Romans 9:19-21

 

 

Home
Site Index
Inductive Bible Study
Greek Word Studies
Commentaries by Verse
Area Precept Classes
Reference Search
Bible Dictionaries
Bible Maps & Pictures
It's Greek to Me
Bible Commentaries
Discipline Yourself
Christian Biography
Wailing Wall
Bible Prophecy

Search by Verse
Word or Phrase:

 

 

Study Tools

 
 

INDEX
PREVIOUS NEXT

SEARCH PRECEPT AUSTIN WEB SITE
 
Search WWW Search www.preceptaustin.org

 

COLLECTIONS
Commentaries, Word Studies, Devotionals, Sermons, Illustrations
Old and New Testament

   
  

   

 

Summary of
Romans 9-11
Romans 9 Romans 10 Romans 11
Past
Election
Present
Rejection
Future
Reception
God's Sovereignty
Israel's Election by God
Man's responsibility
Israel's Rejection of God
God's Ways Higher
God Not Rejecting Israel

 

9:19  You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?"
Greek: Ereis (2SFAI) moi oun, Ti [oun] eti memphetai? (3SPMI) to gar boulemati autou tis anthesteken? (3SRAI
Amplified: You will say to me, Why then does He still find fault and blame us [for sinning]? For who can resist and withstand His will?
Barclay: But, then, you may ask, “If this is so how can God go on blaming men if they do not take his way? Who can withstand God’s purpose?
ESV: You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"
NIV: One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?"
NKJV: You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"
NLT: Well then, you might say, "Why does God blame people for not listening? Haven't they simply done what he made them do?"
Phillips: Of course I can almost hear your retort: "If this is so, and God's will is irresistible, why does God blame men for what they do?"
Wuest: Then you will say to me, Why does He still persist in finding fault?
Young's Literal: Thou wilt say, then, to me, 'Why yet doth He find fault? for His counsel who hath resisted?'
ROMANS ROAD to RIGHTEOUSNESS
Romans
1
:18-3:20
Romans
3:21-5:21
Romans
6:1-8:39
Romans
9:1-11:36
Romans
12:1-16:27
SIN SALVATION SANCTIFICATION SOVEREIGNTY SERVICE
NEED
FOR
SALVATION
WAY
OF
SALVATION
LIFE
OF
SALVATION
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION
WORK
OF
SALVATION

YOU WILL SAY TO ME THEN WHY DOES HE STILL FIND FAULT: Ereis (2SFAI) moi oun  ti (oun) eti memphetai (3SPMI)
: (
3:8; 1 Corinthians 15:12,35; James 1:13) (3:5-7; Genesis 50:20; 2 Chronicles 20:6; Job 9:12-15,19; 23:13,14; Psalms 76:10; Isaiah 10:6,7; 46:10,11; Daniel 4:35; Mark 14:21; Acts 2:23; 4:27,28)

Find fault (3201) (memphomai) means to blame, to censure, to be dissatisfied with someone most commonly due to errors of omission.

What one might say based on the preceding truths is that if God does what He wills then its not our fault – we don't really have a choice.

Warren Wiersbe tells the following story:

I recall sharing in a street meeting in Chicago and passing out tracts at the corner of Madison and Kedzie. Most of the people graciously accepted the tracts, but one man took the tract and with a snarl crumpled it up and threw it in the gutter. The name of the tract was “Four Things God Wants You to Know.” “There are a few things I would like God to know!” the man said. “Why is there so much sorrow and tragedy in this world? Why do the innocent suffer while the rich go free? Bah! Don’t tell me there’s a God! If there is, then God is the biggest sinner that ever lived!” And he turned away with a sneer and was lost in the crowd.

FOR WHO RESISTS HIS WILL: to gar boulemati autou tis anthesteken (3SRAI):

Resists (436) (anthistemi from anti = against, opposite + histemi = stand) means to set one's self against  or to arrange in battle against. Anthistemi suggests vigorously opposing, standing face-to-face against and so standing one's ground.

An opponent might say that Paul's conclusion in [v18] leads to fatalism. Paul, however, does not give an analytical answer but rebukes the questioner for such a preposterous conclusion. If a potter can do what he wishes with his vessels, certainly God can with His.

 

9:20  On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God ? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
Greek: o anthrope, menounge su tis ei (2SPAI) o antapokrinomenos (PMPMSN) to theo? me erei (3SFAI) to plasma to plasanti, (AAPMSD) Ti me epoiesav (2SAAI) houtos? 
Amplified: But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? [Isa. 29:16; 45:9.]
Barclay: Fellow! Who are you to be arguing with God? Surely the thing that is molded into shape cannot say to the man who molds it, “Why did you make me like this?”
ESV: But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"
ICB: Do not ask that. You are only human. And human beings have no right to question God. An object cannot tell the person who made it, "Why did you make me like this?"
NIV: But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"
NKJV: But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?"
NLT: No, don't say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to criticize God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who made it, "Why have you made me like this?"
Phillips: But the question really is this: "Who are you, a man, to make any such reply to God?" When a craftsman makes anything he doesn't expect it to turn round and say, 'Why did you make me like this?'
Wuest: For, with respect to His counsel, who has taken a permanent stand against it? O man, nay, surely, as for you, who are you who contradicts God? The moldable material shall not say to the one who molds it, Why did you make me thus, shall it?
Young's Literal: nay, but, O man, who art thou that art answering again to God? shall the thing formed say to Him who did form it, Why me didst thou make thus?

