PREDESTINATION

 

 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

 

  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

 

  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

 

  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

 

  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

 

  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

 

  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

 

  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

 

  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

 

  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

 

  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

 

  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:

 

  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

 

  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?  Romans 9:11-24

 

 

“This comparison of the Lord with a potter and a man with the clay is not just a chance literary analogy.  It is based on the fact that God created man and formed his body out of the clay.  This idea occurs twice in Job.  “Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?” (10:9); and “Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay.” (33:6). . . .

 

"That God makes man as a potter makes a bowl out of clay is not an illustration—it is a fact.  Taking this fact and this comparison from these passages, Paul answers the objection against God’s Sovereign disposal of all human beings by saying,

 

“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God. Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?

 

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor?"

 

“Since God is the Creator he cannot be unjust.  He creates whatever objects, things, or persons he pleases.  If he had wanted elephants with two legs and robins with four legs, he would have created them so.  Created as they are, they have no ground for complaint.  To understand the Bible, one must realize that God is the Sovereign Creator.  There is no law superior to him that commands, thou shalt not create elephants with two legs, or thou shalt not hate Esau.”

 

Gordon H. Clark, BIBLICAL PREDESTINATION, Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing, 1976, page 81.

 

 

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.  Revelation 4:11

 

“The determination of the existence of all things to be created, or what is to be camellia or buttercup, nightingale or crow, hart or swine, and equally among men, the determination of our own persons, whether one is to be born as boy or girl, rich or poor, dull or clever, white or colored or even as Abel and Cain, is the most tremendous predestination conceivable in heaven or on earth; and still we see it taking place before our eyes every day, and we ourselves are subject to it in our entire personality; our entire existence, our very nature, our position in life being entirely dependent on it.

 

“This all-embracing predestination, the Calvinist places, not in the hands of man, and still less in the hand of blind natural force, but in the hand of Almighty God, Sovereign Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth; and it is in the figure of the potter and the clay that Scripture has from the time of the prophets expounded to us this all-dominating election.

 

“Election in creation, election in providence, and so election also to eternal life; election in the realm of grace as well as in the realm of nature.”

 

Abraham Kuyper, quoted by Loraine Boettner in THE REFORMED DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co: Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 1981) page 17.