Many theologians answer this question by using an analogy. They say that the same sun will melt ice but harden clay. The same thing that softens the hearts of some is the same thing that hardens the hearts of others. So, by this analogy God is justified in his hardening of the clay (or the heart). God sends fires of trial in his providential crucible and in one case the fire purifies some people so that they become vessels for honor and glory, and in other cases some people are destroyed by the fire and become vessels for wrath and dishonor. So, in this way we see how God, by means of fire or the sun (contributing causes), makes one vessel into a good or better vessel and makes another vessel into a bad or worse vessel. There is much truth in these analogies.
We might ask in response to those who would criticize how God punishes transgressors or his "judicial hardening" of heart: "is society morally responsible if criminals become more criminal by being sent to prison by them?" Is their criminal justice system better than God's?
Many who write on the philosophy of crime and punishment will often say that criminals are really victims, and therefore not responsible, at least to some degree. This was what the famous lawyer Clarence Darrow argued in one of his famous cases. (See my posting on this here) It is also the philosophy of many liberal democrats in this country. It is the view of most sociologists. My college major was in sociology and I was taught it and read it in the writings of the leading sociologists. Their idea is that a person is born with a good nature, or at least a "Tabula rasa." It is a Latin phrase meaning "blank slate" or "clean slate." It's a philosophical concept that refers to the idea that the human mind, soul, or spirit at birth is a blank slate, without any pre-existing or intuitive knowledge, or no law written in their nature. This concept suggests that all knowledge and belief are acquired through sensory experiences and interactions with the world, or from the environment. Therefore the liberal sociologist will argue that a person who becomes a criminal becomes so by external factors alone and thus becomes an innocent victim. Of course, the bible is against this philosophy. It rather teaches that man is born depraved, as we have already seen. (Psa. 51: 5; Eph. 2: 3; etc.) It teaches that every man is responsible for his crimes and has no excuses. (Rom. 1: 20)
That is not to deny, however, that some criminals may be shown leniency due to what are called "mitigating" circumstances. In legal terms, a mitigating circumstance is a factor that lessens the severity of a criminal offense or the punishment for it. It's not an excuse or justification for the crime, but rather a reason to consider the defendant's actions as less blameworthy. These circumstances can lead to reduced charges or a lighter sentence. The bible acknowledges the rightness of this way of thinking. Solomon said: "People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry." (Prov. 6: 30 kjv) The bible also recognizes how external factors may be contributing causes for a person becoming criminal and that these should be considered in deciding the level and kind of punishment in a sentence.
Further, who can doubt that when a sinner enters into his eternal prison (Hell) that his time there makes him infinitely more hardened against God and right? If men do not condemn themselves for making criminals more hardened by their imprisonments, then they cannot condemn God.
Judicial Hardening
"But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him." (John 12: 37-41 nkjv)
Barnes in his commentary says: "There is, indeed, a judicial blinding and a judicial hardening." It is not a case where God is preventing the salvation of anyone who is seeking salvation. For, as we have seen, "God desires that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." (I Tim. 2: 4) God does not want any of his creatures to believe falsehood, especially about him and his ways. It is rather a case where God has "given up," as it were, in his efforts to turn a man from his wicked ways. In Romans chapter one Paul speaks of this when he speaks of how “God gave them over” (or "up") in three things:
1) “God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them” (verse 24, NASB).
2) “God gave them over to degrading passions” (verse 26, NASB).
3) “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” (verse 28, NASB).
"The Greek word translated “gave over” or “gave up” means “surrendered, yielded up, entrusted, or transmitted.” In this context, it refers to the act of God completely abandoning the unrighteous. As the wicked deserted God, God in turn deserted them, no longer giving them divine direction or restraint, but allowing them to corrupt themselves as they wished. Because they would not honor Him, He let them do what they pleased to dishonor themselves. Being given over or yielded up to one’s sinful desires is a judgment from God." (Got Questions - See here - emphasis mine)
So, it must be acknowledged that God's judicial hardening and blinding, his giving them up, makes sinners more sinful, and this is one way in which they are being further fitted or prepared, as vessels of wrath, for destruction. Is God just to render this kind of punishment knowing that it will increase a person's sin and level of punishment? Can he not send punishments that rather reform the sinner and turn him around, or make him sin less? Answer: yes, some of God's punishments do act as means to turn a sinner around. But, in some cases, they rather harden the wicked man even more. If a man is "getting away with" his crimes, with little punishment, will this not encourage him to keep on committing crimes? We see this to be the case with some criminals.
