Calvinism and the Middle Voice

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Homer
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Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by Homer » Wed May 18, 2016 10:16 am

I have been studying Romans for some time, particularly Jack Cottrell's excellent two volume commentary. Of considerable interest to me is what Cottrell says about the Greek word katartizo, translated “fitted” or “prepared” for destruction in Romans 9:22. If I am reading the Greek correctly, the form of the word there is actually katartismena which, according to Cottrell, vol. 2, p. 130, can be either middle or passive voice and Cottrell says “we may conclude the vessels prepared themselves for destruction”. I was unfamiliar with the middle voice. Zodhiates does not mention it in his big Word Study New Testament and I became curious how the word could be either passive or middle. So I did some digging and discovered that the Greek word is spelled exactly the same way for the middle voice as it is for the passive (perfect passive participle).

What this means is that if it is merely passive, it would point to God alone as the preparer, leaving mankind’s actions completely out of the picture (the word is actually used in this case as a verbal adjective; Paul does not say who the preparer is). While this may fit with Paul’s illustration of the potter, the clay has no responsibility for being a good or bad pot but this is not true of humans who are responsible, so the illustration breaks down at this point for the Calvinist exegesis (unless, of course, we are all merely puppets). The thing is, the word must be understood on other grounds and compared with other scriptures to form an opinion whether it is passive or middle voice as the spelling is the same for either way. The question may be asked how we might “prepare” ourselves for destruction and the answer seems easy: one sin will do it. As James says if we break one part of the law we are guilty of all and the penalty, of course, is death.

In Robertson’s Word Pictures I did find a helpful comment. He comments that Paul did not say that God did it or they did it themselves, but that they are responsible may be seen from 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16:

14. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15. who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, 16. hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.

Their own actions brought the wrath of God down on them.

Interestingly the same is apparently true of Acts 13:48 where “appointed” to eternal life can also be in the middle voice. The appointment is a result of their accepting the gospel message.

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steve
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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by steve » Wed May 18, 2016 11:16 am

Thanks for that helpful post, Homer.

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Paidion
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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by Paidion » Wed May 18, 2016 12:46 pm

I would like to think it is indeed the middle voice and that the human vessels of wrath fit themselves for destruction by choosing the wrong. But what makes this explanation problematic for me is the context.

21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—


In the potter/clay analogy in verse 21, the potter is the one who chooses to make one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use. The clay itself cannot make this decision. So doesn't Paul imply by analogy, that God is the active agent who prepares some "vessels" for mercy and others for destruction?

I suppose one could argue that a potter making two kinds of vessels is not a complete analogy as figures of speech seldom are.
Yet, it seems to be the main point of the analogy that the potter is in control of the vessels in each case.

When I was a Calvinist, this was my prime proof text. But there came a point in my life when, in reading early Christian literature, I understood that this was not the teaching within primitive Christianity, and then I repented of having held that belief. Since that time (over 50 years ago) I still have not encountered a completely satisfying non-Calvinist explanation of the passage in question. What you provided, Homer, was helpful. But I don't see how it fits the potter-clay analogy. I would like to see it fit, but presently am unable to do so.
Paidion

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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by dizerner » Wed May 18, 2016 3:16 pm

Paidion wrote:
In the potter/clay analogy in verse 21, the potter is the one who chooses to make one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use. The clay itself cannot make this decision. So doesn't Paul imply by analogy, that God is the active agent who prepares some "vessels" for mercy and others for destruction.
The wording here does seem odd then though, doesn't it:

has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction

Why would God "endure with much patience" his own making a vessel for wrath? What is God enduring but his own will and working, then? What is God patient about (which patience is elsewhere always connected with a period of time for the purpose of desiring men's repentence, 2 Pet. 3:9; Rom. 2:4) if God is just being patient about his own efforts to make a person evil? I suppose I could say "I endured with much patience my own wiring and waiting the timer of a bomb I want to explode," but that phraseology does strike me as odd and unnatural. We can only "endure with much patience" when there is another factor involved that is contrary to our will.

Good post Homer, it was the first evidence that made me stop reading Rom. 9 deterministically. As for what prepares a vessel of wrath I believe Romans 2 tells us:

Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

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Homer
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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by Homer » Wed May 18, 2016 10:22 pm

Thanks to each of you for the comments.

Steve, it is my understanding that Romans, or most of it, is primarily about Israel/gentiles rather than individuals. Is that your view?

Paidion, you make a good point. Verses 20-21 imply that God is the preparer of the vessels destined for destruction but as Dizerner pointed out the "endured with patience" seems to show that the potter & clay analogy breaks down. God's wrath is aroused by sin and if the vessel is marred by sin would God be responsible for that? And it seems to me that the vessels prepared for destruction are ethnic, unbelieving Israel, as opposed to spiritual Israel (the true Israel).

I believe Paul, knowledgeable as he was in the scriptures, must surely have had in mind the parable of the potter in Jeremiah 18:

Jeremiah 18:1-17 (NASB)

1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, 2. “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the ]wheel. 4. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

5. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 6. “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7. At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8. if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. 9. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10. if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. 11. So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’ 12. But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

13 . “Therefore thus says the Lord,
‘Ask now among the nations,
Who ever heard the like of [f]this?
The virgin of Israel
Has done a most appalling thing.

14. ‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?
Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?

