To this purpose, etc. . .Not that God made him on purpose that he should sin, and so be damned; but foreseeing his obstinacy in sin, and the abuse of his own free will, he raised him up to be a mighty king, to make a more remarkable example of him: and that his power might be better known, and his justice in punishing him, published throughout the earth.
9:18. Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will. And whom he will, he hardeneth.
He hardeneth. . .Not by being the cause or author of his sin, but by withholding his grace, and so leaving him in his sin, in punishment of his past demerits.
9:19. Thou wilt say therefore to me: Why doth he then find fault? For who resisteth his will?
9:20. 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?
9:21. Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour?
The potter. . .This similitude is used only to shew that we are not to dispute with our Maker, nor to reason with him why he does not give as much grace to one as to another; for since the whole lump of our clay is vitiated by sin, it is owing to his goodness and mercy, that he makes out of it so many vessels of honor; and it is no more than just, that others, in punishment of their unrepented sins, should be given up to be vessels of dishonor.
9:22. What if God, willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction,
9:23. That he might shew the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared unto glory?
9:24. Even us, whom also he hath called, not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles.