Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
The question voices the protest that blame would be unjust if no one can stand against God's will. The reply is that people do resist Him, for He offers grace and pleads long, yet those who persistently refuse are left to their own hardness to reap their choice, while His revealed purpose is to save all who believe in Christ. As Creator He has sovereign right as potter over vessels to preserve or destroy according to His wisdom, yet never arbitrarily nor by foreordaining any to be lost, but in keeping with fitness for life and a choice in Christ open to Jew and Gentile alike. Pharaoh shows this, raised up though already wicked that God's power might be known and that he might yield, but hardening himself until left to hardness while God still made even resistance serve His purpose. The argument belongs to God's dealing with Israel and the going of the gospel to all, that inheritance is not by fleshly descent but by faith, so all saved are spiritual Israel; those who held the Presbyterian revision taught instead that God fixed an unchangeable number for life and passed the rest by to wrath.
Question and Reply
The verse gives voice to the objector's complaint that if no one is able to resist God's will then God cannot justly find fault or hold people to blame. It belongs to Paul's argument about God's dealings with Israel and the gospel going to all people, discussing who inherits the promise and how that inheritance is obtained. The objection treats God's will as sovereign in a way that would remove blame, yet the surrounding context shows that Pharaoh did resist God's saving influence and hardened his heart against signs intended to lead him to faith. God's choice is in Christ and offers every person adoption, not an arbitrary choice giving one nation advantage over another, and His statement of power and will is meant to show that salvation comes from Him and not from human merit. His purpose is not to destroy people or to choose them for sin and condemnation, but to call them to salvation through grace and mercy, while people can choose whether to follow His way.
The question does not establish that God has unconditionally chosen some for salvation, for that conclusion assumes a will or purpose the verse does not state. God's revealed will is that those who believe in Christ receive eternal life, and His purpose is to save those who are in Christ. That salvation must be sought, with immortality sought and effort made to receive it.
The answer given around the verse is that people do resist God. He offers grace and opportunities to serve His purposes, saving influence and repeated appeals, and bears long with people rather than arbitrarily making them objects of wrath. Pharaoh was raised to Egypt's throne so God's power and name could be made known, yet he stubbornly refused to submit, so God's purpose was carried out even through his resistance, and his refusal removed him from the role God intended for him without defeating God's ultimate purpose. When people prove persistently rebellious, reject His offers, oppose His will, reject mercy and resist the Spirit after repeated appeals, He gives them up to their own ways and to hardness, directs events so even their resistance brings honor to Him and makes human wrath serve His purposes, and they reap the fruit of their own choice.
To ask the question indignantly, as though personally affronted and denying justice in God's course, is itself the wicked act of replying against God. It is foolish to blame God because men are not equal to Him in wisdom, and such clamorous questioning from one unequal to Him makes it impossible to understand even what a mortal may comprehend. The only way to come to knowledge of the little that may be understood is to settle once for all that He is just and merciful and that everything He does is for the good of His creatures. Reverence, and not clamorous questioning, becomes a creature in the presence of the infinite God.
Sovereignty and Responsibility
As Creator God has the sovereign right, like a potter over vessels, to act according to His own will and wisdom and counsel and pleasure in preserving or destroying and in choosing instruments for mercy and judgment. He works all things after the counsel of His own will, His counsel stands forever, and He does all His pleasure. That sovereign decision is never arbitrary and never makes a person wicked or foreordains anyone to be lost, but is always in strict accordance with fitness or unfitness for continued existence, so that all who submit to His will continue to exist and all who persistently reject it must cease to exist.
God's choice is in Christ and calls every soul to a character that can be saved, offering adoption as children of God and salvation through grace and mercy to Jews and Gentiles alike with no arbitrary advantage of one nation over another. It is not a choice of any for sin and condemnation and does not make people wicked or prevent them from being saved, but makes salvation possible while people choose either righteousness and life or sin and death. His purpose is not to destroy people but to call them to salvation, showing that salvation comes from Him and not from human merit.
Pharaoh illustrates this sovereignty and responsibility, for he was already wicked and was raised to Egypt's throne so that God's power and name and glory could be made known. The signs sent to him were intended to lead him to faith, and he could have yielded and submitted and helped his people and brought glory to God's name, as Nebuchadnezzar did, but he refused and hardened his heart and resisted the Spirit and His saving influence until left to hardness of heart. He thus fell under God's mighty hand and lost the role intended for him, yet God still gained glory despite his stubbornness and carried out His purpose through his resistance, making even human wrath and resistance serve His purposes though that is not His purpose for people. God's foreknowledge and purpose do not make His dealings arbitrary nor remove human responsibility, for He patiently works to save while people may resist and reject His appeals.
