New International Version
Romans 9:14
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
Romans 9:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
- English Standard Version (ESV)What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!
- New King James Version (NKJV)What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
- New Living Translation (NLT)Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!
Context of Romans 9:14
12not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
Read all of Romans 9Romans 9:14 word by word
Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; μὴ ἀδικία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ; μὴ γένοιτο.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Romans 9:14
- Romans 3:1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
- Romans 2:5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Romans 3:5But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)
- Genesis 18:25Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Deuteronomy 32:4He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
- 2 Chronicles 19:7Now let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”
- Job 8:3Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
- Job 34:10“So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong.
- Job 35:2“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
- Psalms 92:15proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
- Psalms 145:17The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.
- Jeremiah 12:1You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
- Revelation 15:3and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations.
- Revelation 16:7And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”
Commentaries on Romans 9:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14What shall we say then? - To what conclusion shall we come on the facts before us? Shall we suggest that God's bestowing peculiar privileges in this unequal manner, on those who otherwise are in equal circumstances, is inconsistent with justice and equity? By no means. Whatever God does is right, and he may dispense his blessings to whom and or what terms he pleases.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-24Verses 14-24 Whatever God does, must be just. Wherein the holy, happy people of God differ from others, God's grace alone makes them differ. In this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a benefactor, whose grace is his own. None have deserved it; so that those who are saved, must thank God only; and those who perish, must blame themselves only, Hos 13:9. God is bound no further than he has been pleased to bind himself by his own…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14-16God’s choice is not unfair because God does not owe anything to sinful human beings (see study note on 4:4–5). Anything God gives is an act of mercy, not a payment that people deserve.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid--This is the first of two objections to the foregoing doctrine, that God chooses one and rejects another, not on account of their works, but purely in the exercise of His own good pleasure: "This doctrine is inconsistent with the justice of God." The answer to this objection extends to Ro 9:19, where we have the second objection.Read the comment
- Calvin’s Commentaries · v. 1414. What then shall we say? etc. The flesh cannot hear of this wisdom of God without being instantly disturbed by numberless questions, and without attempting in a manner to call God to an account. We hence find that the Apostle, whenever he treats of some high mystery, obviates the many absurdities by which he knew the minds of men would be otherwise possessed; for when men hear anything of what Scripture teaches respecting predestination, they are…Read the comment
Topics related to Romans 9:14
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Romans 9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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