Again, funny how I address posts to Marlowe, and only get direct responses from others. Check your playbooks again. Which one of you is the ventrioquist, and which one the puppet?
You missed Paul making a direct connection between the two OT quotes, in verses 12 and 13, tying both together into verse 15, and wrapping up by summarizing the principle in verse 16. God wills whom He wills, and the "willed" cannot refuse Him. The overall context is found a few verses back, in verse 8:
"it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendents".
Everything that follows in the chapter, from Esau to pottery, ties back into this. Are you really going to tell me that a discussion about who constitutes the children of God is not a discussion which includes salvation?
But then again, Marlowe's question didn't deal with salvation, either.
I believe its called context. :)
In other words your saying "LOOK AT ME MOMMA, I'M A BIG BOY NOW!!! I CAN INSULT REAL GOOD!!!
BigMack