New Testament in a Year

¹⁹ “Well,” you say, “Branches were cut off so that I could be grafted onto the tree.” ²⁰ That’s right! They were broken off because they didn’t believe, but you remain on the tree because you do believe. Don’t feel arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹ If God didn’t spare the natural branches, he won’t spare you, either. ²² Look at how kind and how severe God can be. He is severe to those who fell, but kind to you if you continue to hold on to his kindness. Otherwise, you, too, will be cut off ⌞from the tree⌟.

²³ If Jewish people do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted onto the tree again, because God is able to do that. ²⁴ In spite of the fact that you have been cut from a wild olive tree, you have been grafted onto a cultivated one. So wouldn’t it be easier for these natural branches to be grafted onto the olive tree they belong to?

²⁵ Brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery so that you won’t become arrogant. The minds of some Israelites have become closed until all of God’s non-Jewish people are included. ²⁶ In this way Israel as a whole will be saved, as Scripture says,

²⁸ The Good News made the Jewish people enemies because of you. But by God’s choice they are loved because of their ancestors. ²⁹ God never changes his mind when he gives gifts or when he calls someone. ³⁰ In the past, you disobeyed God. But now God has been merciful to you because of the disobedience of the Jewish people. ³¹ In the same way, the Jewish people have also disobeyed so that God may be merciful to them as he was to you. ³² God has placed all people into the prison of their own disobedience so that he could be merciful to all people.