ON THE CONTRARY, WHO ARE YOU, O MAN, WHO ANSWERS BACK TO GOD: o anthrope, menounge su tis ei (2SPAI) o antapokrinomenos (PMPMSN) to theo: (
2:1; Micah 6:8; 1 Corinthians 7:16; James 2:20) (Job 33:13; 36:23; 38:2,3; 40:2,5,8; 42:2-6; Matthew 20:15) (Job 16:3; Titus 2:9; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Timothy 6:5)

Who do you think you are to criticize, argue with, reply against & talk back to God like that? Can an object that was made say to its maker, "Why did you make me like this?"

Morris writes...

We have no right to ask God: "Why?" Remember that He answered Job's pleas for understanding merely by reminding Job of the fact of creation (Job38-41). As our great Potter, He has the right to make His pottery vessels both for honor and dishonor (Ro9:21). We who have been redeemed by His mercy should be grateful that He chose us even before the world began (Ep1:3-4 2Ti1:9), confident that He--by whatever means He chooses--is preparing His "vessels of mercy" (Ro9:23) to receive the full manifestation of His glory in the ages to come (Ep2:10). The fact that our finite minds cannot comprehend the simultaneous operation of divine election and human responsibility is irrelevant. Both Scripture and human experience demonstrate both to be true. We must both rest in that fact and act in light of it.

THE THING MOLDED WILL NOT SAY TO THE MOLDER, "WHY DID YOU MAKE ME LIKE THIS WILL IT: me erei (3SFAI) to plasma to plasanti (AAPMSD) ti me epoiesas (2SAAI) houtos: (Isaiah 29:16; 45:9-11)

Don't you know that God is sovereign, just, merciful & by all rights should have condemned all men & yet He has sovereignly chosen to save some.

Then Paul describes 2 different vessels both made from the "same clay" (v21 "same lump") so to speak. Both deserve destruction & I have had mercy on some. God determines whether a man will be a Moses or a Pharaoh. Neither Moses, nor Pharaoh, nor anyone else, could choose his parents, his genetic structure, or his time and place of birth. We have to believe that these matters are in the hands of God. However, this does not excuse us from responsibility. Pharaoh had great opportunities to learn about the true God and trust Him, and yet he chose to rebel. Paul did not develop this aspect of truth because his theme was divine sovereignty, not human responsibility. The one does not deny the other, even though our finite minds may not fully grasp them both.

 

9:21  Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another * for common use ?
Greek: e ouk echei (3SPAI) exousian o kerameus tou pelou ek tou autou phuramatos poiesai (AAN) o men eis timen skeuos, o de eis atimian? 
Amplified: Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same mass (lump) one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use, and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use?
Barclay: Has not the potter complete authority over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for an honourable use and another for a menial service?
ESV: Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?
ICB: The man who makes a jar can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make different things. He can make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use.
NIV: Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
NKJV: Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
NLT: When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?
Phillips: The potter, for instance, is always assumed to have complete control over the clay, making with one part of the lump a lovely vase, and with another a pipe for sewage.
Wuest: Or, does not the potter possess authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make, on the one hand, an instrument which is for honorable purposes and, on the other hand, one which is for dishonorable uses?
Young's Literal:  hath not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make the one vessel to honour, and the one to dishonour?
OR DOES NOT THE POTTER HAVE A RIGHT OVER THE CLAY: e ouk echei (3SPAI) exousian o kerameus tou pelou: (11,18; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:3-6)

It is not said that we are as clay in the potter’s hands, but that God has the right over us that the potter has over his clay. One lump the potter can use for a splendid vase; another for a vessel for base uses.

TO MAKE FROM THE SAME LUMP: ek tou autou phuramatos poiesai (AAN): (
22,23; Jeremiah 22:28; Hosea 8:8; Acts 9:15; 2 Timothy 2:20,21)

All men come from the same "lump" of clay so to speak for...

just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Ro5:12)

Thus all are lost and destined for perdition. God does not have to choose them for hell. They are already headed there because of their inherent and imputed sin and the sins they commit.

God in His sovereignty chooses some to be vessels of mercy and with the others exhibits a long fuse even though He has every right to destroy them. The vessels of wrath are not foreordained by God or chosen by God to go to hell. They prepare themselves for their ultimate destiny, which they receive because they have rejected the truth about God and His righteousness available only in Christ.

ONE VESSEL FOR HONORABLE USE, AND ANOTHER FOR COMMON USE: o men eis timen skeuos o de eis atimian:

Believer's Study Bible comments that

Although the illustration of the right of the potter to do with the vessel as he wishes, whether to honor or dishonor it, may certainly be applied to individual election, nevertheless, the election of the nation of Israel is the primary subject under discussion in ch9-11, and the principal application of the passage is to Israel.

William Newell has an interesting note writing that...

In His infinite wisdom and knowledge God reads with unerring accuracy the operations of the human heart:

"Man looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart."

Man says,

"If I am not one of God's elect, an object of His mercy, then I cannot do right, and God should not blame me."

I asked an intelligent man in western Michigan if he had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He burst out into loud laughing, saying,

"If I am elect, I will go to heaven; and if I am not elect, there is no use in my worrying about the question!"

I rebuked him sternly, with these words:

"'God commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He hath ordained.' 'God's commands are God's enablings, 'and if you will hearken to Him, you will be saved. But you will not dare to say to God in that day, I could not come because I was not of the elect; for that will not be true! The reason you refused to come, will be found to be your love of sin, not your non-election!"

God says, "Whosoever will" and the door is open to all, absolutely all. God means "Whosoever": and that is the word for you, sinner; and not election, which is God's business, not yours. (Romans 9)
 

 

Home | Site Index | Inductive Bible Study | Greek Word Studies | Commentaries by Verse | Area Precept Classes | Reference Search | Bible Dictionaries | Bible Maps & Pictures | It's Greek to Me | Bible Commentaries | Discipline Yourself | Christian Biography | Wailing Wall | Bible Prophecy
Last updated: 10/04/08.

E-Mail us

Hit Counter