Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 9:19

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 9:19 - 9:19

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 9:19 - 9:19

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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
19. ἐρεῖς μοι οὖν κ.τ.λ. You will say to me, In this case what room is still left for faultfinding? If men are thus appointed to be instruments of GOD’S use whether for mercy or hardening, how can they be responsible? how can GOD find fault? The answer is, on the one hand, that the question cannot be properly raised by man as against GOD, because man has to accept the conditions of his creation, and on the other hand that the revelation of GOD’S wrath is itself turned by the patience of GOD into a revelation of mercy. The answer does not seem to us sufficient, for it still leaves the fundamental point unsolved—why are some men to be the subjects of the revelation of wrath in order that the mercy may be revealed in others? If moral responsibility is to be maintained, the cause of this difference must be seen to lie in the man himself. But this is not brought out until we get to Rom 9:31 where the cause of Israel’s failure is named as want of faith. Can we use this particular instance to interpret the whole argument? If we are meant to, it is strange that it should be left so late, and unapplied to the general problem. The reason for this perhaps is that S. Paul’s mind is really absorbed in the particular problem of Israel, and does not attempt to elucidate, perhaps did not feel the weight of, the general problem. See Add. Note, p. 222.

τῷ γὰρ βουλήματι κ.τ.λ. The question assumes that the hardening is the primary purpose of GOD. The use of the term βούλημα slightly exaggerates the statement δν θέλει κ.τ.λ.; βούλομαι involving “volition guided by choice and purpose; θέλει expressing the mere fact of volition” (Hort, James, p. 32): but the distinction cannot be used to help the situation here.

ἀνθέστηκεν has ever succeeded in resisting (cf. Rom 13:12): if the hardening is GOD’S will, how can a man help it?