Romans 9:14-18, God's Sovereignty over Pharaoh (part 1)

The Explanation (v. 15–18)

God is most glorified in the freedom of unconditional election (v. 17–18)

God’s sovereignty over Pharaoh as a type (v. 17)

The “for” is parallel to the “for” in verse 15, indicating that this verse is connecting back to verse 14 (rather than the preceding verse) and is a further explanation of Paul’s “May it never be!” statement.[1] Whereas in v. 15 Paul used the phrase “God speaks,” now he uses “scripture speaks.” Much like before, Paul is referring to an authority beyond himself, demonstrating that this argument is not merely his opinion, but the facts that God has revealed about Himself and His nature.[2] Also, by stating it as “scripture speaks,” Paul is emphasizing the lasting impact of this truth (Morris, 360), which is heightened by the present tense of the verb as in v. 15.

Unlike verse 15, which was an exact quotation from the LXX (The Greek Old Testament), Paul’s wording differs here in several respects when he quotes Exodus 9:16.[3] This ultimately points to Paul’s rationale of bringing out more explicitly the sovereignty of the divine purpose (Cranfield, 2:487). In the context Paul is now on his second point in defending the righteousness of God in light of verse 13, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” He first presents Moses as a type of those who receive the mercy of God, like Jacob, and he now uses Pharaoh as a type of those who resist the mercy of God, like Esau. At the same time, Pharaoh acts as the pre-figuration of the disobedient among Israel who are now opposed to the gospel. This point will be brought out in greater detail in the discussion of verse 18, but for now it suffices to recall that the statement made in verse 13 comes in defense of the concept Paul raised in verse 6, that God has a purpose in Israel rejecting His word through the Messiah. Paul will go on to spend chapters nine through eleven explaining how Israel’s rejection has opened the door for salvation to come to the gentiles, much like how Pharaoh’s obstinance was a precursor to the exodus.

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[1] Further indications of this parallelism can be seen in that both verse 15 and 17 begin with "for" followed by a quotation from scripture. Also, both verse 16 and 18 begin with "So then" followed by Paul’s inference from his scripture quotations. This pattern also accords with the statement that raised the question in verse 13 “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Paul first addresses the positive aspects of mercy as in the case of Jacob by the example of Moses in v. 15–16, then he addresses the negative aspects of mercy in the case of Esau by the example of Pharaoh in v. 17–18 (Lloyd-Jones, 165). See also Piper, The Justification of God, 139.

[2] This would be contra to Michel who argues that by stating “scripture” rather than “God,” Paul is arguing for a distance between God and heathen Pharaoh, since God spoke directly to Moses but Moses had to mediate His words to Pharaoh. This statement, while arguably true, is not relevant to Paul’s argument in this passage, and in fact would run contrary to his purposes of showing how God uses all people (those who receive mercy and those who don’t) for the same saving purposes, as will be discussed.

[3] Instead of καὶ ἕνεκεν τούτου Paul has the more forceful εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο bringing out more emphatically the idea of purpose (Cranfield, 2:485). Instead of διετηρήθης (translated ‘preserved’) Paul has ἐξήγειρά σε (translated ‘raised you up’). This emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God over Pharaoh (NET Bible Note on Exodus 9:16) because God has not simply kept certain thins from happening to Pharaoh (as indicated by ‘preserved’), but everything that has happened to Pharaoh in a positive sense was controlled by God (as indicated in ‘raised you up’). Paul replaces ἵνα…καὶ ὅπως of the LXX, which reproduces the distinction between the two final clauses, with ὅπως…καὶ ὅπως, making the two clauses formally parallel (Cranfield, 2:485) and thereby both speaking to the same purpose. The substitution of δύναμίν for the ἰσχύν of the LXX is a substitution of a word in common use for a word that though used in the LXX was generally uncommon in Greek (used only seven times in the NT and by Paul only three time, Ephesians 1:19, 6:10; 2 Thes. 1:9). The effect of this change is a particular word is now used here which was used in a highly important verse, 1:16 (Cranfield, 2:486–87) as will be discussed.