“Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Romans 11:25)

In Romans 11, Paul explains that while Israel is unbelieving, many Gentiles will hear the gospel and find new life in Christ. What does blindness mean here, and how does it happen?

The King James Version translates the Greek word porosis as “blindness” and “hardness.” It means to grow calloused through stubbornness. The most famous biblical example surely is the pharaoh of the Exodus. First, the Lord foretold Pharaoh’s hardening heart. Then, “when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart” (Exodus 8:15). He hardened his own heart by refusing to submit to God. Then he did it again! “And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also” (v. 32).

Only after that does Scripture say, “And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses” (Exodus 9:12).

This real human provides a living example of the heart-hardening that the New Testament describes in principle. At first, “when they knew God, they glorified him not as God” (Romans 1:21). Next, “wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts” (Romans 1:24). In the same way, God gave both Pharaoh and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day up to the hardening of their own hearts. “Because of unbelief they were broken off” (Romans 11:20).

And yet Jesus stands ready to soften the heart, make wise the mind, and rebuild the seared conscience of any who “will hear his voice” and “harden not your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:7) Therefore, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22). BDT