Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 4 Study # 2
February 25, 2018
Humble, Texas
(034)
1769 Translation:
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:
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. "Nay, But...".
- A. The word so translated is found in only four texts in the New Testament. In three of the four the Authorized Version translators translated it "Yea...".
- B. According to the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, the word is "a relatively emphatic marker of contrast". According to A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, it is "a particle used to emphasize or correct".
- II. "O Man...".
- A. This is actually the opening phrase in Paul's sentence: It reads, "O Man, No...".
- B. Paul is indicating a rather horrified reaction to the suggestion of his "reader" that God is somehow "flawed" because He holds people accountable for their attitudes and actions when those actions, if not the underlying attitudes, are an integral aspect of His "impossible-to-resist will".
- 1. The nonsense that God is somehow "flawed" because "He hardens whom He will" is like unto the nonsense of God being somehow "flawed" because He breaks the legs (and/or other bones) of those who attempt to fly in the face of the law of gravity.
- 2. Paul's "horror" is that man's arrogance has become so great that he does not even recognize the hyper-hypocrisy of those who "being flawed" attempt to color God as "flawed" simply because He reacts to their arrogance with a Justice that visits arrogance with judgment.
- III. "Who are you...".
- A. In a more likely English idiom, "Who do you think you are?" followed by multiple exclamation points.
- B. Paul is about to absolutely lower the boom on the head of his objector (i.e., he is about to "harden" his objector by calling him out on his towering arrogance). I say "harden" because Paul's words can only have two possible repercussions and one of those is a "hardening" in those who hear them with understanding and grind their teeth in rage. Thus, Paul "hardens whom he will". There is a time to be diplomatic and long-suffering; and, there is a time to be bluntly plain spoken.
- IV. Who You Really Are.
- A. You are one who "replies against God" (stupid, stupid, stupid). Spit on the face of Christ as He hangs on the cross for your redemption if you will, but if you think you will get away with it as you cling to your impenitence -- well, there's no fixing stupid.
- B. You are the "plasma" in the hand(s) of "The Plasma Mold".
- 1. Our English word "plasma" is actually a transliteration of its Greek predecessor. In the letters of the Greek alphabet, transliterated into the English alphabet, the word is "plasma".
- 2. The word means something like "the molten liquid that is to be poured into a mold so that as it "hardens", it takes the permanent shape of the mold". The verb form is only used in Romans 9:20 and 1 Timothy 2:13, where it refers to God's "forming Adam out of dirt and water" into a mud-image into which He breathed the breath of life.
- C. You are the one whose thinking is so shallow that it allows the tongue to say, "Who do You think You are, making me like this?"
- V. The "Potter's" Authority.
- A. Paul's use of the potter's authority is universally conceded.
- B. The "problem" here is that "clay" is of no consequence; it cannot "experience" its "dishonor". People, on the other hand, are everlastingly subject to the consequences of being "dishonored" by God.
- 1. However, it is also true that "clay" cannot "reply against" its Creator, but men of clay can, and do. In other words, the potter's authority to unilaterally determine to what purpose clay will be subject is not diminished by the clay's capacities/incapacities, nor do men of clay have any "right" to resist the divine Potter's authority just because of their assumed capacities and "rights".
- 2. At the root, then, of this entire issue of an immutable will, is one issue: the absolutely, beyond comprehension, awesome reality of Justice applied to beings who can never be delivered from its horrors.
- 3. But, since the bottom line of "Love" is the willingness to suffer to whatever degree and for however long the life-issues of the "beloved" requires, and since God has already demonstrated this characteristic at Calvary, it is a massive contradiction of "Love" for any created thing to complain about anything. The complaint is the proof of a significant flaw in the complainer and, thus, a legitimate foundation for the subjection of the complainer to the consequences of being a purveyor of hate. Men, who by complaint, assert their "right" to be God are without any basis for complaining when God treats them as He has been treated: He suffered the consequences of wrath to the impossible-to-define, infinite degree, so He is not doing any injustice to subject those who would presume to take His place to the same thing.
- C. Thus, mankind, whether aware, or ignorant, faces both the goodness and severity of God without remedy. That it is beyond comprehension is beside the point; that absence of comprehension is fundamental to the difference between the Infinite God and His finite creatures.