The potter and the clay – His sovereignty

In the Old Testament, the subject of potter and clay was clearly seen in the words of 2 significant prophets of Old, namely, Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Isaiah came on the scene about a hundred years earlier than Jeremiah. He started prophesying around 740 BC during King Uzziah (or Azariah) of Judah, and died during the reign of King Hezekiah. All in all, he prophesied during the reigns of King Uzziah (or Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah.

Jeremiah started prophetic ministry around 626 BC, during the reign of Josiah, King of Judah. His ministry was believed to have continued until after the destruction of the first temple of Jerusalem (Temple of Solomon) around 586 BC by the Babylonians.

The parable of the potter and the clay was most comprehensively expressed initially by the prophet Isaiah.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8).

You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”? (Isaiah 29:16)

9 “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? 10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’ (Isaiah 45:9-10).

We can trust that the parable of the potter and the clay expressed by Isaiah was inspired by the LORD. Then, subsequent to Isaiah, the LORD confirmed the parable through His instructing the prophet Jeremiah to go to a potter’s house, and while there, and while Jeremiah was observing the potter reshaping a marred pot into another pot, He, the LORD, spoke out concerning the parable:

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:6)

Then, in the New Testament (NT) we read of the parable in the Book of Romans, by the Apostle Paul:

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:21)

It is a parable
Why do I say it is a parable? Because it fits the definition of a parable. What is a parable? The Greek word for parable is parabolē, which means

1) a placing of one thing by the side of another
2) metaphor - a comparing, comparison of one thing with another, likeness, similitude

This is to say a parable comprises concepts of “parallels”, metaphors, and analogy. The idea to bear in mind is the chief definition of placing of one thing by the side of another, i.e. there are 2 different things being put side by side and being talked about. This is why for some of the parables in the Bible, the opening goes like this, “The Kingdom of God is like ….”. At the end of the day, we still go back to one of the 2 things, and the correct one to go back to, is the one being illustrated, NOT the metaphor.

Now, it is important when you are reading the Bible, to know whether you have come to a parable or just a narrative. For example, the narrative about the woman with blood issue (been bleeding for 12 years) touching Jesus’ cloak and got healed is NOT a parable – it is an account of an event and should be interpreted as such.

Remember I said there are 2 things in a parable, the thing (in this case, the set of things, God and men), and the metaphor (potter and clay). In this parable in question, there is a pair, with potter, the metaphor for God, and clay, the metaphor for men. In interpretation of a parable, we must always remember at the end of the day, we go back to the “thing”, and NOT the metaphor or we do NOT stop at the metaphor.

The Interpretation
For a start, I would like to put the verses we have seen above, altogether in one place:

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand (Isaiah 64:8). You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”? (Isaiah 29:16) 9 “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? 10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’ (Isaiah 45:9-10). “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:6). Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:21)

From Isaiah 64:8, we can derive this understanding: we have God, our LORD; He is to be understood as our Father. We are men, and we have a Father God. When He is Father, we are children. Framing in terms of what we can understand (Father and children), we, men are given rise to, by the Father, God. A child is begotten by a father, just as a pot or a piece of pottery is made by the potter from clay. Not only that, a child is shaped by the father, just like the clay is shaped by the potter. The child is likened to the clay. A Man, a grown-up child, is likened to a pot or a piece of pottery, shaped from clay. Just as the pottery was the result of the works on clay of the potter, we are the works of God’s hand. Honestly, how many of us can consider ourselves as fully-grown up, and NO longer need working on, by God? In God’s eyes we are all still children, still likened to be clay or unfinished pottery pieces.

Of course, Isaiah 64, in terms of chronological order, came subsequent to the earlier mention of the subject of potter and clay, but it is being put right in the beginning here by me for the reason we are able to more simply see the parable-placing of the 2 sets of things, as according to the definition of a parable. As to what Isaiah was trying to say (to the LORD), I will cover it, a little further down this article.

If we read Isaiah 29:13 (before Isaiah 29:16), we can see the LORD was expressing His disapproval that the Israelites were NOT properly regarding Him as their Father, the one who gave rise to them, and endowed them to be who they were. At that time, the Israelites only honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from God; they did NOT worship or revere God in truth, but their worship of God was made up of only rules taught by men. In other words, they had turned things upside down; it should have been they were to do according to what God had dictated and NOT they did what they thought they knew better.

Isaiah, in verse 15 of Isaiah 29, spoke woe against the Israelites then, who thought they were above God, that they could hide their plans from God; they could do evil in darkness and thought that no one would see, and no one would know. It was and is of course, the other way round, God is entitled NOT to reveal some of His plans, and He sees all and knows all, for He is the one who formed us and He is in charge.

Although initially Isaiah 29:16 was spoken against the Israelites, we can note that it can be speaking to us, too. Are we treating things the other way round, we think we are the “father”, and God, the “charge”? Metaphorically, the potter was thought to be like clay, and the clay, potter. Isaiah posed if we could think the Father God did NOT create us, Man; or we considered God as knowing nothing. Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”? The Isaiah 29:16 text is exhorting us to examine our attitude toward God’s involvement, His work in our lives? Are we critical of what God is doing? Are we disapproving, are we resisting?

If we think that way, as described in the Isaiah 29:16 text, we are in fact, quarreling with God, our Maker (Isaiah 45:9-10). Isaiah said, “Woe to us”, who are but potsherds, broken pieces of pottery. Can the clay question the potter? Just as the potter has all the right to make anything out of a lump of clay, and the clay cannot protest, so does God has the right to decide what He wants to shape us to be. If the potter wants to make a vase, he makes a vase; if he wants to make a spittoon, he makes a spittoon. Similarly, God has the sovereign right to decide if he will have us be a doctor or a nurse, a preacher or a teacher, or a hard laborer or a janitor. We cannot question the will of the Father God for each one of us, just as the clay has no say what the potter will shape it into.

