Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
February 18, 2018
Humble, Texas
(032)
1769 Translation:
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [
it], Why hast thou made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22 [
What] if God, willing to shew [
his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, [
that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [
are] not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut [
it] short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
1901 ASV Translation:
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?
21 Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction:
23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory,
24 [
even] us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
25 As he saith also in Hosea, I will call that my people, which was not my people; And her beloved, that was not beloved.
26 And it shall be, [
that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, There shall they be called sons of the living God.
27 And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved:
28 for the Lord will execute [
his] word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short.
29 And, as Isaiah hath said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We had become as Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrah.
- I. Therefore, You Will Say To Me... .
- A. "Therefore": Paul's parting words in the prior paragraph were, "...and whom He will, He hardeneth".
- 1. There is no doubt that he is bringing the issue of God's "righteous" exercise of His dominating choice back into play with this statement.
- 2. The "hardening" is a direct action of God.
- a. This "hardening" is such an action of God that it "hardens" a person's determination to have his/her own way in spite of the fact that any "reasonable" person would yield because of the present disastrous consequences.
- 1) The record of Pharaoh includes this statement, "But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart..." (Exodus 8:15) and this statement, "And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants" (Exodus 9:34).
- 2) That same record includes several statements like unto this: "And the Lord said ... I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him" (Exodus 10:1).
- 3) Thus, there is clear indication that Pharaoh's heart was hardened beyond the norm because there was a likelihood that he would soften by reason of the magnitude of his losses as actually declared in Exodus 9:27, "...Pharaoh...said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked ... and I will let you go...".
- b. Therefore, Paul's doctrine is that God "hardens whom He will" for His own "merciful" reasons even though the "mercy" is not necessarily for the benefit of the "hardened".
- B. "You will say to me": Paul is, again, anticipating the reaction of his audience to his words.
- II. Why Does He Yet Find Fault? For Who Has Resisted His Will?
- A. The word translated "find fault" is relatively rare in the New Testament (Mark 7:2; Romans 9:19; and Hebrews 8:8).
- 1. It means that the "fault finder" is dissatisfied with the present state of affairs.
- 2. It does not have an automatic implication that the "fault" is not of his/her own doing; it simply means that the present reality is not what is desired. If a cabinet maker is not sufficiently skilled to build perfect cabinets, he/she may well "find fault" with his/her own results. Alternatively, an accomplished cabinet maker might "find fault" with some other cabinet maker's effort simply because his work is superior to the other's.
- B. The objector claims that God should not "find fault" since what is is the result of God's own choices and actions.
- 1. The issue is the "will" of God, expressed by a word that means "determined" and "supported by (in God's case) omnipotence".
- a. This "will" of God does, sometimes, require a significant involvement by God because what He "wills" is so contrary to the way things would naturally develop that it simply would not be done unless He acted with power.
- b. But this "will" of God, which will be fulfilled, does not always require any significant extra effort on God's part. There are some things that are His "will" that will take place simply because they are being swept along by the nature of the case. For example, Jesus Christ was "delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23), but He would have been so delivered in any case because His righteousness was so offensive to sinners that they would have sought to kill Him without any input from God. In other words, God didn't have to get very involved at all to have this "will" accomplished.
- c. The bottom line is that "this will of God" is the ultimate governing factor, not in the sense of forcing things to happen a certain way, but in the sense that however it comes to pass it is what God "willed". An illustration is the way in which Jacob obtained the birthright and blessing from Isaac. God could certainly "find fault" in the way the participants acted, but His "will" that He told Rebekah before the twins were born did come to pass.
- 2. Thus, the objector "finds fault" with God "finding fault", but thinks it is OK to find fault with God since his/her own "fault finding" is not about a matter that is of his/her own doing.
- a. Besides the inherent hypocrisy of "fault finding" with someone who is "fault finding", there is another huge problem: the total lack of "love" in the human "fault finder" who whines about God "finding fault" in those whose wickedness is deliberate and obvious.
- 1) This chapter began with a clear expression of what it means to "love" as Paul claims his willingness to suffer eternal separation from God in Hell for the sake of those who are actively persecuting him and seeking his death.
- 2) This "love" is the real bottom line in everything about creation and the way things are developing.
- 3) That God acted in history in "loving" His enemies at the cross (while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us), His ways simply must be allowed to stand without the criticisms of those who do not "love" anyone except themselves. It is beyond hypocrisy for a completely self-centered person to question the choices and actions of a demonstrably other-centered person.
- 4) That God both "loves" and "hates" some people simultaneously is nothing more than a fact of life that all men everywhere practice all day long every day.
- b. It is no wonder that Paul blasted his "objector" with his "Who are you?"