{"id":1948,"date":"2010-08-04T17:44:32","date_gmt":"2010-08-04T22:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.com\/blog\/?p=1948"},"modified":"2010-08-04T17:44:32","modified_gmt":"2010-08-04T22:44:32","slug":"romans-911-god-says-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-911-god-says-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 9:11 – God Says Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 9:11 <\/strong>– God Says Election<\/span><\/h2>\n

(for the children<\/em><\/span> not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The important thing is God\u2019s choice, not our works.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cNot yet<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word m\u0113p\u014d<\/em><\/span>. It is made up of m\u0113<\/em><\/span>, the qualified negative and p\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which means \u201ceven\u201d or \u201cyet.\u201d It specifically refers to action that has not yet happened.<\/p>\n

The word translated \u201celection<\/span>\u201d is eklog\u0113<\/em><\/span>. This word is made up of ek<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cout\u201d or \u201cout of\u201d and a form of leg\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto choose or select.\u201d Thus we see that eklog\u0113<\/em> <\/span>means \u201cto choose out\u201d or \u201cto select from.\u201d The Complete Word Study Dictionary <\/em>defines eklog\u0113<\/em> <\/span>this way:<\/p>\n

Election, the benevolent purpose of God by which any are chosen unto salvation so that they [the chosen ones] are led to embrace and persevere in Christ’s bestowed grace and the enjoyment of its privileges and blessings here and hereafter.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Paul has been talking about who the real \u201cchildren of God\u201d are, that is, who the ones are that are chosen for righteousness. This choosing is based on God\u2019s decision and actions, not on ours. In the previous few verses Paul talked about Isaac being the son of the promise, not Ishmael. Even though Ishmael was the first son born to Abraham, he was not the one to receive God\u2019s blessing because he was not the son of promise.<\/p>\n

Paul is now talking about Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac. In this and the following verses Paul will make it clear that God chose Jacob and not Esau (Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated). But, so that the argument can\u2019t be made that the choice was due to Jacob\u2019s obedience and Esau\u2019s disobedience (which certainly is not the case since Jacob was clearly the more deceptive of the two), Paul declares here that the choice was made before either of them was born. Not only does Paul point out that God\u2019s choice occurred before they were born, but he makes a special point of the fact that neither one of them had done any good or evil. The major point in this verse is that God\u2019s choosing of Jacob over Esau was according to God\u2019s election, and it was not based on obedience or any other thing that either of them did.<\/p>\n

Paul says that it was God\u2019s purpose to choose Jacob, not based on his works. There are Christians who believe that God \u201cforeknew\u201d who would accept Christ as Lord and Savior and, based on this, chose them to be saved. But, according to Paul in this verse, this cannot be the case because it says that the purpose of God in His election is not based on a person\u2019s works but on God\u2019s calling. He says that it was God\u2019s choice not Jacob\u2019s actions that resulted in his being chosen.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s God\u2019s sovereign election! He chooses us. We do not choose Him. As hard as this is to accept by many of us, it is exactly what the Bible teaches!<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Believe what you may about man\u2019s free will versus God\u2019s election, Paul very clearly teaches it is God\u2019s choice that matters. Since the book of Romans is part of God\u2019s inspired word, it is God\u2019s teaching. As for me, regarding election:<\/p>\n

God said it. I believe it. That settles it!<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –<\/p>\n

If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 9:11 – God Says Election (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), Truth to Learn The important thing is God\u2019s choice, not our works. Behind the Words \u201cNot yet\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1095,229,1096,1097],"class_list":["post-1948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ekloge","tag-election","tag-mepo","tag-not-yet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-vq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}