^9:19 You will say therefore to me: why does he still find fault? For who resists his will?
^9:20 O man, who are you who replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it: why have you made me thus? [n. 788]
^9:21 Or has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? [n. 791]
^9:22 What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, [n. 793]
^9:23 That he might show the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he has prepared unto glory?

786. Having solved the question proposed, the Apostle objects to the solution, particularly to the last part, which states that God has mercy on whom he wills, and hardens whom he wills (Rom 9:18).

First, he places the objection;

second, the solution, at O man, who are you.

787. First, therefore, he says: we have said that God has mercy on whomever he wills and hardens whomever he wills. You will say therefore to me: why does he still find fault? i.e., what need is there to inquire any further into the cause of the good and evil done here, since all things are attributed to the divine will, which is a sufficient cause, since no one can resist him? Hence he continues: for who resists his will? I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven (Eccl 1:13).

Or in another way: why does he still find fault? i.e., why does God complain about men when they sin, as in Isaiah: some have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me (Isa 1:2). Therefore, he does not seem to have a just complaint, because it all proceeds from his will, which no one can resist. Hence he adds: who resists his will?

Or still another way: why does he still find fault, i.e., why is man still required to do good and avoid evil: he has showed you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and love mercy and walk with your God? (Mic 6:8). For it is useless to require of someone that which is not in his power. But nothing seems to lie in man’s power, according to the above, in which all things seem ascribed to the divine will, which cannot be resisted. He adds: for who resists his will? As if to say: no one. There is none that can resist your will (Esth 13:11). And this seems to be the Apostle’s meaning.

788. Then he answers the question, at O man, who are you.

To understand his answer it should be noted that with regard to the election of the good and the rejection of the wicked two questions can arise. One is general, namely, why does God will to harden some and be merciful to some; the other is particular, namely, why does he will to be merciful to this one and harden this or that one?

Although a reason other than God’s will can be assigned in the first question, the only reason that can be assigned in the second question is God’s absolute will. An example is found among humans. For if a builder has at hand many similar and equal stones, the reason why he puts certain ones at the top and others at the bottom can be gathered from his purpose, because the perfection of the house he intends to build requires both a foundation with stones at the bottom and walls of a certain height with stones at the top. But the reason why he put these stones on the top and those others at the bottom seems to be merely that the builder so willed.

First, therefore, the Apostle answers the problem involved in the second question, namely why he has mercy on this one and hardens that one;

second, the problem involved in the first question, namely, why he is merciful to some and hardens others, at what if God.

In regard to the first he does three things.

First, he censures the questioner’s presumption;

second, he cites an authority which solves the question, at shall the thing formed say to him who formed it;

third, he explains the authority, at or has not the potter power.

789. First, therefore, he says: O man, who are you, fragile and unknowing, who replies against God? How would you answer him, if he were to contend with you in judgment? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times (Job 9:3). Again, as it says in Job: he who argues with God, let him answer him (Job 39:30).

In this we are given to understand that man should not examine the reason for God’s judgments with the intention of comprehending them, for they exceed human reason: seek not the things that are too high for you (Sir 3:22); he that is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory (Prov 25:27).

790. Then, when he says shall the thing formed, he cites the authority of Isaiah: shall the thing made say of its maker, he did not make me? (Isa 29:16).

Here it should be noted that if an artisan uses base matter to make a beautiful vessel for noble uses, it is all ascribed to the goodness of the artisan; for example, if from clay he fashions pitchers and serving-dishes suited to a banquet table. If, on the other hand, from such base matter, say clay, he produced a vessel adapted to meaner uses, for example, for cooking or such, the vessel, if it could think, would have no complaint. But it could complain, if from precious metals, such as gold and precious stones, the artisan were to make a vessel reserved for base uses.

But human nature has baseness about it from its matter, because as Genesis says: God formed man of dust from the ground (Gen 2:7), and more baseness after being spoiled by sin, which entered this world through one man. That is why man is compared to dirt, in Job: I am compared to dirt and I am likened to dust and ashes (Job 30:19). Hence, any good that man possesses is due to God’s goodness as its basic source: O Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay, and you are the potter, we are all the work of your hands (Isa 64:8). Furthermore, if God does not advance man to better things but leaves him in his weakness and reserves him for the lowliest use, he does him no injury such that he could justly complain about God.

