Discovery BoxRomans 9:19-29
Context9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 9:20 But who indeed are you – a mere human being 1 – to talk back to God? 2 Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 3 9:21 Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay 4 one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? 5 9:22 But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects 6 of wrath 7 prepared for destruction? 8 9:23 And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects 9 of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory – 9:24 even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 9:25 As he also says in Hosea:
“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, 10 ‘My beloved.’” 11
9:26 “And in the very place 12 where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” 13
9:27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children 14 of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 9:28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.” 15 9:29 Just 16 as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of armies 17 had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” 18
[9:20] 2 tn Grk “On the contrary, O man, who are you to talk back to God?”
[9:20] 3 sn A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9.
[9:21] 4 tn Grk “Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump.”
[9:21] 5 tn Grk “one vessel for honor and another for dishonor.”
[9:22] 6 tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.
[9:22] 7 tn Or “vessels destined for wrath.” The genitive ὀργῆς (orghs) could be taken as a genitive of destination.
[9:22] 8 tn Or possibly “objects of wrath that have fit themselves for destruction.” The form of the participle could be taken either as a passive or middle (reflexive). ExSyn 417-18 argues strongly for the passive sense (which is followed in the translation), stating that “the middle view has little to commend it.” First, καταρτίζω (katartizw) is nowhere else used in the NT as a direct or reflexive middle (a usage which, in any event, is quite rare in the NT). Second, the lexical force of this verb, coupled with the perfect tense, suggests something of a “done deal” (against some commentaries that see these vessels as ready for destruction yet still able to avert disaster). Third, the potter-clay motif seems to have one point: The potter prepares the clay.
[9:23] 9 tn Grk “vessels.” This is the same Greek word used in v. 21.
[9:25] 10 tn Grk “and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’”
[9:25] 11 sn A quotation from Hos 2:23.
[9:26] 12 tn Grk “And it will be in the very place.”
[9:26] 13 sn A quotation from Hos 1:10.
[9:28] 15 tc In light of the interpretive difficulty of this verse, a longer reading seems to have been added to clarify the meaning. The addition, in the middle of the sentence, makes the whole verse read as follows: “For he will execute his sentence completely and quickly in righteousness, because the Lord will do it quickly on the earth.” The shorter reading is found largely in Alexandrian
[9:29] 16 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
[9:29] 17 tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts”; Grk “Lord Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of the [heavenly] armies,” sometimes translated more generally as “Lord Almighty.”
