Romans 9:22-23 Romans 9:22-Because God Chooses To Demonstrate His Wrath And Power, He Endured With Much Patience Vessels Of Wrath In Romans 9:22, the apostle Paul advances and intensifies his discussion of God s sovereignty over Israel, which he illustrates in Romans 9:20-21 with the potter-clay motif. In verses 22-23, Paul teaches that because God does choose to demonstrate His wrath and to make known His power, He endured with much patience unsaved Israel in his day, i.e. objects of wrath and did so in order to make known the riches of His glory upon the regenerate, i.e. objects of mercy. Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? What does not translate a word in the Greek text but is added by the translators in an attempt to convey in English the idiom in the Greek. However, it is not needed since the force of the conditional particle ei and the responsive first class condition is if-and let us assume for the sake of argument that This indicates that the response to Paul s protasis by his Christian readership would be obvious that of course, God endures with much patience the unsaved Israelites of Paul s day because He does choose to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power! He is not attempting to prove that his protasis is true rather he is saying with the first class condition that we agree that this is true! Not translated is the emphatic use of the post-positive conjunction de (dev), which introduces a first class conditional statement that is not only presenting information in addition to the potter-clay analogy in Romans 9:20-21 but is also advancing upon this analogy and intensifying it. It not only is introducing a statement that presents the application of the analogy, which illustrates the sovereignty of God but also is advancing and intensifying the discussion of God s sovereignty over His creatures and in particular Israel. In Romans 9:20-21, Paul responds to the rhetorical questions he presented in Romans 9:19 by implicitly rebuking the attitude of those who would pose these questions and would thus presume to judge the ways of their Creator. He poses the rhetorical questions that appear in verse 19 since he anticipates one of his readers calling into question his teaching in verses 14-18 in which he demonstrates that God is never unrighteous because He is sovereign and can be merciful and compassionate to whomever He desires. In Romans 9:14, Paul emphatically declares that there is never any unrighteousness with respect to God s judgment in rejecting unregenerate Israel in his day and accepting those Jews who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Also, in 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1
this passage he indicates that there is never any unrighteousness in God s judgment with respect to His dealings in the past when He chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau to be members of His covenant people. Romans 9:14, Therefore, what is the conclusion that we are forced to? There is, as an eternal spiritual truth no unrighteousness with respect to the judgment of God (the Father), is there? Absolutely not! In Romans 9:15, Paul supports this argument by presenting the basis for his statement in Romans 9:14 that God is never unfair because He is sovereign and can be merciful and compassionate to whomever He desires. In Paul s day, God rejected unsaved Israel and accepted those Jews who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ because He is sovereign to do so. Romans 9:15, Because, He says to Moses, I will be gracious to whomever I choose to be gracious to and in addition I will be merciful to whomever I choose to be merciful to. Then, in Romans 9:16, Paul teaches that experiencing God s grace and mercy and thus eternal salvation is never dependent upon human desire or effort but rather it is based upon God s grace policy. If God didn t first choose to be gracious and merciful to sinners, then none would experience His grace and mercy. Romans 9:16, Therefore in fact, it is never, as an eternal spiritual truth, dependent upon human desire or dependent upon human effort but rather dependent upon the One who is gracious, who is God. So in Romans 9:15-16, Paul views God s sovereignty and righteousness from the positive side in that He has every right to extend grace to those who exercise faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Then, in Romans 9:17, he views God s sovereignty and righteousness from the negative side to further illustrate why God is never unfair for rejecting those in Paul s day who rejected Jesus Christ as Savior as well for rejecting Ishmael and Esau. Romans 9:17, In fact, the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose, I raised you up in order that I myself may demonstrate My power through you and in addition that the reputation of the character and work of my Person may be proclaimed publicly everywhere throughout the entire earth. Romans 9:17-18 parallels Romans 9:15-16. The emphasis in these verses is to demonstrate that God is not unrighteousness in His dealings with Israel in Paul s day or with Ishmael and Esau since Paul is answering further the rhetorical question in Romans 9:14. Paul uses God s sovereignty, grace and mercy to demonstrate this principle. In Romans 9:17, Paul cites Exodus 9:16, which records God s confrontation with the unregenerate Pharaoh of Egypt to illustrate further his statements in 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2
