Romans 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

The "election of grace" is not the same as the election of God, which was before the foundations of the world. The context of this passage suggests an election by obedience. Recently, it occurred to me what Paul was actually saying.

In verses 14 – 16, Paul comments that there is a possibility of this group being provoked into becoming a part of this remnant, a sure sign this election take place in the present. In verse 16, he indicates that they are Holy, being part of the same lump as the firstfruit, partaking of the root. He describes them as the branches which were removed, which once were partakers of the same root that this remnant now partakes. Therefore, this is a choosing, or an act of picking out, performed by grace.

How does grace pick and chose?

It chooses those who are able to humble themselves and believe the gospel. It chooses those who seek for deliverance. Of such a people, Jesus spoke in Matthew 5 when He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." and so on. The gospel is not for the rich, for it is a very difficult thing for them. It is for those who see themselves in need of a physician. For this reason only a remnant will be saved presently.

1 Corinthians 1:21 & 27 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe… But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

I found the following in the "A Welsh Succession of Primitive Baptist Faith and Practice".

"There has been all along the blood-tinged ages of martyrdom an uninterrupted preservation of the primitive creed and ritual of the church of the Pentecost, so signally inaugurated in the upper room in Jerusalem. There is no missing link in this celestial chain from age to age of the remnant according to the election of grace."