He therefore bears patiently with much long-suffering and kindness even toward the disobedient and toward vessels fitted for destruction, offering grace and opportunities to serve His purposes and working to save rather than arbitrarily making them objects of wrath or purposing to destroy. When after long bearing and repeated appeals they prove persistently rebellious and reject His offers and oppose His will and resist the Spirit, He gives them up to their own ways and hardness and directs events so that even their resistance brings honor to Him, and they reap the fruit of their own choice. Even Israel according to the flesh stumbling at the Stone laid for a foundation was not cast off, but was endured with much long-suffering, leaving the way open for Israel to be saved and for Jews and Gentiles alike who obey His call to receive mercy. Set beside this, those who held the Presbyterian revision taught instead that God fixed an unchangeable number for eternal life, providing redemption and salvation for the elect, while passing by the rest and ordaining them to dishonor and wrath for sin, without answering the objection about fault.
Israel and Gospel
Romans 9:19 stands within Paul's exposition of God's dealings with Israel and the sending of the gospel to all peoples, taking up who inherits the promise and by what means it is obtained. Within that exposition the wording gives voice to the protest that if God's will cannot be resisted no one can justly be blamed. The Israel in view is not restored on the ground of physical descent, nor is the promise a national restoration of the Jews as such. All who are saved become spiritual Israel, the true seed gathered out of all nations through faith in Jesus, and Hosea's use of the name Israel is to be understood in that gospel sense fulfilled in Christ.
The kingdom promises made to Jacob's descendants were conditional, were forfeited under the old covenant, and are regained only by obtaining an interest in Jesus as Prince and coming King. Israel according to the flesh, seeking the law of righteousness not by faith but by works and stumbling at the Stone laid for a foundation, came under curse and separation from Christ. Gentiles who sought righteousness by faith gained the precedence, so that the kingdom is taken from the self-righteous and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits. Yet God has not cast off His people, but with much long-suffering endures even vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, keeping the way open for Israel to be saved.
The question voices the protest that blame would be unjust if no one can stand against God's will.
The reply is that people do resist Him, for He offers grace and pleads long, yet those who persistently refuse are left to their own hardness to reap their choice, while His revealed purpose is to save all who believe in Christ.
As Creator He has sovereign right as potter over vessels to preserve or destroy according to His wisdom, yet never arbitrarily nor by foreordaining any to be lost, but in keeping with fitness for life and a choice in Christ open to Jew and Gentile alike.
Pharaoh shows this, raised up though already wicked that God's power might be known and that he might yield, but hardening himself until left to hardness while God still made even resistance serve His purpose.
The argument belongs to God's dealing with Israel and the going of the gospel to all, that inheritance is not by fleshly descent but by faith, so all saved are spiritual Israel; those who held the Presbyterian revision taught instead that God fixed an unchangeable number for life and passed the rest by to wrath.
Question and Reply
The verse gives voice to the objector's complaint that if no one is able to resist God's will then God cannot justly find fault or hold people to blame. It belongs to Paul's argument about God's dealings with Israel and the gospel going to all people, discussing who inherits the promise and how that inheritance is obtained. The objection treats God's will as sovereign in a way that would remove blame, yet the surrounding context shows that Pharaoh did resist God's saving influence and hardened his heart against signs intended to lead him to faith. God's choice is in Christ and offers every person adoption, not an arbitrary choice giving one nation advantage over another, and His statement of power and will is meant to show that salvation comes from Him and not from human merit. His purpose is not to destroy people or to choose them for sin and condemnation, but to call them to salvation through grace and mercy, while people can choose whether to follow His way.
The question does not establish that God has unconditionally chosen some for salvation, for that conclusion assumes a will or purpose the verse does not state. God's revealed will is that those who believe in Christ receive eternal life, and His purpose is to save those who are in Christ. That salvation must be sought, with immortality sought and effort made to receive it.