Romans 9:14-17 that God is never unfair. This is substantiated by Paul s statement in Romans 9:18 that God exercises grace to whomever He chooses to extend grace to and hardens whomever He chooses to harden as a result of their unbelief. Consequently, Romans 9:17-18 present the second reason as to why God is never unjust. In these verses, Paul wants his readers to see the relationship that exists between God s dealings with Pharaoh and His dealings with unregenerate Israel in his day. In the same way that God was glorified among the Gentiles through Pharaoh s disobedience in the past so in the same way in Paul s day God was being glorified among the Gentiles through the nation of Israel s disobedience to his gospel. In Romans 9:18, Paul summarizes his teaching in Romans 9:14-17 by reminding his readers that God extends grace to whomever He chooses to extend mercy to and He hardens whomever He chooses to harden. Romans 9:18, Therefore, in fact He, as an eternal spiritual truth, does extend grace to whomever He does choose however on the other hand, He, as an eternal spiritual truth, does harden whomever He does choose. Those whom He extends grace to are those sinners who appropriate His grace by exercising faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and those whom He hardens are those sinners who fail to appropriate His grace by rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior. This is indicated by Paul s teaching in the first eight chapters of the book of Romans and Romans 10. Thus, God is never unrighteousness in His dealings with sinners as Paul argues in Romans 9:14 and if so then He was certainly not unrighteousness when rejecting the nation of Israel for rejecting His Son Jesus Christ as Savior. Neither is He unrighteous or unjust in exercising His wrath towards unregenerate Israel, nor is He unrighteous or unjust for exercising grace in the form of the forgiveness of sins towards those who Jews who accept His Son as Savior. In Romans 9:19, Paul addresses those who would contend with him by posing the rhetorical question as to why does God still find fault with those who reject Him since who can ever resist His sovereign will. Romans 9:19, In reply, you will contend with me, Why does He, as an eternal spiritual truth, still find fault? For who does, as an eternal spiritual truth, resist His will? No one can resist the sovereign will of God since in His omniscience He has figured into His plan in eternity past every decision that members of the human race will make during the course of their lifetimes, even those decisions to accept or reject Jesus Christ as Savior. Therefore, no one can resist the sovereign will of God since in relation to the divine decree God decided in eternity past, from His 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3
attribute of sovereignty that each and every decision to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as Savior would take place. No one can resist the sovereign will of God since each and every positive and negative that a person would make during the course of their lifetime was a part of God s sovereign will that is based upon His omniscient knowledge of all the facts concerning what will take place in the future. No one can resist the sovereign will of God since the Lord from His omniscience looked down the corridors of time and decreed to take place each and every positive and negative decision that a person would make during the course of his lifetime including those decisions to either accept or reject Christ as Savior. In Romans 9:20, Paul responds to the rhetorical questions he presented in Romans 9:19 by implicitly rebuking the attitude of those who would pose these questions and would thus presume to judge the ways of their Creator. Romans 9:20, In fact, on the contrary, who are you-a mere human beingto contradict God? The object formed will not contend with the one who forms the object, Why did you make like this? No sinner has a right to call into question, God s decision to extend grace to whoever He chooses to and harden those whom He chooses to harden since no one has any merit with God. In fact, those whom He hardens are those who first harden themselves by rejecting His Son as Savior and those whom He extends grace to are those who appropriate His grace through faith alone in Christ alone. In Romans 9:21, Paul continues to respond to the rhetorical questions he presented in Romans 9:19 that might be posed by his opponents by implicitly rebuking the attitude of those who would presume to judge the ways of their Creator. Romans 9:21, Or does not the potter possess authority over the clay in order to make from the same lump, on the one hand a vessel, which is for honor while on the other hand that which is for dishonor? Absolutely! He employs the potter-clay motif to illustrate to his readers that like the potter over the clay, God has authority over Israel so as to extend mercy to those Israelites whom He chooses that accept by faith His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and to harden those Israelites whom He chooses that reject His Son. In verse 21, Paul employs a rhetorical question that is related to the one in verse 20, which demands a positive response from the reader that the potter who is analogous to God does have authority over the clay, which is analogous to Israel. Remember, although this is true of the Gentiles as well, Paul is speaking in the context of Israel s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. In verse 21, he is continuing to demonstrate his premise in Romans 9:6 that even though Jesus of Nazareth was rejected by the nation of Israel as her Messiah, 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 4
