Shall the clay say to the potter… (pt. 4)
The potter’s purpose
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? - Rom. 9:19-21
At the end of part 3 we were discussing God’s role in creating sinners as sinners, and beginning to look more deeply at the idea of God showing mercy and compassion to whomever He pleases as well as hardening whomever He pleases. It is time now to more specifically address Romans 9:14-18:
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.
Most people believe Pharaoh hardened his own heart, which is why God sent the plagues and ultimately the destroyer (Ex. 12:23,29); however, Scripture tells us otherwise. Long before Moses returned to Egypt on God’s errand to free the Hebrews, in Exodus 4 we read the following:
The LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”
Exodus 4:21-23
God here says that He will harden Pharaoh, not that Pharaoh’s heart is hard nor that Pharaoh will harden his own heart. To further drive this point home, God says again to Moses in Exodus 7, before Moses ever spoke to Pharaoh:
“See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”
Exodus 7:1-5
Who will harden Pharaoh’s heart? God will. Why? Because He willed it so, that He might show forth His power to Egypt. As the plot of this story unfolds, we find in Exodus 7:13 that “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.” Notice it says that “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,” not that “Pharaoh hardened his heart.” The passive voice indicates this is something that was done to Pharaoh; it was not something that Pharaoh did. It also concludes with “as the LORD had said,” affirming Exodus 4:21 and 7:3.
Some will point out that there are passages after Exodus chapter 7, such as Exodus 8:15, wherein translations indicate Pharaoh hardened his own heart. There are three such verses (Exodus 8:15, 8:32, and 9:34) all of which come after not only God stating that He Himself would harden Pharaoh’s heart, but after at least two verses wherein Pharaoh’s heart is said in the passive voice to have been hardened. Verses that indicate Pharaoh’s heart was passively hardened (i.e. God hardened it) are Exodus 7:13, 7:22, 8:19, 9:7, and 9:35. Passages that explicitly state that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart are Exodus 9:12, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, and 14:8. Out of thirteen verses, in only three is Pharaoh said to have hardened his own heart, and the first of these comes well after it is said to have been hardened passively. In regard to Pharaoh hardening his own heart, I ask, once God has hardened someone, could that person do otherwise? The verses wherein Pharaoh is said to harden his own heart, therefore, reflect a further hardening, after God had already begun the process. God did this, God not only hardened Pharaoh but first raised him to his position of power, to accomplish His purpose in proclaiming His own glory throughout the land. As God Himself tells Moses to relay to Pharaoh, “indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth” (Exodus 9:16).
Is God wrong for doing this? Is it evil for God to use a human in such a way, for Pharaoh to not have a choice in the matter? Absolutely not! And this is Paul’s point in Romans 9:18 - God hardens whom He chooses. Other examples can be found in Deuteronomy 2:30 and Joshua 11:20. Just as Paul tells us in Romans 9:12 that God ordained that Esau would serve Jacob, God creates each for a purpose, according to His will.
Likewise, He said to Moses that, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” If that is not clear enough, Paul lays it out in a single statement as well: “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” As Paul relates, it does not depend on “the man who wills” or “the man who runs.” It is not something that arises from our own desire. It is not something we can decide - it depends solely “on God who has mercy.” It is according to God’s will.
This is why Paul anticipates the cries of unfairness. Those cries still echo today. Even now most Christians do not like the idea that God chooses who gets saved and believe that to be unjust. Is it unjust? What would be just with God? To save every sinner or to condemn every sinner? If all deserve condemnation, then condemnation is just. For God to save any is not injustice - it is mercy.
If you are still having difficulty swallowing this (it can be a tough pill to swallow), consider some of the other things we are told in Scripture, even by Jesus Himself. Jesus said to His followers, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you” (John 15:16). Who did the choosing?
Many in His time struggled with the idea of Jesus as savior, but there was a reason. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). The word translated “draws” here implies an act akin to drawing water out of a well. This begs the question: what effort does the water exert in being drawn out of the well? When the potter molds the clay, what effort does the clay exert to influence its final form? The clear answer to both of these is: none. There is no effort we can exert in any way to effect our salvation. Even our own faith does not begin with us, it begins with God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The gift in these verses is faith; it is faith that is not of ourselves, that faith is a gift from God.
If even our faith began with us, then our salvation would depend on us, our “will,” our “work,” and we then have room to boast; but according to Paul, all boasting is excluded. Scripture tells us that people cannot even see the truth of the gospel without the Father opening our eyes because “even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Apart from God opening our hearts and minds, we cannot receive the gospel. It is simply not possible.
One of the greatest difficulties people have with taking these passages at face value, especially the idea that God will have mercy on whom he desires and God will harden whom He desires, is that God would choose to create some people specifically bound for condemnation and without chance for redemption. This is why Paul asks, “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?”
Paul again anticipates his detractors: “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’” (Romans 9:10) The answer is, no one. Paul’s audience understood this truth. Do even the demons operate outside of God’s direction? No. Satan, when God challenged him to test Job, was compelled to operate within the confines of God’s expressed will. If anyone, human or otherwise, could thwart or override God’s will, then God isn’t much of a “god” at all. If He is omnipotent, however, then His will cannot be thwarted. Therefore, those He wills shall be saved, and none other.
Is God wrong then to hold us accountable for behaving according to the way He created us? Shall the clay say to the potter, “why did you make me this way?” God has a right to create how He pleases and to do with His creation what He pleases. It is not for us to question Him; it is for us to do as He pleases, to serve the purpose for which He created us, whether noble or ignoble.
As I have stated many times, this is not an easy concept to accept, but it is as Scripture teaches and it is for a purpose, God’ purpose. To understand this purpose, at least as I see it, I will again direct you to my previous piece Of angels and devils. Some think that believing this will lead those who receive Christ to be prideful of their salvation; quite the opposite. If anything, it should lead to the most sincere humility, knowing that, though deserving of condemnation, one has received the gift of salvation. Realizing that there is absolutely nothing we contribute removes any option for braggadocio. Instead, we bow to the one who granted us the gift and lovingly share His gospel with a lost and dying world, praying that those whom God has chosen might hear.
There is much more that can be said regarding these passages in Romans, and God’s choosing or “election” in salvation as well as condemnation. I may add another installment to this series to discuss it further, or I may start a new series on election. Either way, I pray that what I have written here inspires you to spend time in Scripture studying, considering your own salvation, and drawing closer to God.
Read the previous article in the series: Shall the clay say to the potter... - pt. 3
God chose you to write this article which is one of your best to date.
Perhaps the hardest of scripture to understand. Does it make one a little less condemning of the evil government leaders? (Stumbling blocks, one might call them.) Teachings God has given me are in-depth studies of the fall, the fact that He set it up and for His greater purpose for it is written that He created evil (I always quickly follow that with the clarification that He did NOT create sin), and interesting studies on the fullness of the redemption planned for us (as you indicate, an absolutely free gift), and arguably the most profound statement made by Jesus from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” speaking of His very slayers (which, of course, HAD to be). THANK YOU for this.