God is the Potter and You Are the Clay

Thinking about Romans 9:19-21.

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You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? (Romans 9:19-21)

Paul reminded his Jewish readers that just because God used a person or a nation did not mean He was obligated to save them (Romans 9:14-18).

The Holy Spirit anticipated the rebuttal - “Well, hold on a second. Pharoah was an Egyptian, a Gentile. Surely, the same can’t be true for us - we’re God’s special people! Surely God won’t hold us responsible for opposing Him.”

They thought that since God’s will was accomplished through them, why did God find fault with them?

Just because God is capable of working his will out of the rebellion of man is no ground for excusing man’s rebellion. - McGuiggan, Romans, 287

Isaiah 10:5 spoke of how the Assyrians did God’s will through their desires, and God held them accountable.

Now, we must be cautious about teaching something the Scriptures do not teach here. The Scriptures teach that we have free will to either accept and obey God or reject and rebel against Him.

If we didn’t have the freedom to choose for ourselves whether to obey God or not, then what would be the point of passages that clearly call upon people to “choose” to follow God?

And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)

For Moses truly said to the fathers, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ (Acts 3:22-23)

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” (John 20:26-27)

The idea that is promoted sometimes that we have no free will is a teaching that goes against very plain passages of Scripture.

Paul’s point to his Jewish readers is that God is sovereign. And He was well within His rights as the “Potter” to reject the “clay.”

In Jeremiah’s time, the Israelites had come to think that because God had chosen them to be His people, they did not have to obey His commands. Their rebellious behavior brought God to the point of casting them off, like one would throw away a potter’s jar that was irreparable (Jeremiah 19:1, 10-11). - Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 337

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Let’s remind ourselves of what’s happened so far in Romans 9. I think it will help us keep this passage in its context.

• Paul was deeply grieved for his fellow Israelites (Romans 9:1-5).

• The reason for Paul’s grief was that not all of physical Israel was “spiritual” Israel (Romans 9:6-13).

• While God had used the physical nation of Israel to bring the Messiah into the world, that didn’t mean they would all be saved (Romans 9:14-18).

• Because God was the “potter” and they were the “clay, He had the right to do that - and they had no right to question Him (Romans 9:19-21).

This passage we’ve studied reminds us that God does not do things according to what we think or what we might want.

It’s our responsibility to submit ourselves to His will.