this does not imply that God s promises to the nation have been nullified since not all racial Israel is considered by God to be spiritual Israel. Now when we come to Romans 9:22, we see Paul employing the conjunction de in order to introduce a first class conditional statement that serves to advance and intensify the discussion of God s sovereignty over Israel, which was illustrated in the potter-clay motif in Romans 9:20-21. The word is not used in an adversative sense indicating a distinction between the image of the potter in verses 20-21 and its application to the ways of God in verses 22-23. In other words it doesn t indicate that Paul is dissatisfied with his analogy in verses 20-21 to describe God s ways with Israel and that he wants to qualify this analogy so as to indicate that God s ways are not exactly like the potter s. Rather, Paul s potter-clay analogy perfectly illustrates God s ways since his statements in verses 22-23 correspond to the analogy. In verse 21, Paul teaches his readers that the potter is sovereign over the clay in that he makes from the same lump of clay a vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable as he sees fit. In verse 22-23, he teaches in the same way, God is sovereign by extending mercy to those whom He chooses who have accepted by faith His Son and hardening those whom He chooses who have rejected His Son. The vessels of honor in verse 21 correspond to the objects of mercy in verse 22 and the vessels for dishonor in verse 21 correspond to the objects of wrath in verse 23. However, in verses 22-23, Paul goes beyond the potter-clay analogy, which illustrates God s sovereignty over Israel by advancing and intensifying the discussion of God s sovereignty. In verses 22-23, Paul teaches that because God does choose to demonstrate His wrath and to make known His power, He endured with much patience unregenerate Israel in his day, i.e. objects of wrath and did so in order to make known the riches of His glory upon the regenerate, i.e. objects of mercy. Therefore, the conjunction de in Romans 9:22 is not simply introducing a statement that transitions from the potter-clay analogy to its application but rather the statements in Romans 9:22-23 are in fact advancing and intensifying the discussion of God s sovereignty over the nation of Israel. So in verses 20-21, Paul has proven his point through the potter-clay motif to support his argument that God is sovereign over Israel in that He can extend mercy to those whom He chooses that accept by faith His Son and to harden those whom He chooses that reject Him. Now, in verses 22-23, he advances and intensifies the discussion regarding God s sovereignty. He does so by teaching that because God does choose to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power, He endured with much patience unregenerate Israel in his day and He did so in order to make known the riches of His glory upon those who would trust in His Son, i.e. the vessels of 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 5
mercy. In other words, just as God was able to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power and the riches of His glory by evangelizing the Gentiles through Pharaoh s disobedience to Him so in the same way, He was able to do the same in Paul s day through Israel s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. Therefore, Romans 9:22 reiterates Paul s point in Romans 9:17 that he made with respect to God s dealings with unregenerate Pharaoh of Egypt. In verse 17, Paul taught that Pharaoh s disobedience to His commands to release Israel from her bondage in Egypt presented God with the opportunity to manifest His power through the ten plagues and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, which resulted in the evangelization of the world. John 3:16-18, 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 teach that God desires all men to be saved. In Romans 9:22-23, Paul is saying that through the demonstration of His wrath and making known His power and enduring with much patience unregenerate Israel, God is fulfilling His desire to save sinners by extending mercy to those, both Jew and Gentile who trust in His Son as Savior. In other words, God uses those who reject Him and are unsaved in order to manifest His character and nature to a greater degree. The more intense the negative volition towards Him, the more He is glorified. In the same way, that Pharaoh s great stubbornness in the end brought a more glorious victory and manifestation and praising of His character and nature so Israel s great stubbornness in Paul s day has brought a more glorious victory and manifestation and praising of God s character and nature. Pharaoh s great stubbornness resulted in the evangelization of the entire world in Moses day and now Israel s great stubbornness in Paul s day has also resulted in the evangelization of the entire world. Therefore, in Romans 9:22, we will translate de, in fact. Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? If is the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument. The conditional particle ei, if is employed with the indicative mood of the verb phero, endured. Together, they explicitly convey a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument. However, the apodasis is omitted but is clearly implied. Sometimes in the Greek New Testament there is an incomplete condition where there may be an absence of either the protasis or the apodasis, which is a form of ellipsis or aposiopesis and is common to all languages. In Romans 9:22, the apodasis does not need to be supplied because we have a responsive first class condition. The response to Paul s protasis by his Christian 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 6
