Romans 9 - The Potter

In Romans 9, Paul discusses how God sovereignly chooses nations for his purpose and glory. He also

 says that God shows mercy and wrath based on his criteria not the way the Jews imagined. The Jews 

imagined that Israel as an ethnic group and nation will be saved because of the covenant they had with God. 

They thought God will show them partiality and favouritism, an idea which Paul refutes in Romans 2 by saying, 

"God does not show partiality" (Romans 2:11). This was the predominant Jewish thought that Paul refutes in 

many of his letters. Here he quotes an objector who claims that If God is so sovereign, how can he hold people 

responsible? Paul answers the objector from Isaiah 45, which talks about how God raised Cyrus, the pagan king 

and called him His 'servant' and then quotes the objection and the answer that Isaiah gives when the objector 

asks how can God do such a thing?  The answer is the same in both Isaiah 45:9 and Romans 9. 

Isaiah 45:1 
              “This is what the Lord says to his anointed,

      to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
    and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:
2 I will go before you
    and will level the mountains[a];
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you hidden treasures,
    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
    of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
    and bestow on you a title of honor,
    though you do not acknowledge me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;
    apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
    though you have not acknowledged me,
6 so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form the light and create darkness,
    I bring prosperity and create disaster;
    I, the Lord, do all these things.

8 “You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
    let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
    let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
    I, the Lord, have created it.

9 “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
    those who are nothing but potsherds
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
    ‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,    ‘The potter has no hands’?
10 Woe to the one who says to a father,
    ‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
    ‘What have you brought to birth?’

11 “This is what the Lord says—
    the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
    do you question me about my children,
    or give me orders about the work of my hands?
12 It is I who made the earth
    and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
    I marshaled their starry hosts.
13 I will raise up Cyrus[b] in my righteousness:
    I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
    and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,
    says the Lord Almighty.”

The quotation in Romans 9:20 But who are you, a 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 special purposes and some for common use?

Romans 9:20 is Paul quoting Isaiah 45:9 to make his point. God is sovereignly choosing a pagan king Cyrus and an objection arises which is similair to God choosing gentile to be saved through the faith and the objection arises to how man is responsible if God is so sovereign? Man is not responsible for God's choice. Man is responsible only for the choices God gives him to make. God sovereignly chooses what choices man can have and what he cannot. Man cannot choose how he can be saved. God chooses how man can be saved. He gives choice to man to accept it or reject it and also face it's consequences if he rejects it. God chooses agents to bring about his will in this world. He chose Pharoah and in his omniscience he knew what Pharaoh would do under any given choice. Knowing that he predestined him to serve his purpose, so that the people who do not reject the work of God in their lives can be edified by God's revelation to Pharaoh. Same with Cyrus. The difference between Pharaoh and Cyrus, the first exodus from Egypt and the second exodus from Babylon, is that Cyrus was open to God's people returning to Israel and rebuilding Jerusalem and it's temple, whereas Pharaoh was against God's people returning. Cyrus did not harden himself like Pharaoh. When Pharaoh hardened himself, God also hardened him in his hardening. 

So the context of the quote is about corporate election. Like he chose Israel through Abraham. He chose the Church to be made up of people who would believe in Christ. God has the right to choose how he saves. God has chosen to save every sinner by faith. He sovereignly gives the choice to man to accept Christ and be saved from his sins or reject him and be damned. Those who believe form the Church. Those who harden themselves, God gives over to their hardening and they become reprobates. Thus God's salvation is available to all those who would believe. So God's choice of Cyrus was to bring back Israel and prepare it for the coming of Christ. Salvation came through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, the Church is elected. Those who accept the Gospel message enter into a relationship with God. God has freely chosen to give Christ and he freely wants man to make the choice and respond to his revelation of love through Christ. It is God who made man free to choose beween the choices he would give him. Men rejecting Christ, does not spoil God's plan of salvation because there are those who would believe and those who will not. God in his omniscience always knew it.

God as a potter shapes the destinies of nations according to his will and their compliance to that will for them. God's plan, whether to bring back Israel from Egypt or to bring back Israel from Babylon or to save man through Jesus Christ is His choice. Man can accept it like Cyrus and the multitude of believers or reject it like Pharaoh and the multitude of unbelievers, but God's plan will still be established i.e Israel was re-established, Christ came, Church is being built up and God's name is being made known. God knows what he is doing and no one can question him. 

