Grafted In
to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, Ephesians 3:6 NASB
Fellow heirs and fellow members– Recently we’ve looked at some passages in Paul’s other letters that raise serious questions about the status of the Gentiles (namely, us) in the Kingdom. We’ve noticed that God’s unconditional election of Israel is conditioned by natural generation. We’ve remarked that the Church basically ignored this condition, claiming that it was the “new Israel” and expropriating the covenant promise for itself without regard to God’s election of natural Israel.
Then along comes Paul. His analogies and halachah suggest that there is a spiritual component to this problem; that Gentiles who have accepted the calling of the Messiah are “grafted into” the Commonwealth of Israel. They don’t replace the original, elected Jews, but they are adopted into the family. Of course, there was the significant issue of how they could be adopted. That was the debate with the “Judaizers” and the council in Acts 15. That’s Wyschogrod’s point when he writes:
“The church declares that what matters is not one’s corporeal identity as either Jew or gentile, but one’s inward spiritual identity as one who believes. In this way, the church separates membership in the church, the New Israel, from membership in a natural human family, and thereby makes the covenant open and accessible to all persons of every nation. But it does so at the cost of discarding the bond that joins God’s covenant to the natural seed of Abraham, thereby casting off the carnal anchor joining God to creation. . . . By claiming to be God’s new people, the church directly assaults the trustworthiness of God’s promise to Israel and the world. From the Jewish point of view, the church’s claim is one more example of the nations’ protest against the election of the stock of Abraham, which Israel must repudiate as a rebellion against God’s word.”[1]
Is it any wonder that Jews view Paul as “Christian” and therefore reject anything he says concerning the status of Gentiles? This might be a reaction to the Church’s view of what Paul says, rather than something that Paul actually meant, but after 2000 years of Christian crowing, it’s hard to see how they could have responded any differently.
Except . . .
The earliest Jewish believers in Yeshua as the Messiah did accept the Gentiles into fellowship. How? How could they do that and not feel the threat that Wyschogrod elaborates? How could they open their hearts and synagogue doors to these non-Abraham people without requiring them to become proselytes? If Paul is right and the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members, then what became of God’s unconditional election of the natural descendants of Abraham? We rightly reject the replacement theology of the Church. God does not shift His election to the “new” Israel. But if He doesn’t, then how are these Gentiles part of the one, unconditional elected people of God? Do they have to convert, that is, become Jews, following all the steps necessary to change identity? Paul seems to say, “No.” But if they are adopted, doesn’t that mean becoming Jews? It’s just no good to claim that all that is required is a spiritual reorientation. That’s replacement thinking. So what exactly does “adopted” mean?
Topical Index: grafted in, fellow heirs, adopted, Gentiles, Ephesians 3:6
[1]R. Kendall Soulen, “An Introduction to Michael Wyschogrod,” in Michael Wyschogrod Abraham’s Promise, ed. and trans. R. Kendall Soulen (Eerdmans, 2004), p. 19.
Does the natural born brother or sister of a family ask a newly adopted sibling why they should accept them as equals or demand pedigree credentials from them before they welcome them into the fold or do they simple accept them because it was their Father’s decesion to add another member to His clan for whatever reason and He is, after all, the Head of the family? Acts 10:34-35
“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” Later it continues: “Kefa was still saying these things when the Ruach HaKodesh fell on all who were hearing the message. All the believers from the Circumcision faction who had accompanied Kefa were amazed that the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh was also being poured out on the Goyim, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Kefa’s response was, “Is anyone prepared to prohibit these people from being immersed in water? After all, they have received the Ruach HaKodesh, just as we did.” And he ordered that they be immersed in the name of Yeshua the Messiah”. Acts 10:44-48 CJB
And if their Father “owns all the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalms 50:10) it would make no difference in their status, relationship or inheritance. So why should any child of God (natural or adopted) begin to question their Father’s motives, methods or machinations? Perhaps only if they don’t know their Father well enough or trust Him fully will they question His ways, means and methods. And whose fault is that?
To your initial question: Honestly? Sometimes the ‘natural’ children do have difficulties fully accepting the newcomers to the family, especially when the newcomers are older and not infants. Especially when the newcomer doesn’t want to act (or even when the newcomer doesn’t know how to act) like the rest of the family. The newcomer has to learn all the rules of the existing family. that’s a lot to learn! To compound the issue, often the newcomers do not fully accept their own full son/daughter ship and this causes them not to want to act like the rest of the family. “I don’t feel like I belong’ is the cry of every ex-orphan’s heart who doesn;t yet know they are an ex-orphan. I work with adoptive families and I see this all the time. Family adjustment behaviors very much mimic the Jew-nonJew dynamic we see being played out in our day.
