Romans 9:18-21 — "God's Sovereign Choice"

The Wesleyan Church firmly denies the Calvinist interpretation of Romans 9:18-21 as teaching individual predestination to damnation. In Wesleyan-Arminian theology, God's election is conditional upon foreseen faith; God elects those whom He foreknows will respond to the Gospel in faith.

The Wesleyan understanding of Romans 9:18 emphasizes that God's 'hardening' is responsive, not causative. God does not arbitrarily determine that some will be damned; rather, God responds to human rejection of His revealed grace by confirming the heart in its rebellion. This preserves both divine justice and human responsibility.

Central to Wesleyan theology is the doctrine of prevenient grace — God's grace given to all people before and beyond conscious faith, enabling them to respond to the Gospel or to reject it. Romans 9 must be read in light of God's universal offer of salvation (1 Timothy 2:4) and God's justice in extending grace to all. The text speaks of God's sovereign purposes for nations and the Gospel, not of individual predestination.