Romans 9:14-24

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,

"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." [f]

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." [g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?" 20 But who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " [h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for disposal of refuse?

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?



Dig Deeper
Years ago I had my ancient world history classes work on a project where they had to research differing theories on how the pyramids of Giza in Egypt might have been constructed. As a culminating aspect of that project, they had to make scale models of a pyramid under construction that depicted the theory that they thought was most viable. Several of the models were truly something to behold. One was particularly incredible, complete with a real sand desert environment surrounding the pyramid and a working water way that was used to float blocks up to ramps on the pyramid. Each group that made a pyramid, however, chose to use different materials out of which to construct their model. Some used materials like plaster that hardened almost instantly and was quick and easy to use. Another group used modeling clay. It was more expensive and it was more difficult to work with than just pouring some plaster quickly but they had one big advantage. About half way through, they decided that the model was just not turning out the way they wanted. They took the model, ripped it up, and remolded the clay to make it better fit the finished product that they had in mind.

Imagine though, if as they were remolding the clay, it began to complain about what they were doing with it. That would have been rather frightening I suppose, but the reality is that the whole advantage of the clay was that they could re-make it if the clay was not coming out as they had hoped. The important thing was the final product. That is what they were working for so who would have cared if the clay had complained anyway. The whole purpose of the clay was to fit to the finished product that the designers had in mind.

In Jeremiah 18 (see also Isa. 29:16, 45:9 for similar language), God tells Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house to receive a message. As Jeremiah watches the potter work to gently mold the clay into the desired shape he notices that the clay has become marred. It simply can no longer be shaped into the image that the potter has selected for that lump of clay. So the potter takes the same clay and remolds it. He starts over in some respects but he doesn’t just throw away the clay and start over with new clay. He can now form that same clay into the shape that he intended for it all along. God then confirms that just like the marred clay, he has every right as the potter of nations to take a marred nation and either throw it away and start over or to work with the nation and remold it into his desired outcome.

We must keep this metaphor firmly in mind if we are to follow along with Paul’s flow of reasoning in this passage. Paul is not, as some have imagined, referring to the general state of individual human beings and simply making the point that God made humans like lumps of clay and so we have no say in what God has determined for our lives, no free will. Not only do we need to keep the context of the metaphors that Paul gives us in this passage in mind, we also need to keep the larger context of the whole letter of Romans in mind and the fact that Paul is speaking in terms of nations and people groups not the individual human condition.

We would do well here to state his overall point in this passage and then go back through and briefly look at each point. Paul wants to show that God is the one who forms nations and uses them according to his purposes, working through the obedience and rebellion of each and still able to bring his over-arching will about. Israel was chosen by God, not because of any merit of their own but because of his mercy, to be a light to the world and be the covenant family through who the whole world would be blessed and sin would be dealt with. But they were marred due to their own sin. God could, in theory, either destroy the whole nation and start over or he could re-work and remold Israel to become what it was always intended to be. It is Paul’s contention that God, because of his covenant promises to Israel, has continued to use the clay of Israel but he has started over, re-working the model of Israel through the faithful Israelite, the Messiah. God has, argues Paul, shown himself to be faithful in remolding Israel but still using the original substance rather than starting over completely with a whole new nation which is what some of Paul’s critics were no doubt claiming Paul believed if Gentiles were equal parts in the covenant family without having to observe the Mosaic law.

Again, in verse 14, Paul reminds us that he is dealing with the question of God’s justice and covenant faithfulness. If God chose only certain descendants to be the bearers of the covenant promises then is he being unfair? “Not at all,” Paul says, as he takes us back once again to the Exodus. During the Exodus God had chosen Israel as his people through whom he would bring about his purposes and bring rightful glory to himself. Yet Egypt, as represented by their king, the Pharaoh, was also used by God for his purposes. God had mercy on Israel despite their imperfections but hardened Egypt. When the biblical writers spoke of being hardened, incidentally, it was a word that could be used in the sense of hardening or steeling up someone to be prepared for battle or for what they have been preparing to do. Thus, God hardened Egypt and Pharaoh to do what they had in their heart all along, which was rebellion against God. Hardening, then, is the strange process when someone rebels against God, God turns them over to their own desires and patiently allows them time to rebel, (further time which they could use to repent but instead only increase their rebellion) and then uses their actions as the means to bring about his own victory. God is so mighty that he can show undeserved mercy to some and encourage others to go about their evil rebellion against God and he can still use both to further his overall purposes. Both parties were used so that God might display his power.

But then, this raises the natural question. If God is sovereign and works everything out according to his purposes then why should Israel be condemned? But Paul responds to his theoretical questioner who has stepped in as a representative for Israel by reminding him that marred clay cannot rightly argue with the potter about the potter’s decision to reuse and remold the clay while deciding to leave some to their complete loss of purpose, or, in other words, their destruction.

Israel was designed for the specific purpose of being God’s people and bringing his glorious reconciliation to the world but they, like a sassy piece of clay, were bucking against that purpose, demanding to be made into something else. When an artist looks down and sees that the clay is not coming out according to plan, he has the right, nay the obligation, to rework and remold it if he so desires. The alternatives would be that God ignore the disfiguring imperfection in Israel or throw her out altogether. But this is not what God has chosen. Just as God remained patient with Egypt and allowed them to continue in their rebellion to bring about his purposes, so God has chosen to remain patient with the objects of his mercy and to remake them. God could have quickly dismissed Israel altogether but he will remain faithful to his covenant despite the arrogance and rebellion present in Israel. God will remain faithful to his covenant and his promises even if his human agents prove to be little more than marred pieces of clay complaining about the final product that they are being formed into. Israel would not act as God’s light to the world so, as he told Jeremiah he would, he sent them into exile to be reformed and now the finished product is at hand. God has chosen one Israelite to be his covenant bearer just as he chose Isaac and Jacob. The Messiah is the true Israel. God has used both Israel, the object of his patient mercy, and nations outside of the covenant, those that had completely lost their purpose, to demonstrate his glory to all nations.

This was all according to God’s plan. God always planned to have a Christ-shaped people since before the foundations of the earth were laid and now, finally, that time has come. Those who have received and responded to the gospel, in other words, those called, are those people. God has the right to remold his people. The final product was never one ethnic family. The covenant family that was promised to Abraham would be comprised of many nations and based on faith, a topic that Paul will pick up again in chapter 10. So God certainly has the right now to bring Gentiles into his covenant family because that was what the blueprint called for all along. Israel was the piece of clay that became marred and God has reworked his people into the shape of the Messiah, which included Jews and Gentiles, and was the beautiful product that he was working towards all along. God promised Abraham that he would always maintain his covenant with Abraham’s descendants but also that that family would somehow include people from all nations. It is in the Messiah thatGod has kept his word to Abraham.


Devotional Thought
Not only does God have a finished product that he is working towards with his people, he has a plan that each one of us will be molded into the image of Christ. When you go through struggles or trials that work towards remaking you into that image can you get a little like Israel and complain about what God is doing to you? How can this passage help inform you and better understand God’s purposes for his people and for you as an individual in Christ?