Verse 11
11. Neither… done… good or evil The apostle assumes here, 1. That no child can be responsible for its impulsive acts or emotions before its birth. 2. That no responsibility exists upon man for any thing done in any supposed state of preexistence.
Purpose… according to election Purpose in regard to election. The purpose of electing is antecedent and eternal, (Ephesians 1:11;) the act of election under the purpose is in time.
Him that calleth To works the apostle does not here oppose faith, as we might expect from his usual antithesis, but God himself. Rightly, because faith does, of itself, deny itself to be the cause of salvation, and ascribes all to God. (See note on Romans 3:24.) To be justified by works is to justify ourselves; to be justified by faith is to be justified gratuitously by God by him that calleth us to that very faith. As condition by us performed, and a means and method by God used, it is right to say in a subordinate sense that faith saves us. But the true, sole, original, and efficient Agent in our salvation is God. So that, as the apostle here maintains, our election is not of works, but of God.
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