791. Then the Apostle explains the words of the prophet, when he says or has not the potter power.

As if to say what is molded, i.e., the vessel, should not say to the potter: why have you made me thus? because the potter is free to make anything he wishes out of the clay. Hence he says: or has not the potter power over the clay, to make without any injury to it, of the same lump of base matter one vessel unto honor, i.e., for honorable use and another unto dishonor, i.e., for meaner uses: in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and earthenware, and some for noble use, some for ignoble. (2 Tim 2:20).

In the same way God has free power to make from the same spoiled matter of the human race, as from clay, and without any injustice some men prepared for glory and some abandoned in wretchedness: behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel (Jer 18:6).

792. Then, when he says what if God, willing, he answers the first question, namely, why God wills to be merciful to some and leave others in wretchedness, i.e., to choose some and reject others.

Here it should be noted that the end of all divine works is the manifestation of divine goodness: the Lord has made all things for himself (Prov 16:4). Hence, it was stated above that the invisible things of God have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made (Rom 1:20).

But the excellence of the divine goodness is so great that it cannot be manifested in one way or in one creature. Consequently, he created diverse creatures in which he is manifested in diverse ways. This is particularly true in rational creatures in whom his justice is manifested with regard to those he punishes according to their deserts and his mercy in those he delivers by his grace. Therefore, to manifest both of these in man he mercifully delivers some, but not all.

First, therefore, he gives an account of the rejections of the wicked; second, of the election of the good, at that he might show the riches.

793. In both cases three differences should be considered.

First, with respect to the end; second, with respect to use; third, with respect to the divine act.

Now the end of the rejection or hardening of the wicked is the manifestation of divine justice and power. Referring to this he says: what, i.e., but, if God, willing to show his wrath, i.e., retaliatory justice. For wrath is said of God not as an emotion but as the effect of retaliation: the wrath of God is revealed from heaven (Rom 1:18). Then he adds: and to make his power known, because God not only uses wrath, i.e., retribution, by punishing those subject to him, but also by subjecting them to himself by his power: according to his work by which he can subject all things to himself (Phil 3:21); and they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them (Exod 14:31).

The use which God makes of the wicked is wrath, i.e., punishment. And this is why he calls them vessels of wrath, i.e., instruments of justice that God uses to show wrath, i.e., retributive justice: we were by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3).

But God’s action toward them is not that he disposes them to evil, since they of themselves have a disposition to evil from the corruption of the first sin. Hence he says fitted for destruction, i.e., having in themselves a disposition toward eternal condemnation: God saw that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times (Gen 6:5). The only thing God does concerning them is that he lets them do what they want. Hence not without meaning does he say endured. And the fact that he does not exact retribution immediately shows his patience; so he adds with much patience: the Most High is a patient rewarder (Sir 5:4).

794. Then on the part of the good he likewise sets out three things.

First, the end, when he says that he might show the riches of his glory. For the end of the election and mercy shown the good is that he might manifest in them the abundance of his goodness by calling them back from evil, drawing them to justice, and finally leading them into glory. And this is the meaning of that he might show the riches of his glory, the riches concerning which he said above: or do you despise the riches of his goodness? (Rom 2:4). God who is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4).

And it is significant that he says that he might show the riches of his glory, because the very condemnation and reprobation of the wicked, carried out in accord with God’s justice, makes known and highlights the glory of the saints, who were freed from such misery as this.

Second, he describes their use, when he says on the vessels of mercy. He names them vessels of mercy because God uses them as instruments to show his mercy: these were men of mercy (Sir 44:10).

Third, he sets out God’s action in their regard. For God does not merely endure them, as though they were of themselves disposed to the good, but rather he prepares and disposes them by calling them to glory. Hence he says which he has prepared unto glory: preparing the mountains by your power (Ps 64:7).

795. Even to this point the Apostle uses an incomplete and suspensive construction, so that the meaning is: if God wants to do this, to have mercy on some and harden others, what can justly be said against it? As though to imply: nothing. For he does not will to harden them in such a way that he compels them to sin, but rather he endures them so that they may tend to evil by their own inclination.