In what sense are “the rest” hardened?

Explanation:

Paul explains that the elect is chosen by God’s grace, but the rest are hardened. We can detect that God is the one who hardens the rest because the verb to harden is in the passive voice. The hardening is not something the rest do to themselves, but something God does to them. Still, while God hardens the rest, they are likely hardened in a non-permanent sense. We can detect this because Paul uses the term λοιπός to refer to the rest. That is significant because the Greek translators of the Old Testament sometimes use the same term to refer to a remnant in Israel. This may be a play on words, which implies that the rest will in the end be counted among the elect.³

Counterargument:

It is not clear that the term λοιπός (the rest) is ever used in the Greek translators of the Old Testament to refer to a remnant. The term is used approximately forty times in the Old Testament, but none of these clearly refers to a remnant. In fact, its most frequent usage is in Kings and Chronicles when authors refer to the rest of the acts of a certain king.

Explanation:

Paul writes that the elect in Israel are chosen by grace, and the rest, that is, those not chosen by grace, are hardened. Since the verb to harden is passive, we can see that it is God who hardens the rest. Still by reading Romans 11:11–15 we learn that the rest are hardened as part of God’s overall plan for history in order to include the Gentiles in the covenant. Specifically, Paul explains in Romans 11:11 that Israel did not stumble in order to fall. Rather, their trespass makes salvation to the Gentiles possible, which in turn makes Israel jealous which might lead to repentance (Romans 11:14). In fact, some Old Testament prophets explained that Israel would stray and then repent (Hosea 14:1–7). Possibly Paul has this in mind and sees that God delayed Israel’s repentance to give the Gentiles opportunity to accept the gospel. This in turn would make Israel jealous so they would repent and be saved.⁴

Counterargument:

Likely, when Paul explains that they did not stumble in order to fall, he has in mind the nation of Israel generally, not individuals.⁵ Of course, if Paul does not have individuals in mind, then he is not saying that the rest are hardened only temporarily. Rather, the rest likely refers to individuals who are hardened permanently.⁶ On the other hand, the nation of Israel has not stumbled in order to fall.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument does not work. To see why, we will assume that it is correct that God hardens individuals in Romans 11:7. If that is the case, then we can detect that there are two groups in Israel. There is the elect who are chosen by grace, and there are the rest who are hardened. Assuming the rest are permanently hardened, Paul has distinguished the elect from the reprobate. Next Paul supports the fact that God hardened the rest by quoting from Scripture, before explaining that they did not stumble in order to fall (Romans 11:11). Given that according to this counterargument Paul clearly distinguishes the elect from the reprobate in Romans 11:7, they in Romans 11:11 cannot refer to Israel as a whole. For if Israel is distinguished as the elect and the reprobate, it is simply not the case that Israel as a whole did not stumble in order to fall. For the elect did not stumble at all. Thus, Paul must be referring to the rest who were hardened in Romans 11:11. The rest who were hardened by God do not stumble in order to fall, so they are not the reprobate but are likely only hardened temporarily.

It is hard to see what the weakness of this view might be aside from assumptions about how God acts. For example, if we assume beforehand that God’s act of hardening entails that whoever is hardened remains hardened, then we must assume that if the rest are hardened by God, they will never have a chance to repent. Still, we have no reason to assume that when God hardens, it is impossible for God to unharden, so this weakness is not strong.

Explanation:

Paul explains that God graciously saves the elect but the rest were hardened. Since the elect here refers to individuals in Israel, the rest refers to those in Israel who are not elect but were hardened. To understand what it means for the rest of the Jews to be hardened, it is important to notice that the verb Paul uses for hardening here is πωρόω (to harden). This verb is synonymous with a verb Paul used in Romans 9:18, namely, σκληρύνω (to harden), so understanding what Paul means in Romans 9:18 can help us determine his meaning here.⁷ Of course, what Paul means in Romans 9:18 is that God hardens whomever he wills, so we can detect that it is God who hardens the rest. Further, when we continue reading Romans 9, we learn that God endures with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. In other words, God hardens some who are then destined for destruction. Likely, Paul has the same idea in mind in Romans 11:7. That is, Paul is saying that God hardened the rest before the creation of the world so they are predestined to eternal reprobation.⁸

Counterargument:

This argument reads too much into Romans 11:7. All we can determine from Romans 11:7 and Romans 9:18 is that God hardens whomever he wills, and this included the non-elect Israelites. The fact that God hardens some does not imply that God made a permanent decree to predestine some to eternal reprobation.⁹ There are many hidden assumptions in such an implication that are nowhere present in Romans 11:7 or Romans 9:18. Further, when Paul writes that God endures with patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22), it is not clear that this is at all relevant to what Paul writes about the non-elect Jews in Romans 11:7. Finally, even if what Paul writes about God enduring vessels of wrath with patience is relevant to Romans 11:7, it is not clear that the vessels prepared for destruction never have an opportunity for repentance. So this argument makes too many assumptions to conclude that when Paul says the rest were hardened, he means that God eternally decreed the non-elect Jews for reprobation.

Response to counterargument:

This argument makes two modest and plausible claims. First, when Paul refers to God hardening whom he wills, and enduring with patience those prepared for destruction, he has in mind that God decreed some for reprobation before creation. Second, God’s hardening the rest in Romans 11:7 is the same sort of hardening that Paul already explained in Romans 9:18. Now, Paul is not writing a theological textbook, so he does not explicitly work out his comments, or refer to notions such as reprobation. Still, it is plausible that he has reprobation in mind in Romans 9:18–22, and that the same hardening God applies to whomever he wills, he applies to the non-elect of Israel.