readership would be obvious. Of course, God endured with much patience the unsaved because He does choose to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power! They would agree emphatically with his protasis. He is not attempting to prove that his protasis is true rather he is saying with the first class condition that we agree that this is true! That Paul s readers would agree that this is true is indicated by the context since his protasis in Romans 9:22 reiterates his point in Romans 9:17. Romans 9:17, In fact, the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose, I raised you up in order that I myself may demonstrate My power through you and in addition that the reputation of the character and work of my Person may be proclaimed publicly everywhere throughout the entire earth. Pharaoh s stubbornness in rejecting God s commands enabled God to manifest His great patience and to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power, which resulted in the evangelization of the world. Paul s audience would also agree with Paul s protasis since in the first century Israel s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah was known throughout the entire Gentile world because of the apostles turned from Israel and went to the Gentiles with the gospel resulting in millions of Gentiles being saved. So his audience would emphatically agree with Paul s protasis since his readers knew first hand from their own experience that it was true since they lived in Rome hundreds and hundreds of miles from Israel. Some contend that by omitting the apodasis that Paul is using the figure of aposiopesis, which is a rhetorical figure where there is a sudden breaking off of what is being said or written so that the mind may be more impressed by what is too wonderful or solemn or awful for words (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible Explained and Illustrated; page 151; Baker Book House. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1968). However, this is incorrect but rather Paul is using the figure of ellipsis and in particular absolute ellipsis of anantapodoton where the apodasis is omitted because of the responsive first class condition. As we noted in our previous studies in the book of Romans, the idea behind the first class condition is not since but rather, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument, then... This would encourage Paul s audience to respond and come to the conclusion of the apodosis since they already agreed with him on the protasis. However, he omits the apodasis since we have a responsive first class condition where Paul is inviting his readers to respond to the obvious about God and His dealings with Israel in their day. Therefore, Paul is employing the first class condition as a tool of persuasion with his audience. Here the protasis is if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that because God does choose to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power, 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 7
endured with much patience vessels destined for wrath, which are prepared beforehand for destruction. The responsive first class condition is He has done so. This response goes with Paul s statement in verse 23 so that together the response and the statement in verse 23 reads like this, and He has done so in order to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory. The New American Standard Updated Version does a great job of capturing the responsive first class condition by inserting He did so into the translation in verse 23. Therefore, Paul does not need an apodasis since the responsive first class condition makes his point. So, we will translate or paraphrase the conditional particle ei, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument and we agree that He has done so! Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? God is the articular nominative masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the Father since the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies that it is a reference to God the Father. The word functions as a nominative subject meaning that the word is performing the action of the verbs thelo, willing, endeiknumi, to demonstrate, gnorizo, to make known, phero, endured in Romans 9:22 and gnorizo, to make known in Romans 9:23. We will translate theos, God the Father. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that God the Father and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Although willing is nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb thelo (qevlw) (thel-o), which means to choose and refers to the Father sovereignly choosing to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power. The word functions as a casual participle indicating that the verb indicates the cause or reason or basis of the action of the finite verb, which in our passage is the verb phero, endured. This indicates that because the Father does choose to demonstrate His wrath and to make known His power, He endured with much patience unsaved Israel in Paul s day and He did so in order to make known the 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 8
riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, i.e. saved, which He prepared beforehand for glory. Some interpreters view this as a participle of concession, which implies that the state or action of the main verb (phero, endured ) is true in spite of the state or action of the participle. It is semantically the opposite of the causal participle but structurally identical in that like the causal participle it typically precedes the verb. This would indicate that although God chose to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power, He endured the vessels of wrath with much patience. However, interpreting thelo as a causal participle better fits the context since it results in verses 22-23 paralleling verses 17-18 indicating that with both Pharaoh in Moses day and unsaved Israel in Paul s day, God withheld His final judgment so that He could bring greater glory to Himself and evangelize the world. More importantly, the causal participle emphasizes God s sovereignty whereas the concessive participle does not. This fits the context since Paul has been emphasizing throughout chapter nine that Israel was established based upon God s sovereign grace rather than racial heritage or human merit (Romans 9:7, 9, 11-13, 16, 18, 20-21). The present tense is a gnomic present, which is used for a general timeless fact or spiritual axiom, or an eternal spiritual truth and says something does happen. This indicates that because God, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power, He endured with much patience unregenerate Israel in Paul s day and He does so in order to make known the riches of His glory upon those who trust in His Son as Savior. The active voice indicates that God as the subject performs the action of sovereignly choosing to demonstrate His wrath and make known His power. We will translate thelo, because as an eternal spiritual truth does choose. