Given that who is saved is something God decides not human beings, there are only three broad possibilities. We have already said that God is under no obligation to save anyone and so he could have quite legitimately overlooked all. Alternatively, he could have saved everybody. There is no lack of power in God to do such a thing.
It seems, however, that God worked in neither of those ways but rather chose to save some, a number known only to him. It maybe, Paul suggests, that he did it this way for his greater glory. The illustration is used of the way beautiful jewellery is often best displayed against a dark background.
One can only appreciate this argument if one accepts that God is in absolute control of all things and is quite rightly working everything together for his own glory.