God in his sovereignty makes these choices independent of man. Man makes decisions about the choices given to him by God by the degree of freewill or freedom which is also given to him by God to make those choices, for there is nothing we possess which did not come from him.

Romans 1 Part 4

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ³⁴  1:17 For the righteousness ³⁵  of God is revealed in the gospel ³⁶  from faith to faith, ³⁷  just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”³⁸ 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people ³⁹  who suppress the truth by their ⁴⁰  unrighteousness, ⁴¹  1:19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, ⁴²  because God has made it plain to them. 1:20 For since the creation of the  world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people ⁴³  are without excuse.

“And this is one of the most crucial definitions for the whole of Christianity; that the opposite of sin is not

 virtue but faith.”  ― Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

Gospel is the power of God to justify sinners. God does not justify sin. He has punished sin in Christ. 

If anyone believes with a repentant and penitent heart that Christ as his substitute, has suffered 

humanity's penalty for sin and the individual's particular sins in this context and if he believes Christ 

rose again from the dead as a victor over death and was vindicated in his resurrection to be 'Son of 

God' in power, then God justifies him i.e declares him as righteous and acquits him of all his sins. He 

is in return to love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength and love his neighbour as himself. 

He is to freely forgive those who offend him because he has been forgiven by God freely. Thus faith 

leads to new birth and new life. He new identity as 'child of God'. This new man has a new hunger; 

he hungers and pants for righteousness and justice. So God after giving him the hunger for 

righteousness also satisfies him by making him righteous. This is a process, sanctification. In this 

process, the new man's new life take shape from inside out, as he is transformed into the image of 

Christ by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms and starts using the new man for building and 

extension of his kingdom. He gives him Spiritual gifts: special abilities to excel is particular tasks 

like  evangelism, preaching, teaching, healing, prophesying, knowledge etc. God trains the new man 

in these Spiritual gifts and commissions him to do his will. God thus moves the believers from one

degree of faith to another, many steps higher in his journey of faith. In this process of sanctification, 

the New man is delivered from particular sins, habitual sins, sins of weakness and even many 

inadvertent sins. He learns to love the enemy and forgive him. He learns to hate evil, as the bible 

teaches because he believes that evil is really bad. "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling 

to what is good." (Romans 12:9)

Thus it is faith, justifying and sanctifying faith, which includes overcoming faith, that is the opposite 

of sin and vice and evil. It is in the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed and made 

available to man and the man who receives the Gospel message is made righteous and he in his new 

nature opposes unrighteousness. 

Paul is not ashamed of this Gospel, which is the power of God. Neither am I ashamed nor should you 

be ashamed of it too. This Gospel first came  to the Jews and through our Lord Jesus Christ, who 

became a human and a Jewish Carpenter. Then it spread to the gentile world. Thus the Jews first and 

then the Greek.  Gospel is the power of God because, it is only through the Gospel that sinful man is 

declared(justification) and made righteous (sanctification).

The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel. The Wrath of God is revealed on the unrighteous 

and ungodly people. They suppress the truth about God and glorify images made in the image of 

animals and other abominable things. They exchange the truth of God for a lie. They suppress the 

truth  about God that has been made plain in the creation. That he is wise and powerful is obvious 

from the creation. That he is loving and providential is obvious from his proving them with food and 

health to enjoy it.  This shows that he is not like the created things, the animals and humans figures 

that they have substituted for God. 

The Gospel has reached Rome, there were Christians even in Ceaser's household. Christianity was a 

new growing movement among them. It stood against their Emperor worship and the worship of 

finite Gods who were themselves immoral. The same can be seen today in India. Hinduism as a 

religion, has it's immoral gods and animal like gods. Then the Romans and Greeks and now the 

Hindus are without excuse. They have a prejudiced mindset. They don't want to investigate and seek 

the truth.  Their false religion leads them into sin - unrighteousness and self righteousness. Only the 

Gospel can lead to Christ- righteousness and deliverance from sin. It is through the Gospel alone that 

man is regenerated from his spiritually dead default status. That is why the wrath of God abides on 

the unbelieving for they have rejected God's provision for them. There is no other way they can be 

regenerated outside of the Gospel. They have rejected God's love and therefore chosen to remain 

under his wrath. 

