remnant – Ministry of Grace Church

Romans 11:5 – The Chosen Remnant

Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Truth to Learn

We are the remnant, chosen to be God’s children, by His grace alone.

Behind the Words

The word translated “election” is the Greek word eklogē. This is a compound word made up of ek, meaning “out” and a form of legō, meaning “to choose” or “to select.” Thus we see that it literally means “to choose out” or “to select out.” According to The Complete Word Study Dictionary, “this word refers to the benevolent purpose of God by which any are chosen unto salvation so that they are led to embrace and persevere in Christ’s bestowed grace and the enjoyment of its privileges and blessings here and hereafter.”

“Grace” is translated from charis, which is based on the verb chairō, meaning “to be calmly happy or well off.” Charis specifically refers to “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life producing happiness and peace.” It is often thought of as “our undeserved favor from God.”

Meaning Explained

Paul now brings his readers back to the present (meaning both the present at the time this letter was written and the present time today). He says that it is just the same in the present, that a remnant has come into being. The remnant he refers to is a concept that Jews well understood. God promised the Jews that He would preserve a remnant out of Israel who would be saved. They have always believed that the salvation of the remnant refers to them being saved from the ravages of their oppressors and that the remnant would finally inherit the land and reign with the Messiah. Paul’s point, however, is that the remnant in his day is composed of those whom God has chosen “according to the election of grace.”

I know that election (God’s choosing those of us who are to be saved independent of any act or action on our part) is a difficult doctrine for many Christians to grasp. However, Paul states it so clearly and so often that, if you believe the Bible is truth, it is even more difficult to deny it than to believe it. Paul believed in and taught election as a fact. Therefore, we should simply accept it as truth, even if we don’t completely understand it.

Paul calls it “the election of grace” because he understands that election is not by choice on our part, it’s an undeserved gift from God. We don’t choose to be saved. We don’t simply decide that we will get saved and then say the sinners prayer. Before the foundation of the earth, God chose those who would be saved. It involves the sovereign hand of God which removes the blindfold from the eyes of the elect. Only then can we see, and understand, the truth of the gospel so that we may become saved. It is all God’s work and it is all by grace (totally undeserved by those who receive it) so God is the only one who can receive the glory for it. In the next verse Paul will make the specific point that this election is not by anything that we have done (works); it is strictly by His grace!

Application

God, thank you for your gift of salvation. I didn’t, don’t, and won’t ever deserve it! You deserve all the credit, all the glory, and all the praise. In thanks to you, I humbly submit my will to yours and ask that you use me in whatever way you determine, to bring praise to Yourself. Wonderful is your grace!

In God’s service, for His glory,

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Romans 9:27 – His Choice, Then and Now

Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.

Truth to Learn

God chooses who will be saved from spiritual death just as He chooses who will be saved from physical death.

Behind the Words

The word translated “cries out” is the Greek verb kradzō, meaning “to screech” like a raven. It represents a loud impassioned scream or shriek used to get people’s attention.

Meaning Explained

Paul now quotes another of the prophets to show that God is sovereign regarding who receives salvation. In this case he clearly shows that not all of Israel will be saved. The quotation is from Isaiah 10:22:

For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

Much of Biblical prophecy has an application to events occurring at the time the prophecy is given as well as a future application, especially to events of the end times. The prophecy of Isaiah here quoted applied to the preservation of a remnant of Israel from the destruction and desolation that was coming upon them by the Assyrian King Sennacherib and his army. In its future application, however, it is commonly understood by Jews as looking to the end times. It declares that God will abandon to ruin a great many of the seed of Abraham, and yet maintain his word of promise to Abraham through a chosen few, a remnant, who will be saved.

Let’s take a look at that promise God gave to Abraham. In Genesis 22 Abraham proved he was willing to be obedient to God by sacrificing his only son, Isaac. Though God stopped him before the actual killing, He also proceeded to promise Abraham the following:

Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son — blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. (Genesis 22:15-17)

Abraham did not live to see God’s promise fulfilled, but he believed it nonetheless. Eventually, the number of descendants of Abraham became too many to be counted as promised. But Isaiah clearly states that even though the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became as the sand of the sea, only a remnant, a portion of them, would be saved from destruction. This is a clear example of God choosing some of the Jews and rejecting many others.

If God chooses some Jews to be saved and allows others to be destroyed, it is just as valid that He chooses some of the Gentiles to be saved while the rest will be recipients of His wrath in the Lake of Fire.

Application

Those who were saved from destruction by Sennacherib did not choose to be saved any more than those who died refused to be saved. God did the choosing then just as He does now.

In God’s service, for His glory,

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