the election of grace – Saint Augustine

“This is ‘the election of grace’ (Romans 11:5), that is, the election by which men are chosen through the grace of God. This is, I say, the election of grace by which one advances beyond all good, human merits. If it is given for any outstanding merits, it is no longer a gratuitous, but is rendered as due (Rom. 4:3-5). For this reason, one cannot use the term ‘grace’ in its true sense when ‘the reward,’ as the same Apostle says ‘is not credited as favor but as something due’ (Romans 4:4).
For this reason, one cannot use the term ‘grace’ in its true sense when ‘the reward,’ as the same Apostle says, ‘is not credited as favor but as something due’ (Romans 4:4). But, if, in order to be true grace, that is, gratuitous, it finds nothing in man which would rightly claim it as his due – and this is clearly understood in that saying, “For nothing shalt thou save them’ (Isaiah 52:3) – surely it itself bestows merit & is not given according to merit…

For God calls his many predestined children to make them members of His predestined only Son, & not with that call by which those who did not wish to come to the wedding were called (Matthew 22:1-14), for with that call the Jews also were called, to whom Christ crucified is a scandal, & the Gentiles were called, for whom Christ crucified is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:23). Rather, He calls the predestined by that call which the Apostle distinguished when he declared that he preached Christ, the Wisdom & the Power of God, to those who were called, Jews as well as Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:24). For he speaks thus: “But unto those who are called,” to show that those others were not called, for he knows that there is a special & certain call reserved for those who are called according to God’s purpose, “whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29).
This is the calling which he means when he says, "Not of works, but of him who calls, was it said to her, 'The elder shall serve the younger’” (Romans 9:10-13). Did the Apostle say, ‘Not of works but of him who believes’? No, for he took this entirely away from man, so that he might give it all to God. Hence he said, "But of him who calls," not by any kind of call but by that call whereby one becomes a believer.”

– Saint Augustine