Romans 9:21

Romans 9:21. Or hath not the potter. ‘Or' suggests the dilemma arising out of the figure: Either the thing formed cannot speak thus, or the potter has not authority, etc. The interrogative form here implies an affirmative answer:' The potter has authority,' etc. The figure of a potter is found in the Old Testament (see references) and here undoubtedly represents God Himself.

Authority. Not, ‘power' in the sense of ‘force,' but rather, ‘right,' ‘privilege.'

Over the clay. The ‘clay' represents the human subjects under discussion; the article suggests that it is the potter's clay.

From the same lump to make, etc. The whole clause explains what is meant by the ‘authority' of the potter, while the figure itself excludes the idea of creature. ‘The lump' and ‘the clay' refer to the same thing; the latter is the substance itself, the former presents it as already in use by the potter for his purposes. To limit the ‘lump' to the Jews is narrow, and opposed by Romans 9:22; Romans 9:24, etc. Meyer explains: ‘ The same lump denotes human nature in and of itself, as with its opposite moral capabilities and dispositions it is equally in all, but not yet conceived of in its definite individual moral stamp.' Similarly Godet: ‘The mass represents entire humanity, not that humanity which God created, but in that state in which He finds it at each moment when He makes it serve His reign.' The supralapsarian explanation, referring it to the created man, seems contrary to the figure and to revealed facts. The view taken of the moral status of the ‘lump,' representing humanity, will depend largely upon the interpretation of chap. Romans 5:12-21. The denial of original sin makes the difficulty here all the greater.

One part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor. This rendering is more exact than that of the E. V. The potter makes from the same lump, a part into a vessel designed for honorable uses, and another is for dishonorable uses. The emphasis in the original seems to rest on the words ‘unto honor,' just as below (Romans 9:23) the corresponding phrase, ‘vessels of mercy,' is made prominent. It should be observed that the whole verse is designed to assert God's freedom, under the figure of the potter; hence the failure of all attempts to limit the application to the Jews, or to temporal distinctions. ‘The honor and dishonor are not here the moral purity or impurity of the human vessels, but their ultimate glorification or perdition. The Apostle, in asking this question, rather aims at striking dumb the objector by a statement of God's undoubted right, against which it does not become us to murmur, than at unfolding to us the actual state of the case'(Alford).