02/21/Su – Grafted Branches

NT: “Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast — you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True enough; they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but beware, because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” (‭‭Romans‬ ‭11:17-21‬ ‭CSB)

At this point in Paul’s letter to the Romans, he wrote directly to the gentile believers. While it was true that, for the most part, Jews had rejected Jesus as Messiah and the salvation He brought, and gentiles had responded to the gospel of Jesus in large numbers, the gentiles were not better than the Jews. Though believers may be spiritually better off than non believers, they are not better. God’s redemptive plan for mankind was rooted in the covenant He made with Abraham, the covenant He made with Israel and the covenant He made with King David. Gentile believers do not bring life to the Church. The Church receives it’s life and sustenance through the prophetic promises made to Israel and the new covenant made through Jesus Christ, one of Israel’s sons. Gentile believers are wild branches that have been grafted into the rich heritage of God’s elected people. Anti-Semitism has no place in the life of a gentile believer and finds no support in the pages of scripture. Gentile believers were grafted into the vine by grace through faith. It is by faith that we were grafted in, and it is by faith that we are kept in. If we gentiles were grafted into the vine by grace through faith, how much more then would a Jewish brother or sister be welcomed back into the vine as they come to faith in Christ.