2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the 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.
Chosen by grace - the grace of Who? God! We were chosen by the grace of God. Not here, nor anywhere else in Holy Scripture is there a verse that states, or even implies, a lost man has anything to do with himself getting saved. Scripture states “chosen by grace...,” not chosen by “whoever believes” in Him. Believing is the RESULT of God choosing an individual and working in him to MAKE him believe (John 6:29). Belief is given to a man by God (Philippians 1:29), NOT the ability to believe. If God gives a man belief, he will believe!
Verse 2, God does not foreknow actions (a lost man “accepting” Jesus), He foreknew people. Of course He has foreknowledge of events - He ordains (appoints) them to occur! Elijah didn’t know God’s plans for Israel and that’s why he said that they have killed His prophets and torn down their altars. The context of this has Elijah running from Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 19) and those two DID kill a lot of the Lord’s prophets. But what did God say? I have reserved for myself 7,000 who have not bowed down to Baal. God did it. Ahab and Jezebel did not reserve the prophets for God, and neither did the prophets reserve themselves for God. God, and God alone did the reserving. Because His plan for their lives included this reservation, God alone ordered their steps NOT to bow down to Baal. (Psalm 37:23, Proverbs 16:9, 19:21, 20:24)
Paul continues and writes, “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” Not only in Paul’s time, but in our present day as well - a remnant is chosen by God, not by man. To say anything else is eisegesis - reading INTO Scripture what one erroneously believes. It is the opposite of exegesis - to draw out of the text what God is saying.
eisegesis - an interpretation, esp. of Scripture, that expresses the interpreter’s own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text.
exegesis - critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, esp. of the Bible
critical (def #3) - involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc.; judicial: a critical analysis.
There is an excellent example of the difference between the two at this website which is part of the Got Questions organization, a great resource (with one exception being eschatology). The website defines the difference between eisegesis and exegesis by taking one Scripture and preaching two messages from it - one using eisegesis, the other using exegesis.
Our schools need to teach not only the three R’s, but also critical thinking. How many times have you received an email about certain things transpiring in this country that turned out to be a hoax? There is a serious lack of critical thinking in the country today and that’s why we’ve got liberals not only in the Capitol, but in our pulpits.
The bottom line to this Bible Truth is that God foreknew people (His Elect); God reserved for Himself 7,000 prophets; and God chose a remnant by grace. God did it all - man had nothing to do with it.
“He who began a good work in you ...” (Philippians 1:6)
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