The same source article also says:
"What’s the result of God’s having given them over? “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:29–32)."
Some God haters who are ever looking for ways they can condemn God may argue that God is the cause of some people becoming more sinful because of his judicial hardening. Obviously, however, God does not agree with this, i.e. that he is being unjust to give the sinner up because it leads him to commit greater sins. Further, God can and often does lesson the amount of sin being committed by his creatures. The bible is filled with proof texts that uphold this truth. For instance, the bible teaches that God is hindering or preventing, for the time being, the coming of the Antichrist. (II Thess. 2: 6-7) But, one day he will suffer Antichrist to enter into the scene and then what follows will be greater wickedness on earth. So, we cannot go beyond scripture and affirm that God never does anything in his providence and government of men that brings about more wickedness. If the cynic thinks he could do better than God in his control of the world, let him tell us how he would govern the wicked or criminal.
When God gives persons up or over because they have long spurned his truth, he gives them over to a "reprobate mind." Wrote Paul in that same chapter:
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness..." (Rom. 1: 29-30 kjv)
"A reprobate mind is void of all sense and judgment to discern things that differ, so that they could not distinguish their right hand from their left in spiritual things." (Matthew Henry commentary)
Said the same source:
"The sad fact is that sometimes God gives us what we want. God allowed the Israelites who rebelled to reap the natural consequences of their choice: “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices” (Psalm 81:11–12). In Romans 1, Paul shows how the wicked made a choice to reject God, and that choice set them on a downward spiral of increasing darkness and decreasing hope. As the godless run farther and farther from God, God intervenes less and less. The Spirit’s restraint of sin is a blessing, and if that restraint is removed, all wickedness follows."
The God hater, by sophistry, will act like a prosecutor and put God on trial and say that because God removed his restraints, he caused more wickedness, and he shows thereby that he is not just. After all, why does God not do more restraining? Cannot criminals say that it is God's fault that they committed a crime since he did not keep them from doing the crime? However, God is not obligated to intervene to stop every crime, nor to show mercy to all without exception.
Yes, as the Got Questions article says, God does sadly sometimes give people what they want, even though he knows that it would be better if he didn't. So the Psalmist wrote: "And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul." (Psa. 106: 15 nkjv) God, like many parents, replies to their begging children - "okay, I am going to give you what you want, but you will regret it, but I do it so that you might thereby learn a few things." A case where this is seen is in the story of "the prodigal son" who pestered his father and demanded that he give him his inheritance early in life. The father granted his request and it led to the ruination of the son, loss of all his inheritance by squandering all in sinful pursuits, living is squalor, to starving to death.
Barnes says further:
"He hath blinded their eyes - The expression in Isaiah is, "Go, make the heart of this people fat, and shut their eyes." That is, go and proclaim truth to them truth that will result in blinding their eyes. Go and proclaim the law and the will of God, and the effect will be, owing to the hardness of their heart, that their eyes will be blinded and their hearts hardened. As God knew that this would be the result - as it was to be the effect of the message, his commanding Isaiah to go and proclaim it was the same in effect, or in the result, as if he had commanded him to blind their eyes and harden their hearts. It is this effect or result to which the evangelist refers in this place. He states that God did it, that is, he did it in the manner mentioned in Isaiah, for we are limited to that in our interpretation of the passage. In that case it is clear that the mode specified is not a direct agency on the part of God in blinding the mind - which we cannot reconcile with any just notions of the divine character - but "in suffering the truth to produce a regular effect on sinful minds, without putting forth any positive supernatural influence to prevent it." The effect of truth on such minds is to irritate, to enrage, and to harden, unless counteracted by the grace of God. See Romans 7:8-9, Romans 7:11; 2 Corinthians 2:15-16. And as God knew this, and, knowing it, still sent the message, and suffered it to produce the regular effect, the Evangelist says "he hath blinded their minds," thus retaining the substance of the passage in Isaiah without quoting the precise language; but in proclaiming the truth there was nothing wrong on the part of God or of Isaiah, nor is there any indication that God was unwilling that they should believe and be saved."
