I tend to believe in eternal security meaning that once we are saved, born again, we cannot be unsaved. We are sealed in Him forever. Born again is an excellent description of our security in Him. Several verses say we are called sons or children of God once we are born again. These phrases seem to lock us in as being one with Him forever. Then we have the verse in Hebrews 4? that says 'we are saved once and for all'. HOWEVER, i Romans 11:12-32 int appears to indicate we can be unborn. It states the Jew or the believer can be cut off from Christ. (I don't have my Bible now to quote but the verses indicates salvation can be lost.) I realize Paul might be addressing the Jews under law and not those under grace but these verses DO leave room for God to decide to "unborn us" or "unseal us" if we choose to walk away from Christ I tend to believe we are eternally secure but Romans 11 gets one to think. Please share your views on this. Nergo

Hello Nergo! What Paul wrote about in Romans 11 is not dealing with individuals but with Gentile vs. Jew and the common attitude of boasting that seems to follow many who think themselves somehow better or more important than those who reject Christ. The branches grafted in refer to Gentiles in general ... as a whole, that is. For Gentiles to look down upon Jews for rejecting Christ is irrational for a couple reasons. One, the simple fact is that Gentiles had rejected the true God for ages and should understand that it took a miracle to receive him in the first place. Two, God sent Paul to the Gentiles after the Jews had made a public stand in rejecting the one who was sent to THEM. Of course, God had orchestrated the whole thing, so that Gentiles are not an after-thought, but the truth remains that Christ was of the Jews. Since the Jews as a whole had been cut off from Christ so that the Gentiles would take front and center in the revealing of Christ Paul points out that God could just as easily turn it back around by cutting off the Gentiles as a whole. You see, just because Jews as a whole were cut off doesn't have any effect upon the Jews who did believe. Paul was one of them, and there were many in the gatherings he established. The same goes for the possibility Paul suggested of Gentiles being cut off. Gentiles who believed are not being cut off, rather Gentiles as a whole. For the logic of the tree is that if the wild graftings took well in a tree of a different root then natural cuttings would more rapidly be connected back to their own root. Thoughts? Jim :)