Straight Talk about Responsibility

Romans 9 addresses God’s sovereignty, specifically regarding predestination.
One popular, albeit extreme, response to that truth sounds like this: since God is
sovereign—since He is the Potter and I’m only clay—then I’m not really responsible for my
actions or reactions. If I’m a disobedient believer, that’s God’s fault, not mine. If I’m lost and
not a part of His family, that’s His fault, not mine. I’m just clay! In response to this position,
Romans 10 shouts, “No way!” This chapter assaults such shallow and superficial
rationalization. Without retreating an inch from what he just wrote in chapter 9,
Paul next declared that God is not responsible for a person’s lost condition—each
individual is. At point-blank range, Romans 10 shoots a hole into the erroneous idea
that people can hide behind divine sovereignty to excuse or ignore their sin. Then why
are people lost? As Romans 10 teaches: they have rejected the gospel.