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that because God the Father, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? To demonstrate is the aorist middle infinitive form of the verb endeiknumi (e)ndeivknumi) (en-dike-noo-mee), which is composed of the preposition en, in and the verb deíknumi, to show, thus the world literally means, to demonstrate or manifest something by arguments or acts, to give outward proof of something that is inherent. Therefore, Paul is expressing the spiritual principle that God does demonstrate or manifest His wrath, i.e. His righteous indignation towards those in the nation of Israel who reject Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 9
The aorist tense of the verb is a culminative or consummative aorist tense, which is used to emphasize the cessation of an act or state. This type of aorist views an event in its entirety but regarding it from the viewpoint of its existing results. Therefore, the culminative aorist views the demonstration of God s wrath towards Israel in Paul s day. But regards this demonstration of God s wrath from the standpoint of its existing results, which is to make known throughout the world the riches of His glory upon those who trust in His Son as Savior. The middle voice of the verb is indirect meaning that the subject, God, acts on behalf of Himself or in His own interests, which was to evangelize the entire world. It emphasizes God acting on behalf of His own interests, and which interests were to evangelize the entire world. The verb endeiknumi functions as a complementary infinitive meaning that it is completing the thought of the verb thelo, which would not make sense without it. We will translate the verb endeiknumi, to demonstrate. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that because God the Father, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose to demonstrate and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Wrath is the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun orge (o)rghv) (or-gay), which refers to God s attitude of righteous indignation in response to any thought, word, or action of mankind and angels, that is opposed to His holiness and manifests itself in actions that judge and punish the guilty. God s righteous indignation is the legitimate anger towards evil and sin since both are contrary to His holiness or perfect character and nature. The holiness of God pertains to the absolute perfection of God s character or expressing the purity of His character or moral perfection and excellence and means that God can have nothing to do with sin or sinners. He is totally separate from sin and sinners unless a way can be found to constitute them holy and that way has been provided based upon the merits of the impeccable Person and Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. The presence of evil, sin and injustice is totally absent in the character of God, thus God does not tolerate evil or sin because it is contrary to His character, i.e. His inherent moral qualities, ethical standards and principles. Webster s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines holiness as the quality or state of being holy; sanctity and they define sanctity as, sacred or hallowed character. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 10
One of the definitions that Webster s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary gives for the adjective holy is, entitled to worship or profound religious reverence because of divine character or origin or connection with God or divinity. One of the definitions for the noun character that Webster s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary provides that applies to the context of our passage is the following: the aggregate of features and traits that form the apparent individual nature of some person or thing. If we paraphrase these definitions, we would say that the God s holiness refers to the aggregate (i.e. sum total) of perfect features and traits that form the divine nature of God. Therefore, God s holiness refers to the absolute perfection of His character, expressing His purity of His character or moral perfection and excellence and intolerance and opposition and rejection of sin and evil, thus God is totally separate from sin and sinners. Thus, God s holiness is related to all of His divine attributes or in other words, it is simply the harmony of all His perfections or attributes. Every unbeliever will experience the righteous indignation of God forever in the eternal Lake of Fire. Unbelievers will not be judged according to their sins at the Great White Throne Judgment since Jesus Christ died for all men, Jew and Gentile and for every sin that they have committed-past, present and future. The unbeliever will be judged according to their self-righteous human good works, which do not measure up to the perfect work of the impeccable Christ on the Cross (Rev. 20:11-15). Revelation 20:11-15, Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The unbeliever goes to the lake of fire because of his rejection of Christ as his Savior since 1 Timothy 2:4 and John 3:16-17 clearly indicates that God desires all men to be saved, thus, He has made provision for all men to be saved through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior will be thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire forever and ever at the conclusion of human history. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 11
