notes

My Translation: Romans 9:22-23

22.) What if God, desiring to show forth wrath, and to make known his power, has borne with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23.) in order that he might make known the riches of his glory to vessels of mercy, which he has prepared before hand for glory?

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NT

Romans 9:22-23

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na28

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power,

εἰ δὲ θέλων ὁ θεὸς ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ γνωρίσαι τὸ δυνατὸν αὐτοῦ

has endured with much patience e vessels of wrath f prepared for destruction,

ἤνεγκεν ἐν πολλῇ μακροθυμίᾳ σκεύη ὀργῆς κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν,

inference

in order to make known g the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy,

καὶ ἵνα γνωρίσῃ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ σκεύη ἐλέους

which he h has prepared beforehand for glory—

ἃ προητοίμασεν εἰς δόξαν;

ideaexplanation

actionpurpose

na28

discourse

Main point summary

"Reprobation foils election, which emphasizes and enhances the elects sense of God's glory -- namely his glory to do what he pleases." In other words, those who God does not elect manifest the perfection of his justice to the world, and thus serve as a dark backdrop against which the glory of the elect is accentuated and shines more brightly. Sobering implications or inferences from these verse: - There are ONLY two sorts of vessels God forms out of the lump of fallen mankind. A man is either on side with the serpent, or on side with the Son. There's no middle arena. - God is just and he hates sin, and God wants to show both of these truths to mankind. - When Paul says that God bears with patience children of wrath, he means God, holding back his wrath, lets them grow in their sins until they are ripe for ruin, he lets them alone to fill up the measure of their sin (M. Henry, Commentary). - Such were some of us. Such was the merited destiny of some of us. - "Vessels of mercy" reminds us that God has taken pity on us, not because of what we have done good, but in spit of what we have done bad. - When Paul says God has prepared these vessels of mercy beforehand for glory, he means, given the context, that this glory is God's glory of sovereign bestowment. God's enlightening our minds to behold His Son, a corollary of being made vessels of mercy, was driven by his own, free, sovereign pleasure and volition, not by anything we've done.

Conditional Structure:

- This is a first class conditional sentence, with the protasis assumed to be true at least for the sake of Paul's argument. - The apodosis is missing; It is assumed. The assumed apodosis is "then what shall we say", as he says above in verse 14. - the lack of an apodosis is for rhetorical affect (aposiopesis).

Conjectural Language, not Factual?

- the "what" isn't in the original, unless δὲ can be translated as "what", but without this addition I didn't know how to turn these propositions into question format, which the punctuation at the end suggests. - "What if" sounds like Paul doesn't have all the information, but this (what he says here) seems to him plausible, and can solve his hypothetical opponents' perplexities and feelings of indignation.

Why I Chose Inference, not Action-Purpose for Verse 22:

- God has desired to show his wrath to make known his power, therefore he has borne with patience vessels of wrath. - I almost used an action purpose, but it sounded odd to say "God has borne with much patience vessels of wrath for the purpose of desiring to show his wrath." It may have made sense if "desiring" weren't in the text. - I don't think God bears patiently with vessels of wrath so that he might cultivate his desire to show his wrath, I think God desires to show his wrath, and therefore bears patiently with vessels of wrath.

Inference, Action-Purpose, Idea-Explanation:

- God has desired to show his wrath and make known his power, therefore he has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, for the purpose of making known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, namely those vessels that he has prepared beforehand for glory.

Word Study:

Still in Question: Single-predestination? Is God less active in Reprobation? - the word κατηρτισμένα, meaning prepared, referring to the vessels of wrath, is 1.) a middle/passive verb with 2.) an ambiguous subject. - the word προητοίμασεν, meaning prepared beforehand, referring to the vessels of mercy, is 1.) an active verb with 2.) an unambiguous subject, namely God. This is a third person singular verb. - The first verb referring to vessels of wrath could either be a divine passive (with God as the subject left unexpressed) or a reciprocal, reflexive, or indirect use of the middle. I believe it is a reflexive middle (meaning they prepared themselves for destruction). I believe this is a reflexive middle because when the words "vessel, honor, and dishonor" are used elsewhere by Paul (only in 2 Timothy 2), he states that it is possible for dishonorable vessels to cleanse themselves, showing that those vessels weren't irrevocably elected to damnation, but they damned themselves as God left them to their own devices and sinful proclivities. I think it is possible God elects some to dishonorable use in a temporal sense (like Pharaoh), but perhaps not in an eternal sense. - It seems, in this passage, that God is much less active (much more passive) in reprobation (or in choosing not to elect, you could say) than he is in election.