God's Sovereign Choice

Only God has self-determinative free will. As humans, we somehow have gotten
the false impression that we are the ones with self-determinative free will. Romans 9 will
remove that notion from our minds. God elects those whom He chooses to salvation, not based
on anything they have done, but based on His sovereign choice. This does not, however,
remove the truth that all people are held morally responsible for their choices. This is a mystery
that God feels no compulsion to clear up for us, finite creatures, this side of heaven. Paul uses
Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau, as his examples to state the irrefutable truth that God
does all this that His purpose in election might stand, for the praise of His glory!