14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses:
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”16 So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?
22 What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? 23 What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory— 24 including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?
REFLECTIONS
Written by Gus Cameron
This passage helps us reflect on one of the most confronting aspects of our faith. It’s a question that has been asked at every Jesus Course and it is something you have probably asked as well: “Is God unjust to choose to save some people and not others?”
Here’s some comfort: This passage shows us that it is a question that was being asked at the very beginning of Christianity, and it’s a question that the Bible is not afraid to ask. It’s an important question that takes us to the very heart of God and our relationship with him.
In today’s section, Paul helps us to think about God’s mercy in two ways. First, he shows that it makes no sense to say that God is “unfair” in showing mercy. God has mercy on people who do not deserve mercy. That is the definition of mercy. If we deserved God’s mercy, it would not be mercy! God is not, and cannot, be unfair in showing mercy to anyone. What’s “fair” for every single person is to be condemned by God. The book of Exodus shows that even when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart against God.
So Paul reminds us that we are like clay in the hands of a potter. God is the creator, so he full authority to make and act and plan whatever he chooses. We are his creations; we cannot turn back and call him unjust. As creator God is right to do whatever he chooses.
Secondly, Paul reminds us that God’s mercy shows us his glory. God’s mercy should make us stop in amazement. The best response to our questions about God’s justice is to reflect on Jesus and his death for us on the cross, because there we see God’s mercy and justice come together. There God’s character shines so brightly, his good, righteous, merciful character. The infinite, holy, awesome creator of the universe chose to suffer hell for us, in the person of his Son on the cross, out of love for a sinful world. Even if we can’t fully understand his ways, it’s not that God doesn’t care.
I think I forget just how incredible God’s mercy is. I deserve nothing from God. More than that, I deserve his wrath. But he is merciful. We will find both mercy and justice nowhere else but in Jesus. Give thanks to God for his mercy poured out on the world, and poured out on us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gus is our Senior Assistant Minister with our Fairfield congregations.