A sound Christian theology will not seek to sidestep Scripture’s teaching on this matter. Both Judas Iscariot (a vessel of wrath) and John the Witness (AKA the Baptist, AKA a vessel of mercy) were both equally ordained. God has ordained everything. I simply couldn’t trust a Bible teacher who said otherwise. Case study of the difficult certainty of this: Job. It’s likely the oldest part of God’s book. We later readers have the privilege of reading its chapter one. Job didn’t, and his counselors didn’t. Job didn’t hear from God until chapter thirty-eight, family! We see from the start of the chronicle that everything that happened to Job happened only by Job’s God’s command. It is not wrong to say in light of this- as Luther did- that the devil is “God’s devil.” God does no evil. There is always secondary causality, but the only primary cause is God. We must deal with it. It’s all there in Scripture. Case study two (of I don’t know how many) would be Isaiah 10 and the judgment of Israel. The aggressors are the secondary causality, but who does Isaiah say is primary? God. Job, Israel, Judas Iscariot, John the Witness, you, me, all the same.
Romans 9:19 is clear in anticipating and answering objections. And thank God! We will struggle, but we’re not to be ignorant. In Romans nine, Paul answers his self-righteous readers several times. Whether we’re first century synergists or twenty-first century synergists, God has ordained judgment for the sins we would commit and with sinners he still finds fault. It cannot be made clearer. We must take into consideration all that Scripture says about such a matter. We mustn’t rush to judge God as the self-righteous do. We’re creatures considering God.
God bless!
