1: I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost 2: That I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart 3: For I could wish that myself were accursed from
Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh 4: Who are
Israelites to whom pertains the adoption and the glory and the covenants and
the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises 5: Whose
are the fathers [ancestors] and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who
is over all God blessed forever Amen 6: Not as though the word of God has
taken none effect For they are not all Israel who are of Israel 7:
Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but In Isaac
shall your seed be called 8: That is They who are the children of the
flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are
counted for the seed Genesis 13:16, 15:5, 32:12, Matthew 3:9 9:
For this is the word of promise “At this
time will I come and Sara shall have a son” 10: And not only this
but when Rebecca also had conceived by one even by our father Isaac 11:
For the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil that
the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him who
calls 12: It was said to her The elder shall serve the younger 13:
As it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated 14: What shall
we say then Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid 15: For he said
to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion 16: So then it is not of them who will
nor of them who run but of God who shows mercy 17: For the scripture says
to Pharaoh Even for this same purpose have I raised you up that I might show my
power in you and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth 18:
Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he wills he hardens 19:
You will say then to me Why does he yet find fault For who has resisted his
will 20: No but O man who are you that replies against God Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it Why have you made me thus 21: Has
not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honor
and another to dishonor 22: What if God willing to show his wrath and to
make his power known endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction [1] 23:
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had before prepared unto glory 24: Even us whom he has called
not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles 25: As he says also in
Osee I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which
was not beloved 26: And it shall come to pass that in the place where it
was said to them You are not my people there shall they be called the children
of the living God 27: Esaias also cried [out] concerning Israel Though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea [only] a remnant
shall be saved 28: For he will finish the work and cut it short in
righteousness because a short [quick?] work will the Lord make upon the earth 29:
And as Esaias said before Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed we had
been as Sodoma and been made like unto
Gomorrha 30: What shall we say
then That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to
righteousness even the righteousness which is of faith 31: But Israel
which followed after the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of
righteousness 32: Why Because they sought it not by faith but as it were
by the works of the law For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone 33: As
it is written Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence and
whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed
[1]
Does every person
have a choice, at some point in their life, to choose Christ and live forever?
Or, are all people, from the moment they are born, created for either honor or
dishonor, life or destruction?
If the latter is the case, then the
scriptures lie, and we are all locked in caste.
If we are all, from birth, predestined
to honor or dishonor, eternal life, or eternal destruction, why bother
preaching the gospel to anyone, or attempting to live lives pleasing to God—our
fate is already sealed…correct?
Fortunately, the scriptures do not
lie, and the above hypothesis is incorrect.
The God of the Bible, is a God of redemption—not
of caste.
Romans 9:21, says that God makes
some vessels to honor and other vessels are made to dishonor (KJV). Romans 9:22
says God endures with “much long suffering” the vessels fitted to destruction.
Pay close attention to what these verses say. They say that some vessels are made to honor or dishonor—not that they are made for these things.
Pay close attention to what these verses say. They say that some vessels are made to honor or dishonor—not that they are made for these things.
This is an important distinction.
The vessels, in verse 22, are
fitted to destruction, not for destruction.
That is relevant distinction.
Remember, every word of
scripture is God breathed, even the little words.
The word “makes,” in verse 21,
comes from the Greek word, poieo. Poieo, is a root word with a
literal meaning of “make” or “do.” But, depending on context, the word has a
wide variety of applications, some of which include the meanings of, commit,
ordain, raise up, or appoint.
Someone can be committed,
ordained, raised up, or appointed to something at any point in their lives. It
is not necessary that they committed to it at birth.
It would not contradict the
context of, Romans chapter nine, or the definition of the Greek word, poieo,
to translate verse 21 as, “God commits” some vessels to
honor, rather than, “God makes [or creates] some vessels to honor...”
The alternate reading gives a
different and clearer perspective on the passage.
A case in point, is King Saul. God
raised up and appointed a righteous young man, Saul, to become his ordained
King over Israel (even though it was not God’s perfect will that Israel have a
king at all). After coming to power, Saul made some personally destructive
choices. Yet, he was also given freedom to make righteous choices. Few will
argue that King Saul was given both option and opportunity to do things
differently—to become a vessel of honor rather than dishonor.
Pharaoh could have done things
differently, as well. Did the apostle really write that Pharaoh was made
for dishonor and destruction? That, from the moment of his birth, he was
locked into a cosmic caste system from which there was no escape?
Was Pharaoh really created for the
sole purpose of condemnation?
Was the prophet, Jeremiah, lying
when he wrote that God had a plan and purpose for all of us—plans to do us good
and not evil?
No. He was not.
So, we see that the Word of God
must be rightly discerned.
Romans 9:22 speaks of vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction.
The Greek word translated “fitted”
(in the King James Bible) is, “Katartizo.” Katartizo has a
literal translation of “complete thoroughly,” “adjust” or “repair,”
which makes perfect sense within the context of Romans 9:22, when deeper study
reveals the word, Katartizo, is derived from yet another Greek word, “Katah.”
Katah is a root word,
meaning “down.”
The meanings of the words, Katartizo
and Katah, when combined, mean that Romans 9:17-22 [22]) is saying, that
vessels are adjusted down to destruction. They are committed to
that destruction only after God endures their sinful choices with “much
long suffering.”
Taking the “thoroughly complete”
definition of the word, Katartizo, into account, it becomes clear that
God’s plan for Pharaoh, because of Pharaoh’s own choices, was adjusted down.
And it was at that point, he became committed [or ordained] to
dishonor and destruction.
Setting aside
English-Translation-Theology (our Bible was not written in English), a careful
reading of Romans 9:17-22, makes it clear that Pharaoh was not committed to
dishonor and destruction until after God had endured his sinful choices
with “much long suffering.”
1 Timothy 2:3-5 states that it is
not God’s will that any should perish but that all should come to
the knowledge of the truth. If it is not God’s will that any should perish,
then He is not going to violate His own will by creating anyone for the
specific purpose of deliberately destroying them.
However, in his foreknowledge of
all things, God knows who will, and who will not, choose life and
godliness Romans 8:29.
According to 1 Timothy 2:3-5, It
is God’s explicit, written, will, that we are all given [at least
one] opportunity to choose life. The Word of God also explicitly states that
Jesus died for the sins of the world—not just for the sins of the
predestined elect.
Romans 8:29 says that
predestination is according to foreknowledge. And 2 Corinthians 6:2,
states that there is a period of Grace in which the door to salvation remains
open (today is the accepted time...today is the day of salvation 2
Corinthians 6:2).
But, if any refuse to accept
Christ, the Bible says the period of “much long suffering” can pass.
And, as with Pharaoh, the opportunity can be withdrawn.
The door can close.
It is at that point—and not one
moment before—that God’s perfect plan for a life can be adjusted down.
From that point on, one can be committed to, or ordained
to…destruction.
God’s power will be
revealed, his purpose will be accomplished, and his name will be
declared throughout all the earth, regardless of what individual choices
are made by his human creation.
But we must always remember, that
God gives us a choice. He is the one who said, “I have set before you blessing
and cursing, life and death…Choose life, so that you and your
children may live.
Additional commentary pending for this
chapter. Questions and comments are welcome.
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