International Critical Commentary, Romans 9:19-29, p. 266-267
“It is necessary to see exactly how much St. Paul does say, and how much he does not. He never says, he carefully avoids saying, that God has created men for reprobation…
“We must in fact remember – and it is quite impossible to understand St. Paul if we do not – that the three chapters [Romans] 9-11 form one very closely reasoned whole…He raises each point separately, argues it and then sets it aside. He deliberately isolates for a time the aspect under discussion…He isolates one side of his argument in one place, one in another, and just for that very reason we must never use isolated texts. We must not make deductions from one passage in his writings separated from its contexts and without modifying it by other passages presenting other aspects of the same questions. The doctrinal deductions must be made at the end of chapter 11 and not of chapter 9.
“St. Paul is gradually working out a sustained argument. He has laid down the principle that God may choose and reject whom He wills, that He may make men for one purpose or another just as He wills, and if He will in quite an arbitrary manner. But it is already pointed out that this is not His method. He has shown long-suffering and forbearance. Some there are whom He had created, that had become fitted for destruction – as will be shown eventually, by their own act. These He has borne with – both for their own sakes, to give them room for repentance, and because they have been the means of exhibiting His mercy on those whom He has prepared for His glory.”