Gail, I’m sorry for making such sweeping statements without considering the realities of people like yourself who deal with these issues on a regular basis and Lori Boyd’s hearbreaking first hand experience of adoption. My primary point was that it is the Father’s decision to adopt and the natural children should adapt their attitude and behavior to their Father’s will. I get that integration into the family isn’t always easy or popular for either parties, but that the question of the legitimacy of the adoption is no longer on the table. As Yeshua said, “It is finished”… he could have added “now deal with it”. Shaul basically says the same thing in Philippians 2:12-13, ” … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
In addition to the struggles that blended families encounter there are those natural born children, who as a result of childhood abuse have attachment and abandonment issues as well. I know this first hand from both sides of the fence. But we as children of YHWH and younger brothers to Yeshua can be fully assured and guaranteed of His love and care for us as legitimate children whether we were born from the seed of Abraham or the seed of Alex, Apu, Abdul, Alphanso, Achilles or Aristotle. We were all born as Sons of Adam; our family status now depends on whether or not we have been born INTO Yeshua and been given a new life, a new family, a new name and a new destiny.
No need for an apology! I only meant to point out how I see such parallels between the issues among adopted and natural-born children in families and between the natural-born Jew and ex-gentiles entering the kingdom. As you say so well above, the solution is the same. Father said play nice, you BOTH belong, you both have the same house rules.
Wow! ἀναιρέω; υἱοθεσία… (I always assumed I understood what ‘adoption” meant…thanks for the prompting, Skip!)
I am so going to miss these conversations. I have tried to not comment since the 30-day announcement and am having a hard time of it! I get so much food for thought from various commenters and this is a pet subject of mine!
This is a very important issue. When one is grafted in where is the family? I physically have almost no one to mentor me let alone have good honest discussion with on these matters. Certainly no one to set good examples as an adoptive family should. Oh there are plenty of nice little mid-west churches around but almost no one who is able to actually think for themselves AND is able to ask questions of church dogma. No Bereans!
Michael-you raise excellent points and I am right there with you! Is there any nation out there that worketh righteousness in this current hour? What of those who live within crooked, selfish nations who love the Lord and seek righteousness on a personal level? Are we condemned with the evil that abounds? Does the Lord know His own sheep even in the midst of evil? Once He turns His back on a nation does that include even those within said nation who love Him?
This blog has been a great resource for me and will continue to be. These posts are like a drink of cool water on a hot day for me 🙂
If anyone out there would like my email to converse with me post 30-day window, please add me to your contact list.
15gdmclaugh@gmail.com
Dawn,
We live fairly close, don’t we? There are 5 of us that meet together a couple of times a month and have these Skip (and Rabbi Bob Gorelik) inspired discussions. If it’s not too far, you should join us sometime!
Sandy Smail
Hi Sandy. I think we do live close. St Joe? Please reply to my email addy in my first post and we can talk privately 🙂
Dawn (and everyone) , Gale has started a group on MeWe so that we can still converse and learn together as a community using Skips tw as the foundation for the discussion. Please come join us!
Thank you for the heads up. I choose not to use the various social medias. That is partially why this blog has such appeal to me. Hope you get some takers!
If all – all – the spiritual ‘things’ of God are actions (and why isn’t “adoption” about action, too?) then why are we getting hung up on temporal body stuff like ‘natural descendants”‘ or “carnal anchors” or even “Gentiles”? Won’t the definition of “Jew” or Gentile” be an action (as opposed to a CONDITION, such as either genetics OR membership in a church somewhere), too?
“So what does “adopted” mean?” Whatcha wanna bet it means yet another action, and NOT either genetics OR a position in a certain grouping? I have noticed that, once again, those who are arguing this particular point are both agreeing on a PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC: both sides have left the actions of either God or themselves conveniently behind. We would, once again, I think do better staying out of this fight, too, lest we, too, forget what everything about God is really based on.
We don’t need to worry about who is Jewish, who is gentile…God knows. He loves ALL believers, Jew OR gentile and has plans for all of us. The millennium kingdom will be filled with people who are Jewish and people from all the nations. And, we will have different roles (all important.) But, many believe that the Temple will be restored and the descendants of Aaron will oversee it, just as they did in the past. Let’s let God sort it all out…He knows what He’s doing.
