Does God Really Harden Hearts?

The Bible addresses the issue of hard hearts through the Old and New Testaments. What does it mean exactly?

Relevant Scriptures and Definition

Proverbs 4:23 says “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” Most people have equated the heart as used in the Bible with our consciousness, our minds, our emotions, our will. It is the part of us that isn’t physical, sometimes called the soul.

Mark 16:14 links hardness of heart with unbelief: “He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen.”

In Romans 2:5, Paul equates a hard heart with a lack of repentance. “Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself”.

Ezekiel prophesies in 36:26-27 of what God will do for His people: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. ”

In summary, a hard heart reflects unbelief, refusal to repent, continuing in our sinful ways. A soft heart is one that believes God, lives in repentance, is filled with the Spirit of God, and is enabled to keep the greatest commandment, “love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves.”

Pharaoh in Exodus

In one of the mysteries of the scriptures, we see that we can harden our own hearts, but that God also hardens people’s hearts. A well known example is in the book of Exodus, when the Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Note the progression:

4:21 “But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go.” God announces his intention right up front.

Plagues 1-5. Two phrases are used about Pharaoh’s heart; his heart was hard, (or became hard), and he hardened his heart. He refused to obey God’s commands through Moses, didn’t believe in the God of Israel, and didn’t repent.

Plagues 6-10. For the first time, after the plague of boils, the account says that “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. After the seventh plague, the phrase “Pharaoh’s heart was hard” was used one more time, but then the LORD hardened his heart after the remaining plagues.

New Testament References

This indicates that there can be a period of grace in our sinful lives, when God gives us freedom to make decisions regarding our belief or unbelief, our repentance or continuing in our sin. Paul says in Romans 2:4 that “God’s kindness leads us toward repentance”. However, when we don’t respond to His kindness, we are hardening our hearts. If we continue to do that we can reach “a point of no return”. When Pharaoh hardened his heart through the first 5 plagues, he had apparently reached that point and then God hardened his heart.

In Romans 1:18-26, Paul describes the revelation of God in creation to all, but that everyone rejected God and did whatever they wanted to do. So in v.24, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts…”

Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-26 talk about rejecting the truth and not being able to repent and return to the LORD.

One last scripture to consider, Matthew 12:31 where Jesus said “Therefore, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

I think this brings all previous scriptures together. The Spirit is always working, calling us to believe in Jesus, to give our lives to Him, to repent. In 1 Timothy 2:4 we read that God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. His Spirit is always working to invite people to Him. Therefore unbelief, refusing to repent, rejecting Jesus is really rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit. It can’t be forgiven because it is only in Jesus that we can be forgiven.

Conclusion

I think there is “a point of no return” in rebellion against God. Stephen accused the religious leaders, “you always resist the Holy Spirit” just before they stoned him in Acts chapter 7. If we resist and reject long enough, God “gives us over” to what we have chosen, another way of expressing the concept of God hardening hearts.

If anyone is afraid that they have crossed that line, THEY HAVEN’T! That fear is evidence that there is some softness in their heart. Those who really have crossed the line wouldn’t care or even think about it.

Some cite Jesus’ admonition in Matthew 7:6, “…don’t throw your pearls before swine” as a reason to not share with someone whose heart appears to be very hard. Here’s another way to approach this verse. Pigs can’t digest pearls. They would only get mad and turn on the one who tries to feed them pearls when they really can only handle slop.

In the same way, we only share with people what they are able to digest, but we won’t really know until we share something. We can ask them a simple question to see if we should continue. A friend of mine, a messianic Jew, often asks people “what do you think about Jesus?” Their answer directs him where he should go next. But resist getting into arguments for those not yet ready to hear the full truth; they will just turn on us. Better to plant seeds, and trust the Holy Spirit to provide water and ultimately soften their hearts so that they can receive the pearls that we have to offer.

Only God knows where the point of no return is. Only He knows how hard someone’s heart really is. It is not for us to judge that. We know that He wants all to be saved, so we are called to offer the Good News of God’s grace to everyone, in the way that He leads us to do it!