God hates sin so much and loves the sinner so much that He judged His Son Jesus Christ for every sin in human history-past, present and future and provided deliverance from sin through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. The only way to avoid God s righteous indignation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The judgment of God is inescapable unless one trusts in Jesus Christ as their Savior. John 3:16-18, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:36, He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. The noun orge is used of God s settled opposition to and displeasure against sin meaning that God s holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever. It is not the momentary, emotional, and often uncontrolled anger to which human beings are prone and does not refer to an explosive outburst but rather it refers to an inner, deep resentment that seethes and smolders, often unnoticed by others as in the case of God s wrath. If the sinner will not exercise faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, then they will face His righteous indignation at the Great White Throne Judgment. The fact that unregenerate man will receive eternal condemnation in the lake of fire forever and ever is a righteous judgment since as sinners they can never be justified before a holy God and have rejected God s only provision for sin, which is the Person and Finished Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin is justified in throwing His creatures into the lake of fire for rebelling against Him but also God, who as to His nature, is love, did everything He could to prevent any of His creatures from going to the lake of fire forever and ever for their rebellion against Him. The fact that God did not immediately deposit all mankind in the lake of fire for their disobedience is incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures and desires none of them to go to the lake of fire. The fact that God the Father sent His Son into the world to become a human being to satisfy His righteous demands that the sin of men be judged is also incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures. The Lord Jesus Christ will conduct the Great White Throne Judgment as He will all judgments since God the Father has promoted Him to sovereign ruler of creation as a result of His voluntary substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross (See Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:1-3). The sins of the unbeliever are never 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 12
brought up since Christ died for all their sins and instead their self-righteous works that do not measure up to Christ perfection will be used to condemn them to the eternal lake of fire. This is the eighth time that we have seen the noun orge up to this point in our study of the book of Romans. Romans 1:18, For God s righteous indignation is as an eternal spiritual truth revealed from the third heaven against each and every kind of ungodliness and unrighteousness produced by mankind who as an eternal spiritual truth is characterized by suppressing the truth by means of unrighteousness. Romans 2:5, But according to your obstinacy and unrepentant heart, you are, as an eternal spiritual truth, storing up for yourselves righteous indignation on a day characterized by righteous indignation, yes, when the righteous judgment executed by God is revealed. Romans 2:8: While on the other hand, for the disadvantage of those who are motivated by inordinate selfish ambition and continue not to be persuaded so as to believe and disobey the truth but rather continue to obey unrighteousness, there shall be righteous indignation, yes, the manifestation of that righteous indignation. Romans 3:5, But, if-and let us assume that it s true for the sake of argument our unrighteousness does cause God s righteousness to be made conspicuous. What then is the conclusion that we are forced to? Is God unrighteous, while inevitably exercising His righteous indignation? (I am speaking according to human viewpoint.) No! Romans 4:15, For, the Law, as an eternal spiritual truth, produces righteous indignation but where there is, at any time, the total absence of the Law, neither, is there, as an eternal spiritual truth, violation. Romans 5:9, Therefore, because we have been justified on the basis of His blood, how much more will we be delivered from His righteous indignation through Him. In Romans 9:22, the noun orge refers to God s attitude of righteous indignation in response to any thought, word, or action of mankind and angels, that is opposed to His holiness and manifests itself in actions that judge and punish the guilty. The word speaks of those in Israel who rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah and will consequently be the objects of God s righteous indignation. This interpretation is supported in that in Romans 9:6-21, Paul is addressing God s righteous dealings with Israel rather than with the entire human race. Furthermore, in Romans 9:22-23, Paul speaks of objects of God s wrath and mercy. The former speaks of those unregenerate Jews who will experience eternal condemnation and the latter speaks of those who will experience eternity with God. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 13
