Romans 9.22 says, “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction . . .”. On this, one commentary says,
Notice carefully the phrase vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Vessels of wrath are those whose sins make them subject to God’s wrath. They are prepared for destruction by their own sin, disobedience, and rebellion, and not by some arbitrary decree of God [William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1719].
This is a classic example of Scripture-twisting, of attempting to make the passage teach something that goes quite contrary to what it actually says.
First, it ignores the immediate context of Romans 9. A great deal of the point being made in Romans 9 is that God is completely sovereign over each person’s eternal destiny, and that He has the right to do that, just as a potter takes one single lump of clay, divides it, and makes vessels for honorable and dishonorable purposes according to his pleasure. The potter owns the lump. He can do with it whatever he pleases. The clay has no say whatsoever in the matter. Even the notion that it does is ludicrous! Paul, with support from Jeremiah 18 where the same illustration is first used, insists that God is the Potter and human beings are His clay for shaping as He pleases. No stronger illustration and assertion of God’s absolute sovereignty over human beings could be imagined.
Second, it ignores the larger context of the whole biblical theology. Very many and very powerful biblical passages assert unmistakably and unambiguously that God is absolutely sovereign over all creation, including over all humanity. His sovereignty completely encompasses and covers us; it does not meet an insurmountable barrier called man’s free will. Proverbs 16.9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” Proverbs 21.1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” Many people, even some Christians, assume that the heart and the will of man are off-limits for God, but He insists that He rules effectively even there. He hardens whichever sinners He pleases (Rom 9.18) and opens the hearts of other sinners (Acts 16.14) at His sovereign discretion.
Third, it contradicts the Greek grammar. The commentary conveniently omits an important detail. The Greek verb translated “prepared” is in the form of passive voice. One Greek grammar explains the active voice and passive voice this way:
The Active Voice is when the subject is doing or performing the action. The Passive Voice, however, is when the subject is being acted upon. This is called the passive voice because the subject does nothing but be acted upon (Kairos: A Beginning Greek Grammar, Frederik J. Long, 2005).
So here in Romans 9.22, the passive voice verb “prepared” means that those being described as “vessels of wrath” did not prepare them-selves, contradicting the interpretation offered by this commentary. The passive voice implies that the “vessels of wrath” were prepared by some-one else, and the context makes it plain that God, the divine Potter, is the active party who prepared them. The English translation also uses the passive voice, with perfect justification and great significance. But this commentary merely asserts, without defense, an idea that runs afoul of the grammar, and readers are liable to overlook this.
Fourth, it misrepresents the alternative interpretation. The commentary describes that alternative as “some arbitrary decree of God.” The adjective “arbitrary” is clearly pejorative, potentially prejudicing the reader against the alternative to this commentary’s interpretation. What if it had only said, “and not by the decree of God?”, omitting “arbitrary.” Then it would be more obvious that this commentary’s interpretation contravenes the explicit doctrine of Romans 9!
We who believe in predestination by God’s decree would never say it was “arbitrary,” because that word may have the sense of “existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary). God predestines individuals according to His wisdom and pleasure, unconditionally with respect to us, but deliberately and gloriously with respect to Himself. Furthermore, He insists that His absolute sovereignty over all human beings is no small part of His glory.
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy (Exod 33.18–19).
In Romans 9, Paul remembers this passage and straightforwardly states it along with its clear implication about the reprobate. “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (v. 18).
Any interpretation of Scripture that ignores the immediate and the larger biblical context, contradicts the grammar of the original language text, and misrepresents an alternative interpretation perfectly consistent with the context and the grammar, is manifestly a misinterpretation, and an instance of false doctrine.
Beware of Scripture-twisting like this, even in conservative, evangelical commentaries. Ω