You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 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?” 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? (Romans 9:19-21, ESV)
Paul has demonstrated in the previous verses that whether a man attains salvation through Jesus Christ does not depend on the person’s will or decision, but on God who chooses to show mercy to this individual. Then, a man disbelieves or even opposes God not because the person decides this for himself, but because God has chosen to harden him for God’s own purpose. The apostle concludes, “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (v. 18).
A man believes in Jesus because God causes him to believe in Jesus. Another man is hardened against the gospel because God causes him to be hardened. Each person’s path is determined before he is born, even in eternity before the creation of the world. His decisions do not determine his path, but his foreordained path determines his decisions. A man’s destiny is not determined, but rather revealed by, his choices, that is, by what God causes him to decide in accordance with the divine purpose.
This is one of the most simple and explicit biblical doctrines. However, it is also the most detested doctrine because it most clearly presents God as God, and even Christians do not like God very much. In this doctrine we come face to face with what it means to be God, and we are compelled to show whether we truly acknowledge him as the total sovereign, or whether we wish to retain control over some aspects of our selves, and to entertain the delusion that it is in fact possible to do so. Even as believers and theologians pay lip service to God’s sovereignty, very few receive this doctrine of his direct and total causation of all things without attempting to make a way of escape for themselves. Or, they would condemn this true version of God and then rescue him by reducing him into something less.
So Paul anticipates disagreement. He expects someone to say to him, “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” (NIV). In other words, if God is the one who hardens a man so that he cannot pursue righteousness or believe the truth, then why does God still condemn and punish the sinner? The objection makes no sense unless it is assumed that responsibility presupposes freedom, so that a person must be free to make his own decisions if he is to be held accountable for them. But God does not grant this assumption; in fact, all these previous verses have repudiated it. A person is condemned and punished for his sins because he has transgressed God’s commands. The cause of his transgressions is irrelevant. If he has transgressed, then he is a transgressor.
Paul proceeds to answer the challenge, and in the process reveals additional insights into the doctrine. He declares that the potter has the right to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use. The apostle has been making the contrast between two kinds of people – the elect, or those whom God has predetermined to become Christians, and the reprobates, or those whom God has predetermined to remain non-Christians. So the honorable vessel represents the Christian, and the dishonorable vessel represents the non-Christian. The honorable vessel would probably be displayed in the household as a testament to the owner’s wealth and refinement. On the other hand, a dishonorable vessel probably refers to a trash can or even a toilet. Thus God thinks that the reprobates are the trash cans and toilets of this world. We know what toilets are full of – it is something that reeks of the non-Christian’s unbelief, science, and religion.
The Bible contradicts the almost unanimous opinion of Christian theologians in that its exposition of the doctrine leaves no room for freedom and self-determination in any sense, or the notion that divine sovereignty is compatible with these. Why does it matter if the potter’s control over the clay is compatible with the clay’s wishes? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” The man is not represented as saying, in one way or another, “Why have you passively ordained that I should use my power of self-determination to concurrently decide to become what you have decreed that I should be?” No, he says, “Why have you made me like this?” You. You made me. You made me into this.
By direct contact, and with his own hands, the potter molds the clay into the vessel that he wants it to become. Although this applies to both the honorable and the dishonorable, the objection refers to those whom God “blames” – it is mainly concerned with how the dishonorable vessel is manufactured. Paul’s reply means that God is hands-on in making the wicked man into who he is. He does this using the “same lump” out of which he makes the honorable vessels, and not some material with existing dishonorable traits. In other words, the characteristics of the reprobate come directly and entirely from God’s hands and nowhere else. Paul sees nothing wrong with this. God has the right to make one man into his masterpiece and another man into a toilet. Who says that a master potter must not make a toilet if he wants to make one? And who is the toilet to say to the potter, “Why have you made me like this?” But even a complaining toilet knows better than to cry, “I have free will!” or even “I am not coerced!”
