In Part 1, we questioned whether we have a status in heaven related to our sincerity of repentance. This question arose in connection with the “stumbling block” of Israel and whether we are limited by our lack of sincerity in repentance when we sin. But let’s resolve Paul’s concern with Israel first:
“So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean” (Rom 11:11-12)!
So if I sin in disunity from God and offer insincere repentance, do I lose my salvation? No, but do I see other believers moving past me in repentance and receiving blessings richer than mine? Surely I have caused this, and I imagine you have, too. Here is what God is up to with us:
“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. (Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches)” (Rom 11:13-16).
I added the parentheses above so that the connection between the Gentiles and the branches in verse 17 below is clear. Is Paul’s letter to the Romans intended for the Israelites or the Gentiles? Many believe it is written for the Gentiles, while noting in parallel the beneficial effects of his ministry to the Gentiles to the benefit of the Jews. We can ask ourselves: if we see other branches of Christianity as competition, is there is a parallel here for us if we feel jealousy among each other and therefore trigger disunity within the faith?
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, , and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree” (Rom 11:17-24).
It was the Israelites’ who were broken off from the root – the vine – of God because of their disunity from God. But this allowed believers in Christ to be grafted in to the vine in perfect unity with God.
But the opposite may well be true, not regarding our salvation, but regarding our frequent descent into disunity with fellow believers. This is a sobering parallel – are we then the broken branches cut off for a time until repentance with true sincerity, while leaving open the opportunity to graft the Jews back in a second time?
I don’t want to be a branch broken off from the root of Jesus, but I am exactly that when I dispute with a brother in Christ.
Don’t be the remnant that bows the knee to disunity among believers!