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One of the most frustrating things about the Bible is that it often does not directly answer the questions we put to it. For example, Romans 9.19-29 explicitly asks how humans can be morally responsible for actions God willed them to do. Instead of just answering the question, Paul asks a challenging question of his own. 

Here’s what Paul writes in Romans 9.19-21: 

One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 

Keep in mind the context of these remarks.

First, Paul is trying to make theological sense of why God’s Chosen People rejected Jesus Christ. He is quite sure that it is not because of failure on God’s part. As he puts it in Romans 9.6, “It is not as though God’s word had failed.”

Second, in verses 7-13, he points out that grace, not race, is the foundation of God’s promise of salvation.

Third, according to verses 14-18, God utilizes people in order to accomplish his salvation plan. For example, he uses Moses positively but Pharaoh negatively. In the words of verse 18, “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens those he wants to harden.” 

Paul’s line of reasoning in verses 6-18 brings up the very good question in verse 19: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” Why are we morally responsible for our actions if God has mercy on some but hardens others? This is the age-old debate over predestination and free will. 

Unfortunately for us, Paul does not directly settle this debate. Instead, he challenges our right to ask the question. Lumps of clay do not talk back to the potter, after all. The potter gets to choose whether he’s going to make a Ming vase or a chamber pot. In the great drama of salvation, God gets to choose Moses for one role and Pharaoh for another. 

Now, Paul’s answer is pretty strong medicine. It basically says, “God is God. You’re not. So quit challenging his authority!” And that is the basic spiritual issue. Do we submit to God’s authority or not? Ever since Adam and Eve, we haven’t simply obeyed God. We’ve challenged God. So, when Paul sniffs out a challenge to God’s authority in the question about God’s will and human responsibility, he asserts the primacy of God’s will in very strong terms. 

Does this mean, then, that God predestines some people for heaven and others for hell? No. If God hardened innocent people’s hearts, then he would be acting unjustly. But since the fall, there are no innocent people. If God chooses guilty Moses to accomplish his plan one way and guilty Pharaoh to accomplish his plan another way, who’s to complain?