Romans 9.21-Paul Uses The Potter And Clay Analogy To Implicitly Rebuke The Attitude Of The Creature Presuming To Judge The Ways Of His Creator
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 29, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:21-Paul Uses The Potter And Clay Analogy To Implicitly Rebuke The Attitude Of The Creature Presuming To Judge The Ways Of His Creator
Lesson # 314
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This evening we will study Romans 9:21 in which Paul continues to respond to the rhetorical questions he presented in Romans 9:19 that might be posed by his opponents by implicitly rebuking the attitude of those who would presume to judge the ways of their Creator.
In this passage, he employs the potter and the clay analogy to implicitly rebuke those sinners who would presume to judge the ways of his Creator.
In verse 21, Paul employs a rhetorical question that is related to the one in verse 20, which demands a positive response from the reader that the potter who is analogous to God does have authority over the clay, which is analogous to Israel, though this is true of the Gentiles as well.
Remember, Paul is speaking in the context of Israel’s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah.
In verse 21, he is continuing to demonstrate his premise in Romans 9:6 that even though Jesus of Nazareth was rejected by the nation of Israel as her Messiah, this does not imply that God’s promises to the nation have been nullified since not all racial Israel is considered by God to be spiritual Israel.
Let’s read Romans 9:1-24 and then concentrate on verse 21 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 9:1-24, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’ What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 21.
Romans 9:21, “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”
“Or” is the particle e (h&) (ay), which introduces a rhetorical question that presents a necessary “related alternative” to the rhetorical question in Romans 9:20.
In this passage, Paul uses the analogy of the potter and the clay where the potter is analogous to God and the clay to Israel, although the principle holds true with the Gentiles as well.
In the analogy, Paul states that it is ridiculous to think that the clay could object to the way the potter is forming him to be a particular vessel for his use.
His readers would obviously have to agree that it would be ridiculous for the clay to do such a thing if it were possible.
So in the same way, Paul is teaching by way of implication that neither does the Jew or the Gentile for that matter have any business to call into question God’s sovereign decisions.
God has every right to harden those in Israel whom He chooses and to extend grace to those in Israel whom He chooses as well.
Those Israelites whom He hardens are those who first hardened themselves by rejecting His Son as Savior and those in Israel whom He extended grace to, are those who appropriate His grace through faith alone in Christ alone.
This is clearly indicated by Paul’s teaching in the first five chapters of the Roman epistle and which he will clearly present in chapter 10!
Furthermore, every member of the human race is treated by God in grace since the offer of salvation is extended to all men since He desires all men to be saved and sent His Son to the cross for all men to make this offer possible for all men.
Whether you are Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Esau, Moses, Pharaoh, or unregenerate Israel in Paul’s day, or a member of the church, all are condemned before a holy God and only those who exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior are declared justified by Him.
Therefore, since Paul’s readers would have to agree with the principle set forth in Romans 9:20, then they must accept the related alternative implicit in the rhetorical question in Romans 9:21.
Romans 9:21, “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”
“The potter” is used to denote God’s authority over Israel and describes His relationship to Israel where He is analogous to the potter and Israel is analogous to the clay.
The rhetorical question “Does not the potter have a right over the clay” indicates that the potter who is analogous to God has authority over the clay, which is analogous to Israel.
“Right” is the noun exousia (e)cousiva) (ex-oo-see-ah), which is used to denote the potter’s “authority” over the clay, which he molds into a vessel and is analogous to God’s authority over Israel.
“To make from the same lump” is analogous to God’s relationship to Israel as Creator.
Vessel” refers to an Israelite who is either regenerate or unregenerate since Paul is speaking in context of the nation of Israel.
In particular, he is speaking in the context of the distinction between unregenerate and regenerate Israel so as to demonstrate God’s faithfulness to the nation and that it was founded upon God’s sovereign grace rather than race.
“For honorable use” refers to a vessel made by the potter that is for “honorable use” in the sense that it is valuable for being a receptacle for food or other valuable functions.
In Romans 9:22-24, Paul makes clear that the vessels made by the potter for “honor” are analogous to regenerate Israelites.
In verse 24 he teaches that these vessels are not restricted to the Jews only but also regenerate Gentiles, though in context his emphasis is with regenerate Jews.
Romans 9:22-24, “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
Romans 9:21, “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”
“For common use” is composed of the preposition eis (ei)$) (ice), “for” and the noun atimia (a)timiva) (at-tee-mee-ah), “common use.”
The noun atimia is composed of the alpha prefix and the noun time, “honor,” thus the word literally means, “dishonor.”
It is used to describe a vessel made by the potter that is for “dishonorable use” in the sense that it is valuable for being a receptacle for refuse.
In Romans 9:22-24, Paul makes clear that the vessels made by the potter for “dishonor” are analogous to unregenerate Israelites.
The potter does not make vessels in order to destroy them, rather he uses both types of vessels, those for honorable use and those for dishonorable uses.
In the same way, God does not destroy unregenerate Jews but rather this passage teaches that they serve a purpose for God even though it was not His desire that they suffer eternal condemnation.
In Romans 9:21, he employs the potter-clay motif to illustrate to his readers that like the potter over the clay, God has authority over Israel so as to extend mercy to those Israelites whom He chooses that accept by faith His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and to harden those Israelites whom He chooses that reject His Son.