The answer given around the verse is that people do resist God. He offers grace and opportunities to serve His purposes, saving influence and repeated appeals, and bears long with people rather than arbitrarily making them objects of wrath. Pharaoh was raised to Egypt's throne so God's power and name could be made known, yet he stubbornly refused to submit, so God's purpose was carried out even through his resistance, and his refusal removed him from the role God intended for him without defeating God's ultimate purpose. When people prove persistently rebellious, reject His offers, oppose His will, reject mercy and resist the Spirit after repeated appeals, He gives them up to their own ways and to hardness, directs events so even their resistance brings honor to Him and makes human wrath serve His purposes, and they reap the fruit of their own choice.
To ask the question indignantly, as though personally affronted and denying justice in God's course, is itself the wicked act of replying against God. It is foolish to blame God because men are not equal to Him in wisdom, and such clamorous questioning from one unequal to Him makes it impossible to understand even what a mortal may comprehend. The only way to come to knowledge of the little that may be understood is to settle once for all that He is just and merciful and that everything He does is for the good of His creatures. Reverence, and not clamorous questioning, becomes a creature in the presence of the infinite God.
Sovereignty and Responsibility
As Creator God has the sovereign right, like a potter over vessels, to act according to His own will and wisdom and counsel and pleasure in preserving or destroying and in choosing instruments for mercy and judgment. He works all things after the counsel of His own will, His counsel stands forever, and He does all His pleasure. That sovereign decision is never arbitrary and never makes a person wicked or foreordains anyone to be lost, but is always in strict accordance with fitness or unfitness for continued existence, so that all who submit to His will continue to exist and all who persistently reject it must cease to exist.
God's choice is in Christ and calls every soul to a character that can be saved, offering adoption as children of God and salvation through grace and mercy to Jews and Gentiles alike with no arbitrary advantage of one nation over another. It is not a choice of any for sin and condemnation and does not make people wicked or prevent them from being saved, but makes salvation possible while people choose either righteousness and life or sin and death. His purpose is not to destroy people but to call them to salvation, showing that salvation comes from Him and not from human merit.
Pharaoh illustrates this sovereignty and responsibility, for he was already wicked and was raised to Egypt's throne so that God's power and name and glory could be made known. The signs sent to him were intended to lead him to faith, and he could have yielded and submitted and helped his people and brought glory to God's name, as Nebuchadnezzar did, but he refused and hardened his heart and resisted the Spirit and His saving influence until left to hardness of heart. He thus fell under God's mighty hand and lost the role intended for him, yet God still gained glory despite his stubbornness and carried out His purpose through his resistance, making even human wrath and resistance serve His purposes though that is not His purpose for people. God's foreknowledge and purpose do not make His dealings arbitrary nor remove human responsibility, for He patiently works to save while people may resist and reject His appeals.
He therefore bears patiently with much long-suffering and kindness even toward the disobedient and toward vessels fitted for destruction, offering grace and opportunities to serve His purposes and working to save rather than arbitrarily making them objects of wrath or purposing to destroy. When after long bearing and repeated appeals they prove persistently rebellious and reject His offers and oppose His will and resist the Spirit, He gives them up to their own ways and hardness and directs events so that even their resistance brings honor to Him, and they reap the fruit of their own choice. Even Israel according to the flesh stumbling at the Stone laid for a foundation was not cast off, but was endured with much long-suffering, leaving the way open for Israel to be saved and for Jews and Gentiles alike who obey His call to receive mercy. Set beside this, those who held the Presbyterian revision taught instead that God fixed an unchangeable number for eternal life, providing redemption and salvation for the elect, while passing by the rest and ordaining them to dishonor and wrath for sin, without answering the objection about fault.
Israel and Gospel
Romans 9:19 stands within Paul's exposition of God's dealings with Israel and the sending of the gospel to all peoples, taking up who inherits the promise and by what means it is obtained. Within that exposition the wording gives voice to the protest that if God's will cannot be resisted no one can justly be blamed. The Israel in view is not restored on the ground of physical descent, nor is the promise a national restoration of the Jews as such. All who are saved become spiritual Israel, the true seed gathered out of all nations through faith in Jesus, and Hosea's use of the name Israel is to be understood in that gospel sense fulfilled in Christ.
The kingdom promises made to Jacob's descendants were conditional, were forfeited under the old covenant, and are regained only by obtaining an interest in Jesus as Prince and coming King. Israel according to the flesh, seeking the law of righteousness not by faith but by works and stumbling at the Stone laid for a foundation, came under curse and separation from Christ. Gentiles who sought righteousness by faith gained the precedence, so that the kingdom is taken from the self-righteous and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits. Yet God has not cast off His people, but with much long-suffering endures even vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, keeping the way open for Israel to be saved.