Ok bro, I have a few issues with some of your exegesis of Romans 8. Here they are: [quote=Monergism]Romans 8 is where we shall begin. First, we note that Paul makes several promises to the Roman Christians: first, that there is now no condemnation for them (v1), that God has set them free by the Spirit (v2), that they are not in the flesh but rather in the Spirit (v9), that they have been adopted as sons (v15), and that they are children of God and joint-heirs of all creation with Christ (v16-18), the redemption of their bodies which is most assuredly coming (v 23), that the Spirit prays for us in our weakness (v 26), that all things work for our good (v 28), that we shall most assuredly be glorified as surely as we are elect (v 29-30), that God is for us (v 31), that God will give us all things to enjoy (v 32), that nobody can bring a charge against God\'s elect (v 33), and that we are more than conquerors and that nothing shall ever separate us from God\'s love in Christ Jesus (v 35ff) Now, we have all of these promises laid out all throughout the eight chapter of Romans. Once again, the question must be raised by Paul\'s readers: \"But didn\'t Israel have those promises? And furthermore, what is Israel\'s role in all of this? If God\'s done with Israel, will that mean that He could be done with us one day, too?\" [/quote] 1) You speak as if the promises that were made to the Romans Christians (Jews and Gentiles) were unconditional, when in fact the word \"if\" is all throughout chapter 8. So I just wanted to verify whether or not you were trying to say those promises are conditonal or not. The first verse in chapter has a condition tied to it: Romans 8:1 [color=#0000FF]1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, [b]who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.[/b] [/color] Read verses 5-13. I\'ll post 13 here because it makes everything from 5 to 13 conditional: Romans 8:13 [color=#0000FF]13[b] For [u]if you[/u] live after the flesh[/b], ye shall die: [b]but[u] if ye[/u][/b] through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. [/color] 2) Since Paul had just told them in chapter 8 that those promises were conditional, he had already informed them of what it took to get in on the promises. In chapter 9 Paul starts explaining how God dealt with Israel for the sake of the Jewish Christians. Remember, Paul was basically \"humbling\" the Jews to discourage them from looking down on the Gentile Christians. In Chapter 9, Paul continues to get more specific in describing how God dealt with Israel and why the majority of the Jews were cut off. When Paul starts describing election, he wasn\'t speaking of general salvation, he was speaking of God electing people for service in His overall plan. So if we read from verse 4 to verse 15, we can see that Paul is speaking of God using Israel in His plan and he is reminding the Jews of God\'s soverignty, that He can choose whoever He wants for use in His plan. If this doesn\'t make sense to you, please explain why you believe Paul is answering a question the readers may have had about God being done with the Gentiles, when he already explained to them what they had to do individually to get in on God\'s covenant?