CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Romans 9:20 Context: But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001a.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../vmenus/romans/9-20.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmc/romans/9-20.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="//biblehub.com/crossref/">Cross Refs</a> > Romans 9:20</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../romans/9-19.htm" title="Romans 9:19">◄</a> Romans 9:20 <a href="../romans/9-21.htm" title="Romans 9:21">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Context</div><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-20.htm" target="_top"><b>20</b></a></span>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? <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-21.htm" target="_top"><b>21</b></a></span>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? <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-22.htm" target="_top"><b>22</b></a></span>What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-23.htm" target="_top"><b>23</b></a></span>And <i>He did so</i> to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-24.htm" target="_top"><b>24</b></a></span><i>even</i> us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. <p><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-25.htm" target="_top"><b>25</b></a></span>As He says also in Hosea,<br>         I <font size="1">WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT</font> M<font size="1">Y PEOPLE</font>, M<font size="1">Y PEOPLE</font>,<br>         A<font size="1">ND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED</font>, <font size="1">BELOVED</font>. <p><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-26.htm" target="_top"><b>26</b></a></span>A<font size="1">ND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE</font> <font size="1">IT WAS SAID TO THEM</font>, <font size="1">YOU ARE NOT</font> M<font size="1">Y PEOPLE</font>,<br>         T<font size="1">HERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF</font> <font size="1">THE</font> <font size="1">LIVING</font> G<font size="1">OD</font>. <p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-27.htm" target="_top"><b>27</b></a></span>Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, T<font size="1">HOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF</font> I<font size="1">SRAEL BE</font> <font size="1">LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA</font>, <font size="1">IT IS</font> <font size="1">THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED</font>; <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-28.htm" target="_top"><b>28</b></a></span><font size="1">FOR THE</font> L<font size="1">ORD WILL EXECUTE</font> H<font size="1">IS WORD ON THE</font> <font size="1">EARTH</font>, <font size="1">THOROUGHLY AND</font> <font size="1">QUICKLY</font>. <p><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-29.htm" target="_top"><b>29</b></a></span>And just as Isaiah foretold,<br>         U<font size="1">NLESS</font> <font size="1">THE</font> L<font size="1">ORD OF</font> S<font size="1">ABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A</font> <font size="1">POSTERITY</font>,<br>         W<font size="1">E WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE</font> S<font size="1">ODOM</font>, <font size="1">AND WOULD HAVE</font> <font size="1">RESEMBLED</font> G<font size="1">OMORRAH</font>. <p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-30.htm" target="_top"><b>30</b></a></span>What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-31.htm" target="_top"><b>31</b></a></span>but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at <i>that</i> law. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-32.htm" target="_top"><b>32</b></a></span>Why? Because <i>they did</i> not <i>pursue it</i> by faith, but as though <i>it were</i> by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, <p><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/9-33.htm" target="_top"><b>33</b></a></span>just as it is written,<br>         B<font size="1">EHOLD</font>, I <font size="1">LAY IN</font> Z<font size="1">ION</font> <font size="1">A STONE OF</font> <font size="1">STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE</font>,<br>         A<font size="1">ND HE WHO BELIEVES IN</font> H<font size="1">IM</font> <font size="1">WILL NOT BE</font> <font size="1">DISAPPOINTED</font>. <p><br /><br /><a href="//www.lockman.org" target="_top">NASB ©1995</a><div class="vheading2">Parallel Verses</div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/asv/romans/9.htm">American Standard Version</a></span><br />Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/drb/romans/9.htm">Douay-Rheims Bible</a></span><br />O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/dbt/romans/9.htm">Darby Bible Translation</a></span><br />Aye, but thou, O man, who art thou that answerest again to God? Shall the thing formed say to him that has formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/erv/romans/9.htm">English Revised Version</a></span><br />Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wbt/romans/9.htm">Webster's Bible Translation</a></span><br />No, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wey/romans/9.htm">Weymouth New Testament</a></span><br />Nay, but who are you, a mere man, that you should cavil against GOD? Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded it, "Why have you made me thus?"