Let Grace Be Grace - Part 2 — John Piper

God's Preservation of a Believing Remnant

They became the remnant on their own and he kept them alive. You might think that that would be implied in the words kept for myself. The problem with that is it would not help Paul's argument at all if that's what he were saying, because the question that he's trying to answer here is not.

But are there believing Jews who've been kept from dying, who've been kept alive? That's not the question. The question is, are Israelites believing in being saved and inheriting the covenant promises and it looks like it isn't happening or it's not happening on the scale that it should if God keeps his promises.

Now that he has to answer in a different way. Verse 4, I have kept for myself 7000 men does not mean I saw to it that they stayed alive. It means I saw to it that they were faithful. I saw to it that they believed.

Now that makes Paul's argument work. That's exactly the point that he draws out of Elijah's day for his own day. Just as God kept for himself a people believing, just as he saw to it that there would be 7000 who believed in him, so too today there is a group chosen by grace.

Election by Grace in Elijah's Day and Paul's Day

In other words, the link between Elijah's day and Paul's day is not historical likelihood, but divine certitude. God did it there and since he has power and authority and commitment and rights, he will and he does do it here.

Paul says, I myself am a Jew. That's the connection that he makes. So also there is a remnant chosen by grace. The way God did the choosing was by grace. That's what we need to think about. What does it mean that election or God's choosing of a remnant for himself is by grace?

This is huge. Paul evidently thought the point of it would be missed. At the end of verse 5, and so knowing that it's relevant for history, it's relevant for your life, it's relevant for how you pray, how you witness, it's relevant for your marriage, it's relevant for your faithful obedience of missions and your sacrifices of love, he now says, so too at the present time there's a remnant chosen by grace or there's an election, it's according to the election of grace, and then he adds this, verse 6, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

In other words, Paul is really jealous, really jealous that we not turn grace into something else with a wrong understanding of election and how God preserves a remnant for himself. He really is jealous.

That's why he adds that amazing verse 6, if it is by grace, that is, if keeping a remnant for myself by election is by grace, then it's not by works and otherwise grace wouldn't be grace, and I don't want grace not to be grace, and so I'm telling you this, let grace be grace, and I wonder if you know what grace is.

Grace Contrasted with Works, Not Faith

Let's remove a misunderstanding here immediately. Notice something. He is not contrasting works and faith, which he does often, Romans 3 .28, Romans 9 .32. Faith is not mentioned in these verses. He's not contrasting works and faith.

He's not saying works are the sort of thing you do that earns God's favor, and faith is the sort of thing you do that receives God's favor freely. That's true, and not here at all, and very important to notice that.

That's not the point. What does he contrast? He contrasts not works and faith, but works and grace, verse 6. If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

So the contrast is not between two kinds of human acting. It's between all human acting and divine human acting. That's really important. Things people do and grace. That's the contrast here in this text.

Election Cannot Depend on Human Initiative

And he says, if election, if choosing, if God's choosing of people is based on what they do, grace is no longer grace. If we provide the decisive act in causing our election, it is not an election of grace.

It is a response to our decisive work. Whatever the thing is, we provide. Think of it for a moment. What meaning could it have for election to be gracious if it depended on our decisive initiative? God contemplating in eternity, as it were, waiting in eternity, wondering, as it were, in eternity, what will they do with the will that I have given them?

Waiting, watching. What possible meaning would gracious election have if he waited and we decided and determined and constrained that act of election? It would be wholly dependent on us. How could that be called grace?

God would be a responder. We would determine his action, and grace would no longer be grace. Now, let me try to confirm the trajectory that we're on here. Let's go back to Romans 9, because what he's doing here is reasserting what he said in Romans 9, 11, and 12.

Jacob and Esau: Election Before Works

So it would be good to confirm this with a more detailed statement of it, which we saw a couple of years ago in Romans 9, 11. What God is doing, or what Paul is doing here in Romans 9, is describing God's free choice of Jacob over Esau before they were born.

And he says this, verse 11 of chapter 9, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger.

You see the parallels all over the place, don't you? Human works are mentioned, and they are contrasted with free grace in election. Nothing that they had done, either good or bad, before they were born constrained God's choice of Jacob over Esau.

What does he contrast faith with? God's calling. God's divine calling.