<p>9:19 <em>Then you will say to me: Why does He still find fault? For who withstands His will?</em>- Seeing we are so often exhorted to do God's will, and we have freewill not to, it is apparent that indeed God's will can be withstood. The same word is used of Elymas and others resisting the Gospel (Acts 13:8; 2 Tim. 3:8; 4:15) and Paul will go on to use the word in saying that some do indeed withstand God (Rom. 13:2). God does not &quot;find fault&quot; with those whom His will forces to rebel against Him. But in :20 Paul doesn't make that perhaps obvious rejoinder; rather he says that it is not for us to question God.</p><p>It seems that Judaism was arguing that the Jews were chosen and therefore must be acceptable to God. But Paul deconstructs this by making several links with Job, whom he appears to read as initially having the same wrong attitudes as did the Jews:&nbsp;</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=16 cellpadding=0 width=80%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=41%>            <p><b><font size=3><strong>Romans 9</strong></font></b></p>            </td>            <td width=59%>            <p><b><font size=3><strong>Job</strong></font></b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>:19 &quot;Thou (the Jews) wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find   fault (with Pharaoh and the Jews)? For who hath resisted His will? The Jews   were saying that it was God's pre-ordained purpose that they should be His   people, therefore their behaviour was excusable.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>&quot;He is&hellip; mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself (NIV   &quot;resisted&quot; ) against&nbsp;Him, and hath prospered?&quot;. Job's   reasoning is similar to &nbsp; that of the Jews- &nbsp; effectively he too is   asking why God is finding fault with him (9:4).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>:20 &ldquo;O man, who art thou that disputest (AVmg.) with God&quot;</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>This is what Job desired to do: &quot;I would order my cause before Him,   and fill my mouth with arguments... there the righteous might dispute with   Him&quot; (23:4-7 cp. 9:3).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td valign=top>            <p>:14 &quot;Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid&quot; . The   context is that the Jews were saying that their Calvinistic view of   predestination allowed them to sin yet still remain God's people.</p>            </td>            <td valign=top>            <p>By Job saying &quot;It profiteth a man nothing &nbsp; that he should   delight himself in God&quot; because he is either predestined to &nbsp;   salvation or not, Job provoked the &nbsp; comment from Elihu &quot;Far be it   from God, that He should do wickedness; and from &nbsp; the Almighty, that He   should commit iniquity&quot; (34:10). The link between this and Rom. 9:14   shows that Job had the same mentality as the Judaizers, and was thus also   shown the blasphemous conclusion to which his reasoning led.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div>