“Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” (Rom 9:21).
Is this teaching that God causes an individual to be saved or lost? No. In the context, the apostle Paul is defending the right of God to choose through whom the promise of a Savior would come – through Isaac, then through Jacob and not Esau. And in the greater context, God has the right to choose His plan of salvation and who would be the children of the promise, and they are those who respond to the gospel in obedient faith in Jesus Christ.
This context is not about God unconditionally choosing men to be saved or lost; it is about God’s sovereignty to complete His plans and His promises as He determines.
But we should get this point: God can use a man, or a nation, for honor or for dishonor in executing His plans. But the choice of which the man will be is his own.
In the context, Pharaoh is an example of man used for dishonor. He could be used by God as a vessel for dishonor because of his rebellion against God. Exodus says that God hardened his heart, and it also says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. There is no contradiction. God gave command through Moses to a rebellious man, to which he responded, “Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go” (Exod 5:2). Pharaoh had a choice, but he rebelled against God, and he willed, he chose, to not let Israel go. God used him then as a vessel of dishonor. And Pharaoh over and over, when faced with command from God, hardened his heart: “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants” (Exod 9:34).
Just as God can take a man who chooses to rebel against Him and use him as a vessel for dishonor, God can take a man who chooses to obey him and use him as a vessel for honor. He can use both to accomplish His purposes.
The choice of which one a man will be is up to the man. It is the man who must choose, decide, and commit to a course of action.
And such is the case even with the Christian. “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver implements, but also implements of wood and of earthenware, and some are for honor while others are for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be an implement for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Tim 2:20-21). This Scripture says that every Christian has a responsibility and a choice as to whether he will be sanctified and useful for the Master: “if anyone cleanses himself from these things.” In this context of 2 Timothy, Hymenaeus and Philetus had “strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is past” and they “overthrow the faith of some.” “These things” in context are false doctrine, unsound teaching, and their teachers. Christians have a responsibility to cleanse themselves of these things. But they must choose to do so.
Even the Christian, then, who has been washed, justified, sanctified (1 Cor 6:11), must choose whether he will be a vessel for honor or for dishonor, whether he will be sanctified and useful for the Master, whether he will be prepared for every good work.
The Bible squarely places responsibility upon individuals to choose which they will be – a vessel for honor or for dishonor.
Christians, choose to be a vessel of honor by separating yourself from unsound teaching and teachers.
-Larry Jones