Does God choose some individuals for salvation and others for damnation before they are born, or is his election in Christ, offered to all and worked out in grace and freedom?
15 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
...that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand.Romans 9:11-13
Paul grounds election in God's purpose, not in works, the strongest text for unconditional election. The Catholic reading takes the context to concern God's freedom in the history of salvation, not the fixed fate of individuals apart from grace.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.Romans 9:16
Mercy is God's to give, not man's to earn. The chapter argues about Israel and the Gentiles as peoples, which is the frame the verse sits in.
...he chose us in him before the foundation of the world... who hath predestinated us.Ephesians 1:4-5
Election and predestination are real and prior; note the key phrase "in him", in Christ, into which the elect are gathered.
For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son.Romans 8:29-30
Predestination here is unto conformity with Christ, a destiny of holiness, not a bare decree of who is saved.
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.1 Timothy 2:4
God's salvific will reaches all, not a fixed few.
...not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance.2 Peter 3:9
God wills no one's perishing, which a decree of reprobation would contradict.
...how often would I have gathered thy children... and thou wouldest not?Matthew 23:37
Christ wills to gather them, and they refuse; the frustration lies in their will, not a divine rejection.
...as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.Ephesians 1:4
The election is "in him", corporate and Christ-centered; one is chosen by being in Christ.
...work out your salvation... for it is God who worketh in you.Philippians 2:12-13
God works in us, and we work out our salvation; grace moves the free will, it does not cancel it.
...labour the more, that by good works you may make sure your calling and election.2 Peter 1:10
Election is something to be made sure by good works, not a sealed certainty indifferent to how one lives.
Election and predestination are real and gracious (Ephesians 1:4-5), and no one is saved by merit apart from grace. But God wills the salvation of all (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9), predestines to conformity with Christ rather than to sin (Romans 8:29), and his election is "in him" (Ephesians 1:4), made sure through a freedom his grace moves (Philippians 2:12-13; 2 Peter 1:10). The Second Council of Orange (529) condemned the idea that God predestines anyone to evil, and the Council of Trent (Session 6, Canon 17) rejected the claim that the grace of justification is reserved to the predestined alone. How grace and freedom meet is a mystery the Church leaves open; that God damns no one by decree, she does not.