WELS affirms the Formula of Concord's teaching that God's election to salvation is certain and guaranteed by God's sovereign will and grace, while human rejection of God's Word and resistance to grace is the cause of condemnation. Romans 9:18-21 shows God's power and right to have mercy on whom he chooses (the elect who believe) and to allow the hardened heart to be hardened by its resistance to the Word.

WELS strict confessional subscription includes the careful balance of Romans 9 with other biblical texts: God's sovereignty in election is absolute, but humans are responsible for rejecting grace. This is not a philosophical synthesis but a mystery to be believed — both truths are affirmed without attempting to reconcile them into a logical system.