What are vessels of wrath (Romans 9:22)?
In Romans 9, Paul deals with the sovereignty of God in election,
picturing God as a potter working with clay: “Does not the potter have
the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special
purposes and some for common use? 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? 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?” (Romans 9:21–23). The vessels of wrath are contrasted with the vessels of mercy; one set is slated for destruction, and the other for glory.
Let’s take a quick review of the letter to the Romans: Paul highlights the need everyone has for God’s righteousness (Romans 1—3)
and how God provided for humanity to have that righteousness by His
grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This gift is available because of
Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross (Romans 3—4). In Romans, Paul also describes the results for everyone who has received God’s grace (Romans 5—8) and provides evidence of God’s trustworthiness in how He provides salvation to Jews and Gentiles (Romans 9—11). Paul concludes his letter by outlining the responsibilities of believers to live righteously (Romans 12—16). In Romans 9:22 Paul mentions vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, reminding his readers that the story doesn’t end happily for everyone.
Even as he is challenging his readers to trust in God, Paul laments the
fact that many of his fellow countrymen (Israelites) were unbelieving (Romans 9:1–5). Paul explains, however, that this sad state of affairs was not a failure of God or His Word (Romans 9:6). God had promised that Abraham’s descendants would be blessed but had chosen Abraham’s line through Isaac and then Jacob (Romans 9:7–13).
Not everyone who would come from Abraham would be blessed through that
specific promise. God had certainly promised blessing for all the
families of the earth through Abraham’s specific descendant (Genesis 12:3b)—Jesus
Christ—but the promises pertaining to a great and blessed nation would
be for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The question is
whether God has the right to choose whom He will bless and how. If God
is sovereign, then we should trust Him as the One who knows how to
deliver us. But Paul introduces the idea in Romans 9:22 that there are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Not everyone will trust in Him, apparently.
If God has the right to choose who will be blessed and how, then some
might question whether God is unjust by not ensuring the same outcome
for everyone. Paul addresses this question in Romans 9:14–18,
explaining that God has the right (as the Creator) to have mercy on
whom He will have mercy and the right to harden whom He will harden (Romans 9:18). Paul cites God’s dealings with Pharaoh in Exodus as an example.
Paul then anticipates the question of how God can hold people accountable if, ultimately, He is making these kinds of choices (Romans 9:19). Rather than answer directly, Paul appeals to God’s sovereignty as the Creator and the owner of what He has created (Romans 9:20–21). Pottery doesn’t question the right of the potter to fashion it in a particular way. The potter has the right to fashion from the clay
whatever he wants. Paul elaborates by asking a series of questions:
what if God—who has the power to judge and exert His authority—was
patient with vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22)?
Does God have the right to be patient? Or is He restricted in His
ability to show mercy and patience? Clearly, God has that right with no
restrictions.
Some have wrestled with Paul’s statement that there are vessels of wrath
prepared for destruction. Some have even concluded that he is teaching a
doctrine often called double election—that God chooses who will not be saved in the same way He chooses who will be saved. But, like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:6, we should not go beyond what is written. We need to be careful about making inferences when a verse is not explicit.
In the case of the vessels of wrath, Paul raises a hypothetical—a “what
if”—to remind readers that God has the right to make such choices if He
so desires. But Paul stops short of asserting that God is making such choices. Paul’s point is that God has the right to have mercy on whom He chooses and harden whom He chooses (Romans 9:18), but that is a different from asserting that God chooses some not to be saved. Paul isn’t addressing that question; he is making a point about God’s sovereign authority.
Thus, if someone is not receiving a blessing because God didn’t promise
him that blessing, neither God nor His Word has failed. If He is indeed
the Creator, He has the right to bless whom He will, and He has the
right to harden whom He will. If He is the Potter, how He deals with
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction is His prerogative.
Is it possible for a person to be saved but not predestined?
No, it is impossible for someone to be saved without being elected by
God to salvation. Many people, the first time they encounter the doctrine of election,
are upset by what seems to them to be a horribly unfair arrangement.
Unfortunately, that is where many people end the discussion. A proper
biblical view of election, however, leads to the conclusion that God’s
choice in predestination is an incredibly loving act.
We are all sinners, and, left to ourselves, we would never choose God.
Our initial response to God is to rebel against His love and
sovereignty. We do not seek Him (Romans 3:11). We do not want Him to tell us what to do. If we are ever to turn from our sin in repentance and faith, He must
initiate the process. Jesus told the crowds who were grumbling at His
teaching, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
them” (John 6:44). In other words, no one can be saved unless they are elect.
It is also true that, in order to be saved, a person must make the
choice to believe. Most believers can point to a time in which they
considered the claims of Christ and surrendered to Him. We chose to
surrender in faith; if we had not chosen to do so, we could not be
saved. However, examining Scripture and looking back on the process of
our salvation, we recognize God’s hand at work all along the way—we see
the conviction of the Holy Spirit; we see how God was changing our
unregenerate hearts to enable us to believe; we see the series of events
that God orchestrated so that we could hear the gospel.
