vessel is used not unfrequently in reference to men, Acts 9:15. 1 Pet. 3 : 7. Vessels of wrath, i. e. vessels which deserve wrath, or which are to be objects of wrath ; as vessels of mercy are those which are to be the objects of mercy ; or these phrases may mean vessels destined to wrath and destined to mercy, corresponding to the expressions vessels ujito honour ?Lnd. unto dishonour, of the preceding verse. This last explanation, on account of the context, seems the most probable.
Fitted to destruction. The word here used admits of being taken either as passive or middle, and may, therefore, be rendered as it is in our ver- sion, ox who have fitted themselves for destruction. If the passive sense be adopted, then the meaning may he, prepared hy God for destruction ; or the participle maybe taken rather as a verbal adjective, fitted for destruction, expressing merely the idea of being ready for that end. In favour of this latter view, it may be noticed that in the next verse, when speaking of the vessels of mercy, the active voice is used, " which God had before prepared unto glory ;" as if designedly to mark the difference between the two cases. If the other explanation {prepared hy God) be adopted, then, of course, the words must be taken in a sense mo- dified by the nature of the subject, and other passages of Scripture. Wicked men are prepared for destruction by God, not as being created for that purpose, but as being devoted to it on account of their sins, and borne with until they are ripe for their doom. This explanation is adopted not only by the stronger Calvinists, but by many of the neolo- gical commentators. There seems, however, no valid objection to the interpretation prepared or fit for destruction ; and which is the rather to be preferred, because the apostle, being here engaged in vindicating the divine proceedings, would naturally speak of the objects of the divine wrath as being fitted for destruction, in the sense of deserving it, &c.
(23) And that he might make known the riches of his glory, &c. See the preceding verse for the grammatical connexion of this verse with v. 22. The sense is plain, ' What right have men to complain, if God punishes the wicked, and manifests the riches of his glory on the objects of his mercy V The word glory is used in reference to any thing in God which is the foundation of praise. Hence, it is used for each of his attributes, as, for example, for his power, Rom. 6 : 4. John 11 : 40 ; for his mercy, Eph. 3 : 16, and here; or for all his attributes collectively, as in 2 Cor. 4:6, " To give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God," &c. Such, too, may be its force in this passage, as it is not mercy only, but wisdom, power, goodness, &c., which are manifested in the salvation of his people. As the wrath and power of God are manifested in the destruction of the wicked, so are the riches of his glory in the salvation of his people.
On the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory. For the meaning of the phrase vessels of mercy, see the preceding verse. The word rendered he had afore prepared has this signification fre- quently ; indeed it is its common and proper meaning. Since to prepare