https://youtu.be/LL8hJiySKm0
In our study of Romans we are in Rom 9:21; in the second phrase at the Greek word for "mixture" that is translated "lump" in the English translations.
Every English translation I've looked at translates the Greek word for mixture as "lump" as in "lump of clay."
We have the prepositional phrase "ek tou autou phurama," that is translated "from the same mixture."
The potter comes before the pot. To mix and to mold and to manufacture takes something more than being manufactured because it takes more to make something than it does to be what is made.
With this is the aorist active infinitive of the verb "poieo" (make) or to manufacture. The constantive aorist tense describes action that is extended over a period of time.
The constantive aorist tense describes the action of the verb from beginning to end so the entire history of the biological human race from the creation of Adam to the Great White Throne Judgment is in view.
The active voice: God produces the action of the verb by creating the soul of mankind where free will and self-determination reside making mankind free agents.
The infinitive is the infinitive of intended result. When the result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate objective in the creation of man it becomes a blending of purpose and result.
"Phurama" (mixture) indicates what all members of the human race have in common. We all came from the same mixture of clay. We all have a body that is the home for the soul. A pot is a container or vessel that represents the body that is a container or vessel.
The body contains the soul, and the soul determines whether you are a pot of honor or a pot of dishonor. A person's honor or dishonor comes from their own self-determination.
That explains that God puts volition into each pot, and each pot determines from his own free volition whether he is a pot of honor or a pot of dishonor.
Next we have classical Greek for comparison, "ho men, ho de" (on the one hand, on the other hand). This is composed of the nominative masculine singular from the definite article, meaning "the one," and the second time the definite article occurs it means "the other" so it means the one vessel or the other.
With this is the nominative singular subject of "skeuos" (vessel or container) with the prepositional phrase for the first category, "eis timh" (for honor or the purpose of honor).
"Eis" is used to make a purpose clause so we have "on the one hand a vessel "eis timh" for the purpose of honor, on the other hand another "eis atimia"(for the purpose of dishonor).
Expanded Translation Rom 9:21; "Or does not the potter possess authority over the clay, from the same mixture to make on the one hand a vessel for the purpose of honor, and on the other hand another for the purpose of dishonor?"
Paul is asking if God wants to make a pot of honor and a pot of dishonor from the same mixture or lump of clay, does He have the right to do so? The answer is yes. But that is not really the issue it only sets up a way to address the real issue.
The real issue is free will, not what right God has. God has the authority to do it but that isn't the issue. The issue is, do the individual vessels recognize God's authority and then because of that make decisions that comply with God's authority?
We see this question exact question being posed in our country today. The conservatives for the most part believe that God has authority and they generally try to make decisions that comply with God's authority and the leftists do not.
This is not the only passage where the analogy of vessels is used. In Acts 9:15; we have the doctrine of election related to a vessel. The word translated "instrument" in the NASB is the Greek word "skeuos" in Rom 9:21;
The word "vessel" always refers to a container so it refers to capacity. The container is empty until it is filled that means vessel is a grace concept.
Once Paul was filled with God's Word of Truth that he properly understood he became a very powerful and unique representative of Jesus Christ. Before that he was a huge enemy of Jesus Christ and the church. Acts 26:14-18;
We have seen the analogy of vessels used extensively in Romans 9 we also see vessels used in connection with mankind's capacity to function properly in God's plan.
In 2 Cor 4:7; with the words "we have this treasure in clay vessels" we see vessels used to provide an analogy between Bible doctrine resident in the soul that for the mature believers' capacity for life.
The greatest of all treasures is God's Word of Truth resident in the soul and when the soul contains this information there is great capacity for life.
In 2Tim 2:20,21; vessels are used to set up a contrast between the believer who is mature and the believer who is in reversionism.
In Proverbs 25:4 God is the smith and the believer is described as a vessel of the pure silver with the phrase " there comes out a vessel for the smith."
Broken vessels are used to describe personal judgment from God. For example, when David was in reversionism (Psa 31:12) he wrote: "I am forgotten as a dead man; I am out of mind; I am like a broken vessel."
In other words, he felt completely and totally deserted, which is what happens under God's intensive discipline.
In Jer 22:28; king Coniah was a reversionist" "Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot? Or is he an undesirable vessel? Why has he and his descendants been cast out and thrown into a land they did not know?"
They were taken into captivity because they were shattered vessels.
A shattered vessel can't contain anything it so is no longer a useful container. Shattered vessel means you had every opportunity to learn doctrine, to be filled up with doctrine, and to have more doctrine than you've ever had before. But once you are shattered you do not have capacity to hold anything so you are on the way the last stage of the sin unto death.
Apostate communicators of doctrine can also be reversionistic so they are described that way in Jer 25:34; "Wail, you shepherds, and cry; wallow in ashes" - this is an emotionally unstable person who is trying to rebound by wallowing in ashes "you masters of the flock; for the day of your slaughter and your dispersion has come, and you will be thrown down and shattered like a precious vessel that is broken."
