Romans 9:21

Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? The potter... This similitude is used only to shew that we are not to dispute with our Maker, nor to reason with him why he does not give as uch grace to one as to another; for since the whole lump of our clay is vitiated by sin, it is owing to his goodness and mercy, that he makes out of it so many vessels of honor; and it is no more than just, that others, in punishment of their unrepented sins, should be given up to be vessels of dishonor.

Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner, 1752)

In The King James Version

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

In Context

20O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus?

22What if God, willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction,

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Cross References

Isaiah 64:8And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.

Jeremiah 22:28Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

Acts 9:15And the Lord said to him: Go thy way: for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

Romans 9:18Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will. And whom he will, he hardeneth. He hardeneth... Not by being the cause or author of his sin, but by withholding his grace, and so leaving him in his sin, in punishment of his past demerits.

2 Timothy 2:20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth: and some indeed unto honour, but some unto dishonour.

Matthew Henry on Romans 9:15-25

The Divine Sovereignty. ( a. d. 58.) 14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith 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 him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. 17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the… Read the whole commentary →

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