Romans 9:18

Verse 18. And whom he will, he hardeneth. [3] That is, permits to be hardened by their own malice, as it is divers times said in Exod. that Pharao hardened his heart. God, says Saint Augustine is said to harden men’s hearts, not by causing their malice, but by not giving them the free gift of his grace, by which they become hardened by their own perverse will. Witham.—Not by being the cause, or author of his sin, but by withholding his grace, and so leaving him in his sin, in punishment of his past demerits. Challoner.