Paul is teaching that God is allowing the rebellion of sinners in Israel against Himself to gain in force and intensity as was the case with Pharaoh so as to make His ultimate victory over sin more glorious. In Romans 9:22, the noun orge functions as an accusative direct object meaning that it is receiving the action of the verb endeiknumi. The definite article preceding the noun orge functions as a possessive pronoun since possession is obviously implied. We will translate the expression ten orgen, His righteous indignation. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that because God the Father, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose to demonstrate His righteous indignation and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And is the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai (kaiv), which introduces another statement that an additional thing God chose to do that caused Him to endure with much patience objects of His wrath. We will translate kai, and in addition. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that because God the Father, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose to demonstrate His righteous indignation and in addition and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? To make known is the aorist active infinitive form of the verb gnorizo (gnwrivzw) (gno-rid-zo). This word appears as early as the 4 th or 5 th century B.C. in the writings of Plato. Gnorizo had two distinct meanings in classical literature: (1) To make known. (2) To gain knowledge of. The former meaning is more common in classical literature whereas the latter occurs more frequently in the New Testament. It appears to have other more obscure meanings such as to become acquainted with, and to recognize. Gnorizo means, to possess information about, to know, to know about, to have knowledge of, to be acquainted with, acquaintance. Liddell and Scott list the following classical meanings for the word (Greek- English Lexicon, New Edition, page 355): (1) To make known, point out; become known; commend; certify a person s identity (2) Gain knowledge of, become acquainted with, discover. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 14
In the Septuagint, several Hebrew words translate this word. The Hebrew word yadha`, is translated often in the Septuagint for gnorizo. Gnorizo appears 28 times in the Greek New Testament and means to make known more often than not. In fact, the word originated as a combination of the root ginosko, which is composed of gno, to know, and horizo, to determine, to cause to happen with the result of causing someone to know something that they previously did not know, comprehend, or understand. Gnorizo appears often among the Oxyrhynchus papyri, 3 rd century B.C. to 2 nd century A.D., where it is also sometimes translated to recognize someone. The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised lists the following NT meanings (page 80): (1) To make known, reveal, declare (2) To know. The New Thayer s Greek-English Lexicon (page 119): (1) Transitively, to make known 92) Intransitively, to know. Louw and Nida list the following NT meanings (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, volume 2): (1) To possess information about to know, to know about, to have knowledge of, to be acquainted with, acquaintance (page 334). (2) To cause information to be known by someone to make known (page 337). Bauer, Gingrich and Danker list the following (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, page 163): (1) Make known, reveal (2) Know. Otto Knoch lists the following (Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, volume 1, page 256): (1) Announce, make known publicly or explicitly, communicate in a solemn way; proclaim (2) To understand, make known, declare, report, reveal oneself, make oneself known, disclose one s identity; tell, know, discern. Vine s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Gnorizo signifies (a) to come to know, discover, know, (Phil. 1:22), I wot (not), i. e., I know not, I have not come to know (the RV, marg. renders it, as under (b), I do not make known ); (b) to make known, whether (I) communicating things before unknown, (Luke 2:15,17); in the latter some mss. have the verb diagnorizo (hence the KJV, made known abroad) ; (John 15:15), I have made known ; (17:26; Acts 2:28; 7:13) (1st part), (3) below; (Rom. 9:22,23; 16:26) (passive voice); (2 Cor. 8:1), we make known (to you), RV, KJV, we do (you) to wit ; (Eph. 1:9; 3:3,5, 10) (all three in the passive voice); (6:19,21; Col. 1:27; 4:7,9), shall make known (KJV, shall declare ); (2 Pet. 1:16); or (II), reasserting things already known, (1 Cor. 12:3), I give (you) to understand (the apostle reaffirms what they knew); (15:1), of the gospel; (Gal. 1:11) (he reminds them of what they well knew, the ground of his claim to apostleship); (Phil. 4:6) (passive voice), of requests to God. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 15
The word has the following meanings in the NT: (1) To make known (Lk. 2:15; Jn. 15:15; 17:26; Acts 2:28; 7:13; Rm. 9:22, 23; Eph. 1:9; 3:3, 5, 10; Col. 1:27). (2) To announce (Lk. 2:17; Rm. 16:26; 1 Co. 12:3; 15:1; 2 Co. 8:1; Eph. 6:19; 2 Pet. 1:16). (3) To reaffirm (Ga. 1:11). (4) To communicate (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7, 9). (5) To know (Phlp. 1:22). (6) To make known (Phlp. 4:6). In Romans 9:22, the verb gnorizo means to make known publicly and explicitly the power of God through the communication of the gospel, which Paul teaches in Romans 1:16 is the power of God for salvation. Romans 1:16, For I am never ashamed of the gospel for it is as an eternal spiritual truth God s power resulting in deliverance for the benefit of everyone who as an eternal spiritual truth believe, to the Jew first and then to the Greek. God endured with much patience the unregenerate Jews in Israel because He does choose to not only demonstrate His righteous indignation but also to make known publicly and explicitly His power through the communication of the gospel. The aorist tense of the verb is a culminative or consummative aorist tense, which is used to emphasize the cessation of an act or state. This type of aorist views an event in its entirety but regarding it from the viewpoint of its existing results. Therefore, the culminative aorist views God s power being made know publicly and explicitly through the communication of the gospel. But regards from the standpoint of its existing results, which is to make known publicly and explicitly throughout the world the riches of His glory upon those who trust in His Son as Savior. The active voice means that God, as the subject, performs the action of making His power know publicly and explicitly through the communication of the gospel. The verb gnorizo functions as a complementary infinitive meaning that it is completing the thought of the verb thelo, which would not make sense without it. We will translate the verb to make known publicly and explicitly. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that because God the Father, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose to demonstrate His righteous indignation and in addition to make known publicly and explicitly and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? His power is composed of the articular accusative neuter singular form of the adjective dunatos (dunatov$) (doo-nat-os), power and the genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), His. 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 16
