Romans 9:20 (The Premise): The top header notes that Romans 9:20 quotes one of these Old Testament passages (“But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”‘”).
Isaiah 29:16: Described as “The one Paul quotes. The clay denies its maker sees.” In context, this verse rebukes those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, acting as if the clay has more knowledge than the potter.
Isaiah 45:9: Described as “God frees a Gentile. Cyrus, for Israel’s rescue.” This passage warns against arguing with one’s Creator, set against the backdrop of God sovereignly choosing Cyrus (a pagan king) to liberate Israel.
2 Timothy 2:21: Described as “Paul’s own potter. The vessel purges itself.” This verse emphasizes human responsibility, stating that if a person cleanses themselves from dishonorable things, they will become a vessel instrument for noble purposes.
Jeremiah 18: Described as “Marred and remade. He relents when the nation turns.” This passage shows that the potter reshapes the clay based on its response, illustrating that God alters His planned judgment if a nation repents.
Isaiah 64:8: Described as “The clay calls him Father, asks mercy, and is heard.” A communal prayer of confession acknowledging God as the potter and Father, pleading for Him not to remain angry forever.
Job 10:9: Described as “The clay pleads its case. Job is called blameless.” Job remembers that God molded him like clay and questions why he is facing such intense, seemingly unprovoked suffering.
I checked. Every one of them.
Paul did not invent the potter in Romans 9. He quoted it. Five words straight from Isaiah 29:16.
Isaiah 29
The clay there is hiding its works and saying:
“Who seeth us?” — Isaiah 29:15
Paul is answering a man who ducked behind God’s power to escape his own guilt.
Then read the rest.
Jeremiah 18
The vessel is marred and remade, and God says why:
“If that nation… turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil.” — Jeremiah 18:8
Isaiah 64
The clay calls the potter Father and asks mercy.
It is not rebuked.
Paul’s Own Potter — 2 Timothy 2
How does a vessel become a vessel of honour?
“If a man therefore purge himself.” — 2 Timothy 2:21
Every potter in Scripture relents, frees, listens, or is purged by the man himself.
Not one shapes a vessel for the fire and gives the clay no say.
Not even Paul’s.
And a Helpful Resource on the Potter-and-Clay Metaphor (HERE)
Israel Steinmetz’s article, “Salvation by Design or Determination? Re-examining the Potter-and-Clay Metaphor,” takes a fresh look at Romans 9 by asking an important question: What did Paul mean by the potter-and-clay imagery, and where did that imagery come from? Steinmetz argues that Paul was not inventing a new metaphor but drawing heavily from the Old Testament, particularly Isaiah 29, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 64, and Jeremiah 18.
One of the article’s strongest points is its treatment of Isaiah 29:16, the passage behind Paul’s statement in Romans 9:20. Isaiah 29 is not presenting clay as an utterly passive object with no moral responsibility. The surrounding context concerns people attempting to hide their works from God and questioning God’s knowledge of them. The passage ultimately moves toward repentance and restoration. Steinmetz therefore argues that the potter-and-clay metaphor emphasizes God’s design and authority, but not the deterministic conclusion that God unconditionally determines the eternal destiny of passive individuals.
The discussion of Jeremiah 18 is even more explicit. God sends Jeremiah to watch a potter reshape a marred vessel and then applies the illustration to Israel. God says that if a nation turns from its evil, He will relent concerning the judgment He announced; likewise, if a nation turns to evil, He will reconsider the good He had intended for it. Steinmetz sees this as demonstrating that the biblical potter metaphor involves a dynamic relationship between God and His creatures, rather than a picture of God mechanically determining an unchangeable outcome.
Steinmetz also brings the discussion back to Paul himself, pointing to 2 Timothy 2:20–21, where Paul describes vessels and then says that the person who cleanses himself becomes “an instrument for special purposes.” This reinforces the article’s larger argument: when the Old Testament background and Paul’s own usage are considered together, the potter-and-clay imagery does not require the Calvinistic concept of human beings as passive clay whose eternal destinies are unconditionally determined by God.
The article ultimately argues that “the point of the potter-and-clay metaphor is design, not determination.” That’s particularly relevant to the argument in this post because it challenges the assumption that Romans 9 can be interpreted independently of the Old Testament passages Paul is invoking.
Recommended reading: Israel Steinmetz, “Salvation by Design or Determination? Re-examining the Potter-and-Clay Metaphor,” Firebrand Magazine, August 13, 2024.
And one more article to drive the point home:
Charles Edward White’s “Does God Call All the Shots?” challenges the Calvinist interpretation of Romans 9 by arguing that Paul’s discussion must be understood within the larger context of Romans 9–11 and the Old Testament passages Paul draws upon. White argues that Romans 9 is primarily dealing with God’s purposes concerning Israel, the Gentiles, faith, and unbelief—not teaching that God unconditionally determines the eternal destiny of every individual.
White also examines Paul’s use of Jacob and Esau, Pharaoh, and the potter-and-clay imagery. His treatment of the potter is particularly relevant here. He argues that the Old Testament passages behind Romans 9—including Isaiah 29, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 64, and Jeremiah 18—do not portray human beings as passive lumps of clay whose eternal destinies are unconditionally determined by God. Instead, they repeatedly portray God as sovereign while also responding to human actions. White even points to Paul’s own use of vessel imagery in 2 Timothy 2:21, where a person becomes a vessel for honorable use by cleansing himself.
White’s argument therefore provides a direct challenge to the common Calvinist assumption that Romans 9’s potter-and-clay imagery necessarily teaches exhaustive divine determinism. His larger point is that God’s sovereignty does not require human beings to be passive or morally irrelevant participants in His dealings with them.