In Romans 11 Paul describes how non-Jewish believers in Jesus become part of God’s covenant people, like wild olive branches inserted into a cultivated olive tree (Israel ), sharing its root and nourishment, symbolizing unity and participation in God’s promises through faith in the Jewish Messiah, rather than through heritage.
I will share the way I learned this. Here are some key concepts of the grafting metaphor:
- The Tree: Represents Israel and God’s covenant people, with the root being in Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and God’s promises.
- The Branches:
Natural branches = Jewish people (Israel)
Wild branches = Gentiles (non-jews).
- The Grafting: God, in His mercy, cut off some natural branches, (the unbelieving ), and grafted in wild branches (Gentiles who believed in Jesus).
- The Result: Gentiles now share in the Spiritual blessings, promises, and life-giving nourishment from the olive root, becoming spiritual heirs alongside believing Jews, united in Christ Jesus.
- The Warning: Gentile believers are warned not to become arrogant, because God’s kindness to them is conditional on their continued faith, and He has to power to graft the natural branches back in, if they return to faith.
This signifies a spiritual union of Jews and Gentiles in the body of Christ.
It shows that the church is not replacing Israel but is part of God’s ongoing redemptive plan.
We receive life from the same divine source as Israel. It’s about spiritual inclusion, not ethnic conversion. Faith in Jeshs connects us to the root, not requiring us to become ethnically Jewish.
From Pity to Praise 