Now God's wrath is revealed in that he punishes sin with more sin. Greed with more greed; hate with 

more hate; lust with more lust that the unrepentant sinner gets deeper and deeper into that particular 

sin. He can still call out. But he chooses to suppress his struggle and starts justifying and 

rationalizing  sins. He even goes to the extent of concluding that there is no right and wrong and that 

everything is permissible. In that practically unlivable state his life disintegrates. Family relations 

become unsustainable. He is unable to remain faithful to his wife or partner. She has the same 

problem. He is unfulfilled and empty. He has deceived himself. Thus Claiming to be wise and liberal 

he becomes a fool. Unwilling to accept truth and justice,  right and wrong, he practices unethical 

things at the work place. He bribes and receives bribes. His victims scheme to avenge him and he 

becomes more and more insecure. He now wants to eliminate them because he thinks everything is 

justified if the motive is to save oneself. He destroys others and others destroy him. Thus sinners in 

their sinful system destroy one another and if not the get caught by the law enforcement and they 

receive the just punishment for their sins. Their inside is decayed. They are full of greed and lust. 

They even do good things to gain people's approval. The high stress of life affects their physical and 

mental health. Their relationships are broken. In order to cope with the high stress they get addicted 

to alcohol and drugs so as to numb the pain of their broken relationships and to forget the guilt that 

haunts them. Sin if sustained and unrepented and justified and rationalized invites God's wrath. 

God's  wrath pushes them deeper into sin, which want to hold on to, as they wished and pain and 

guilt  increases. Some commit suicide. Some get into addictions. Some get into pleasures 

heterosexual and homosexual and debases themselves and punish themselves. Unable to bear the 

consequences of sin some try self-righteousness. They create a false self image that they are 'good'. 

They don't love good. They just use good to build up a false self image or to feel good about 

themselves. They help orphans and donate to charities. But that does not deliver them from the sinful 

nature and their habitual sins. They become hypocrites. Even though they do some good actions, 

their inability to deal with their bad actions or the consequences of their sins, leads to a guilt build 

up. In order to deal with this they suppress the truth and harden their hearts. Their consciences 

become seared. They become unable to differentiate between right an wrong. God still waits and 

keeps interveing at regular intervals. Each time they reject him, they harden themselves more in their 

own sins and dig their other graves in their sins and self-righteousness.

The things that we love tell us what we are.  -- Thomas Aquinas

Romans 1 [Part 3] Verse 8 -16 - Observations

Romans 1 [NIV]

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,[d] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now)in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Let us make some important observation regarding Paul's use of words in this passage. He uses the word "I" fourteen times, aleast once in every verse, except verse 17. The word 'my' is used 4 times in verses 8 - 10 alone. The verse 'me' is used here once. All these refer to Paul and the things he most cared for.

These are the verbs that accompany the personal pronouns. 

Paul thanks God and prays to God for the Church in Rome

I thank my God

I serve in the Spirit

God is my witness

I remember you in my prayers

I pray that

Paul expresses his Spiritual affection to the brothers and sisters in Rome

I long to see you

I may impart some spiritual gift

that you and I may be mutually encouraged

Paul discloses is earlier plan to visit Rome

I do not want you to be unaware 

I planned many times to come to you

Purpose of the planned visit to Rome: Preach the Gospel

in order that I may have a harvest among you just as I have had among other gentiles

Paul explain the reason for preaching the Gospel

I am obligated to preach the Gospel to wise and unwise

That is why I am eager to preach the Gospel to you who are in Rome.

Paul explains the Power of the Gospel to justify sinners by faith 

I am not ashamed of the Gospel

Gospel is the power of God that brings Salvation to everyone who believes i.e trusts Christ. It came to the Jews first and then spread to the non - Jewish world. 

He uses the word 'Gospel' three times once in each verse in these three verses (15 - 17)

Paul provides the Scriptural basis for obtaining righteousness by faith 

Righteousness by faith from first to last as it is written "The righteous will live by faith".

So the gist of thought from the observations we made is that Paul wanted to preach the Gospel of obtaining righteousness by faith in Rome. He tried to visit them but was prevented. Now he is expressing his spiritual affection towards those in the Church at Rome by thanking God for them and praying for them. The Church in Rome is seen by Paul to have potential for great impact as they are in such a location where the whole world i.e people from every part of the world reside. 

Paul in the second half of the passage explains the power of the Gospel and it's foundation in the Old testament scriptures.