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Romans 9:17–24
“Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (v. 21).
Although the word predestination can refer to the Lord’s foreordaining of everything in history, often Christians use the term narrowly for God’s election unto salvation. Scripture says that we believe in Christ because the Lord graciously chose us, but not based on anything in us. After all, His choice to save us has in view that we are sinners and undeserving of redemption (Rom. 9:1–16). The Lord’s election or predestination is unconditional, not conditioned on anything good in the chosen.
The doctrine of unconditional election to salvation is not unique to Reformed theology. Historically, Lutheranism and the Roman Catholic Thomistic and Augustinian traditions have also taught it. Where Reformed theology stands apart from these views is that we have also strongly affirmed a predestination unto damnation, which is also known as reprobation. In other words, we affirm double predestination, whereas other traditions have been reluctant to do so.
Yet single predestination—unconditional election unto salvation—logically entails double predestination, which includes God’s ordaining some to everlasting destruction. If all are sinners and can be saved only if God chooses them, then His choice to save only some sinners is inevitably a choice not to save others. This does not mean that reprobation and election are fully parallel or symmetrical. Most Reformed theologians have viewed double predestination in an asymmetrical manner. That is, God actively selects some sinners out of the mass of fallen humanity but passes over others, leaving them in their sin. Dr. R.C. Sproul explains: “In the case of the elect, God intervenes positively, bringing them to faith, drawing them to Christ, and preserving them by His salvific operation in [their] hearts. But in the case of the reprobate, God does not create fresh evil in their hearts or work unbelief in their souls. He simply passes them over. God does not interfere with the reprobate to make them more wicked, but simply withholds His saving grace from them.”
Paul presents this view of reprobation in today’s passage (Rom. 9:17–24). He makes out of the same lump of clay (humanity) one vessel for honorable use (the elect) and another for dishonorable use (the reprobate). The point is that humanity is a spoiled lump already in God’s eternal plan when He makes His choice. He does not have to do anything to make the reprobate deserving of condemnation but simply leave them in their condition.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
John Calvin and others have made it clear that God’s passing over sinners ends up handing them over to eternal destruction. Importantly, God does not pass over innocent people but passes over those who are already guilty of sin in Adam. While the redeemed whom God has chosen to save are not saved because of anything good in them, the reprobate are condemned because of their sin.
For further study
- 1 Samuel 2:22–25
- 1 Peter 2:7–8
The bible in a year
- Psalms 116–119:48
- 1 Corinthians 4
- Psalm 119:49–136
- 1 Corinthians 5