The truth of the Christian faith is plain and obvious. There is never a good objection against it, but it should be reverently accepted. And because the truth is plain and obvious, every objection against the Christian faith is always stupid and evil. Because every objection against the Christian faith is stupid and evil, we must attack every objection, and lest it is alleged that we avoid the issue, we should answer it as well. But more than this, it is characteristic of the Bible to attack the person who makes the objection. This is because whenever a person questions the Christian faith, it necessarily means that there is something wrong with the person.
Paul does not say, “O you wonderful and intelligent man, why do you make such an outrageous objection against God?” No, the apostle attacks the man himself – “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” This is a rhetorical question – he means that the man is a nobody and should shut his mouth. Paul is not stupid like our preachers and theologians. They tell us that non-Christians can be sincere and intelligent and yet make objections against God. Where did this nonsense come from? Perhaps they learned it from the non-Christians, who are always desperate to assert their sincerity and intelligence. Or perhaps the preachers and theologians wish to compliment their own defiance against God. But Jesus said that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. The non-Christian makes objections because he is a sinner, a rebel – he does not just act like one, but he is one. Any Christian who makes a meaningful contribution in preaching and debate must criticize and belittle the person – the non-Christian himself – and not just his arguments and his actions.
Who are you, O non-Christian, to challenge the truth of God, when the Bible declares that you already know about him? Like a coward, like a traumatized little child, you repress this knowledge so that you do not need to deal with reality. Who are you to reject a guilty verdict when the Bible shows that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God? You retort, “Who are you to judge me?” Well, who are you to tell me that I may not declare God’s judgment upon you? Who are you to decline the gospel? You are nobody. You are nothing.
Who are you, O legalist, O self-righteous religionist, to refuse Jesus Christ, when the Law itself tells you to abandon your own efforts and depend on him as your mediator and champion? Who are you to think that you can be his equal or better? Who are you to say that you can attain heaven by what you regard as good works, when God has renounced them as filthy rags? You are nobody. You are nothing.
Who are you, O Arminian, to say that God does not decree and cause all things solely by his own will and for his own purpose, and without consideration of the faith and decision of man, but rather causes man’s faith and decision because of his eternal decree? Who are you to think that man has the power to choose, even to decide his eternal destiny? Who are you to say that Christ could pay the price to redeem a man, and yet loses the man to God’s wrath? And who are you to say that a man, once apprehended by God, can pluck himself out of the hands of Christ? You are nobody. You are nothing.
Who are you, O Calvinist, to say that God cannot be the author of sin, and the one who directly creates and hardens wicked men? Who are you to say that God merely passes by the reprobates, when Scripture states that he forms them by his own hands as a potter molds clay into trash cans and toilets? You hypocrite! You pretend to defend the justice and holiness of God, when the matter arises only because you have judged him by the standard of man. With one hand you rob God of his divine sovereignty, and with another you repay him in human righteousness. Who are you, O man, to think that you can get away with this? You are nobody. You are nothing.
Who are you, O Reformed theologian? Are you much better than the Arminian? Again and again, in planting one foot in orthodoxy and one foot in blasphemy, you generate countless paradoxes and contradictions, and you call this the high mystery of God! Oh vanity of vanity, a theology of systematic futility!
Away with all of you! God exercises complete and immediate control over all things, including the decisions and destinies of all men. Just as he molds his chosen ones into his masterpieces, he molds the reprobates into receptacles of rubbish and feces. Unlike our preachers and theologians, Paul’s opponent at least understands the doctrine, that it is God who creates and hardens the sinner, but the sinner is still blamed and punished. God hardens whom he wants to harden (v. 18), so that they cannot believe and be saved. He does this by his active and direct power, as a potter molds the clay (v. 21). Such men are prepared for destruction (v. 22). They cannot resist his will, but he still blames and punishes them (v. 19). He can do this because he is God, and no one can utter a word against him (v. 20).