<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/web/romans/9.htm">World English Bible</a></span><br />But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/ylt/romans/9.htm">Young's Literal Translation</a></span><br /> 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?<div class="vheading2">Library</div><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/simpson/days_of_heaven_upon_earth_/april_1_vessels_of_mercy.htm">April 1. "Vessels of Mercy which He had Afore Prepared unto Glory" (Rom. Ix. 23). </a><br></span><span class="snippet">"Vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory" (Rom. ix. 23). Our Father is fitting us for eternity. A vessel fitted for the kitchen will find itself in the kitchen. A vessel for the art gallery or the reception room will generally find itself there at last. What are you getting fitted for? To be a slop-pail to hold all the stuff that people pour into your ears, or a vase to hold sweet fragrance and flowers for the King's palace and a harp of many strings that sounds the melodies and harmonies <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/simpson/days_of_heaven_upon_earth_/april_1_vessels_of_mercy.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Rev. A. B. Simpson—</span><span class="citation2">Days of Heaven Upon Earth </span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_5_1859/jacob_and_esau.htm">Jacob and Esau</a><br></span><span class="snippet">Now, it is one thing to refute another man's doctrine, but a very different matter to establish my own views. It is very easy to knock over one man's hypothesis concerning these truths, not quite so easy to make my own stand on a firm footing. I shall try to-night, if I can, to go safely, if I do not go very fast; for I shall endeavour to keep simply to the letter of God's Word. I think that if we kept more simply to the teachings of the Bible, we should be wiser than we are; for by turning from <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_5_1859/jacob_and_esau.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Charles Haddon Spurgeon—</span><span class="citation2">Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_8_1863/gods_will_and_mans_will.htm">God's Will and Man's Will</a><br></span><span class="snippet">The great controversy which for many ages has divided the Christian Church has hinged upon the difficult question of "the will." I need not say of that conflict that it has done much mischief to the Christian Church, undoubtedly it has; but I will rather say, that it has been fraught with incalculable usefulness; for it has thrust forward before the minds of Christians, precious truths, which but for it, might have been kept in the shade. I believe that the two great doctrines of human responsibility <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_8_1863/gods_will_and_mans_will.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Charles Haddon Spurgeon—</span><span class="citation2">Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/binning/the_works_of_the_rev_hugh_binning/lecture_xv_of_predestination.htm">Of Predestination</a><br></span><span class="snippet">Eph. i. 11.--"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."--Rom. ix. 22, 23.--"What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory." In the creation of the world, it pleased the Lord, <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/binning/the_works_of_the_rev_hugh_binning/lecture_xv_of_predestination.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Hugh Binning—</span><span class="citation2">The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kempis/imitation_of_christ/chapter_lii_that_a_man.htm">That a Man Ought not to Reckon Himself Worthy of Consolation, but More Worthy of Chastisement</a><br></span><span class="snippet">O Lord, I am not worthy of Thy consolation, nor of any spiritual visitation; and therefore Thou dealest justly with me, when Thou leavest me poor and desolate. For if I were able to pour forth tears like the sea, still should I not be worthy of Thy consolation. Therefore am I nothing worthy save to be scourged and punished, because I have grievously and many a time offended Thee, and in many things have greatly sinned. Therefore, true account being taken, I am not worthy even of the least of Thy <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kempis/imitation_of_christ/chapter_lii_that_a_man.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Thomas A Kempis—</span><span class="citation2">Imitation of Christ</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kuyper/the_work_of_the_holy_spirit/xxviii_the_coming_of_the.htm">The Coming of the Called. </a><br></span><span class="snippet">"That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth."--Rom. ix. 11. The question is, whether the elect cooperate in the call. We say, Yes; for the call is no call, in the fullest sense of the word, unless the called one can hear and hears so distinctly that it impresses him, causes him to rise and to obey God. For this reason our fathers, for the sake of clearness, used to distinguish between the ordinary call and the effectual call. God's call does not <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kuyper/the_work_of_the_holy_spirit/xxviii_the_coming_of_the.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Abraham Kuyper—</span><span class="citation2">The Work of the Holy Spirit</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kuyper/the_work_of_the_holy_spirit/xxxii_the_love_which_withers.htm">The Love which Withers. </a><br></span><span class="snippet">"Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth."