Does the Potter Predestine the Clay? (Part 1 of 2)

“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?  What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” (Rom 9:21-22)

A common analogy in rabbinic writings is to compare the relationship of God and man, to that of a potter and his clay.  After all, man was formed by God from the clay of the earth.  Paul draws on this analogy in the ninth chapter of his letter to the Romans, immediately following his discourse on the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.  Many have interpreted the words of Paul to mean that God providentially determines the salvation of an individual at the time of his creation, but is this an interpretation consistent with the balance of scripture?

The Hebrew text contains a number of references to the potter and the clay.  One of the most notable examples comes from the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah.

 
“Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?’ declares the LORD.  ‘Behold like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.  At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.  Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build it up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will thing better of the good with which I had promised to bless it’…Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you.  O turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.’” (Jer 18:5-11)

In Jeremiah’s example, the potter has the right to build up or tear down the clay.  Yet, the potter’s response is not arbitrary, but based on the actions of the clay.  If the clay “turns from its evil” (repents), then the potter “will relent concerning the calamity” he planned to perform.  On the other hand, if the clay “does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice,” then the potter will “fashion calamity” against the clay.  In either case, the actions of the clay are not predetermined.  For this reason, the LORD commands, "O turn back, each of your from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds."

In the Book of Romans, Paul may have been recalling the words of Jeremiah, or Isaiah who wrote, “Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” (Isa 29:16).  Isaiah draws on the example of the potter to remind Israel that God has sovereignty over His Creation, and can judge His people according to their ways.  Even though their “deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, ‘Who sees us?’ or ‘Who knows us?’” (Isa 29:15), “All who are intent on doing evil will be cut off,” (Isa 29:20).  In Isaiah’s analogy, like that of Jeremiah, the clay is not preordained to destruction by the potter, but is judged by the potter based on the freewill actions of the clay.  Isaiah uses the “potter and the clay” analogy three additional times to teach the authority of God to judge His creation.

 
“He will come upon rulers as upon mortar, even as the potter treads clay,” (Isa 41:25)
“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker…Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands?’” (Isa 45:10)
“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,” (Isa 64:8)

None of the prophetic examples teach that the clay is predestined to destruction, or that God acts arbitrarily within His creation.  This is the context in which Paul’s reference to the potter and the clay must be framed to be consistent with scripture. 

Rather than “vessels of wrath prepared (katartizo) for destruction,” (Rom 9:22), as most translations are written, the Greek word “katartizo” can also be rendered, “fully trained” or “equipped” for destruction.  In this rendering, the reader can understand that the destruction is not predetermined, but “wrath” brought on by the lifestyle of the clay, as in the words of Jesus, “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained (katartizo), will be like his teacher,” (Luke 6:40).  It is the unrighteous actions of the clay, which set the clay on a road destined for destruction.

Like all analogies, the teaching point of the potter and the clay can only be carried so far.  Paul is consistent with the prophets in his rhetorical question.  The Potter (God) has power over the clay to make us into who we are and to build up or tear down.  But this power is not exercised randomly or arbitrarily.  Nor does the Potter predetermine the fate of His creation.  The response of the Potter, according to the prophets, is based on the actions of the clay, whether righteous or wicked.  After all, no rational potter predetermines to destroy his work prior to its completion, and “God is not a God of confusion, but of peace” (1 Cor 14:33). 

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