The
first problem is that the “endured with much patience” reading does not make
sense in the context of the analogy; it is unclear that it would mean to “patiently
endure” a vessel. Many commentators have expressed their confusion or
frustration with how the metaphor seems to break down at this point, observing
that Paul could have more clearly made his point about God’s right to
arbitrarily predestine some to destruction. But he does not make that point clearly
because that is not in fact what he argues at all. Once the precise terminology
of the passage is better understood, it becomes clear that this verse sayings
nothing of “enduring” vessels nor of predestination to destruction.
Specifically
the verb φερω (here in the form ηνεγκεν), which appears nowhere else in the Pauline
corpus, has been poorly understood in this passage, with most modern
interpreters seeming to have derived its sense from the nearby word for “long-suffering”
or “patience” (μακροθυμια). While φερω often does mean something like “carry” or “bear”
and, by extension, to “endure” something, it can also mean something closer to “fetch”
or even “produce.” As a rule of thumb, when Paul’s vocabulary or syntax seem especially
obscure, it is often a signal that he is alluding to or borrowing scriptural
language, so it should not be surprising that the phrase with which so many
have struggled is lifted directly from Jer 27:25 LXX (50:25 MT), which says God
“has brought out the instruments of his wrath” with which he will destroy the
land of the Chaldeans (Table 5.1).
Table
5.1 Vessels of wrath in LXX Jeremiah 27:25 and Romans 9:22
|
Jer 27:25 LXX (50:25 MT) |
κυριος . . . εξηνεγκεν . . . τα σκευη
οργης αυτου |
Lord . . . brought out his vessels of wrath |
|
Rom 9:22 |
ο θεος . . . ηνεγκεν . . . σκευη
οργης |
God . . . produced . . . vessels of wrath |
On
the basis of this intertextual reference, one could understand Rom 9:22 as referring
to God “carrying” or “conveying” the vessels, which would conform closely to
the sense in the source passage. But Paul has altered Jeremiah’s “bring out” by
removing the prefix from the verb, which facilitates another meaning of the
verb φερω better suited to the context of the formation
of clay vessels: “produced” or “formed.” This reading makes significantly more
sense in the context of the metaphor, as it represents the potter showing “much
patience” in the process of producing vessels of wrath. That is, rather
than passively waiting and enduring the clay, the potter is actively and
patiently involved in the process of trying to change the clay’s shape. An
active reading of God’s patient formation of the clay also corresponds nicely
with Paul’s arguments about God’s justice elsewhere in Romans, where he has
already declared that God’s “patience” is intended to lead to repentance. (Rom
2:4).
This
understanding of divine patience in the process of the formation of these vessels
helps shed light on the nuance of the final part of that clause, the phrase
typically translated “made/prepared (καταριζω) for destruction”
and interpreted as though it “expresses a nuance of predestination (damnation).”
But if Paul intended to communicate that the potter had planned all along to
make these vessels for destruction, it is curious that he uses a word that does
not carry a nuance of predestination or planning, especially since he does just
that in the parallel clause in verse 23, where the “vessels of mercy” are “prepared
beforehand” (προητοιμσσεν). In contrast to
the προ-prefix in verse 23, which clearly establishes
a prospective sense, the κατα-prefix of καταριζω denotes
the “completion of the action of a verbal idea.” In keeping with this sense, καταριζω typically
means something closer to “mend,” “repair,” or “make good,” including every
other Pauline occurrence, which as his exhortation that those who are spiritual
“restore” anyone caught in trespass (Gal 6:1) or his desire to “fix” what is
lacking in the faith of the Thessalonians (1 Thess 3:10).
Elsewhere
in the New Testament, καταριζω is the term used to denote the
disciples “fixing” their nets (Mark 1:19), a disciple becoming “fully trained”
(Luke 6:40), and the final work of God to “establish” those who have “suffered
for a little while” (1 Pet 5:10) or “equip” believers to do his will (Heb
13:21). The same nuances of restoration or repair emerge in other Greek
corpora, including in the Septuagint and later Christian writings, and the
Latin translation of Rom 9:22 (aptata) carries the same nuance of adjustment
or adaptation, suggesting the ancient translator understood the Greek term in
this sense. In contrast to the “vessels of mercy,” which have been shaped in
accord with that was planned beforehand, the “vessels of wrath" have been
patiently “fixed.” One set of vessels is prepared, the other is repaired.
(Jason A. Staples, Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former
Gentiles, Israelites [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024], 194-97)
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