Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on law, and boast about God,

as the Scripture says, "I have made you the father of many nations." That is, the promise is in force in the sight of God in whom he put his faith, the God who can bring the dead to life and can call to Himself the things that do not exist as though they did.

On the contrary, friend, who are you anyway that you would answer back to God? Can the clay that is molded ask the man who molds it, "Why did you make me like this?"

Has not the potter the right with his clay to make of the same lump one vessel for ornamental purposes, another for degrading service?

Just as He says in Hosea: "I will call a people that was not mine, my people, and her who was not beloved, my beloved,

But there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is over them all, because He is infinitely kind to all who call upon Him.

But how can people call upon One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in One about whom they have not heard? And how can people hear without someone to preach to them?

"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone have been left, and they are trying to kill me."

for the gracious gifts and call of God are never taken back.