Shattered vessel is a description of personal discipline from God. It usually indicates proximity to the sin unto death that is the last stage of discipline for reversionism.
The shattered vessel is also used for the fifth cycle of discipline. The northern kingdom - Hosea 8:8; "Israel is swallowed up; they are now among the nations like a vessel in which no one delights (because it can't hold anything).
In Jer 51:34; the southern kingdom is described in their 5th cycle of discipline as an empty vessel, In Psa 2:9; the Gentile nations in the Tribulation are described as being like a shattered vessel.
These references demonstrate the fact that this is not an isolated analogy. It was easily understood because one of the most common types of furniture in the ancient world was an earthen vessel, container, or pot because in the ancient world they were used to store everything.
The lump of clay is where human volition and human self-determination are stored. The lump of clay describes the body that contains the self-determination of the soul.
So what Paul is describing with his vessel analogy is God's justice that imputes eternal life and God's judicial righteousness to positive volition in the intact lump of clay and at the same time imputing condemnation, punishment, and wrath to the negative volition in the shattered lump of clay.
The descendants of Abraham, Isaac And Jacob can only become true Jews by believing in Jesus Christ. So all Israel is not really Israel.
There is no way for the physical descendants of Abraham to be vessels of honor on their own. To be a vessel of honor he must from his own free will believe in Jesus Christ who is the Shekinah glory, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Therefore in this context a vessel of honor is the Jew who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, while the vessel of dishonor is the Jew who has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore God's justice can only condemn the one who has rejected Jesus Christ. The issue is not what we do; the issue is what Christ has done for us on the cross. Therefore believing in the Lord Jesus Christ becomes the issue.
The lump being honorable or dishonorable refers to the free will choice of mankind to believe in Christ or to reject Christ. Man is free to go either way.
The vessel of dishonor, then, is the unbeliever; the vessel of honor is the believer in Christ who possesses imputation of God's judicial righteousness that is the predicate for honor.
Therefore the honor results from possessing eternal life and God's imputed judicial righteousness and depending on God's righteousness, while dishonor results from possessing spiritual death and depending on one's own self righteousness.
God is free to bless the vessel of honor that has God's judicial righteousness, and likewise God is free to judge the vessel of dishonor that only has human self-righteousness.
This verse answers the question posed in the previous verse, "Why have you made me like this?" The answer is found in the concept that the lump of clay is human volition that is free will and self-determination. All people are created with free will.
Man is a free agent. He can function under his own self-determination for better or for worse. This is a part of the angelic conflict and it is the reason why man was created. God permits mankind to use his own free will to determine the issue of whether he is going to be a vessel of honor or dishonor.
In this context from the same function of human volition a vessel of honor and a vessel of dishonor is established. One person is a vessel of honor because of what God does for him at salvation and thereafter.
Another person is the vessel of dishonor because God's justice must condemn him. For the unbeliever this means rejection of Jesus Christ as savior.
After salvation for the believer it also means rejection of God's Word of Truth that leads to reversionism.
That means that honor or dishonor is not a behavior pattern. It is not complying with some system of morality. It is not a system of self-improvement. It is an attitude, first toward the person of Jesus Christ the living Word and then toward the thinking of Jesus Christ that is the Bible doctrine contained in God's written Word of Truth.
The believer is a vessel of honor because of what God does for him while the unbeliever is a vessel of dishonor because of what he is doing for himself. The unbeliever superimposes his volition over the sovereignty of God; he substitutes his own self-righteousness for God's righteousness.
God is therefore just and righteous in molding the believer into a vessel of honor and the unbeliever into a vessel of dishonor. A believer's failure in sinfulness, human good, and evil, does not detract from what God has done for him.
God's omniscience knew in eternity past who would accept and who would say reject the gospel, who would be positive toward doctrine and who would be negative. When this information was fed into God's decree it was broken down into many different categories for the printout.
For the one who believes in Jesus Christ the printout includes election, foreknowledge, predestination or foreordination. For the unbeliever the printout includes condemnation, judgment, and wrath.
The emphasis on the lump of clay is always self-determination from volitional free will so that the vessels of dishonor are actually molded by their own free volition.
The vessels of honor are the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The honor comes from the fact that God gives the believer 40 things at salvation, including God's judicial righteousness and eternal life. With God's judicial righteousness and eternal life there is a potential for blessing for time and eternity from positive volition to God's Word of Truth after salvation.
The vessel of honor is designed by God's grace the fulfill God's the royal family honor code, to advance to spiritual maturity, and to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in the tactical victory of the angelic conflict.
The vessel of dishonor is the unbeliever who makes negative decisions. He is negative at God consciousness or negative at gospel hearing. This means that he substitutes his own self-righteousness for God's judicial righteousness and the substitution of eternal condemnation for eternal life with God because he chooses his own righteousness and spiritual death.
Therefore there is no conflict between the function of God's sovereignty and the function of free human volition. For human volition is the lump of clay. Human volition in mankind is the factor in resolving the angelic conflict. Conflict between God and man only exists is when man rejects God's authority.