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Did God's people
stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! His purpose
was to make his salvation available to the Gentiles, and then the
Jews would be jealous and want it for themselves. Now if the
Gentiles were enriched because the Jews turned down God's offer of
salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share
when the Jews finally accept it.
-Romans 11:11-12
But some of these branches from
Abraham's tree, some of the Jews, have been broken off. And you
Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, were grafted in.
So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and
his children, sharing in God's rich nourishment of his special olive
tree. But you must be careful not to brag about being grafted
in to replace the branches that were broken off. Remember, you
are just a branch, not the root.
-Romans 11:17-18
For if God is willing to take you who
were, by nature, branches from a wild olive tree and graft you into
his own good tree─a very unusual
thing to do─he will be far more
eager to graft the Jews back into the tree where they belong.
-Romans 11:24
For Christ himself has made peace
between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people.
He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us.
By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded
the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and
Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups.
Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means
of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
-Ephesians 2:14-16 |