Paul is discussing election in Romans 8:26-39. He is referring to God's election of Israel as a nation, not the fate of individuals. God elected Israel and now elects those who respond in faith to Jesus, solely based on God's gracious choice. The purpose of election is for salvation and spreading the good news to all people, consistent with how God has always acted for the sake of all people.

1. A Prayer for the People of God
O God, You have made of one blood all the
peoples of the earth, and have sent your
blessed Son to preach peace to those who are
far off and those who are near. Grant that people
everywhere would seek after you and find you.
Bring the nations into your fold. Pour out your
spirit on all flesh and hasten the coming of
your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

2. Coronavirus Sunday #20
The COVID-19 Calendar

3. The Church Calendar
July 26

4. Romans 8:26-39
Election: WHO, WHY & on WHAT basis?

6. Grotto Azzurro

7. Carpi

8. Carpi
Capri

9. Carpi
Capri
Our beginning assumptions have a
huge impact on where we end up

10. Reading Paul’s words in Romans
through a western, American,
individualistic lens is
the biblical version of
wanting to get to the beauty
of the Grotto Azzurra
by telling your GPS
to go to Carpi instead
of Capri…

11. Romans 8:26-39
Election: WHO, WHY & on WHAT basis?

12. In the same way, too, the spirit comes
alongside and helps us in our weakness. We
don’t know what to pray for as we ought to;
but that same spirit pleads on our behalf,
with groaning for deep words. And the
Searcher of Hearts knows what the spirit is
thinking, because the spirit pleads for God’s
people according to God’s will. We know, in
fact, that God works all things together for
good to those who love him,
ROMANS 8:26-28 (KNT)

13. Those he foreknew, you see, he also
marked out in advance* to be shaped
according to the model of the image
of his son, so that he might be the
firstborn of a large family. And those
he marked out in advance, he also called;
those he called, he also justified;
those he justified, he also glorified.
What then shall we say to all this?
If God is for us, who is against us?
ROMANS 8:29-31 (KNT)

14. God, after all, did not spare his own son;
he gave him up for us all! How then will
he not, with him, freely give all things to us?
Who will bring a charge against God’s
chosen ones?* It is God who declares them
in the right. Who is going to condemn?
It is the Messiah, Jesus, who has died,
or rather has been raised; who is at God’s
right hand, and who also prays on our
behalf!
ROMANS 8:32-34 (KNT)

15. Who shall separate us from the Messiah’s
love?
Suffering, or hardship, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or
sword?
And the Bible says, ”Because of you we are
being killed all day long; We are regarded
as sheep destined for slaughter.”
No: in all these things we are
completely victorious through
ROMANS 8:35-37 (KNT)

16. I am persuaded, you see, that neither death
nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor the
present, nor the future, nor powers, nor
height,
nor depth, nor any other creature will be
able to separate us from the love of God
in King Jesus our Lord.
ROMANS 8:38-39 (KNT)

17. Romans 8:26-39
Election: WHO, WHY & on WHAT basis?

18. “(When discussing election) Paul is
dealing…with the place of Israel in God’s plan
of salvation. He is not dealing with the fate of
individuals.What he says of God’s gracious
purposes in effecting that plan has
significance, of course, for us as individuals; but
(Paul) will be misunderstood if (his)
message is taken in individualistic terms. One
will not find here in Paul’s intention anything of
the ‘double predestination’
of individuals, and (for two reasons):

19. “First, (Paul’s thoughts on election are)
not concerned with individuals; and second,
Paul speaks of the asymmetry
of God’s grace, not the symmetry of grace and
wrath. Everywhere in Paul’s argument to this
point grace has held the upper hand: It comes
to those who do not deserve it (3:22-24; 5:8-
10), it is more abundant than sin (5:20-21) and
breaks
its power (6:22; 7:6), and there is nothing
anywhere that can thwart it (8:38-39.)”

20. “the purpose of God is grace
and redemption…God is finally and
disproportionately a God of mercy
and grace, who does what he does
for the good of his creation and its final healing
and redemption. God deals
with us not on the basis of what we
are but on the bases of what he is:
a merciful Father. ”

21. “(Paul) is not writing…about the fate of each
individual. He is making a statement about
how God dealt with Israel, and continues to
deal with it, even when it rejects his Son;
namely, he deals with it
in mercy, even when it deserves wrath.That is
why one so badly distorts Paul’s point if one
assumes these verses tell
me about my fate, or anyone else’s,
before God: damned or saved.”

22. ”Rather, what (Pauls’ teaching on election
tells us) is that the same gracious purpose at
work in the election of Israel is now at work in
a (newly extended), chosen people to whom I
can now also belong, by that same gracious
purpose of God.”

23. Romans 8:26-39
Election: WHO, WHY & on WHAT basis?

24. (1)The elect are all those who respond by faith
to Jesus as God’s promised Messiah; (2) like the
election of Israel as a nation,
this election is to a vocation of spreading the
good news of salvation and restoration offered
to all; (3) the basis for this election rests solely
in the gracious choice of God to act in in such a
way, not in any act of
our own merit.And the way God has
acted in this regard is wholly consistent with
the way God has acted all along…”

25. - Adam & Eve
- Noah & family
- Abraham & Sarai
- Israel as a whole
- Jesus
- TheTwelve
- The Church
- Paul

26. - Adam & Eve
- Noah & family
- Abraham & Sarai
- Israel as a whole
- Jesus
- TheTwelve
- The Church
- Paul
Whenever
God chooses
(elects) certain
individuals,
families or
communities,
it is ALWAYS
for the ultimate
sake of ALL

27. Closing Prayer
O God, You have made of one blood all the
peoples of the earth, and have sent your
blessed Son to preach peace to those who are
far off and those who are near. Grant that people
everywhere would seek after you and find you.
Bring the nations into your fold. Pour out your
spirit on all flesh and hasten the coming of
your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.