Romans 9:20-21 → Isaiah 29:16

Isaiah 29 indicts leaders who "dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD" (29:15): "You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'He did not make me'?" (29:16). To scheme behind God's back is to forget who made whom. Paul takes over the question nearly word for word: "Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, 'Why did You make me like this?'" (Romans 9:20). His Greek for "what is formed," "Him who formed it," "potter" and "clay" (G4110, G4111, G2763, G4081) is the LXX's own, so the tie is strong, though he blends in Isaiah 45:9 and Jeremiah 18:6 and gives no citation formula. He aims it at the objector who asks, "Then why does God still find fault?" (9:19). Yet the potter's purpose in this chapter is mercy: "to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy," called "not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles" (9:23-24), and gathered to the stone laid in Zion, for "the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame" (9:33). Clay that stops arguing finds itself held in the hands of mercy.