FREE AGENCY AND DIVINE HARDENING AND BLINDING

FREE AGENCY AND DIVINE HARDENING AND BLINDING

from: http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF Books II/Simmons - A Systematic Study of Bible Doctrine.pdf

In the hardening and blinding of sinners,
which is unmistakably attributed to God in the Scriptur

Rom. 9:18; "Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills,
and whom He wills He hardens."
(by not Giving them Grace and leaving them where they are.)

John 12:40; "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart;
that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should heal them."
(by not Giving them Grace and leaving them where they are.)

there is no outside force
brought to bear upon the will of the sinner.

While God is said to blind and to harden the sinner,
the sinner is said to blind and harden himself.

John 12:40;
"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart;
that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should heal them."

is a quotation from

Isa. 6:10; "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."

where the prophet Isaiah is commanded to shut the eyes of the people.

Then in Matt. 13:14,15; And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias,
which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand;
and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

15 "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed;
lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and should understand with their heart,
and should be converted, and I should heal them."

Sinners MUST, "they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and should understand with their heart,

which is The ACTIVITY of GOD,

to, "be converted".


there is another free quotation from this same prophecy,
and in Matthew the sinners are said to have closed their own eyes.

Then, still again,

in 2 Cor. 4:3,4, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

we have the blinding of sinners attributed to the devil.

All of these passages refer to the same thing,
and all of them are true because they are in the Word of God.

We have the blinding of sinners attributed to God, to the devil,
to the prophet, and to the sinners themselves.

It is ours to find, if we can, the harmony between these statements.

Here it is: The blinding is attributed to God because He decreed,
whether permissively or efficiently,
all the circumstances that render the sinner blind.

The blinding is attributed to the devil because he is the author of sin
by which the sinner is blinded.

The same blinding is attributed to the prophet
because his preaching of the Word brings out
and makes the blindness of the sinner active in his rejection of the Word.

Then, finally, the blinding is attributed to the sinner himself
because he loves darkness rather than light,
and manifests his choice of darkness by rejecting the Word.

This leaves the natural man a free agent.

If God, the devil, or the prophet,
by a power outside of the nature of the sinner,
could compel the sinner against his choice
to reject the Word,
the sinner would no longer be a free agent,
and he would be no longer responsible for his unbelief.

Responsibility and free agency go hand in hand.