15. ‘For My people have forgotten Me,
They burn incense to worthless gods
And they have stumbled from their ways,
From the ancient paths,
To walk in bypaths,
Not on a highway,

16. To make their land a desolation,
An object of perpetual hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.

17. ‘Like an east wind I will scatter them
Before the enemy;
I will show them My back and not My face
In the day of their calamity.’”


Note that if the people repent the "potter" relents and if not calamity awaits. And the vessels are clearly responsible for their predicament, which strongly favors the middle voice understanding in Romans 9:22. I do not think God changed between Jeremiah and Paul; He is ever ready to save those who repent.

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steve
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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by steve » Wed May 18, 2016 11:23 pm

Hi Homer,

I believe Romans was written to heal the breach between Jewish and Gentile factions in the Roman Church (e.g., 14:1-6; 15:7-14). To that end, Paul sometimes addresses the Jews (especially in the first four chapters, and chapters 9-11), and he also intersperses exhortations for the Gentiles not to "boast" against the Jews. nor to "despise" them, but to be sensitive to their weaker conscience (e.g., 11:17-22; 14:1—15:6).

This is in contrast to the standard "Reformation exegesis", which sees the book as a generic presentation of mankind's sinfulness and the way of justification by faith.

I also believe that Romans nine refers to Jeremiah 18, in which Israel is the lump of clay. In Romans nine, Paul says that God (the potter) has divided the lump (Israel) into two separate projects (vessels), which He treats differently. One vessel represents the faithful Jewish remnant, and the other the apostate nation. However, just as Paul sometimes will use a metaphor in both a collective and an individual way—i.e., the church is collectively the temple (1 Cor.3:16), but so is the individual Christian (1 Cor.6:16)—so also, the vessels can speak of both the two groups, and also be applied individually (see 2 Tim.2:20f). Paul can even alternate between the corporate and the individual meanings is a single passage (Rom.9:21-24).

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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by crgfstr1 » Thu May 19, 2016 8:30 am

If you believe in Calvinism and suddenly believed it was wrong or vice versa how would it change the way you live your life?

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Homer
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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by Homer » Thu May 19, 2016 10:08 am

Post by crgfstr1 » Thu May 19, 2016 8:30 am

If you believe in Calvinism and suddenly believed it was wrong or vice versa how would it change the way you live your life
Calvinism teaches that a person must be regenerated by God prior to being able to believe the gospel. Think of how a "seeker" would feel who did not have the regeneration experience as preached by the Calvinists. The person would naturally assume he was not one of the elect and was doomed, but if he came to realize Calvinism was false that would be a great relief, knowing that if He trusts the promises in the gospel he too (or anyone) can be saved.

As far as how a Christian who is a Calvinist is concerned, realizing Calvinism is false should make no difference in following Jesus. The five point Calvinist believes a true believer will persevere until death (faithful unto death) and that good works are evidence of salvation. There are some who teach eternal security who do not hold to all five points of Calvinism and believe you remain saved regardless of whether you continue to follow Jesus. Salvation to them is a transaction, not a relationship, and once you "make the deal" you are saved from then on. This is where I see the great danger.

I should add that I have family and friends who believe the eternal security doctrine and are admirable Christians.

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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by crgfstr1 » Thu May 19, 2016 11:30 am

Thanks Homer. Here is the definition I see for Calvinism:

1) Total depravity: that man is touched by sin in all parts of his being: body, soul, mind, and emotions, 2) Unconditional Election: that God’s favor to Man is completely by God’s free choice and has nothing to do with Man. It is completely undeserved by Man and is not based on anything God sees in man (Eph. 1:1-11), 3) Limited atonement: that Christ did not bear the sins of every individual who ever lived but instead only bore the sins of those who were elected into salvation (John 10:11, 15), 4) Irresistible grace: that God's call to someone for salvation cannot be resisted, 5) Perseverance of the saints: that it is not possible to lose one's salvation (John 10:27-28).

Do I have the wrong definition or is this idea derived from the 5: "Calvinism teaches that a person must be regenerated by God prior to being able to believe the gospel."

None of the 5 points seem to make a difference to me.

1) If I am completely bad and only made good by God or if I am somewhat good and then made completely good by God what difference does it make? He made me and he could have made me completely bad and fixed me or only mostly bad and fixed me. What difference does that make?
2) I have the same question here. God made me. How can I take any credit for anything I have done? I guess this argument could be made for good or bad things which is a little scary.
3) If not everyone is saved (at least eventually) then even if Jesus did die for someone who is not saved what good did it do? In a sense it could be said that he didn't bear their sins at least not enough to save them. On the other hand I am sure that Jesus loves us all so in that sense He suffered for all saved or not. So I don't know what this point teaches either.
4) Not sure what to think about this idea. Again I get confused on the God made me so my free will where does that come from if not from God?
5) I don't get what difference this makes. God is outside of time so he already knows the outcome. He knows whether I am saved in the end or not. So whether there is some switch that changes back and forth from saved or not saved over the course of time or the switch just remains in the state it will finally be. What difference does that make?

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Homer
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Re: Calvinism and the Middle Voice

Post by Homer » Thu May 19, 2016 3:45 pm

Do I have the wrong definition or is this idea derived from the 5: "Calvinism teaches that a person must be regenerated by God prior to being able to believe the gospel."
I believe this idea springs from #1. Man is so depraved the he is spiritually dead and can not respond to the gospel unless regenerated first.

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