Calvinist Proof-Texts Answered
“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction?” (Romans 9:22)
Does God
Personally Fit Vessels for Destruction?
“….if the divine Being has patiently bore with those objects
of his displeasure, that had been working out their own destruction, why
may he not reveal himself to make them feel his vindictive power?” (Rom. 9:22;
Daniel Mace New Testament)
“And what will you do if God, although ready to vent his
righteous anger and execute his power upon those who have made themselves
liable for judgment, puts up with them only for a while longer?” (Living
Water Translation)
Commentary: The passage contradicts Calvinist
ideology. Why would God “suffer long” people He allegedly predestined to
destruction? Greek scholar W. E. Vines writes, “…. ‘fitted’ is in the Middle
Voice, indicating that the vessels of wrath fitted themselves for
‘destruction.’” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words,
pp. 303-304). Stephen Davies also writes,
“In the ninth chapter of the Romans, St. Paul draws a broad line of
demarcation, which is much more obvious in the original than can be made in a
translation.... In these words the apostle assures us that the vessels of wrath
‘fit themselves;’ for the term is in the middle voice, and besides cannot agree
with the word ‘God,’ either in number or gender; (He does not,
therefore, fit them)” (On the Nature of Divine Agency in Reference to the
Inspiration of the Scriptures, p. 172).
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