--Rom. ix. 18. The idea of hardening is so awful that, with all its unsanctified pity and natural religion, the human heart rejects it as a horrible thought. Natural compassion can not bear the idea that a fellow man, instigated to evil by it, should forever ruin himself. And natural religion can not conceive of a God who, instead of persuading His creature to virtue, should give him up and incite him to sin. This <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kuyper/the_work_of_the_holy_spirit/xxxii_the_love_which_withers.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Abraham Kuyper—</span><span class="citation2">The Work of the Holy Spirit</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/on_lying/section_28_it_is_also.htm">It is Also Written, "But I Say unto You...</a><br></span><span class="snippet">28. It is also written, "But I say unto you, Swear not at all." But the Apostle himself has used oaths in his Epistles. [2342] And so he shows how that is to be taken which is said, "I say unto you, Swear not at all:" that is, lest by swearing one come to a facility in swearing, from facility to a custom, and so from a custom there be a downfall into perjury. And therefore he is not found to have sworn except in writing, where there is more wary forethought, and no precipitate tongue withal. And <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/on_lying/section_28_it_is_also.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">St. Augustine—</span><span class="citation2">On Lying</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/guyon/song_of_songs_of_solomon/14_flee_away_my_beloved.htm">Flee Away, My Beloved, and be Thou Like to a Roe or to a Young Hart Upon the Mountains of Spices. </a><br></span><span class="snippet">The soul having now no other interest than that of the Bridegroom, either for self or for any other creature, and who can will nothing except His glory, seeing something which dishonors Him, cries out, Flee away, my Beloved! Leave these places which offer Thee no perfume. Come to those souls who are as mountains of spices, raised above the fetid vapors corrupted by the wickedness of this world. These mountains owe their sweetness to the odor of the exquisite virtues which Thou hast planted in them, <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/guyon/song_of_songs_of_solomon/14_flee_away_my_beloved.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Madame Guyon—</span><span class="citation2">Song of Songs of Solomon</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/newton/messiah_vol_1/sermon_xxiv_messiahs_innocence_vindicated.htm">Messiah's Innocence vindicated</a><br></span><span class="snippet">He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken. L et not plain Christians be stumbled because there are difficulties in the prophetical parts of the Scriptures, and because translators and expositors sometimes explain them with some difference, as to the sense. Whatever directly relates to our faith, practice, and comfort, may be plainly collected from innumerable <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/newton/messiah_vol_1/sermon_xxiv_messiahs_innocence_vindicated.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">John Newton—</span><span class="citation2">Messiah Vol. 1</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_14_1868/consecration_to_godillustrated_by_abrahams.htm">Consecration to God --Illustrated by Abraham's Circumcision</a><br></span><span class="snippet">Let me remind you of the order in which these blessings come. If we should speak of sanctification or consecration, it is not as a first thing, but as an elevation to be reached only by preceding stepping-stones. In vain do men pretend to be consecrated to God before they are called of God's Spirit; such have yet to be taught that no strength of nature can suffice to serve the Lord aright. They must learn what this meaneth, "Ye must be born again," for assuredly until men are brought into spiritual <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_14_1868/consecration_to_godillustrated_by_abrahams.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Charles Haddon Spurgeon—</span><span class="citation2">Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 14: 1868</span><p><div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/niv/romans/9-20.htm">Romans 9:20 NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/romans/9-20.htm">Romans 9:20 NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/romans/9-20.htm">Romans 9:20 ESV</a> • <a href="/nasb/romans/9-20.htm">Romans 9:20 NASB</a> • <a href="/kjv/romans/9-20.htm">Romans 9:20 KJV</a> • <a href="//bibleapps.com/romans/9-20.htm">Romans 9:20 Bible Apps</a> • <a href="/romans/9-20.htm">Romans 9:20 Parallel</a> • <a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../romans/9-19.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Romans 9:19"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Romans 9:19" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../romans/9-21.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Romans 9:21"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Romans 9:21" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mp/romans/9-20.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><br /><br /><iframe src="//biblemenus.com/adframebhbl.htm" width="122" height="250" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div> <div id="bot"><div align="center"><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><br /><br /></div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhparnew.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></body></html>