As always, an important balance from the lady of PV.
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Additionally, scripture makes it clear what is expected of gentiles who follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We’re not expected to convert or even try to ACT like we’re Jewish. That’s actually offensive to many Jews. We are told to adopt 4 additional things…1. refrain from sexual immorality, 2. not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, 3. not to eat/drink blood, and 4. not to eat meat of strangled animals. If we want to circumcise our male, eat kosher etc. those things are all optional and certainly please God, but they are not mandatory. Honoring the sabbath and God’s high holy days is expected.
Hmmm…I wonder where you choose to draw the line. Keeping the Sabbath and the holy days are not listed with the four things you mentioned we are expected to adopt. So why keep those commandments and not eating kosher, etc? My take is that those four things were just the things you started changing as you became a believer. Then, as you grew in the Lord and went to synagogue and learned more, you changed more things. That’s what I think is the process of sanctification and application of Acts 15:21 (following the verse about the four things we should abstain from) “For Moses has had throughout man generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” The only thing I can see in the renewed covenant that we don’t have to do is circumcising our boys. (Phew!!!) What do you think? This is something I’ve been pondering for years and I’m glad it’s come up for discussion so that we can live and do what the Father asks of us, correctly reflecting Him and His word. Shalom.
Hi Ingela. I didn’t list the 10 Commandments among the 4 additional things I listed above (from Scripture,) but all believers are expected to follow them as well. The 4th commandment tells us to remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy. For those who don’t have the option of attending a congregation that worships on the Sabbath, you can still honor it by how you spend the day. Sunday worship is fine as well, but it doesn’t change the fact that Saturday is God’s Sabbath. Whether we recognize it or not, He does and He delights when we spend it honoring Him. As for the Holy days…those are days intended for all believers to enjoy. God invites us to to participate and lets us know that if we show up, He most certainly will. They are filled with reminders of’s Yeshua first coming (Passover, First Fruits, Shavuot) as well as pointing to Yeshua’s second coming (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret.) For gentiles who have no clue what these holidays are or how to go about celebrating them, I’m certain God understands and give them a pass. But, for those who have the opportunity to celebrate them,(especially if someone is there explaining the full meaning) there’s a certain joy to be experienced
I guess my take is that as we are adopted into a new family we follow all its laws/instructions. Eating kosher isn’t part of the 10 commandments, but definitely a commandment (one of the 613).
Yes, I agree. It works well for me and I feel privileged to do so. Not all gentiles feel the same and, except for the exceptions, Scripture makes it clear that that’s OK for them.
Shabbat Shalom
I’m not sure that “Scripture make it clear,” as much as this particular interpretation of the Scripture makes it clear. If it were perfectly clear, that is, if the meaning could not be read in any other way, then, of course, all readers would agree, but since they don’t (and I am not including those who just don’t care to dig), then it seems to me that the interpretation of the text is the issue, not the text itself (the words) since no one actually disagrees about the words. As Zornberg often points out, every reading of the text is an interpretation of the text.
Perhaps I should have said, “Scripture suggests, hints or alludes to the fact that, not all laws are mandatory for gentiles.”
“The whole of Torah, writes Sefat Emet, is a complex of hints, allusions to the unattainable.” Zornberg, Bewilderments, p. 27
Adoption. Yes, we adopted a girl at age four and grafted her into our family. It was a very difficult transition for us and her! Teaching her our ways, our foods, manners, celebrations and respect of the other “new” brothers and sisters who were thrilled at first but then the task of reformation became exhausting. She knew she was our family but the changes took her young lifetime as a child and through her teens.
In the end, she returned to her original family, reunited with her Father, and resumed the ungodly role of her bloodline.
This analogy makes me wonder if I too will return to the familiar that naturally seems better or fight for my ‘adoption’ that is a much harder way!
Lori, I grieve with you at the loss of this child. We actually “adopted” (not legally but in every other way) a young adult woman and her child. 14 years we poured into this broken, formerly – abused, beautiful girl and her special needs child. She blessed us beyond measure as well, through all sorts of life struggles. We taught her and supported her in gaining an education / career. Once she became “successful,” she became her own god and abandoned us. We felt used up and tossed aside as garbage. BUT YHVH used and will use our love and hard work we poured into those two lives for His glory. Praise Him!
I should add that we have 6 kids in our blended family, many of these “natural born” children, now way into adulthood, serving themselves as their own gods. We all have free will, just as all of YHVHS “Jews,” do.
