Hi x,
Convincing and compelling argumentation?
First of all it's not MY claim. This is an accepted fact by theologians that are not calvinist in belief.
In the book of Romans chapters 9, 10 and 11 Paul is not speaking about personal salvation but about corporate salvation....
These chapters are speaking about God's "chosen" people...the Jews.
God revealed Himself to the Hebrews, that became the Israelites, that became the Jews at the time of Jesus.
In the middle of the book of Romans, Paul explains that the Jews did not answer to God's requests as He had intended them to....they failed....so now God was going to bring in the Gentiles (as per the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants) and offer to them His salvation plan....maybe by the Gentiles accepting His plan,,, the jews might become jealous and convert to believe in the salvation plan concerning Jesus.
This could be demonstrated with the story of the Potter and the Clay in Romans 9:21-24.
How Calvinists explain these verses is not adequate.
Here is an explanation that is normal for non-calvinist scholars that have studied these chapters:
The Flexible Potter and the Stubborn Clay
Paul uses an illustration of a potter and clay in Romans 9:21-24, “Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 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, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”
According to Calvinism, God predetermines who will be saved. A Calvinist interpretation of the text is that God intentionally creates some people to be “vessels for dishonorable use” destined for destruction, in order to demonstrate His wrath.
This interpretation is problematic for two reasons. First, it’s not compatible with the loving character of God revealed in God’s Word and in the person of Jesus Christ. How could God, who “desires all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9) intentionally create a person for the purpose of destroying him?
The second problem with this interpretation is that it fails to understand the Old Testament origin of the potter and clay illustration. The image of the potter and the clay is a direct reference to Jeremiah 18:1-4, which paints a picture very different from what the Calvinist would expect.
In this passage, God commands Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house. At the potter’s house, Jeremiah watches as the potter works at a wheel, intending to create a certain clay vessel. But the vessel doesn’t turn out the way he wanted, so the potter decides to shape a different kind of vessel out of the clay instead. God uses this illustration to describe His relationship to Israel. God wants to shape Israel a certain way. But if they refuse to cooperate, God can choose shape them into something else instead.
This illustration from Jeremiah is the exact opposite of the Calvinist interpretation of Romans 9. According to the Calvinist interpretation, God is a stubborn potter who molds the clay relentlessly until he forces it to be shaped the way he wants. But in Jeremiah, it’s actually the clay that is stubborn, and the potter who is flexible!
In a surprising twist to the story, the potter does not get what he originally wants! He originally intends the clay to be one way, but because the clay is stubborn and won’t cooperate, he chooses to shape the clay into something else instead. The potter works with the clay, but he doesn’t force the clay.
Immediately after the story of the potter and the clay, God declares:
“If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.”
-Jeremiah 18:7-10
These verses clearly demonstrate the role of humanity’s free will. Just as a potter acts in response to the clay, God acts in response to our choices. If a nation chooses to repent, God responds by relenting of the disaster He intended for it (this is exactly what happens to Ninevah in the Book of Jonah). Likewise, if a nation chooses to do evil, God can relent of the blessings He intended for it (this serves as a stark warning for our nation today).
God can declare blessing or disaster, but He is willing to relent of either in response to our own decisions. When correctly understood, the analogy of the potter and the clay strongly supports the role of humanity’s free will.
When Paul speaks of the potter and the clay in Romans 9, he says that God “endured with much patience vessels of wrath” (Romans 9:22). The Calvinist interpretation of Romans 9 fails to adequately explain this verse. Why would God have to “endure with much patience” unbelieving people, if He was the one making them unbelieving in the first place?
source:
http://lhim.org/blog/2014/04/11/a-free-will-perspective-on-romans-9-and-predestination/