Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 8
Origen’s wax/clay illustration was presented as showing God’s actions are “neutral” while the material differs; what real-life examples can you name where the same gospel preaching, same discipline, or same suffering softens one person and hardens another, and how does that challenge the way we blame God or excuse ourselves?
Another way to ask: Origen says the same action can soften wax but harden clay. What examples have you seen where the same preaching, discipline, or suffering changes one person for the better but makes another person worse, and how does that affect how much we blame God or excuse ourselves?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript’s point is that the same divine “heat” (God’s actions, truth, or pressures) can soften one heart and harden another, depending on the person’s inner condition. That challenges both blaming God for someone’s hardness and excusing ourselves as if we had no responsibility for how we respond.
- Origen’s analogy: the same sun/heat affects wax and clay differently—wax “soften[s]/melts,” wet clay “harden[s].”
- He applies it directly: the ten plagues “melted the hearts of the sincere people in Egypt,” and “a whole bunch of them went out with the Israelites,” but “Pharaoh… it hardened his heart.”
- He concludes God’s actions were “neutral,” and the difference was “the composition of the material,” not the sun.
- He notes Scripture alternates: sometimes “Pharaoh hardened his heart,” later “God hardened his heart,” meaning God “gave up Pharaoh to that” by acting in ways God knew would have that effect.
- He insists Pharaoh already was “wicked, obstinate”; God “didn’t make Pharaoh this” but “saw what was there.”