Verses 15, 18, and 19~ what do they mean?

[tzalam2]

Do these verses directly contradict the teachings of many churches, that we have free will?
I believe we DO have freedom to choose, yet, these verses have been used by MANY unregenerate souls to cause conflict in the minds of Christians.
Can anyone explain these to me? I'm not very good at verbalizing the
doctrines presented here.
Thanks for your help.

13: As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
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.
19: Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21: Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22: What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24: Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25: As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26: And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

 

[Simonline]

No. they don't, since this is only one side of the coin showing the absolute sovereignty of God. But this does not alter the fact that Pharaoh hardened his own heart against the Israelites [Ex.8:15,32; 9:34] and having repeatedly made his choice God simply confirms Pharaoh's choice so that he can no longer change his mind.

The very idea that humans are mere puppets in the hands of a morally depraved 'puppet master' is, to my mind, the ultimate blasphemy against God whose absolutely holy and righteous judgments are predicated upon the fact that he has given Man the freedom to choose, both to make and bear responsibility for moral choices, which is part of what it means to be made in the image of God.

To insist, as the hyper-Calvinists do, that all humans are absolutely predetermined according to God's sovereignty and his predestination to the degree that there is absolutely nothing that they can do to change that predetermination, is not only to traduce the very Character of God as Holy, Just and Righteous (which in itself is blasphemy) it is also to deny the very image in which God has declared Man has been made thereby denegrating both themselves and all other human beings to the level of the rest of the animal kingdom.

The hyper Calvinists must learn to read the whole of the Scriptures in their correct context and stop lifting out 'proof texts' such as Rom.9 in a vain attempt to reinforce their own theological presuppositions. Such a handling of the Word of God is both deceitful and dishonest (2Tim.2:15).

As I was taught as a young Christian: "Never learn what the Bible says; always learn what the Bible also says."

Simonline.

 

[Simonline]

Do these verses directly contradict the teachings of many churches, that we have free will?
I believe we DO have freedom to choose, yet, these verses have been used by MANY unregenerate souls to cause conflict in the minds of Christians.
Can anyone explain these to me? I'm not very good at verbalizing the
doctrines presented here.
Thanks for your help.

13: As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15: For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16: So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
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.
19: Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21: Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22: What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24: Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25: As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26: And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

Paul is teaching here that God's mercy is his own affair and is not governed by the actions of humans (though it is influenced by them). Just as humans are not God's inanimate 'puppets' so God is not Man's inanimate 'puppet' either. Paul is saying that God cannot be manipulated by man. We cannot, by behaving in a particular way, guarantee God's response. He is not a 'spiritual vending machine' where we can get exactly what we want simply by inserting the right coins and pressing the right combination of buttons. God is a sovereign Person too and therefore he is free to exercise his choice just as we are free to execise ours. God, like Man, is not a robot either.

Paul is arguing that Man has absolutely no right to try and control and manipulate God in the way that we, as sinful human beings, often control and manipulate each other. God is his own Person and will not be manipulated by any of his creatures. The basis of God's mercy is God's choice, not Man's choice. [Incidentally, the manipulation of spiritual forces for one's own ends is the definition of witchcraft which the Bible says is the same as rebellion since they are both self-orientated (1Sam.15:23)...many Christians who try and manipulate God would be horrified to realize that what they are practising is actually a Christian version of witchcraft!]

Paul is not (as many hyper-Calvinists have been wrongly taught to interpret) denying the free will of man here, since that would be to contradict other parts of the Scriptures (and the Holy Spirit who is animating Paul here (1Tim.3:16; Heb.4:12-13) would not contradict himself) he is simply asserting the free will of God too!

Simonline.