Romans 11:1-6 : I say then, Did God cast off his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. Or know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he pleadeth with God against Israel: Lord they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. "I say then, Did God cast off his people?" Paul's critics might claim that he was teaching God's utter rejection of all Jews. "Be it not so." Paul certainly would not propagate a theory that would put himself outside the pale of salvation. He gives himself as an example that the rejection of the Jewish nation had nothing to do with the salvation of individual Jews. "For I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." God did not, and does not, with-hold salvation from any obedient Jew. "God did not cast off his people which he foreknew." Let us not get confused over this word foreknew. In the New Testament this verb know, when it has a person for its object, means to recognize, or accept. And Paul's language does not mean that God knew, or accepted, certain people before they were born; his language refers to those he accepted as his people under the former dispensation--that is, the obedient Jews. The connection, as well as the language itself, shows this to be his meaning. He uses the complaint of Elijah and God's answer to him to illustrate his point. Although the great mass of Israel had forsaken Jehovah, and were not therefore acceptable to him, there were yet seven thousand whom he could and did accept. Paul's language seems to indicate that there had always been some of Israel that were acceptable to Jehovah. "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." This refers to those Jews who had become obedient to Christ. God had rejected the whole Jewish system, and would soon destroy what government the Romans had so far left to them; but he had not barred the door of salvation against any Jew that became obedient to the gospel of grace through Christ. Under this system of grace he makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile. "But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace." No amount of works can blot out sins already committed. Forgiveness is a matter of grace, no matter how many conditions one must fulfill in order to be forgiven. If a man's works had always been perfect, he would have no sins to be forgiven; he would stand justified on his own merit. There is no grace when a man merits justification. Works by which a man merits justification, and commands which one must obey to be saved, are distinct matters. It is unfortunate that many religionists cannot, or will not, see this distinction, which should be plainly seen by any Bible reader. Because they fail to make this distinction they conclude that a sinner must do nothing in order to be saved. A man has no real understanding of either works or grace when he thinks conditions of forgiveness make salvation a mat-ter of works and not of grace. Nothing that a sinner can do merits salvation. Many things are of grace, and yet conditional. Is anyone so simple as to think Naa-man's healing of leprosy was any less a matter of grace because he had to dip seven times in the river Jordan? Is any so blind that he cannot see that giving sight to the blind man was a matter of grace, even though he had to go wash in the pool of Siloam? If so, he needs his eyes opened as badly as did the blind man.