It is our human nature to want to take some credit for our salvation; I am saved because I believed and my neighbor did not believe. Therefore, God foresaw my will to believe and chose me. But what does God’s word say? What God says is truth, the final word.
“…just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, … In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,” (Eph 1:4-5, 11, NRSV)
Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, … So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. (Rom 9:11, 16, NRSV)
“who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,” (2Tim 1:9, NRSV)
“When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.” (Acts 13:48, NRSV)
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; … No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day… And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” (John 6:37, 44, 65, NRSV)
So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Rom 11:5-6, NRSV)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Eph 2:8-10, NRSV)
“For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well—" (Phil 1:29, NRSV)
“but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:4-5, RSV)
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1Pet 1:1-2, NRSV)
“You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” (John 15:16, NRSV)
“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13, NRSV)
