i said "look at vs 16 and 17 and ask the question who is Paul speaking about -- being "Fellow partakers" and "grafted in together"?
The lost or the saved?"
And quoted these two short verses.
[FONT="]16 If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,
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But if that is your bail out point - so be it.
I already understand that you believe in OSAS.
The question above is specific to vs 16 and 17.
In those two verses who are the Jews and the Gentiles who are "fellow partakers" in your OSAS-believing model??
Just telling me that you believe in OSAS - anyway- does not answer the question about those two verses.
Bob, perhaps you won't understand this, but in my view, God originally chose all the Jews to be saved. Every branch was supposed to be there. They were under the influence of the root, which is Jesus. They heard the word of God, they were under the influence of the Spirit. They were to draw from the root and grow and produce fruit. The ones broken off are not persons who believed and then later fell away in unbelief, but persons who never believed at all.
These branches being broken off allowed room for new branches to be graffed in. That is the Gentiles. They were graffed right in, not because they believed, but because they were chosen. This allows them to partake of the root, which is Jesus. They hear the gospel, they come under the influence of the Spirit, etc... God is reasonable and gives a person time to produce fruit, just as a person who graffed a branch into a tree would give it some time to grow and produce fruit.
Now, those that do believe and produce fruit will be left where they are, those that do not believe will be broken off just like the Jews who did not believe.
But it was not that they believed and then fell away later in unbelief.
It is similar to the book of life, you never read about anyone's name being added to the book of life, you always read about someone's name being blotted out.
Originally, I believe every person's name was in the book of life. But those who do not believe are blotted out.
I do not believe the book starts out empty, and when a person believes their name is written in, and then later if they fall away they are blotted out.
No, everybody's name was in there to begin with, but when a person does not believe their name is blotted out.