Vessels Made by Their Own Choices
“…like a potter, God moulds in whatever way he wishes, so as to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour (Romans 9:21), how will reason not persuade anyone at all to think that whatever has come to be is in every way and wholly just as it was made? So one person has come into being for dishonour and has been allotted a nature of that kind, while another has been made, or rather raised up, hard, so that, as he himself says, his name may be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:17). What charge, then, can still be brought against those who fall? For they were made for this.”
To such arguments one might reply, first of all, that they could not claim that the force of these thoughts hints to us at differences of nature. For he did not say that some were made harsh and hardened, or made into vessels of honour and of dishonour, nor did he assign them such a nature at all. Rather, he leads us to think this: that some are moulded like vessels of clay, some for honour and some for dishonour; and we have been taught the meaning of the illustration from the words of the prophets. In what way, then, some are moulded as if by a potter, some for honour and others for dishonour, and for what causes, anyone may learn by reading the words of Jeremiah. It is written thus:
“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there you will hear my words. And I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making a piece of work on the stones. And the vessel that he was making fell in his hands; and again he made it into another vessel, as it seemed good in his sight to make it. And the word of the Lord came,” he says, “to me, saying: Shall I not be able to make you as this potter does, house of Israel? Look, like the potter’s clay, you are in my hands. At last I will speak against a nation or against a kingdom, to root them out; and that nation will turn from all its evils, and I will relent concerning the evils that I planned to do to them. And at last I will speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build it up and to plant it; and they will do evil before me, so as not to hear my voice, and I will relent concerning the good things that I said I would do for them” (Jeremiah 18:2–10).
Do you see how some are moulded for honour and for dishonour, not because they were allotted a nature made that way, but because they receive an equal and fitting return for what they do? So if the Maker of all punishes the one who passes from good ways to more shameful ones, and crowns with honours the one who moves from the more shameful to the better, how is it not true to say that some have by no means become evil by nature, or been moulded so by him, but have rather become vessels of dishonour because, though it was open to them to choose to win approval with God, they fell sick with a willing inclination toward evil? But…
Greek
κεραμέως δίκην καθ' ὃν ἂν βούλοιτο τρόπον διαπλάττει Θεὸς, ὡς τὸ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν ποιῆσαι σκεῦος, τὸ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν, πῶς οὐχ ἁπαστισοῦν ἀναπείσει λόγος, τὸ γεγονὸς οἴεσθαι πάντη τε καὶ πάντως τοιοῦτον ἔχειν τὸν τρόπον καθ' ὃν καὶ πεποίηται; ὥστε ὁ μέν τις ἐστὶν εἰς ἀτιμίαν γεγονὼς, καὶ φύσιν τοιαύτην ἀπεκληρώσατο, πεποίηται δέ τις ἕτερος ἤγουν ἐξεγήγερται σκληρὸς, ἵνα ὡς αὐτός φησι διαγγελῇ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ· ποία τοίνυν ἔτι τοῖς πταίουσιν ἡ γραφή; γεγόνασι γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο. Πρὸς δὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα φαίη τις ἂν, ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἔχοιεν εἰπεῖν ὅτι φύσεων διαφορὰς ἐν τούτοις ἡμῖν ἡ τῶν νοημάτων δύναμις ὑπεσήμηνεν· οὐ γὰρ ἔφη πεποιῆσθαί τινας ὠμοὺς καὶ ἀπεσκληκότας, ἤγουν εἰς σκεύη τιμῆς τε καὶ ἀτιμίας, οὐδὲ φύσιν αὐτοῖς τὴν τοιαύτην ἐκνενέμηκεν 230 ὅλως· ἐκεῖνο δὲ μᾶλλον ἀναπείθει φρονεῖν, ὅτι διαπλάττονταί τινες οἷά περ σκεύη κεραμικὰ, ἃ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν, ἃ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν· καὶ τόν γε τοῦ παραδείγματος τρόπον ἐκ προφητικῶν ἡμῖν πεπαίδευται λόγων· τίνα οὖν ἄρα τρόπον διαπλάττονταί τινες, οἷά περ ἐκ κεραμέως, οἱ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν οἱ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν καὶ ἐπὶ ποίαις αἰτίαις, εἰδείη τις ἂν τοῖς Ἱερεμίου λόγοις ἐντυχών· γέγραπται δὲ οὕτως "Ἀνάστηθι "καὶ κατάβηθι εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κεραμέως, καὶ ἐκεῖ ἀκούσῃ "τοὺς λόγους μου· καὶ κατέβην εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κεραμέως, "καὶ ἰδοὺ αὐτὸς ἐποίει ἔργον ἐπὶ τῶν λίθων· καὶ ἔπεσε τὸ "ἀγγεῖον ὃ αὐτὸς ἐποίει ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ· καὶ πάλιν "αὐτὸς ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ ἀγγεῖον ἕτερον, καθὼς ἤρεσεν ἐνώπιον "αὐτοῦ τοῦ ποιῆσαι· καὶ ἐγένετο, φησὶ, λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς "μὲ λέγων Εἰ ὡς ὁ κεραμεὺς οὗτος οὐ δυνήσομαι τοῦ ποιῆ"σαι ὑμᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραήλ; ἰδοὺ ὡς πηλὸς τοῦ κεραμέως "ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἐν ταῖς χερσί μου· πέρας λαλήσω ἐπὶ ἔθνος ἢ "ἐπὶ βασιλείαν τοῦ ἐξᾶραι αὐτούς· καὶ ἐπιστρέψουσι τὸ "ἔθνος ἐκεῖνο ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν κακῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ μετανοήσω "περὶ τῶν κακῶν ὧν ἐλογισάμην τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς· καὶ "πέρας λαλήσω ἐπὶ ἔθνος καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείαν τοῦ ἀνοικοδο"μεῖσθαι καὶ τοῦ καταφυτεύεσθαι καὶ ποιήσουσι τὰ πονηρὰ "ἐναντίον μου τοῦ μὴ ἀκοῦσαι τῆς φωνῆς μου, καὶ μετα"νοήσω περὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὧν ἐλάλησα τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς." ὁρᾷς πῶς πλάττονταί τινες εἰς τιμήν τε καὶ ἀτιμίαν, οὐ φύσιν λαχόντες τὴν ὧδε πεποιημένην, ἀλλ' οἷς ἂν δράσειαν τὴν ἰσοπαλῆ καὶ πρέπουσαν ἀντίδοσιν κομιζόμενοι; οὐκοῦν εἰ κολάζει τῶν ὅλων ὁ ποιητὴς τὸν ἐκ τρόπων ἀγαθῶν μεταφοιτῶντα πρὸς τὰ αἰσχίω, καὶ τὸν ἐκ τῶν αἰσχιόνων μεταχωροῦντα πρὸς τὰ βελτίω τιμαῖς στεφανοῖ, πῶς οὐκ ἀληθὲς 231 εἰπεῖν ὡς ἥκιστα μὲν φαῦλοι γεγόνασι κατὰ φύσιν τινὲς, ἤγουν διαπλάττονται δι' αὐτοῦ, σκεύη δὲ μᾶλλον γεγόνασιν ἀτιμίας, ὅτι καίτοι μετὸν αὐτοῖς εὐδοκιμεῖν ἑλέσθαι παρὰ Θεῷ, ἐθελούσιον ἠῤῥωστήκασι τὴν εἰς τὰ φαῦλα ῥοπήν; Ἀλλ' 24