2:10 for the elect’s sake. The Scriptures in a very natural way combine the doctrines of divine election and human responsibility, apparently not concerned with the problem this would later seem to pose to generations of theologians. Paul was willing to suffer countless difficulties and persecutions so that the elect might hear and believe and receive the salvation for which they already had been chosen by God before the world began. The apparent paradox is only resolved in terms of the infinite mind and ability of the Creator. We may not be able to understand how both can be true, just as we cannot see both sides of a coin at the same time. However, both sides are real, and both doctrines are true. We can believe and rejoice in both truths, even though we don’t yet comprehend how each supports the other.