Jennifer Rothnie Supporter Housewife, Artist, Perpetually Curious

No. The passage is not about God creating specific individuals for glory in heaven while creating others for wrath. Rather, it is about God's just mercy in choosing a people for Himself, and how His promise has not failed just because most Jews rejected Christ.

The chapter reads much like Paul responding to theoretical objections by a judicially hardened Jew.

Rom 9:1-9: Paul's heart aches for the ethnic Jews. Israel was the recipient of the law, the covenants, the temple worship, the adoption to sonship, the promises, and the genealogy of the Messiah! Even so, thrir overall rejection of Christ does not mean God's word has failed. Not all descendants of Abraham are Israel, but only the descendants of Isaac. Paul compares this as 'children of physical descent' vs. 'children of the promise'.

Rom 9:10-13: In order that God's purpose in election might stand (Him choosing a people for Himself, not by works but by His calling), He preferred Jacob over Esau, favoring the nation if Israel above all others. (Psalm 135:4, Mal 1:2-5, Ezek 20:4-6) [These two are representing their respective nations in this context, as Jacob personally never held any power over Esau, but God favored Israel above Edom. Paul is also using it as a historical example of the nations in the OT. In Christ, a descendant of Esau can be saved as equally as a descendant of Jacob, the Gentiles are no longer estranged (Rom 9:26).]

Rom 9:14-16: God is not unjust in offering favor or mercy, for He may have mercy/compassion on anyone He chooses. (Ex 33:12-23) God's mercy is not dependent on man's desire or effort. [Paul is speaking here, as elsewhere in the passage, of God's mercy in making a chosen people of God.] 

Rom 9:17-18: (See Ex 9 for further context). God freed the Israelites from Egypt, not by the Israelite's will or effort but by His own mercy. By the same token, in his mercy he did not utterly wipe out the Egyptians.

"For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth. But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth..." Ex 9:15-19

Those who feared the Lord were spared, those who ignored the LORD were affected by the plague (Ex 9:20-21). Pharoah, though he made a show of repenting, still did not fear the Lord (Ex 9:27-30).

Pharoah hardened his own heart (Ex 9:7, Ex 9:34-35), but God also hardened his heart (Ex 9:12, Rom 9:18)

This leads into the part about the Potter and the clay:

Rom 9:19-21:

Is 45, Jer 18:17, and other passages give further context. God brings prosperity, calamity, salvation, righteousness, created the Earth, takes care of His children, is just in punishment, etc. Man should not 'quarrel with His maker', as if the creation was higher than the creator.

"“Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. If at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it." Jer 18:5-10

Man cannot control God's purpose in History, but should not blame God for His plans. When God hardens or punishes or shows mercy to a nation, it is His right.

Rom 9:22-26:
The 'objects of mercy' here are once again His people, called from both the Jews and Gentiles (Rom 9:24-26.) The 'objects of wrath' here are unbelievers, especially those among the Jews (Rom 9:27-28).

Rom 9:30-33: The gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it by faith, the Jews who pursued it did not for they sought it by works.

June 12 2015 • 6 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

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