Romans Chapter 9 Vs. 22

 

God's Sovereign Choice

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: Rom 9:22

This verse begins with a rhetorical question, “What if God”... Then comes “Willing” which means “wanting”. The Greek word speaks of divine intention, not passive resignation.

endured with much... God could justly destroy sinners the first time they sin. But He patiently endures their rebellion rather than giving them what every sin immediately deserves: eternal punishment.

vessels of wrath... Vessels of wrath are Jews who were: stubborn (Rom. 9:6); proud (Rom. 9:31); rebellious (Rom. 9:32); ignorant (Rom. 10:3); jealous (Rom. 10:19); angry (Rom. 10:19); disobedient(Rom. 10:21); blind (Rom. 11:7); fallen (Rom. 11:12); cast away (Rom. 11:15); broken off (Rom. 11:20); spared not (Rom. 11:21); unbelieving (Rom. 11:23); cut off (Rom. 11:24). Are those whom God has not chosen for salvation, but rather allowed to incur the just penalty for their sin.

fitted to destruction... By their own rejection of Him. God does not make men sinful, but He leaves them in the sin they have chosen.

Eph. 5:5-6 “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”

We deserve the wrath of God. Only those who accept full pardon through the shed blood of Jesus Christ will be spared the wrath of God which will surely come.

Having stated that God is like a potter, Paul now applied this illustration to God’s sovereign purpose for different people. He stated the two alternatives as conditional clauses (What if… ?) and left unstated the obvious common conclusion: Does not God have that right? The one alternative is that God… bore with great patience (cf. 2Pet. 3:9) the objects (lit., “vessels”; cf. Rom. 9:21) of His wrath — prepared for destruction (apōleian, “ruin”).