The point Apostle Paul was making was that it doesn’t depend on men who act, but on God who has pre-formed men — and He does it for His glory; and your logical response might be that God is unfair; but since God cannot do anything wrong, you must understand that “what is good and right” is that He be glorified; and that God created men in whatsoever way He pleased, to those very ends.

The Father drew all men through speaking through Christ (He didn’t speak His own Words); but some men RESISTED (Pharisees), because GOD pre-formed them to resist His drawing, so that God can be glorified when He destroys them — because His wrath is being displayed. His END-GOAL is to reveal His wrath on vessels of “common use”, and reveal His mercy on vessels of “nobility”.

In the hypothetical instance say, of where a husband and wife are struggling to understand and be understood by one another–and negative emotions are in the mix–how would this teaching factor in to desires of say one party to influence the cooperation and heartfelt care or lack of an inclusive care, of the counterpart partner?

This teaching seems far reaching, and so, it would be helpful to move out of the ancient Egypt character model to a more modern application and context. I think you are on to something here.

Merry Christmas, Tom Gould