Romans 9:23

f. The sentence beginning with εἰ δὲ θέλων is not grammatically completed, but Romans 9:23 is an irregular parallel to Romans 9:22. God's purpose is regarded as twofold. It is on the one hand to show His wrath and make known His power; it is on the other hand to make known the riches of His glory (cf. Ephesians 3:16). The first part of it is carried out on those who are σκεύη ὀργῆς, the latter on those who are σκεύη ἐλέους; but, in carrying out both parts alike, God acts in a way which is so far from giving man room to complain that it commands his wonder and adoration; for the σκεύη ὀργῆς there is much long-suffering, for the σκεύη ἐλέους a preparation and a calling in which God's free unmerited mercy is conspicuous. καὶ ἵνα γνωρίσῃ : This is mentioned as a principal purpose of God. ἐπὶ σκεύη ἐλέους : the glory is conceived as something shed upon the persons concerned; they are irradiated with the Divine brightness. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:10. δόξα in such connections has usually a super-sensible eschatological meaning; its content was fixed for Paul by his vision of Christ as Lord of Glory. The end of God's ways with the vessels of mercy is to conform them to the image of His exalted Son. ἃ προητοίμασεν εἰς δίξαν : Paul does not shrink from introducing God as subject here. The vessels of mercy, in whom the Divine glory is to be revealed, are such as God prepared before for that destiny. That Paul is not speaking here abstractly, as in his discussion of the relations of creature and Creator in Romans 9:21 f., but on the basis of experience, is shown by the words which immediately follow: οὒς καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ἡμᾶς = whom he also called in us. The σκεύη ἐλέους, in other words, are not a mere theological conception = “God's elect”: they are the actual members of the Christian Church, Jew and Gentile; and it is not a deduction from the necessities of the Divine nature, but an account of real experiences of God's goodness, which is given both in προητοίμασεν and in ἐκάλεσεν. How much is covered by προητοίμασεν is not clear, but the text presents no ground whatever for importing into it the idea of an unconditional eternal decree. Those who are called know that the antecedents of their calling, the processes which lead up to and prepare for it, are of God. They know that in all these processes, even in the remote initial stages of them, to the significance of which they were blind at the time, glory was in view. The fact that both Jews and Gentiles are called shows that this preparation is not limited to any one nation; the fact that the called are from among both Jews and Gentiles shows that no one can claim God's mercy as a right in virtue of his birth in some particular race.