Isa 45:9, Rom 9:20-21 | Geneva | STEP | {l} Woe to him that contendeth with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [contend] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, {m} He hath no hands? (l) By this he bridles their impatience, who in adversity and trouble murmur against God, and will not tarry his pleasure: willing that man would match with his like, and not contend against God. (m) That is, it is not perfectly made.

‏ Isaiah 45:9

{l} Woe to him that contendeth with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [contend] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, {m} He hath no hands?

(l) By this he bridles their impatience, who in adversity and trouble murmur against God, and will not tarry his pleasure: willing that man would match with his like, and not contend against God. (m) That is, it is not perfectly made.

‏ Romans 9:20-21

{17} Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? {18} Shall the thing {u} formed say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made me thus?

(17) The apostle does not answer that it is not God's will, or that God does not either reject or elect according to his pleasure, which thing the wicked call blasphemy, but he rather grants his adversary both the antecedents, that is, that it is God's will, and that is must of necessity so happen, yet he denies that God is therefore to be thought an unjust avenger of the wicked: for seeing that it appears by manifest proof that this is the will of God, and his doing, what impudency is it for man, who is but dust and ashes, to dispute with God, and as it were to call him into judgment? Now if any man say that the doubt is not so dissolved and answered, I answer, that there is no surer demonstration in any matter, because it is grounded upon this principle, that the will of God is the rule of righteousness. (18) An amplification of the former answer, taken from a comparison, by which it also appears that God's determinate counsel is set by Paul as the highest of all causes: so that it depends not in any way on the second causes, but rather shapes and directs them. (u) This similitude agrees very properly to the first creation of mankind. {19} Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one {20} vessel unto {x} honour, and another unto {21} dishonour?

(19) Alluding to the creation of Adam, he compares mankind not yet made (but who are in the creators mind) to a lump of clay: who afterwards God made, and daily makes, according as he purposed from everlasting, both such as should be elect, and such as should be reprobate, as also this word "make" declares. (20) Whereas in the objection propounded, mention was only made of vessels to dishonour, yet he speaks of the others also in this answer, because he proves the Creator to be just in either of them. (x) To honest uses. (21) Seeing then, that in the name of dishonour the shame of everlasting death is signified, those agree with Paul, who say that some are made by God for most just destruction: and they that are offended with this kind of speech betray their own folly.