Does Paul have historical functions or salvation in mind?

Explanation:

Paul writes that God is a potter who can form the clay in any way he desires. In particular, he can form some as pots for honourable use and other pots for dishonourable use. When Paul writes this, he likely has in mind God using nations or individuals to work out his plans in history. We can detect that this is Paul’s likely point because we know that Israel thought they held a special national distinctiveness so that God would never use them for dishonourable use.³ This assumption is precisely what Paul counters in this section. That is, Paul counters the Jewish idea that God would only use them for honourable purposes by explaining that God is the potter, and he can make from the same lump vessels for honourable use and some for dishonourable use. In other words, God’s word has not failed (Romans 9:6); rather, God can use the Israelites as dishonourable vessels in order to bring the Gentiles to faith. ⁴

Counterargument:

In fact, the context here is not related to the notion that Israel considered themselves distinct and only used honourably by God. Rather, the context suggests that Paul has individual salvation in mind. That is, when Paul asks whether God’s word has failed, he is thinking specifically about Jews who are not saved. Of course, since Paul has individual salvation in mind, when he refers to vessels of honourable and dishonourable use, he must have in mind vessels created for eternal salvation, and other vessels created for eternal condemnation.⁵ So the immediate context undercuts this view.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument simply asserts that the immediate context has to do with individual salvation, but it does not give us any arguments to accept this assertion. Further, we have offered a reason to believe that Paul is countering the Jewish notion that God would only use them for honourable use. For Paul is explaining in this section that he has sorrow that some Israelites have not believed, and he is answering whether that implies God’s word has failed (Romans 9:6). In what follows, Paul explains that God uses various people and nations for his purposes, including Isaac, Jacob, and Pharaoh. In other words, God can use whom he wants for honourable and dishonourable purposes, including the Israelites.

Explanation:

Paul writes that God makes some vessels for honourable use and others for dishonourable use. The natural meaning of this metaphor is that God uses vessels in various ways to bring out his plans in history.⁶ Further, there is another passage from Paul where he uses the imagery of vessels to denote God using people for his purposes in history. Specifically, in 2 Timothy 2:20 Paul explains that in a household there are vessels for honourable and dishonourable use. He then goes on to write that if anyone cleanses himself, he will be a vessel for honourable use, ready to do his master’s good work. In other words, he will be a vessel ready to fulfill God’s plans in history. Similarly, when Paul writes that God is the potter who makes vessels for honourable and dishonourable use, he has in mind using people and nations to fulfill his plans.

Counterargument:

When we reflect on the whole verse, we notice that Paul uses the imagery not only of vessels, but also of a potter molding clay. In other words, God can mold from the same lump of clay anything he wants. He can mold some for honourable use and others for dishonourable use. Of course, vessels for dishonourable use are those prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22). So the point here is that God can mold vessels into anything he wants, some for honourable use and salvation, others for dishonourable use and destruction.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument overlooks an important detail from Romans 9:22. There Paul says that God endures with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. The verb translated prepared is in the perfect passive voice and means something like made ready for. In other words, the vessels of wrath are made ready for destruction, but Paul never says that they are destroyed. The point is that God uses vessels of wrath for his salvation purposes, and he even endures these with much patience. Whether or not they are eventually condemned is simply not specified.

One weakness of this view is that the noun vessel is singular. That suggests individuals rather than nations.

Explanation:

Paul explains in Romans 9:21 that God has the right to create vessels for honourable and dishonourable use. Likely, Paul means that God creates some individuals who will be saved and others who will be eternally condemned. We can detect this because of how Romans 9:21 connects to Romans 9:22. Specifically, Romans 9:22 opens with the particle δὲ, which is continuative. This means δὲ signals that what Paul writes in Romans 9:22 continues the thought he began in Romans 9:21, that God has the right to make vessels for honourable and dishonourable use. Then he continues in Romans 9:22, explaining that God may want to display his wrath and power by enduring with much patience vessels prepared for destruction. Since Romans 9:22 continued the thought of Romans 9:21, we can see what Paul means by all of this. In Romans 9:21 he says that God has the right to make vessels for honourable and dishonourable use, and in Romans 9:21 he explains that the vessels for dishonourable use were specifically prepared for eternal destruction to display God’s wrath. So the vessels made for honourable use are those God created to be saved, and those created for dishonourable use are those God created to condemn.⁹

Counterargument:

The δὲ that opens Romans 9:22 could be slightly adversative rather than a continuative. And if δὲ is adversative, then Paul is introducing a similar but slightly different thought in Romans 9:22.¹⁰ Relatedly, Paul includes the conjunction εἰ at the beginning of Romans 9:22, which indicates a conditional. So when we consider the meaning of the conditional with the adversative, we can see that Paul introduces a slightly related rhetorical question that gets at the same point as Romans 9:21. In Romans 9:21 he says it is God’s right to create some for honourable and others for dishonourable use. Then in Romans 9:22 he asks a related question, What if God endures with patience vessels of wrath? In other words, God can use nations and people in dishonourable ways to bring about his plans. What if he endures these vessels of wrath that he uses to bring about his plans with great patience?

Thus, when understood with a conditional and adversative, Romans 9:22 does not imply that Paul has individuals reserved for salvation and condemnation in mind when he refers to vessels made for honourable and dishonourable use. Rather, he may have in mind people and nations being used to bring about God’s plans in history.

Response to counterargument:

The problem with this counterargument is that when Paul refers to vessels prepared for destruction in Romans 9:22, that implies end-time judgment.¹¹ To be more specific, according to this counterargument the vessels of honourable and dishonourable use are people and nations whom God uses to bring about his historical plans. But when we reach Romans 9:22, Paul says that God endures with patience vessels prepared for destruction. The destruction there must refer to end-times condemnation, which implies that the vessels are not only used by God to bring about his historical plans, but are prepared for eternal condemnation.¹² Thus, the vessels for dishonourable use are vessels prepared for condemnation, and the vessels prepared for honourable use are those prepared for eternal glory.

Explanation:

When Paul writes that some vessels are for honourable use and others for dishonourable use, it is important to notice that he has already used the term τιμή in Romans 2:7, Romans 2:10. There Paul writes that those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor [τιμή] and immortality, he will give eternal life. Then in Romans 2:10 he writes that glory and honor [τιμή] and peace [are] for everyone who does good. Clearly, Paul uses the term τιμή to designate eternal life here.¹³ Of course, if τιμή designates eternal life in Romans 2:7, Romans 2:10, then it may refer to the same in Romans 9:21. And, in fact, it likely does refer to the same. For Paul is explaining that God makes some vessels for τιμή, which, given what he writes in Romans 2:7, Romans 2:10, likely means God made some vessels for eternal life.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that it depends on the notion that τιμή designates eternal life in Romans 2:7, Romans 2:10. Unfortunately, the context of Romans 2:7, Romans 2:10 shows that τιμή does not designate eternal life. Paul specifically refers to both τιμή and eternal life, implying they are distinct concepts. In Romans 2:7 Paul says that for those who seek τιμή, God will give eternal life. Clearly, τιμή does not designate eternal life, for then Paul would be saying that God gives eternal life to those who seek eternal life.

Further, in Romans 2:10 Paul writes that there will be glory, τιμή, and peace for those who do good. It is not clear from this that τιμή designates eternal life, for then Paul would have written that there will be glory, eternal life, and peace for those who do good. So it is not at all clear that τιμή designates eternal life. Of course, if τιμή does not designate eternal life, then it is not clear that when Paul writes that God made some vessels for τιμή, he means that God made some individuals for eternal life.