VESSELS OF MERCY/WRATH

Other than in Romans 9, vessels are used as a metaphor elsewhere in the Bible for example in revelation where bowls of judgment are poured out. It’s not that the vessels themselves are treated to mercy or wrath, they carry it within them and bring it to the recipients.

Romans 9 would fit this in the sense of individuals or groups being selected to bring mercy (Messiah lineage) or wrath (Pharaoh, hardened Pharisees). That is, the chapter is about God’s election to purposes in bringing the Gospel, not election of individuals to salvation or damnation.

After all, a potter doesn’t make vessels just for the sole purpose of tossing them in the trash for his own glory, does he?

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. – 2 Timothy 2:20-21

Read that portion of Romans again, and take note of how the vessels are described:

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable USE and another for dishonorable USE? – Romans 9:20-21

Did you catch that? Just as in the letter to Timothy, the vessels are for honorable or dishonorable USE, not ETERNAL DESTINATION.

Did you catch that again? The vessels are for honorable or dishonorable USE, not ETERNAL DESTINATION.