Sometimes God hardens hearts

To the question of God hardening someone’s heart and whether or not they had/have free will, a principle can be derived from Rm 1.18 and 21, and Jn 12.37-39. In both cases the people now unable to believe and respond were previously able to do so. The Rm 1 references describe people who were in possession of the truth prior to their hearts and minds being Divinely judicially affected. Similarly the Jn passage appears to present a sequence of first being exposed to the truth, Jesus’ confirmatory Messianic signs, deciding to not believe in Him, and subsequently being rendered unable to believe.

Such references support a principle that those God hardens He does so justly as a consequence of their having previously rejected Divinely-provided information.

This principle fits with these concepts:

• God is perfectly just.
• There are well-documented references to God being concerned about how He is viewed by humans.
• Texts like Is 55.6 and 2 Cor 6.2 suggest opportunities to repent and be saved are not unlimited; and are God’s purview, not man’s.