Again addressing the Israelites, this time Jeremiah, in Jer 18:6, was saying, could NOT God do as He pleased with the house of Israel, just like the potter, the clay? Jeremiah was being referred to the re-shaping or re-moulding of a marred pot into another. Because of things that had happened in the history of the Israelites, their flawed ways and sins, and all, accordingly God was then having the full right to re-shape the house of Israel. Even though it was against the Israelites, it can be applied to us; God is entitled to reshape us to function in whatever manner He deems fit, even when we are found “marred”. In other words, God has the right to change how and what He will have us do or function in, as He deems fit, with changes in and around us. Maybe, something has happened, can be to/in us, or even just to the circumstances around us, God has all the right to tune us to function in the role that He now desires, much like the potter has the right to reshape a marred pot into something else, say, a vase or spittoon or something. In addition, implicit in that text, is God’s willingness to re-work us, and NOT just dump us; and that is a comforting revelation!

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah were underlying the sovereignty of God, His right to decide what He wants to do with us. He has all the right to decide each of our role, and to change that.

Before I move to the NT’s mention of the parable in Romans 9:21, let me cover what I said I would cover, concerning what Isaiah was trying to say in his use of the parable in Isaiah 64. In all the other mentions, as covered above and also in the NT that we will deal with after this, the parable was directed at men. The parable was used to explain, teach and even admonish us. In Isaiah 64:8, Isaiah was speaking to the LORD – “Yet, O LORD, you are …..”. In other words, even as God had previously given prophet Isaiah, this parable, and the understanding thereof, to speak, teach and admonish the Israelites, Isaiah used it in his appeal to God to turn away from His anger.

Isaiah asked for mercy from God, stating that God was our Creator, Father, the one who begotten us; we are works of His hands, likening us to the clay, and God, the potter. In other words, Isaiah was imploring God, on account of us being works of His hand, NOT to be angry beyond measure (Isaiah 64:9); NOT to remember their (Israelites’) sins forever. The historical background was that by that time, the Israelites had been sinning very badly, so badly that Isaiah said in verse 6 of Isaiah 64, all of the Israelites had become like one who was unclean, and all their righteous acts were like filthy rags, so much so that God had hidden His face from them (v7). Isaiah was interceding for God’s turning away from His anger against Israel, and he appealed to God’s personhood as the Creator, Father, and metaphorically, the potter.

To me, the NT Romans 9:21 is another way of stating Isaiah 45:9-10, although it also touched on Isaiah 29:16.

9 “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? 10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’ (Isaiah 45:9-10).

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:21)

Clearly, as in Isaiah 45, the Romans text spoke about the sovereignty of God, and that He has the right to make us out to be whatever He so desires; and we cannot quarrel with Him on that. Just as the potter has the right to make out of the same lump of clay, some pottery for noble purposes, and some for common use, so God is entitled to shape us to fit whatever role He so desires each of us to undertake, regardless we thinking if one role is nobler or more common compared with another.

Sure, some roles, in our eyes, are nobler or more common compared with others, but in God’s eyes, actually, what He assigns is noble, none is ignoble, for ignobility is incompatible with the nature of God. Common is NOT ignoble!

The incorrect and correct way of linking to 2 Tim 2:20-21
There are teachers or speakers who combine Romans 9:21 and 2 Tim 2:20-21 in one preaching. There is nothing wrong with that, except, they must NOT lump the 2 texts together and explain them similarly, often subverting the true intent of 2 Tim 2:20-21. It is wrong to do that. As stated above, firstly, common is NOT ignoble. Secondly, in 2 Tim 2:20-21, the Apostle Paul was teaching that there is a Man’s part – we are to cleanse ourselves of ignoble, and set ourselves on the noble, in order that we can be a holy vessel, useful for the Master’s use, to do any good works. Whereas, Romans 9:21, also by Paul, as we have seen above, spoke about the sovereignty of God, and He decides what He wants to make us to be, and assigns to us our lot, as He desires; that is part of His part.

For the benefit of readers, I put down here the 2 Tim 2:20-21 text:

20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work (2 Tim 2:20-21).

The correct way to link Romans 9:21 to 2 Tim 2:20-21 is the answer for the question posed by verse 19 of Romans 9:

One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” (Romans 9:19)

The answer is that there is still a Man’s part, and it is as stated in 2 Tim 20:21, Man has to cleanse himself from the ignoble, so that he will be an instrument for noble purpose, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. We are resisting His will when we do NOT choose to cleanse ourselves from the ignoble. A whole list of ignoble was given by the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim 2 & 3, and I did provide a summary of the ignoble in my separate article on the exposition of 2 Tim 2:20-21, you can get it here, “You must choose to cleanse yourselves from ignoble”



Anthony Chia, high.expressions – Lord, I thank you for your revelation that I am NOT submitting to your sovereignty, and therefore, am resisting your will when I am NOT choosing to cleanse myself from the ignoble. I am to cleanse myself from the ignoble so that I will be an instrument for noble purpose, made holy, useful to you and prepared to do any good work.

PS 1: Of course, the proud are guilty of resisting His will, and it is being listed as one of the ignoble in 2 Tim 3.

PS 2: No, Romans 9:21 is NOT in support of immutable personal predestination (emphasis of Calvinism). In fact, if we believe God is consistent, the same imagery of potter and clay as used in Jer 18, is still applicable even in NT times; in metaphorical terms, the potter will reshape the marred pottery, in actual terms, God refashions a “marred” individual; NOT immutability.

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