1 I ask then: did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah – how he appealed to God against Israel:
3 ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me’?
4 And what was God’s answer to him? ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’
5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,