18. So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.
19. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?”
20. But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
21. Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?
22. But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction?