The Free-Will of God

The Parable of the Potter

We have an Old Testament parable in Jeremiah 18:1-6 presenting what we have titled the free will of God. One reason for examining this attribute of God's freedom is my philosophy that we finite creatures cannot attain too high a view of God. Imagine arriving in eternity and God saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant," except you thought too highly of me. Eternity would then unfold with ever-increasing revelations of his mercies and graces.

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce my words to you. Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 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. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 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.

This parable presents one of the most important questions of all time: Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does? Answering this question is radically life-changing. It encompasses salvation, revealing total trust in God's absolute sovereignty over your life, total dependency on him, and relinquishing self-determination. Answering yes is dangerous but comforting for believers—one of the safest places to be—and perilous for others.

Jeremiah's Ministry and God's Command

God commands Jeremiah, a prophet of suffering whose words a rebellious nation ignores, heading toward destruction by God's hand through Nebuchadnezzar. God condescends in this parable to reveal his freedom in determining a person's life. He sends Jeremiah to the potter's house.

Jeremiah sees the potter at work: rolling clay, placing it on the wheel, building it up, spinning and shaping. But the vessel spoils—it unravels on the wheel. God asks: Do I not have the same power, the same right, over you as this potter has over clay?

The Ruin of Sin

In pottery, clay ruins if impure, with a foreign substance causing it to fall apart. Sin is that foreign substance in every life. As Romans 3 declares, all are worthless sinners who have failed to glorify God. Sin recurs, ruining repeatedly, leading to judgment.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Sin paints a false picture of freedom better than God's sovereignty, echoing the lie to Adam and Eve in paradise—walking with God in sinless marriage, free from corruption, guilt, or shame. Yet they believed the serpent: God is jealous; eat and become like gods, sovereign over your life.

Jeremiah 18:12 shows the wrong response: God's control seems hopeless; instead, pursue my heart's desires. But sin's ruin is incurable by self. True suffering is living in sin's misery, not earthly trials like illness or loss. Those trials foster Christ-likeness. Christ's true suffering was veiling divine glory in humanity amid sin.

In temptation, Satan persisted not because Jesus could sin—he couldn't, retaining deity—but to make holiness suffer sin's presence. Christian sanctification increases intolerance of sin, boasting in weakness to avoid pride, resisting sin to bloodshed (Hebrews 12).

you have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed in your striving against sin

Higher life Christianity isn't sinless bliss but bloodier battle against sin. Paul called himself chief of sinners to the end. Holiness heightens sin's burn, driving surrender: Yes, God, mold me.

The Dangers and Comforts of Surrender

Saying yes means not just removing sin but conforming to God's will: "Not my will, but yours be done." It embraces God's decree from eternity, pushing into discomfort—even martyrdom. Yet Scripture promises God remakes any ruin—marriages, families, past traumas—into vessels pleasing him (Romans 9).

Praise God, he has answered: You are already in my hand. Salvation is Christ's perfect work—already done. Embrace this sovereignty: God works all for good (not sin itself, but judgment or discipline). How will you experience his potter's hand?