Appreciated your comments Judi. But have a question about this:
“those things are all optional and certainly please God, but they are not mandatory.”
Shouldn’t ‘pleasing God’ make something personally mandatory?
Here is a character quote from my book that answers in a way I find helpful in my daily walk and would like to hear any response.
“In all the hundreds of ‘whispered about’ commandments, the literal number applying to you or me is small.”
“How do you decide which ones you must obey?”
“I have never asked that question. It never occurred to me that was a personal decision to make. Adonai gave those commandments as instruction on how to live. Adonai said that all His Words are matters of Life and Death.137 So as I read His Word, I thank Him for so graciously giving His instructions on how He has determined it is best for the children of His Kingdom to live their lives. Anywhere I see an instruction that I am able to do … in loving obedience I choose to do it. Not for the gift of eternal life, that gift cannot be earned. But because I have been redeemed from the world’s kingdom and given a place in Adonai’s Kingdom, because I am a child of the King, I love and trust Him. He graciously gives me a way to show my trust and thanks through a loving obedience to all His Words He enables me to fulfill.”
Nicely and simply put. Thanks Patricia
Why is this discussion important? Because the very argument that some are trying to boast about this subject and why its not important are based on the very the words of Paul and how his words have always been interpreted incorrectly.
I guess i do not understand how “it doesn’t matter.” If Skip is uncovering what Paul’s words mean in context and what he truly would have been trying to convey to the followers of his time, then I how can I say, it really doenst matter…jew or gentile…God loves us all, etc… All I am doing is adhering to the old interpretations of Paul’s words that I was taught all of my life in churchianity, plugging up my ears and saying I just want tp keep reading, quoting and adhering to Paul’s letters the way I always have. BUT if I find that what Paul actually said IS in fact what Skip is uncovering then as ones who always puts such weight on Paul’s words shouldn’t we want to hear and adhere to what Paul ACTUALLY says.
Maybe YHWH’s words themselves have some bearing on what Skip is trying to convey.
Isaiah 56:6-7
And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Hi PatriciaO…you said, “Anywhere I see an instruction that I am able to do … in loving obedience I choose to do it.”
I agree with you and do the same, unless it’s something that would offend a Jewish person. I think we should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. I feel led to follow the instructions that apply to me. Not all gentiles do. The scriptures are clear that if they feel it’s an undue burden for them, (other than the exceptions I mentioned above,) it’s not REQUIRED of them. What a gracious God we serve!!
Judy, you say you follow an ‘instruction’… “unless it’s something that would offend a Jewish person”. Are you aware that many of the Jewish Ultra Orthdox groups adamantly argue that the keeping the Sabbath is for “Jews Only” and are greatly offended at the concept of gentiles observing it under any circumstances? ( btw this is the same faction that constitutes the ‘political party’ that controls immigration and marriage laws in Israel). In addition, there are many other traditional Jewish observances and “lesser” Torah commandments that these groups would like to keep exclusively Jewish in practice (specifically, their brand of Judaism) and not have them be debased by gentiles or somehow become “universalised” (now or in the future millinum Kingdom). Some Jews are offended if we Messianics wear Tzit-zit or with wearing them without donning a kippa, while others are offended if we dare wear either; some declare we should only wear whiteTzit-zit tucked in trousers and others demand that ‘their brand’ of blue and white knotted threads should not be hidden, but worn long and proud. Which Jew should we NOT offend? Should we allow the social and religious norms of others to determine our behaviours, boundaries and beliefs? Sounds like the start of a sloppy slide on a slippery slope to me.
And most importantly, do we as disciples of Yeshua strive to please YHWH or men?
Hi Michael…in my earlier post, I was thinking specifically of the wearing of tzit-zit or the kippas by gentiles, which I know to be offensive to most Jews, whether they be secular, orthodox or even Messianic. But, both of those are outwardly visible signs. We can observe in many other ways without being so out-front about it…ie the dietary laws. We don’t have to announce WHY we aren’t ordering the shrimp or pork at a restaurant or party. But keeping the Sabbath is a command by God…for all God fearing believers, so that would trump anything a Jewish person would would feel or say to discourage gentiles from doing so. I’m aware that it’s impossible to avoid offending everyone in every manner. Perhaps that’s what Scripture means when it says we should “provoke the Jews to jealousy.”
Yes, God loves all His children but whether we like it of not, God gave a special blessing, (and heavy consequences), to a certain family, (Jacob’s), of a certain man, (Abraham). We know Abraham loved Ishmael, and I’m sure Keturah’s children too, but they got the crumbs and Isaac/Jacob got everything else. For whatever reason that is the way God chose, and still chooses to operate. But then, how do we explain Paul, and whatever happened to the vast promises made to Abraham of the hundreds of millions of descendants, and many nations from them, and many kings (and kingdoms)?
An explanation that harmonizes Paul’s message, but that is very controversial, is that many, even most, of these “Gentiles” that he wrote to were actually Israelites – of the lost ten tribes. They did not need to be “adopted”, (which is a poor translation), they only needed to be grafted back into the root from which they were broken off 900 years before when they split from the southern kingdom. They quickly rejected Jerusalem and its Temple and when they went into exile in Assyria, (722 B.C.) they soon became pagan. They then migrated into all of Europe and became the Europeans, (not assimilated with them).
They ARE the fellow heirs and fellow members. They ARE unconditionally elected and are the natural descendants of Abraham through Jacob/Israel. Even Josephus (Ant., 11:133) states as a fact, “the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated in numbers.”
Why did Paul tell the Greek “Gentile” Corinthians that they were genetic brothers?
1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, [Greek, adelphos – womb/uterus brother] I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all OUR FATHERS were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
Are the Corinthians spiritual brothers whose fathers got spiritually baptized by Moses? No.
This is a vast controversial subject with lots of good and bad info on the Internet. Google it and spend a few hours or years investigating it. If you’re serious, see also my reply to HSB re Skip’s, Who Died, on July 2, 2019.
But, Dan, but does that even make sense? Perhaps all we have to do is consult a good, young-earth geneticist or even a statitician. According to the ones I have seen quoted (sorry, would have to go find them again) everybody on the planet, by now, is related to everybody else, and not only because of Noah, but also because they wove themselves later. I saw where a young earth geneticist suggested that we try, mathematically, doing the math for our own lineage back even as little as two millennia: I mean, you would have way more ancestors than there were even folks on the planet then! (Hmm, now what does THAT mean?)
There are a few small pockets of isolated genetics left, but I bet even they are related. This cannot possibly be about genetics! Especially, I would think, for the Jews. Not only did they practice open door policies with whoever wished to join them (and not just Ruth), but they have been experiencing diaspora (Abraham started the habit, and Moses made it a standard) longer than anybody else on the planet. (Now, that’ll mix it up!)
Was the Ethiopian that Philip baptized a Jew? Philip certainly didn’t think so. So which was it? Did he actually have a stray drop of the right blood in him (perhaps!)? But, was that the issue? No. The issue seemed to be was, was he a practicing (action) Jew? Philip seemed to have a problem with that, but was that because of the laws of Moses or the traditions of men? Whatever is was in either of their heads, baptism solved it. What do we think?
And the sheet of unclean animals Peter saw: was it about God changing the rules, or was it about Him overwriting the traditions of men that had crept in? In other words, what about, for example, the mixed multitude that left Egypt? Lots and lots of them were NOT JEWS, but we don’t hear another word about them. Were they an exception? Or aren’t we told that they got “baptized in the Red Sea” along with the Jews? (Well, that’s how Moses handled it.) Every genetic Jew since, I bet, by now has a generous dollop of Egyptian blood because of it, too, and it does not seem to have hurt them.
Finally, what about what Yeshua said when people tried to hush the children’s praise? He said He could “raise up stones” (to be Jew children), if necessary. The question is, what makes a Jew a Jew: more importantly, what makes folks an inheritor of the promises? Who your ancestors happened to sleep with? Really? (Who did yours sleep with?) According to what you are suggesting, that would be a whole lot more important than how you choose to obey the laws of love. I bet even you don’t practice that!
Laurita, when Yeshua suggested that “He could “raise up stones” (to be Jew children), if necessary”. Does that imply he was promoting panpsychism? Is the idea that “everything material, however small, has an element of individual consciousness” a new-age notion, a Kabalistic nightmare or a solid Scriptural Spiritual concept?
My pet rock wants to know.
If that were the case, He wouldn’t have to raise them, of course. Sorry, rock: no resurrection for you.
In light of this post, how do we interpret John the Gospel writer’s verses below? Don’t we agree that John’s Gospel is Jewish and written to/for Jewish readers (as well as Gentiles)?
I have noticed that “born again” folks get to choose their parentage. Now that’s more like it!