Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
All Commentaries on Romans 9:21 Go To Romans 9
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
As long as you are a potter’s vessel, you must first be broken by the iron rod of which it was said: “You will rule them with a rod of iron, and you will break them as a potter’s vessel.” Then, when the outer man is destroyed and the inner man is renewed, you will be able, rooted and grounded in love, to understand what is the length and breadth and height and depth, to know even the overwhelming knowledge of the love of God. So because from the same lump of clay God has made some vessels for noble use and others for ignoble, it is not for you, whoever you are who still lives according to this lump (that is, who are wise by the standards of earthly sense and the flesh), to dispute what God has decreed.
