When Paul asks, Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?
he means
humans are created and God is the creator, so humans have no right to answer back to God; or
something like
on the contrary.
Likely, Paul means that humans have no right to ask indignant questions of God. That is, there is a contrast between humans and God, and humans never have the right to judge God. We can detect that Paul is saying humans never have a right to indignantly question God because he uses the verb to answer back,
which has to do with answering back contentiously. Further, Paul opens the first clause of Romans 9:20 with O man
and closes it with to God.
The terms highlight the contrast between humans and God, emphasizing that humans have no right to answer back.
Some contend that Paul has in mind someone who has misunderstood Paul’s point in this section. In other words, Paul is saying not that humans can never ask God questions, but that the question posed in Romans 9:19 is altogether misplaced. The argument here is that we notice in Romans 9:18 that Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for this purpose.
In other words, God says to Pharaoh, I have hardened you. We then get the rhetorical question in Romans 9:19: How can God find fault for who can resist him?
We can imagine Pharaoh asking this question after learning from God that God hardens him. Now Paul says, Who are you, O man [having someone like Pharaoh in mind], to answer back to God?
That is, Who are you, O man, who is hardening himself against God, to talk back to God?
This interpretation is fine as far as it goes. Still, if Paul wanted us to see Pharaoh as the one asking the rhetorical question and being chided for answering back to God, Paul could have made this much clearer. As it stands, Romans 9:19–20 sounds like a general rebuke against any person who questions why God has mercy on some and hardens others.
Thus, Paul's general point here is that humans have no right to judge God.
Interpretation 1:
Humans are created and God is the creator, so humans have no right to answer back to God.
Summary:
Paul has explained that God has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. This raises a question about God’s justice, for it seems unfair for God to harden people. Paul’s response is that humans have no right to answer back to God.
God has a sovereign plan for humanity, and we can trust him on two levels. First, we can trust that God is all-loving, so whatever God decides is rooted in his unchanging love. Second, we can trust that God is sovereign over all, which means all things work according to his purpose.
Advocates:
Richard Longenecker
Douglas Moo
Leon Morris
Frank Thielman
Minor differences:
Our authors agree that Paul is saying humans have no right to answer back to God.
Douglas Moo suggests that Paul is not saying that one can never question God when one has a sincere desire to understand his ways more clearly. Rather, Paul has in mind an indignant person who stands in the judgment seat of God. Since God is the creator, such a person has no right to ask God questions, because he has no right to judge God.1
For Richard Longenecker, Paul’s point is that there are certain questions that are never appropriate to ask God. In particular, asking why God selects some people and rejects others is out of bounds.2
Arguments
Interpretation 2:
Who are you to talk back to God?
means something like on the contrary.
Summary:
Paul has been explaining how election works as it relates to Israel. The Gentiles will be included because God shows mercy on whomever he pleases. This raises the question of how God can find fault, for who can resist his will? The question misses Paul’s point, so Paul says, Who are you to answer back to God?
by which he means, on the contrary. Paul will go on to clarify his point about election.
Advocates:
James Dunn
Arguments
Explanation:
When Paul asks, But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?
he includes the term μενοῦνγε, which the ESV translates but.
Paul uses the same term in Romans 10:18 where it carries the sense of on the contrary.
There Paul asks if Israel did not hear the gospel, to which Paul responds, μενοῦνγε, they did. Likewise, in Romans 9:20 when Paul uses the term μενοῦνγε he likely has in mind something like on the contrary.
Thus, he is likely saying, On the contrary, O man, who are you to answer back to God?
When we notice that μενοῦνγε means something like on the contrary,
we notice that Paul is saying that the objector he introduced in Romans 9:19 has misunderstood Paul’s point in this section. For in Romans 9:19 Paul introduces an objector who asks, If no one can resist God’s will, how does he still find fault?
By including on the contrary
in his response to the objector’s question, Paul indicates that the objector’s question misunderstands Paul’s point in this section. In other words, the question is not relevant to what Paul has written.6
Counterargument:
The problem with this argument is that even if we take μενοῦνγε to mean on the contrary,
this does not imply that Paul is saying the objector’s question is misplaced. Rather, Paul is specifically saying that the objector is misplaced for questioning God at all. We can detect that this is Paul’s meaning because he not only says, Who are you to answer back?
but he writes Who are you to answer back to God?
In other words, the problem is not that the question is not relevant to what Paul wrote. The problem is with questioning God at all.
Response to counterargument:
It is important to notice that when Paul asks, Who are you to answer back to God?
he just wrote that God spoke to Pharaoh (Romans 9:18) (see interpretation 1, argument 1, counterargument). So the context suggests that Pharaoh is answering back to God. It is contrary for Pharaoh to do so. So when Pharaoh questions God for asking how God can find fault with him, the response is, On the contrary, who are you, given that you are hardening yourself, to answer back to God?
Of course, Paul does not put the rhetorical question of Romans 9:19 in Pharaoh’s mouth directly. Rather, he generalizes his point to all who are hardening themselves against God and yet questioning how God can find fault with them.
Possible weaknesses
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”