Romans 9:18–23

Context

Chapters 9–11 of Romans, which Paul wrote to the church in Rome, address the fact that most Jews have not believed the gospel. Paul begins with the premise, "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect" (Romans 9:6), and then cites the examples of Jacob and Esau and of Pharaoh. In verse 18 he concludes that God both shows mercy and "hardeneth" (that is, makes stubborn). In verse 19, following a common argumentative style of the day in which an imaginary opponent raises a question and the author responds, Paul poses the objection, "Why doth he yet find fault?" He answers this objection by drawing on the potter imagery of Isaiah and Jeremiah, contrasting "the vessels of wrath" with "the vessels of mercy." The following verse, verse 24, identifies the vessels of mercy as "us," whom God has called from among both Jews and Gentiles.

Interpretation

• Reformed reading: The Reformed tradition, shaped by the later writings of Augustine and by John Calvin, reads this passage as grounds for holding that the eternal salvation or reprobation (being passed over) of individuals rests on God's sovereign decree (his foreordination). The passage is also cited as a proof text in chapter 3 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which treats God's decree. Many Presbyterian churches and some Baptist churches follow this reading.
• Arminian and Wesleyan reading: The Methodist, Holiness, and Pentecostal traditions, which stand in the line of Arminianism and Wesleyan theology, read the passage differently. Because Exodus also records that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15), these traditions understand God's hardening as a judgment upon repeated refusal. They also take the "longsuffering" of verse 22 as an opportunity for repentance.
• Corporate and redemptive-historical reading: Some biblical scholars hold that the passage is concerned less with the eternal destiny of individuals than with the way God uses Israel and the Gentiles in the history of salvation. They point to the flow of chapters 9–11 as a whole and to the conclusion in Romans 11:32.

Debates and Issues

• The justice of God: This passage is a central text in the debate over predestination and free will. Reformed interpreters read verse 20 as an answer affirming that the creature cannot sit in judgment on the Creator. Those on the other side hold that verse 20 does not forbid the question itself but rebukes arrogant disputing.
• Grammar: In the Greek text, the vessels of wrath are described as "fitted" in a form that does not name the agent, whereas the vessels of mercy are described with an active verb stating that God "had afore prepared" them. Arminian interpreters take this difference as evidence that destruction is not God's direct decree. Reformed interpreters reply that this form does not exclude God's decree. In addition, verses 22–23 form a sentence that begins with "if…" and breaks off without completion, so the phrase "what shall one say?" in the Korean Revised Version is supplied by the translators.
• Citation out of context: Some have noted that these verses are sometimes used to silence questions that arise in the midst of suffering, although they were originally an answer to a specific theological objection.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, in which Presbyterians form the majority, this passage is frequently treated as a representative text when teaching the doctrine of predestination or explaining how denominations differ on predestination.

Related Passages

• Isaiah 45:9
• Jeremiah 18:1–10
• 2 Timothy 2:20–21
• Ezekiel 18:23
• Romans 11:33–36