I love your approach here. In fact, I think it’s the /only/ appropriate approach. After all, the Scriptures seem almost totally unconcerned with telling us what election /is/, focusing instead (as you point out) on its practical significance. We are therefore obliged to begin by understanding the purpose of election and only when we have done so to hazard a guess about what it is or how it works. Starting the other way is dangerous and even foolish.

In general, I think we often jump to metaphysical/theological conclusions about issues discussed in scripture without understanding that our conclusions are hypothetical or at least inferential.

In waiting to define what election IS and focusing on what election DOES in the Bible, I hoped to forge some rare common ground at the start of the discussion. Because as I mentioned, all Christians believe in election–they just have wildly varying ways of understanding what it means. Here I am merely aiming to describe the function of what election (whatever it means!) does within the contexts it appears in.