The Potter and the Clay (Rom. 9:21)
Calvinism teaches that God purposely makes people exactly as they are, whether vessels of honor or vessels of dishonor. God is the potter, and we are the clay. And if God wants to make some people to be vessels of dishonor, who are we to question him. In fact, Calvin proudly taught that these people were “doomed from the womb.” They never even had a chance to be vessel of honor because God intentionally decreed from eternity past that they would be vessels of dishonor.
The passage often used to “prove” this is Romans 9:21, where Paul says:
“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).
Calvinists assert this passage teaches that God decreed from eternity past that some people would be faithful vessels of honor, and that others would be vessels of dishonor. It’s all God’s doing. God is the potter, and we are the clay.
Are Calvinists right about this interpretation?
To start with, context is key to understanding this passage (Rom 9:21). When Paul wrote this passage, most Jews believed they were God’s people simply because they were Jews. And Paul blasts this notion out of the water by pointing out that God doesn’t choose people based on ancestry or bloodline. Rather, he chooses people based on their faithfulness to God and his Messiah. Paul’s point was essentially this: “You Jews can’t claim to be God’s people if you reject Jesus because God sent Jesus. They are on the same side.”
Calvinists are correct that God is sovereign and chooses who will be his people; but who does God sovereignly choose to be his people? Does God choose people based on their lineage or bloodline, like the Jews of Paul’s day thought? Or does God choose people arbitrarily based on nothing they’ve done, as Calvinists claim? Neither! God chooses the faithful, whether Jew or Gentile. That’s who God has sovereignly chosen to be his people: the faithful…those who put their faith in God and his Messiah.
Furthermore, it’s up to each person whether he will be faithful to God or not. In other words, it’s up to each person whether he will be a vessel of honor…or a vessel of dishonor. In fact, Paul said exactly that:
“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:20).
Paul says that anyone can be a vessel of honor by cleansing himself. And how does someone cleanse himself? By putting his faith in Christ and repenting of his sin (Acts 16:30-31, Acts 2:37-38). That’s how someone becomes a vessel of honor.
Keep in mind, God does not expect us to do this in our own power; God helps us. As Paul famously said in 1 Cor 10:13:
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
God empowers the faithful to turn from their sins and be vessels of honor! One must simply choose to be faithful.
God echoed this in the book of Jeremiah:
“‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter so are you in my hand, Israel. The instant I speak concerning a nation or kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it” (Jer. 18:6-10).
As this passage teaches, God is the Potter and people are the clay. And the sovereign Potter has chosen to bless the faithful and punish the wicked. That’s how God sovereignly chose to set up the world. If a nation puts his faith in God, then God will make it a vessel for honor. And if a nation rejects God, then God will make it a vessel of dishonor. Either way, God will use that vessel to further his kingdom. That’s how the sovereign God has chosen to do things.
So nobody is doomed from the womb, as Calvin taught. And nobody has ever been decreed from eternity past to be a vessel of dishonor. The Calvinist view is based on determinism/fatalism that was smuggled into the church by Augustine[1] in the fourth century.
Scripture, on the other hand, clearly teaches that anyone can be a vessel of honor or dishonor!
By Alex Polyak, founder of Answering Calvinism, 9/27/25.
[1] Calvin derived his deterministic views from Augustine, who had initially embraced Manichaeism for nearly ten years before returning to Catholicism. Manichaeism’s deterministic beliefs are rooted in its dualistic cosmology, which posits that the struggle between light and darkness is a natural and predetermined process. This belief system suggests that individuals are pre-determined by the good god to be either elect or damned, independent of human choice.