts, but they chose not to. Their warning shows that hardening is not an irresistible fate; it is a danger people should avoid.

Psalm 95 applies the same lesson to Israel.
David reminds the nation that they’re God’s flock, yet he warns them: “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation.” After God hardened Pharaoh and delivered Israel, Israel themselves hardened their hearts in the wilderness, provoking God—and that entire generation died without walking into the promised land. Hardening is not limited to Pharaoh; Israel experienced it too.

Israel’s unbelief doesn’t make God unrighteous. He’s shown mercy to Israel many times, and He’s also hardened them at times. Both actions serve His purpose. And even now, Romans 11:32 says God has “concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.” God remains righteous, merciful, and faithful to His Word.

When people resist and oppose God, he can either show mercy or bring judgment. Both responses reveal who he is—either his grace in saving sinners or his power in warning others not to rebel, as with Pharaoh.
God’s purpose is not a secret decree about who’ll be saved; it’s a revealed plan in Scripture: to bless all families of the earth through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ultimately through Christ. When people or nations stand against that purpose, God may harden them to carry out his will. Hardening is God using their stubbornness as part of his plan, not creating their sin.

Hebrews 2 explains that Christ’s sufferings and death brought “many sons unto glory.”
Israel’s hardened hearts led to the crucifixion, yet God’s will was perfectly fulfilled: Jesus died and rose, as planned, to save. Their unbelief did not cancel God’s Word; it became the means by which his saving purpose was carried out.

Exodus 14:17 shows God saying, “I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians.”
This hardening happened in time, after repeated reproof and resistance. Hardened hearts in Scripture are a result of sin, pride, and repeated rejection of God’s correction, not something decreed before creation.
There’s a “recipe” for a hardened heart:
– Sin in the heart.
– Pride.
– Frequent exposure to reproof, correction, and instruction that’s resisted.
The same Word that softens the humble can harden the proud. When God confronts sinners with truth, their response either opens them to mercy or deepens their hardness.

So, God’s hardening is his wise use of already sinful, proud hearts to accomplish his revealed purpose.
He remains righteous, merciful, and just. His Word always has an effect—either in salvation for those who believe or in judgment and hardening for those who persist in unbelief.
Sometimes speaking God’s truth hardens a person’s heart—not because of the speaker, but because of what’s already inside the hearer.
When pride, sin, and resistance are present, God’s Word exposes it. Moses’ dealings with Pharaoh show this clearly. Before Moses ever approached Pharaoh, God told him exactly what would happen in Exodus 3.
God gave Moses the words to speak, knowing Pharaoh’s pride would resist those words. Pharaoh saw himself as a god; hearing that Israel’s God commanded him provoked his pride and resistance.
God told Moses in Exodus 3:19, “I am sure the king of Egypt will not let you go”. God knew Pharaoh’s heart and knew how Pharaoh would react.
God then used repeated reproof—ten plagues, each preceded by a warning—to harden Pharaoh further. Each plague was correction, instruction, and provocation: “Let my people go, or this will come.” Pharaoh resisted again and again, and his heart grew harder. God did not begin with the final plague; He hardened Pharaoh through a process, using Pharaoh’s own pride and unbelief to accomplish His purpose.

This pattern resembles parenting.
Constant discipline without mercy provokes a child to wrath, as Ephesians 6:4 says. God didn’t treat Pharaoh as a son; He treated him as an enemy. He repeatedly reproved him, provoking him to anger until Pharaoh sent his army after Israel—exactly what God said would happen in Exodus 14:17.
God hardened Pharaoh “in time,” not before creation, by confronting him with truth he refused to accept.
Hardened hearts in Scripture are always a result, never a starting condition.
They come from sin, pride, and repeated rejection of God’s correction. Proverbs 29:1 says that those who are often reproved but choose to harden the neck shall be destroyed without remedy.
The Word of God softens the humble but hardens the proud.

Jesus also spoke of Israel’s hardened hearts.
John 12:40 quotes Isaiah: “He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.” Jesus’ sharp words to the Pharisees and His parables divided believers from unbelievers. He came to save, not condemn, but their rejection fulfilled God’s purpose. Their hardness led to the crucifixion, yet God’s will was perfectly accomplished—Christ died and rose exactly as foretold.
Hardening does not thwart God’s plan.
It becomes part of how His plan’s carried out. Some who hardened their hearts—like Paul—were later broken and saved.
Hardened hearts can be changed either by breaking (through suffering and collapse) or by melting (slow, patient love and truth). Both appear in Scripture.
A hardened heart can only truly be changed when a person responds to God in faith.
We can help by correcting their wrong ideas about God and replacing them with the truth of His love—Christ’s death, His resurrection, and the mercy God freely offers.
God’s not judging the world now, at this time; He’s showing mercy and waiting for people to believe. We point them to that mercy so their eyes can open.

