Romans 9:16

It is therefore true what Augustine says, that "He who created you without you will not justify you without you." It is also true that it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. It is …

Then he draws his conclusion from the authority he cited, when he says so then it is not of him. This conclusion can be understood in a number of ways; in one way thus: so a man's salvation is not of him who wills, nor …

Isaac wanted to bless Esau; but Jacob hurried to the field so that, having caught game, he might receive the blessing from his father, and God by righteous judgment brought it about that Jacob, as entirely worthy, received the blessing. Here the apostle would seem …

Such is the method of God's grace towards all that partake of it, for he is found of those that sought him not ( Isa. lxv. 1 ); in this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a benefactor, whose grace is his own. Our eye therefore must not be evil because his is good; but, of all the grace that we or others have, he must have the glory: Not unto us, Ps. cxv.

19 ): I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. All God's reasons of mercy are taken from within himself. All the children of men being plunged alike into a state of sin and misery, equally under guilt and wrath, God, in a way of sovereignty, picks out some from this fallen apostatized race, to be vessels of grace and glory.

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So then it is not of him that willeth,....

Both these are indispensable to salvation, yet salvation is owing to neither, but is purely "of God that showeth mercy." See on Php 2:12, 13, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God which, out of His own good pleasure, worketh in you both to will and to do."

So then it is not of him that willeth, etc. - I conclude, therefore, from these several instances, that the making or continuing any body of men the peculiar people of God, is righteously determined; not by the judgment, hopes, or wishes of men, but by the will and wisdom of God alone.

So then - It follows as a consequence from this statement of God to Moses. Or it is a doctrine established by that statement. Not of him that willeth - This does not mean that he that becomes a Christian, and is saved, does not choose eternal life; or is not made willing; or that he is compelled to enter heaven against his own choice. It is true that people by nature have no desire of holiness, and do not choose eternal life. But the effect of the influences of God’s Spirit on the heart is to make it “willing in the day of his power;” Psa 110:3. The meaning here is evidently, that eternal life is not bestowed because man had any original willingness or disposition to be saved; it is not because he commences the work, and is himself disposed to it; but it is because God inclines him to it, and disposes him to seek for mercy, and then confers it in his own way. The word “willeth” here denotes wish or desire. Nor of him that runneth - This denotes “strenuous, intense effort,” as when a man is anxious to obtain an object, or hastens from danger. The meaning is not that the sinner does not make an effort to be saved; nor that all who become Christians do not “in fact” strive to enter into the kingdom, or earnestly desire salvation, for the Scriptures teach the contrary; Luk 16:16; Luk 13:24. There is no effort more intense and persevering, no struggle more arduous or agonizing, than when a sinner seeks eternal life. Nor does it mean that they who strive in a proper way, and with proper effort, shall not obtain eternal life; Mat 7:7. But the sense is, (1) That the sinner would not put forth any effort himself. […]