Romans 9:17-18, Is God Unjust?
Romans 9:17-18 (KJV) 17 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. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
The man Pharaoh who resisted God’s command to release His people from slavery did so because God has willed it. It is God who sovereignly chooses Pharaoh to be His instrument of wrath against His people and also the recipient of His wrath. It is God who causes the heart of Pharaoh to be made stubborn that he might disobey His command to release His people. And yet we know that it was Pharaoh who freely chooses to harden his heart to resist the will of God. We marvel at the truth of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility at work simultaneously.
Should God be charged with being unjust in choosing Pharaoh to be the recipient of His wrath? God forbid. God cannot be charged with being unjust! He is a just God as the psalmist declared to be God’s unchanging character.
Psalm 119:137 (KJV) 137 Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.
God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His justice. We must let God be God. He is God, and we are not! We must not have the audacity to question God but to submit to His just authority! God is not unfair. He sovereignly wills, it was His prerogative as God, the power to decide lies with Him.
And so, when a person did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel and dies in his sin, can he be saved? The biblical answer is no. He is not saved because he did not come to God through Christ. Is God not unfair to pass this innocent man? No, God is not unfair! Man after the fall is already under condemnation, he is not innocent but a rebel against God. It is not unjust for God to punish him even though he might not have the opportunity to hear the gospel.
It fact, it is for this reason, we are charged to bring the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth that none should perish! By human instruments, God will fulfil His will to show mercy to whom He will show mercy. May we rest in the sovereignty of God to choose whom He will save and do our duty to give the gospel that whosoever will, might believe! Amen.