Romans 9:22

What if God? Literally, “but if God.” The sentence is incomplete, but the construction is not unusual (see Luke 19:41, 42; John 6:61, 62). Paul’s meaning is, “But if God, notwithstanding His unquestionable right to deal with His creatures in whatever way seems best to Him, has in actual fact shown much long-suffering, what further objection can you make against His justice?”

Willing. Some commentators interpret the sense here to be “because God wishes,” others, “while willing,” or “although God wishes.” If the first, Paul would be saying that God patiently endures the vessels of wrath because He wishes to reveal His wrath and power in a final more terrible judgment. Thus God spared the life of Pharaoh (verse 17), patiently enduring the stubborn monarch, so that He might give still greater manifestations of His power and determination to punish cruelty and oppression (see PP 268). But if the second or third translation is correct, Paul’s meaning would be that although God wishes to make known His power and His hatred of sin, yet in patience He restrains His wrath and endures the vessels fit for destruction. The latter interpretation seems to accord better with the context and with the theme of the epistle (see, for example, chapter 2:4, where it is explicitly stated that the purpose of God’s “forbearance and longsuffering” is to lead sinners “to repentance”). It is true that God’s long-suffering may be “despised” and thus may result in hardness of heart and greater severity of judgment, as in the case of Pharaoh. But the primary object of God’s patience is to give men opportunity to repent.

Wrath. See on chapter 1:18.

His power. Literally, “that which is possible for Him” (cf. verse 17).

Longsuffering. See on chapter 2:4.

Vessels. Paul continues the figure of the potter and the clay from the previous verse.

Of wrath. That is, deserving wrath, or experiencing wrath, as in the phrase “the children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).

Fitted. Greek katartizo, which, in the form here found, may be rendered “ready for destruction.” The Greek construction is different from the one translated “he had afore prepared” in verse 23. Paul does not mean that God had prepared the vessels of wrath for destruction, but only that they were “ripe,” or “ready,” for it.