1 I say then, has God rejected His people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and destroyed Your altars. I alone am left, and they seek my life”?
4 But what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. But if it is by works, then is it no longer by grace; otherwise work would no longer be work.
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it was seeking. But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened.