The Calvinistic interpretation would undercut Paul’s expressions of self-sacrificial love and patient long-suffering for all the descendants, including those being hardened. Likewise, it would bring into question every biblical expression of God’s longing desire for all to come to faith and repentance (Rom. 9:1–3; 10:1, 21; 2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4; Ezek. 18:32; Hos. 3:1).
