Inequality is an undeniable fact of life. Some people have much, others have little. Some have the opportunity to receive a good education while others do not. Some enjoy good health, others are crippled or suffer chronic illnesses. Some people live in areas of the world which enjoy peace, while others face social unrest, terrorism or war.
Some types of inequalities are even more difficult than these to understand or accept. For example, why do some righteous people have to endure suffering while wicked people prosper? The Psalmist wrote, “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man;… Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.” (Psalm 73: 2-5, 13-14 NIV)
The inequality the Psalmist saw is not limited to wealth and material things. In his inspired letter to the church at Rome, the Apostle Paul writes that God chooses some people and rejects others. He shows mercy to some and hardens others. Some He saves, others He rejects according to His own purpose and will. Inevitably, this raises questions about God. Is God just? How can He condemn anyone if it is He who hardened them so they cannot respond to God’s offer of salvation? How can we be held accountable for our actions if God made us the way we are?
In chapter 9 of his inspired letter, verses 19 through 26, Paul answers these objections. He writes, “You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.” “It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’””
The first answer to the accusation that God is unfair is that God is the Creator. Whether we like it or not, the maker of an article has the right to make it however he pleases. An artist can paint whatever he likes. Paul uses the illustration of a potter. A potter chooses to make some pots for use in the kitchen, others for use in the restroom. He might make some which have no practical use at all; they are merely pleasing to the eye. Does the clay from which the potter forms these vessels have the right to complain about into which kind of pot it is made? Of course not! In the same way, we have no right to complain if God makes us for a certain purpose. He is not unjust even if He shows mercy to some people and hardens others. We have no legitimate complaint even if God chose to create us for destruction while, at the same time, He chose someone else to participate in His own glory.
But does God really create some people for destruction? Though God would be perfectly justified in creating people however He likes, the Bible assures us that God, in fact, created man in His own image (Genesis 1:27). In other words, God did not create us for destruction, but to be like Himself.
Why, then, are some people the objects of God’s wrath? Why does He harden some and prepare them for destruction? In chapter 8 of this letter Paul already pointed out that God chooses what will happen to people on the basis of His foreknowledge. Because God is outside of time, He knows what we will do in the future. He knows who will draw near to Him in love and who will turn away from Him. God chooses who He will destroy and who He will glorify according to the decisions we freely make.
Paul writes that God, “endured with much patience vessels of wrath” (verse 22). If God’s intent is to merely destroy these people, then why is He patient with them? Why does He tolerate them? One reason Paul mentions is so that the objects of God’s mercy will recognize and understand the riches of His glory. Often we do not recognize the value of a gift until we see the alternative.
However, there is another reason God puts up with the wicked. The Apostle Peter writes, “…He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV) God does not destroy anyone lightly. He loves us so much that He gives everyone, no matter how wicked, the opportunity to repent and turn to Him.
This agrees with what Paul says. God calls everyone, regardless of his background to become part of His household. In the past, only the Jewish people were known as the people of God. Now, through Jesus Christ, Jew and non-Jew alike may be included in God’s people. God gives even those who are under His wrath, the opportunity to change. If they repent, He will transform them into something new. Paul quotes from the prophet Hosea to illustrate this transformation: those who were not loved are now God’s loved ones. Those who were not His people now are His people.
This transformation is drastic. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NIV)
What category are we in, those who are under God’s wrath or those whom He will glorify? Are we chosen for destruction or for mercy?