“Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”
One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?' — The objection: if hardening is divine action, how can blame attach to the hardened? And if God wills all things, who ἀντιστήκω (antistēkō, "resist") his will? The question presses the tension between divine sovereignty and human accountability.
Church Fathers on Romans 9:18
“Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens. You will say then unto me, Why does he then find fault? For who has resisted His will?” See what pains he takes to embarrass the subject in every way. And the answer he does not produce immediately, it being a useful thing not to do so, but he first stops the disputant's mouth, saying as follows,
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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