Romans 9:16

An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

So then, it does not depend on what a person wants or does, but on God, who shows pity [i.e., to whomever He wants].

Cross References

Matthew 11:27

“All things have been entrusted to me by my Father and no one [truly] knows the Son except the Father. And neither does anyone [truly] know the Father except the Son and that person to whom the Son wants to reveal Him.

Matthew 4:8

The devil took Him again, [this time] to a very high mountain and showed Him all the world’s kingdoms, along with their splendor,

Luke 10:21

At that very time Jesus rejoiced in [the power of] the Holy Spirit, and said [in prayer], “I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you concealed these things [i.e., His divine revelations] from those [claiming to be] wise and intelligent and have revealed them to babies [i.e., to simple, sincere, common people]. Yes, Father, this was pleasing to you.

John 3:8

The wind blows wherever it wants to, and you can hear the sound of it, without knowing where it came from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born from the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 9:11

– See Verse 12

Galatians 2:2

[It was] in response to [a divine] revelation that I went [there] and explained to them [i.e., the apostles and elders] the Gospel [message] that I had been preaching among the Gentiles. Then [later on I presented it] privately before those who were highly regarded [i.e., the three apostles, verse 9] so [they would have verification that] my running [i.e., ministry] had not been, nor was now, in vain.

Ephesians 2:8

For you have been saved by God’s unearned favor, through [your] faith, and that [salvation] was not the result of your own doing; it was the gift from God.

Philippians 2:13

for it is God who is at work in you, both to motivate the desire and to carry out what pleases Him.

James 1:18

It was God’s purpose to bring us into being [spiritually] by the message of truth, so that we could become a kind of “first fruits” of those He created. [Note: “First fruits” here suggests either that Christians are the best of all of God’s creatures (Num. 18:12), or that they were the first to be converted, with many more to come].