Exodus and Pharaoh’s hardened heart is a critical lesson in our search for truth.
God said He would harden Pharaoh through repeated smiting when Pharaoh refused to let Israel go.
In Exodus 5, Moses obeyed God and told Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go.” Pharaoh’s pride immediately resisted: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” Pride is the first ingredient in a hardened heart, and Pharaoh surely showed that pride.
God continued the process in Exodus 7.
He told Moses, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders.”
God declared His purpose and then fulfilled it. Pharaoh saw the miracle of the rod changing into a serpent in Exodus 7:9-10, but when his magicians imitated it, his pride grew.
Aaron’s serpent swallowed theirs, yet Pharaoh still refused. God knew exactly how Pharaoh would react.
The same pattern appears with the plagues.
Moses turned the Nile to blood, and the magicians produced a similar sign. Pharaoh trusted them instead of God’s word, and his heart hardened in Exodus 7:22. This mirrors unbelievers today who dismiss Scripture because “science can explain things,” ignoring the God who created life.

In Exodus 8, after the plague of frogs, Pharaoh begged Moses to ask God to remove them and promised to let Israel go.
God removed the frogs, but when Pharaoh saw relief, he hardened his heart again. God allowed this so Pharaoh would think he still controlled the situation, deepening his resistance.
Exodus 14 explains God’s intention: “I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians… and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh.”
God hardened Pharaoh by confronting him with truth that he refused, provoking his pride, and repeatedly reproving him. Hardened hearts in Scripture are always the result of sin, pride, and rejecting correction—not a condition decreed before creation.

The plague of lice came, and Pharaoh’s own magicians finally admitted, “This is the finger of God.”
They could imitate earlier signs, but not this one. Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart again, refusing to listen. Pride kept him from acknowledging what was obvious, so the plagues continued.
After the swarm of flies, Pharaoh told Moses, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”
Several times Pharaoh told Israel to go, then changed his mind when the plague stopped.
It looks like backwards and forwards negotiation, but God had already declared His purpose: He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, smite Egypt with many plagues, make His name known, and ultimately drive Pharaoh to send his army after Israel so God could destroy them in the Red Sea.
God was not being “played” by Pharaoh; He was directing events in time, using Pharaoh’s pride and reactions to accomplish His will.

This is not the Calvinist idea of preset rules where Pharaoh had no choices.
God gave Pharaoh real opportunities to repent, and Pharaoh sometimes did.
In Exodus 9:4, God killed only Egypt’s cattle, sparing Israel’s. Pharaoh investigated and saw the distinction, yet hardened his heart.
Later, in Exodus 9:27, Pharaoh confessed, “I have sinned… the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.”
He begged Moses to stop the hail and promised to let Israel go. Moses prayed; God stopped the storm, but Pharaoh hardened his heart again. God knew Pharaoh’s pattern and used it to fulfil His purpose while all the time remaining righteous and just.

Exodus 10:1 shows God’s intent: “I have hardened his heart… that I might show these my signs before him.”
God wanted Israel delivered and wanted Egypt to witness His power. Jesus acted similarly with Israel. He could have spoken more gently, but He spoke sharply and in parables to divide belief from unbelief. He came to save, yet Israel rejected Him.
Their hardened hearts led to the crucifixion, fulfilling God’s will. God hardens and shows mercy according to His purpose, not by removing human responsibility.
God desires all Israel to repent, as Matthew 23:37 says, and all men everywhere to repent in Acts 17:30. They can repent, that is, change their mind, their way of thinking about things, but they don’t always do so. Not all Israel was delivered from Egypt; many died in the wilderness because of unbelief.
Hebrews 3 applies this directly.
The writer reminds Israel of their fathers in the wilderness: “Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
Some who left Egypt provoked God and died in the wilderness. They could not enter God’s rest “because of unbelief.”
This matches Paul’s point in Romans 9. God’s Word has not failed. It always has its intended effect: He shows mercy to whom He wills and hardens whom He wills—and the dividing line is belief versus unbelief.
Israel’s unbelief does not make God unrighteous.
God will still bring the kingdom, but those who rejected His Word won’t enter it. This is exactly what happened in Moses’ day, and it’s exactly what Paul’s explaining in Romans 9.

Until the next episode, may your hearts be always softened enough to receive the truth of God’s infallible Word.