Rom. 9:20-21 ... "On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this.' will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?"
The gospel declaration that God in Christ had called the Gentiles unto grace and mercy was a stumbling block to the Jews. Having been taught for dozens of generations they were God's chosen people, they drew a circle that shut all others out. They refused to fathom the idea that God might have changed his policies to embrace the varied nations. The sermons of Jesus, the appeals of the apostles, and the ministry of the Spirit did not persuade the Jews to widen their circle of fellowship to include Gentiles. Even Peter, subject to Jesus' influence and teaching for three years, required a vision directly from God to be forced to the conclusion that Gentiles were now eligible for salvation and citizenship in the elect nation, (Acts 10). As Paul preached the gospel, he ran headlong into resistance over this new concept. And so here in Romans 9 he is debating a typical Jewish teacher about it.
Paul informs this opponent that in the debate he is not calling the Christian teacher into question, but rather God, who commissioned the teacher. Then he reaches back to Isa. 29:16 to illustrate how absurd it is to criticize God. When the potter sat down at his wheel to turn a vessel, the clay in his hands was powerless to resist his will. If he wanted to fashion a delicate vase to grace a queen's bedroom, he could do it. If he chose instead to make a common pot for boiling lentils, he could do that. The clay being formed into a functional object could never protest that it should be made instead into an objet d'art. And so it is with man. We read in Isa. 64:8, "But now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand." It is just as absurd for a human to question God's will and policies as it is for a lump of river bank clay to contend with the potter over its future design.
The wisest decision any of us can make is to yield ourselves into the brilliant hands of the Master Potter to be fashioned into the kind of living vessel that He would have us to be. The ancient potter was never perfect, though he might have been a highly skilled artisan. In spite of his best efforts, some vessels just did not turn out well. They would be broken up and used to fill holes or gullies. Archaeologists excavating the ruins of Palestinian cities dig up countless tons of the potsherds. But God is the Perfect Potter! With quality clay in His hands He never fails to fashion a living vessel that is graceful and precious. The person who yields himself to God to be transformed into a new creature is this quality clay. It says in II Tim. 2:21, "If a man cleanses himself from these things (wickedness, v. 19), he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work." To purge yourself of lust, the unholy desires that are the breeding ground of sin, (Jas. 1:14-15), turns you into the sort of living clay that God will make into an honorable vessel, set apart from mundane things, fully fitted out for the Master's service. How badly we fail ourselves and abuse our potential when we question God about the meaning of life, the use of life, and the value of life. Humanistic philosophies, which dominate the thinking of the majority, not only criticize the divine scheme for the optimum human condition but proceed even further to doubt the existence of God. Consequently, in the masses of mankind we see only the vessels of human lives misshapen by human will in the pitiful, doomed effort to outdo the Master Potter, who not only designed the perfect archetype but also created the raw material of clay from which we are made.
