Let Go & Let God

Thomas N Kirkpatrick Meditations

Meditation	Letter to the Romans	Hebrews	Almost Heaven	The Words of Jesus
Sword of the Spirit	Bible Study	Percy Lee the Life and Times of Chief Standing Bear	Creed	Romans 8
Eschatology	Parables of Jesus	Twelve Fundamentales of Christian Faith	Church	Sermon on the Mount
God	Seven Spirits of God	Faith & Prayer	Riverside	Sowers of the Word
Holidays	The Seven Churches	Poets Puddle	The Ballengee Record	Eight Woes
The Lord’s Men	Meditation	Just A Closer Walk With Thee		Let Go & Let God Downloads

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Romans Meditation Lesson 55

“You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Romans 11:19-24)

Paul told the Gentiles they had been transplanted onto an existing root of God’s relationship with Israel. That root supports them and not the other way around. Paul imagines some Gentiles would debate their superiority to the branches that had been pruned off. In the following verse, Paul replies to that scenario.

What Paul writes now should humble the Gentiles about their place on the symbolic tree. The only difference between the broken-off branches and the new branches is their faith in Christ. Paul warns the Gentile Christians to hold tightly to the branch by continuing their faith in Christ. Paul is not saying that a believer can lose their salvation. God has the right to add and remove branches. God removed Israel for their stubbornness and pride. God could remove the Gentiles for their arrogance. Believers should respect the consequences of drifting from the faith that brought them to the tree. “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1). They should not take confidence in themselves but fear God, who gave them their spot.

Paul warns them God was willing to break off the Jewish branches even as they were genetic descendants of Abraham, and He will not spare the Gentiles who refuse to have faith in Christ. Faith is the only hope of remaining on the tree.

Paul wants to ensure his readers know the two pillars of God’s nature. God is both kind and strict on a person’s faith. The Lord is a holy God and firm toward those who have fallen with a lack of faith in Christ. God has shown His kindness to the Gentiles because of their faith in Christ. Without faith in Christ, God will cut them off. Paul is not talking about their eternal salvation, as seen in the following verse. The context is not about eternity. It is about the relationship and communion with God.

Paul previously implied that Israel would be grafted back into a special relationship with God one day as His people came to faith in Christ. It is a new point in Paul’s argument that the Jews were pruned off the tree and can be grafted back into the tree. God can remove and restore when they repent and have faith in Christ. God has the power to return Israel to its rightful place on the Olive Tree.

Paul wants the Gentile Christian to reach two goals. First, he wants them to understand they can be re-grafted into the tree. Second, Paul wants them to look forward, as God can cut them from a wild olive tree and graft them into a cultivated olive tree. The Gentiles should be grateful they can move from a wild, sinful tree to a cultivated tree. All things are possible with God, and if He can graft from a wild tree a branch into a cultivated tree, it is good news He can graft the fallen Jewish people back into His family once they begin to trust Christ for their salvation.