Vaso
A metáfora do vaso é uma das mais belas da Bíblia. Assim como o oleiro molda o barro, Deus nos forma segundo seus propósitos, fazendo de nós vasos úteis para sua glória.
Nas mãos do oleiro
Deus é o Oleiro e nós somos o barro. Ele tem autoridade e sabedoria para nos moldar conforme sua vontade perfeita, e não devemos questionar sua obra.
Yahweh, you are our father.
We are like [MET] clay,
and you created us, like [MET] a potter creates pottery.
Yahweh gave another message to me. He said, "Go to the shop of the man who makes clay pots. I will give you a message there." So I went to that shop, and I saw the man who makes pots. He was working at the wheel that he uses to form pots. But when he finished making one jar, it was not as good as he hoped/wanted it to be. So, he took that clay and formed it into another jar, shaping it as he desired.
Then Yahweh gave me this message: "Perhaps the people of Israel think that I cannot do to them like this man who makes pots has done [RHQ]. But what they think is wrong. I can control what happens to them like this man controls what he does with the clay in his hands.
I would reply that since you (sg) are just a human being, ◄you do not have any right at all to criticize God!/who are you to say that what God does is wrong?► [RHQ] As a potter is the one who creates a clay pot, God is the one who created you. ◄A clay pot [MET] certainly would not have a right to criticize the potter by asking [PRS], "Why did you (sg) make me this way?"/Would a clay pot have a right to criticize the potter by asking [PRS], "Why did you (sg) make me this way?"► [RHQ] Instead, ◄the potter certainly has the right to take some clay and from one lump of clay make one pot that people will honor and make another one for ordinary purposes [MET]./does not a potter have the right to take some clay and from one lump of clay make one pot that people will honor and make another pot for ordinary purposes?► [MET, RHQ] Similarly, God has the right to carry out what he purposes for people.
Terrible things will happen to those who argue with me, the one who created them.
They are like [MET] a clay pot and I am like the one who made it;
so they certainly cannot [RHQ] criticize me.
A lump of clay certainly cannot [RHQ] argue with the one who shapes it to form a pot, saying,
‘Why are you making me like this?’
The pot cannot say ‘You have no skill, because what you made has no handles!’
They are extremely foolish!
They act as though they were the potters and I was the clay!
Something that was created should certainly never [RHQ] say to the one who made it,
‘You did not make me!’
A jar should never say,
‘The potter who made me did not know what he was doing!’"
Vasos para honra
O cristão é chamado a ser um vaso de honra, purificado e preparado para toda boa obra. Nosso valor está em quem nos formou e no que carregamos.
In a wealthy person’s house there are not only utensils made of gold and of silver, but also utensils made of wood and of clay. The gold and silver utensils are used at special occasions/events, and the others are used at ordinary occasions. Similarly, in a congregation there are those who ◄are ready/desire► to do great things for the Lord Jesus, and there are those like the teachers of false doctrines/teachings who are not. Therefore, those who rid themselves of what is evil in their lives will be able to work well for the Lord. They will be like utensils [MET] used at special occasions, set apart for and especially useful to the owner of the big house. They will be like fine utensils that have been prepared {are ready} to do any kind of good work.
This work that God has given to us (exc) is [MET] like a very valuable treasure. But we who have that treasure are as weak as fragile [MET] clay pots. God has planned it like that in order that people will know that the power that changes lives is God’s power, and not any power of our own.
The young men of Jerusalem were as valuable as [MET] large amounts of gold,
but now people consider that they are as worthless as ordinary clay pots.
Moldados pela graça
Mesmo quando nos sentimos frágeis e imperfeitos, o poder de Deus se aperfeiçoa em nossa fraqueza. Ele nos restaura e nos renova continuamente.
"'With your hands you created me and shaped/formed my body;
but now you are deciding that you should not have done that, and you are destroying me.
Do not forget that you made me from a piece of clay;
are you going to cause me to become dirt again [RHQ]?
People who say nice things when they are thinking about doing evil things
are like a nice glaze/covering on a cheap clay pot.
You evil leaders, weep and moan!
You who should take care of my people, fall down and roll in the dust/dirt.
It is time for you to be slaughtered;
you will fall down and be shattered like a fragile vase shatters when it falls to the ground.