Gentiles are the wild branches "grafted in"

[HelenaZF]

Hopefully, these couple paragraphs will give an overview of our position as "graftees" into the Olive Tree of Isrrael that God established through Abraham. These points may puzzle you or bring up other questions...so....let's talk about it!

In the book of Romans, Shaul who became Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles) writes passionately about how the non-Jewish Believers have been 'grafted' into what he calls "a good olive tree" (Rom. 11:24). Paul, throughout the chapter, equates this 'good' olive tree with Israel, therefore, it is often called: The Olive Tree of Israel. This is the same 'olive tree' which God has tended and pruned ever since the call of Avraham (Abraham), as He watched over Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants.



In contrast to this 'good' Olive Tree of Israel, is another olive tree that is wild by nature (v. 24). The branches of this 'wild' olive tree are pictured as being people from the other nations, known in Hebrew as the Goyim (Goy-eem = nations). These people are commonly known as Gentiles. It is this group of people (the wild ones) to whom Saul addresses this subject:



"For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, ..." (Rom. 11:13)

Sha'ul is the arch-typical Jewish man, a Jew among Jews, and he understood that Adonai was intentionally extending more than just an olive BRANCH to the Gentile nations, but was offering them the opportunity to BECOME olive branches and to be inserted into HIS TREE! Because Paul's Roman name, folks forget that he was SuperJew. An HE knew that God wasn't discarding the Jewish people.

What is most incredible about the eleventh chapter of Romans (along with chapters 9 and 10) is that it teaches the exact opposite of a belief that is commonly held throughout much of Christianity. This belief is known as Replacement Theology. In its more extreme form, Replacement Theology teaches that God's work with the Jewish people (including the Old Covenant) was a complete failure and, for this reason, He had to send His Son as Savior in order to establish a New Covenant with the Gentiles.  In this theory, the Gentile 'Church' is said to have become the 'New Israel,' totally replacing the 'Old' physical Israel. One of the foundational Scriptures for Replacement Theology is the following verse:



"And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:29)

But to interpret that verse as excluding Israel is an unsupportable leap of logic. The scriptures clearly teach that we are "grafted in" to the Olive Tree of Israel, and that we share in the promises with them. God is not finished iwth Israel yet. God may deal with them differently than with the Gentile church on occasion....but we are inextricably both dependent upon the life that comes to us from the same Root--Yeshua. The Root of Jesse.





[quote excerpted from: <URL url="http://members.aol.com/tron686/GraftedIn.html">http://members.aol.com/tron686/GraftedIn.html]