Romans 9:19-21 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
The logical question that emerges from Paul’s argument is that no one can resist God’s sovereign power. Paul takes up that point in these verses and indeed agrees with it in part. That part is that we cannot tell God what to do. God is all-powerful and can do as God chooses. A pot cannot tell the potter how to remold it but must wait patiently for whatever the potter desires. These verses give support to some of the claims of Calvinism which emphasizes God’s sovereignty. That is a good point and Scriptural. However, this must be balanced with the call to believe and obey also found in this letter. The immediate context of these verses is the situation of the Jews who have the wrong idea about salvation. They think that righteousness comes through their own efforts at being good and obeying the law. Paul shows that human effort is not enough to be declared righteous. The only way is through God’s sovereign grace which he gives to all people. The key point is that no human being can tell God what to do. God gives mercy to whomever he chooses. God chooses to give his mercy to the Gentiles. The Jews have no say about this matter. Their problem, rather, is to become more arrogant in their own settled position of election. Paul turns the tables over and writes that this is a faulty assumption. Grace is given to all and the Jews have no say about it. They cannot demand anything from God. God will carry out his plan of salvation in spite of any Jew or anyone else. These verses must be interpreted within the broader context of where Paul is moving in this part of the letter.
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