We might view the command of God to Isaiah as sarcasm. In other words he says "Preach to them Isaiah and give them more opportunities to refuse, scorn, deride, and harden themselves against me."
The very same ones who believed not and had hardened their hearts is not because they cannot be healed (saved), but simply means that as long as they remain in this state their healing is not possible.
In other places in the gospels we read where people are also said to have hardened their own hearts when they refused to believe in Jesus. (Mark 6: 52, 8: 17) So again we see where both God and people themselves may be seen as doing the same hardening in some cases.
Further, it is not only the unbeliever who is often hardened in his heart towards God and his word, but even the believer sometimes is likewise hardened. So we read: "For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened." (Mark 6: 52 kjv) The "they" of the text are the apostles, God's disciples. Notice also these words of the Lord Jesus to his apostles and disciples:
"And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?"(Mark 8: 15-18 kjv)
Here again the "they" are the apostles. Believers must always be on guard against becoming hardened in heart and spirit against any truth of God. We see this hardening of heart against truth in the many cults within the professing Christian community. Each of these cults holds to some gross heresy and become hardened against all other groups and against certain bible doctrines. One group I have focused much of my outreach ministry towards are those known as "Primitive" "Old School" or "Hardshell" Baptists. The term hardshell was applied to them because of their stubborn adherence to their ideas and for them withdrawing into a cocoon. These folks are hardened against all other churches, being especially antagonistic towards those they call "Missionary Baptists," or "Arminians." It is also seen to a large degree in some Calvinists being hardened against Arminians and vise versa, or between Unitarians and Trinitarians.
A hardened heart is intimately linked with a lack of understanding, with ignorance, and blindness to truth. Our lack of understanding God's word, even as believers, can sometimes be the result of having a hard heart, or being hard-headed. Another verse that shows that even believers are to ever be on guard against having a hard heart is this:
"Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Heb. 3: 12-15 nkjv)
This text tells us much about what it means for the heart to be hardened and the causes of it. The Christian has no need to worry that God is going to harden his heart as he did Pharaoh, Sihon, and others. That is because the believer is not a vessel of wrath, or vessel unto dishonor, and doomed to destruction, but is rather a vessel of mercy, a vessel unto honor, who is being prepared by God for glory. God will never "give them up" as he does the reprobate. They may harden their hearts to some degree, but never to the extent or for the same reason, that many unbelievers are hardened in heart. The thing that causes hardness of heart is "the deceitfulness of sin."
"13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’" (Matt. 13: 13-15)
These are the effects of a hardened heart, a stubborn will, and perverseness of spirit. It is a heart that is in opposition to God, or to one or more of his truths. When people get into the condition described above by Jesus and Isaiah it is much more difficult to bring them to repentance. If God saves any of them it will require greater power to be exercised by him. With them God may have to use extraordinary means, even a pry bar, to pry them away from their sins. But again, God will never harden the hearts of his own children in the same way he did to his enemies, such as Pharaoh and Sihon. God will soften the hearts of believers so that their hardness of heart is limited and restrained as a result of mercy shown. The hardening of the hearts of the reprobate brings an end to God's positive influence towards them. Further, God only hardens the hearts of the vessels of wrath, in conjunction with their own efforts towards that end, but he never hardens the hearts of his own children. They do that themselves within the limits he circumscribes.
Some of the other ways that the vessels of wrath are being prepared or fitted for destruction may be learned from such texts as this:
"But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."(Rom. 2: 5 nkjv)
This "treasuring up" is linked with "prepared (fitted) for destruction." Both texts show that this preparation is continuous and progressive. Every sinner who is spurning God and his offers of mercy and chooses a life of sin is being steadily prepared for destruction. In fact, that are on "the broad way that leads to destruction." (Matt. 7: 13)
"But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
(Gen. 15: 16 nkjv)
We might say that the Amorites, as vessels of wrath, were not yet fully "fitted" for destruction until they had reached a certain level in their sinful course. When hard hearted people die, we may say that they die "ready" for Hell, in contradistinction to the vessels of mercy who will die ready or "fit for" Heaven.
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