Exodus 9 · a question people ask
What does God mean by "for this cause I have made you stand"?
The LORD tells Pharaoh, "For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth; but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth" (9:15-16). When Paul quotes it, the words are, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" (Romans 9:17). Christians agree on the purpose the verse gives, God's power shown and his name made known in all the earth (9:16), and that Pharaoh was exalting himself against God's people (9:17). They read "made you stand" in two main ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Kept standing
Those who hold this view read the words with the verse just before them: God could already have struck Pharaoh so that he "would have been cut off from the earth" (9:15). On this reading, "made you stand" (9:16) means God let Pharaoh go on living and standing through the plagues, so that his power would be seen, where he could have ended him at once.
Exodus 9:15-16
Raised up for this purpose
Those who hold this view read the words as Paul gives them, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up" (Romans 9:17), and note that Paul concludes, "he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires" (Romans 9:18). On this reading, God brought Pharaoh to his place for this purpose from the first, as God said before any plague, "I will harden his heart" (4:21).
Romans 9:17-18 · Exodus 4:21
The verses
“For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth; but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth, because you still exalt yourself against my people, that you won’t let them go.”
“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.”