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,
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.
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.
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?’
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 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.
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