Romans 9:21

Instead, ◄the potter certainly has the right to take some clay and from one lump of clay make one pot that people will honor and make another one for ordinary purposes [MET]./does not a potter have the right to take some clay and from one lump of clay make one pot that people will honor and make another pot for ordinary purposes?► [MET, RHQ] Similarly, God has the right to carry out what he purposes for people.

Translation for Translators

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

20I would reply that since you (sg) are just a human being, ◄you do not have any right at all to criticize God!/ who are you to say that what God does is wrong?► [RHQ] As a potter is the one who creates a clay pot, God is the one who created you. ◄A clay pot [MET] certainly would not have a right to criticize the potter by asking [PRS], “Why did you (sg) make me this way?”/Would a clay pot have a right to criticize the potter by asking [PRS], “Why did you (sg) make me this way?”► [RHQ]

22Although God desires to show that he is angry about sin, and although he desires to make clear that he can powerfully punish people who have sinned, he tolerated very patiently the people [MET] who caused him to be angry and who deserved to be destroyed (OR, who were made to be destroyed).

Read all of Romans 9

Cross References

Isaiah 64:8Yahweh, you are our father. We are like [MET] clay, and you created us, like [MET] a potter creates pottery.

Jeremiah 22:28Someone said, “Jehoiachin will be [RHQ] like a broken pot that is despised and which no one wants. He and his children will be ◄exiled/forced to go► to a foreign land.

Acts 9:15But the Lord Jesus told Ananias, “Go to Saul! Do what I say, because I have chosen him to serve me in order that he might speak about me [MTY] both to non-Jewish people and their kings and to the Israeli people.

Romans 9:18So we conclude that God kindly helps the ones he wants to act kindly towards. But he makes stubborn the ones such as Pharaoh that he wants to make stubborn.

2 Timothy 2:20In a wealthy person’s house there are not only utensils made of gold and of silver, but also utensils made of wood and of clay. The gold and silver utensils are used at special occasions/events, and the others are used at ordinary occasions. Similarly, in a congregation there are those who ◄ are ready/desire► to do great things for the Lord Jesus, and there are those like the teachers of false doctrines/teachings who are not.

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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