Romans 9:19-21
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ “21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
After having gone back and revised the prior article in this study on Romans 9:14-18, we now come to the point where Paul rebukes us for our questioning of God. I mentioned in the prior article that our objections to the doctrine of election are the exact same objections that Paul anticipates and responds to. That clearly means a couple of things:
- We are understanding the text to mean election and rightfully so.
- Paul’s refutations of our objections means that we must accept election in the fullest sense.
Paul responds to our objections by saying, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” I admit at first reading of this text, I not only had the same objections, but I was somewhat dismayed at the notion that God chooses who he saves and who he doesn’t. I told myself I could not be reading the text correctly, but then I get to these verses and realize that Paul affirmed that my understanding was correct. If not, Paul would have no reason to anticipate this objection and respond to it. And so what do we do with this idea? Truthfully, if we take the time to really understand it, we are forced to be humbled under it. We can’t lay claim to anything of our own doing. It was not because we were smart enough to figure it all out. It is simply because God revealed the truth to us.
Of course, the prior quote from John MacArthur still stands:
So why does God still find fault in unrepentant sinners when He didn’t choose them? Doesn’t this deny human responsibility? Is it fair for God to still hold them accountable?
Paul answers all such questions with a rebuke-”who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it?” (v. 20). Does the clay jump up and ask the potter why it looks the way it does? Not at all.
Some believe that is terribly cold and calculating. But that is only one side of God’s sovereign election. Paul continues in the next chapter by saying, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved … for ‘whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (10:9, 13).
How these two sides of God’s truth-His sovereignty in choosing us (Rom. 9) and our responsibility to confess and believe (Rom. 10)-reconcile is impossible for us to understand fully. But Scripture declares both perspectives of salvation to be true (John 1:12-13). It’s our duty to acknowledge both and joyfully accept them by faith.
While God ultimately chooses by His own sovereignty who He will save, there is as John MacArthur states, a responsibility on our part to confess and believe. There is a mystery here that is appropriate for a God that is worthy of our worship. We are the clay and he is the potter. May we accept His sovereignty in our understanding of His perfect will.
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