Rom. 9:13. As it is also written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
Here it is necessary for us to state in advance the meaning of what the apostle intends to discuss at length. Many were saying: why were the Gentiles preferred over the Jews? (For no one could say it was for virtue, because all had sinned.) The apostle gathers many difficulties that are incomprehensible to us but comprehensible to God alone. First he presents that between two twin brothers, the chosen one was chosen not for virtue, and the hated one was hated not for wickedness (for they had done neither good nor evil, since they were still in their mother's womb), but by election, by God's foreknowledge, one was chosen and loved, and the other hated, as the prophet also says: "I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated" (Mal. 1:2), so that everything might be the work of God and of His election and foreknowledge. But why do I speak of these persons? All the Israelites worshipped the calf, yet some were punished and others were not. And Pharaoh was indeed cruel, but many others were also cruel: why then did punishment befall him alone? Do you see that this is incomprehensible to men but comprehensible to God alone? So also the election of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews appears groundless to us, yet in the eyes of God both are perfectly just. Such is the meaning of this entire passage.
Rom. 9:14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Therefore, God is just both in relation to us, the Gentiles, and in relation to the Jews.
Rom. 9:15. For He says to Moses: "I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion."
He adds, as was said above, another saying from the Old Testament as well, proving that God alone knows who is worthy of honor and who of punishment. Although all equally sinned when they cast the calf, God nonetheless had mercy on some, while others He handed over to the Levites for slaughter. And Moses, great before God, did not know the reason for this, yet you inquire into the reason why the Gentiles were preferred over the Jews, even though they were sinners? However, Paul could have stated this reason, as he did state it in another place, that the Israelites thought they were justified by works, while the Gentiles believed they were justified by faith and grace; yet he does not state it now, more than sufficiently shutting the mouths of the curious and persuading them not to scrutinize the judgments of God.
Rom. 9:16. Mercy depends not on the one who wills, nor on the one who strives, but on God who shows mercy.
Isaac wanted to bless Esau; but Jacob hurried to the field so that, having caught game, he might receive the blessing from his father, and God by righteous judgment brought it about that Jacob, as entirely worthy, received the blessing. Here the apostle would seem to destroy free will; but in reality, no. Of a house we say that it is entirely the work of the master builder; although the master builder needs both materials and helpers in the construction, nevertheless, since it depends on him, we say that he built the whole house. So also of God we say that everything is His work, although God has need of our contribution as well. He accomplishes. He also gives the crowns, He also condemns; therefore we say that everything is the work of God.
Rom. 9:17. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
As from those who made the calf, he reasons, some were saved and others punished, when God alone knew who was worthy of salvation and who of punishment: so, although there were many others who were wicked, only Pharaoh was subjected to the wrath of God. For this very reason, He says, I "raised you up," that is, I brought you, Pharaoh, into view, so that through you My power might be made known and many might restrain themselves, hearing of My name as just and mighty, throughout all the earth.
Rom. 9:18. So then, He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
He draws a conclusion and proves that one should not demand an account from God. God has mercy on whom He wills, as He did with the Israelites who cast the calf, and hardens whom He wills, as happened with Pharaoh. What then does "hardens" mean? It would seem absurd. But it is said of God that He made the filthy heart of Pharaoh hard in the same way that the sun makes mud hard. In what manner? By longsuffering; for He made him hard by showing longsuffering toward him. Here something similar occurred to what happens when someone who has a wicked servant treats him with kindness. The more kindly he treats him, the worse he makes him — not because he himself teaches him vice, but because the servant uses his longsuffering to increase his own wickedness, because he despises that longsuffering.
Rom. 9:19. You will say to me: "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"
The Apostle, as I have repeatedly said, strives in every way to prove that the dispensations and judgments of God are known to God alone, and therefore everywhere gathers a multitude of difficulties and does not offer solutions, so that, having placed the listener in a difficult position, he might convince him that the dispensations and judgments of God are incomprehensible to man and surpass his understanding. The meaning of the present passage is as follows. The Apostle presents an objection and a perplexity. If God hardens whom He wills, then why does He still blame the sinner? For who can resist His will? He willed it and hardened, and the hardened one sinned justly: how then can He blame and punish him? The Apostle presented precisely such an objection in order to show that the perplexity about this can be resolved by God alone; which is why he does not resolve it himself, but stops the mouth of the one who is perplexed, saying:
Rom. 9:20. But who are you, O man, that you argue with God?
Do you see how he stops untimely curiosity, puts on a bridle, and teaches one to know the difference between God and man? "But who are you?" Do you share with God in governance? Are you a judge of what He ought to do or not do? To say that this should be done in one way and that in another means to argue with God and act contrary to Him. But this must by no means be done; rather, one must submissively accept what God has done, however it may have been done.
Rom. 9:20. The vessel will say to the one who made it: "Why have you made me thus?"
Rom. 9:21. Has not the potter power over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
Paul used this example not in order to destroy our free will and present us as inactive and immovable, but in order to teach us how we ought to submit to God and show Him deep and silent obedience. As a potter, he reasons, makes whatever he pleases from one and the same clay, and not one of the vessels contradicts him, so you too should not ask God why He punishes some people and rewards others, even though they are of one and the same race; rather, revere Him and imitate the clay. As it is submissive to the hand of the potter, so you too be submissive to the decree of the Ruler of the universe.
Know then, reader, that just as with vessels it does not depend on the clay that one turns out for honorable use and another for common use (for the clay is one and the same), but on the use made by those who employ the vessel, so too with people it does not depend on nature that some are worthy of punishment and others of rewards (for nature is one and the same), but on free will.
Rom. 9:22. What then, if God, wishing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with great longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
Rom. 9:23. that He might also make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared for glory,
Rom. 9:24. Called upon us, whom He called not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles?
Having shut the mouth of the curious, he now gives the solution. The meaning of what is said is as follows. Pharaoh was a vessel of wrath, that is, a man who by his hardheartedness kindles the wrath of God. God "endured" him, that is, bore with him, was patient; for He deemed him worthy of great longsuffering. But he used this longsuffering for hardening and became a vessel fitted to receive wrath, complete for destruction, that is, prepared for it by himself and of his own will, because he omitted nothing that served for his destruction, but did everything that drew him toward destruction. Otherwise: "endured," that is, set him forth publicly, so that, since he did not become better from the longsuffering, He might punish him and show His own power, so that from this others might become better. Just as by punishing him who had become a vessel of wrath by his own choice, God showed His power, so by having mercy on many who had sinned but had become worthy of mercy — the Gentiles — He manifested "the riches of His glory." He did not say: of His love for mankind, but: "of glory," for the perfect glory of God consists in showing mercy. Furthermore, "which He had prepared beforehand," that is, foreknew. And he did not say: He saved all the Gentiles, but: "from among the Gentiles," that is, some. Therefore do not be offended, O Jew. Behold, even among the Gentiles some receive mercy, and others do not.
Rom. 9:25. As He says also in Hosea: "I will call those who were not My people, My people, and her who was not beloved, beloved."