Hardness (4643) sklerotes by Greek Word Studies

Stubbornness (4643) (sklerotes from sklerós = dry, hard, tough, harsh, used, of a stone which is specially hard for masons to work; metaphorically of a king who is inhuman and hard in his treatment of his subjects) describes callousness, hardness or obstinacy (which is the quality of perversely adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion). Sklerotes is a resistant or stubborn attitude with regard to any change in behavior, this attitude denoting unreceptibility. In the present use Paul is describing the hard, impenitent hearts of his unsaved "religious" readers. Stubbornness is an unreasonable and perverse unyielding attitude, one which is determined not to change (we all have firsthand experience with this attitude from time to time!) and refusing to comply with or agree to. This is the only NT use of sklerotes but there are 4 in the LXX (Deut 9:27; 2Sa 22:6; Isa 4:6; 28:27). For example, Moses offers up an intercessory prayer for sinful Israel (appealing to God on the basis of the immutable Abrahamic Covenant)... 'Remember Thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness (sklerotes) of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. (Deut 9:27) NIDNTT writes that... Hardening, according to the OT understanding, results from the fact that men persist in shutting themselves to God’s call and command. A state then arises in which a man is no longer able to hear and in which he is irretrievably enslaved. Alternatively, God makes the hardening final, so that the people affected by it cannot escape from it... Hardening is the continually mounting refusal on the part of man to listen to God’s command. (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan) The verb skleruno was originally a medical term as attested by Hippocrates and was used to describe Pharaoh who first persistently hardened (skleruno) his heart which eventually resulted in retributive hardening by God, after His much longsuffering (Ro 9:17,18-note) Skelerotes is the root of our English medical term sclerosis as used in arteriosclerosis which describes the condition of "hardening" of the arteries. This physical hardening is a perfect picture of the spiritual condition of a heart that has become unresponsive and insensitive to God. However, the spiritual "ailment" is immeasurably worse than the physical malady, for if one fails to receive a spiritual "heart transplant" (cf Ezekiel 36:26, 27-note) they will die an eternal death in the lake of fire, eternally destroyed, separated from the presence of God, "away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." (2Thes 1:8-10). Hardening of the arteries may take a man to the grave but Hardening of one's spiritual heart will take a man to hell! Remember, if the kindness of God toward you is not leading you to repentance, then every day, every hour, you live, drops another drop into the terrible "treasure" of indignation which will burst the great dam of God’s long-suffering in the great Day of His Wrath, when God shall reveal His righteous judgment! Flee to take refuge in the Cross of Calvary. Jesus said that "he who hears (His) word, and believes Him Who sent (Jesus), has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." (Jn 5:24) The wrath of God fell on Jesus but will fall on you if you fail to take refuge in Him.

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Hardness (4643) sklerotes

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