The adjective dunatos describes someone who possesses the ability to perform some function. In classical Greek of the fifth century B.C. the adjective first appears in the writings of Pindar and Herodotus. We do not know the etymology of the word. However, the intent of the word is clear in that it means, strong, mighty, powerful or able. It appears over 150 times in the Septuagint and translates 25 different Hebrew terms. Dunatos describes someone who magnifies himself, behaves proudly, acts boldly and audaciously, demonstrating valor or even acts like a tyrant. It is used to describe Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-9) as well as the Lord (Deuteronomy 10:17). The word occurs 33 times in the Greek New Testament where it has three separate usages: (1) It ascribes power to a person s being or attributes as well as assigning power to things such as weapons, commandments and works of creation. (2) It shows the ability of someone by virtue of personal effort or position to do something or wield power to effect change. (3) Used as a neuter adjective meaning, it is possible, practical, or can happen. In Romans 9:22, the adjective dunatos functions as a substantive and means, power referring to God s omnipotence as made known through the communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word functions as an accusative direct object meaning that it is receiving the action of the verb gnorizo. The definite article preceding the word is used with the personal pronoun autos, His to denote possession. The intensive personal pronoun refers to the Father and functions as a genitive of possession, which indicates that this omnipotence that is made known publicly and explicitly through the communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ belongs to the Father. Therefore, we will translate the expression to dunaton autou, His power. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that because God the Father, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose to demonstrate His righteous indignation and in addition to make known publicly and explicitly His power and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Endured is the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb phero (fevrw) (fer-o). God endured in the sense of putting put up with those sinners in Israel who opposed His Son Jesus Christ. The aorist tense of the verb is a culminative or consummative aorist tense, which is used to emphasize the cessation of an act or state. This type of aorist 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 17
views an event in its entirety but regarding it from the viewpoint of its existing results. Therefore, the culminative aorist views God enduring sinners but regards it from the standpoint of its existing results, which is that it made known publicly and explicitly throughout the world the riches of His glory upon those who trust in His Son as Savior. The active voice means that God, as the subject, performs the action of enduring unregenerate sinners who are the object of His righteous indignation. The indicative mood is declarative presenting this assertion as an unqualified statement of fact. We will translate the verb endured. Corrected translation thus far of Romans 9:22: In fact, if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that because God the Father, as an eternal spiritual truth does choose to demonstrate His righteous indignation and in addition to make known publicly and explicitly His power, endured and we agree that He has done so Romans 9:22, What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? With much patience is composed of the preposition en (e)n), with and the dative feminine singular form of the adjective polus (poluv$) (pol-oos), much and the dative feminine singular form of the noun makrothumia (makroqumiva) (mak-roth-oom-eeah), patience. The noun makrothumia is formed from the adjective makros, long and the noun thumos, temper, or the verb thumoomai, to be furious or burn with intense anger, thus the word literally means, long-tempered as opposed to short tempered. The noun makrothumia means, patience in the sense of enduring provocation, annoyance, misfortune, pain without complaint, loss of temper, and will possess the ability and willingness to suppress restlessness and annoyance. A person who has a short temper, speaks and acts impulsively and lacks selfcontrol however, makrothumia describes a person who is just the opposite and has a long-fuse having patience with people and has the ability to bear long in the face of disappointment and opposition. The noun makrothumia describes a state of self-control and emotional calm in the face of provocation, misfortune or unfavorable circumstances and is a word that expresses patience with people. Makrothumia is the capacity to be wronged and refuse to retaliate when provoked and is the ability to restrain or control one s emotions when provoked or wronged and persecuted by others without retaliating and is not easily offended. It is an attitude, which bears insult and injury without bitterness and without 2009 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 18