We have a relationship with God because God chose to pursue a
relationship with us and win us over. Some object that God does this
with everyone. But, if that were the case, then the reason some people
believe and others don’t is that some were more genuine, spiritually
attuned, or morally sensitive. That would mean that some measure of
innate human goodness enables some people to believe. If people
contribute of their own goodness to salvation, we have a logical
problem. More importantly, we have a biblical problem.
Scripture teaches that God has chosen to save some people, and He chose
them based on His own purposes, not some innate goodness on the part of
the people being saved. Nor was His choice based on His advance knowledge
of what decisions they would make. Paul describes God as the One who
“chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and
blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to
sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and
will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us
in the One he loves” (Ephesians 1:4–6).
In Ephesians 1:11–14,
Paul explains how God’s choice and our faith work together: “In him we
were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him
who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in
order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be
for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when
you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you
believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of
those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” The whole
plan is for God’s glory and for the good of those whom He has chosen to
save. Contrary to much popular teaching, the plan of salvation is not
about us; it is about God.
The doctrine of election is clearly taught in Scripture. The Bible even speaks of those who belong to God who have not yet believed
in Him. God has chosen them, and they belong to Him, even though they
have yet to come to faith. To the unbelieving religious leaders, Jesus
says, “You do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen
to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:26).
Notice the cause and effect in His statement. He does not say, “You are
not my sheep because you do not believe”; rather, He says, “You do not
believe because you are not my sheep.” In verse 16, Jesus speaks of
other sheep who will believe once they hear His voice. Those who are
predestined to be saved will be saved.
In Corinth, there were only a handful of believers, and Paul was facing
persecution, but Jesus appeared to him in a vision and said, “Do not be
afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no
one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this
city” (Acts 18:9–10). Corinth was not full of believers at the time, but it was full of the elect—people whom God had chosen and who would come to faith when they heard the message.
Some might ask, why bother sharing the gospel if God has already chosen
to save some? The answer is that He commands us to share the gospel. We
evangelize to bring God glory and because the preaching of the gospel
is the way He has chosen to save the elect. Writing from a Roman prison
and awaiting execution, Paul explains to Timothy why he is willing to
endure hardship for the gospel: “Therefore I endure everything for the
sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in
Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10).
Some may charge that God’s plan is simply unfair—some are chosen to be
saved while others are passed over and have no chance. This objection
often assumes a faulty picture of salvation, one in which people are
lining up to be saved, pleading with God to save them, but He says, “No,
I have not chosen you. Your name’s not on the list, so I reject you.”
But that’s not what happens. The reality is that everyone is given a
choice to obey God, and everyone, great and small, chooses to sin.
Scripture reveals that, in His grace, God has chosen to save some in spite of
their rebellion. He works in their hearts and wins them over. The
others God simply allows to continue in the ways they have freely chosen
and desire to continue in. Those who reject Christ do so freely. Those
who receive Christ also do so freely, but only because God has worked in
their hearts to win them over so that they now want to receive Him. God
is perfectly free; He is obligated to save no one, and the fact that He
saves some shows that He is loving.
No one is saved without the election and predestination of God. If there
were no election and predestination, the entire human race would be
eternally lost. The only reason a rebellious sinner ever comes to faith
in Christ is that God has chosen to win him over instead of allowing him
to continue down the path to destruction. God is in charge. “Salvation
belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:10).
Dear reader: Kristi Burke to the best of my knowledge has no professional degrees or formal training from a theological seminary. She is simply an ARTIST who likes to draw pictures. She defected from Christianity because she was caught living habitually in sin by church officials who were keeping track of her sinful life style as a teenager. Instead of repenting and asking God for forgiveness, she turned against God and became an ATHEIST WHILE TAKING THE HIGHWAY TO HELL. SHE MADE THAT DECISION WITH HER OWN FREE WILL! GOD NEVER FORCED HER TO MAKE THAT CHOICE. Many of the videos and comments which she makes like the one above, takes scripture out of context. This is known as EISEGESIS and by employing this method of interpreting scripture, you can make it mean whatever you want it to mean by injecting your own personal BIASES. ALWAYS REMEMBER: SCRIPTURE ALWAYS INTERPRETS SCRIPTURE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE SACRED TEXT!
Some final thoughts:
WHATEVER A PERSON, WHETHER A SATANIST, AGNOSTIC OR ATHEIST DECIDES TO BELIEVE IS STRICTLY THEIR OWN PROBLEM. IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING TO WHAT TRUE BELIEVERS IN GOD STAND FOR. ULTIMATELY THESE INDIVIDUALS WILL ONE DAY STAND BEFORE THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT OF GOD TO ACCOUNT FOR THEIR LIVES.
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