Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 9:16

"So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy." — Romans 9:16 (ASV)

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 the one who 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 for 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 (Psalms 110:3).

The meaning here is, evidently, that eternal life is not bestowed because a person had any original willingness or disposition to be saved; it is not because he commences the work and is himself disposed to it. Rather, it is because God inclines him to it, 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 someone 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 (Luke 16:16; Luke 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 those who strive in a proper way, and with proper effort, shall not obtain eternal life (Matthew 7:7). But the sense is:

1. that the sinner would not put forth any effort himself. If left to his own course, he would never seek to be saved.

2. That he is pardoned, not on account of his effort, not because he makes an exertion, but because God chooses to pardon him. There is no merit in his anxiety, prayers, and agony on account of which God would forgive him; but he is still dependent on the mere mercy of God to save or destroy him at his will.

   The sinner, however anxious he may be, and however much or long he may strive, does not bring God under an obligation to pardon him, any more than the condemned criminal, trembling with the fear of execution and the consciousness of crime, places the judge or the jury under an obligation to acquit him.

   This fact is of great importance for an awakened sinner to know. He should be deeply anxious, but there is no merit in his distress. He should pray, but there is no merit in his prayers. He may weep and strive, but in this there is no ground of claim on God for pardon; and, after all, he is dependent on his mere sovereign mercy, as a lost, ruined, and helpless sinner, to be saved or lost at his will.

But of God that sheweth mercy. Salvation, in its beginning, its progress, and its close, is of him. He has a right, therefore, to bestow it when and where he pleases. All our mercies flow from his mere love and compassion, and not from our deserts. The essential idea here is that God is the original fountain of all the blessings of salvation.