Romans 11:22-24 (ESV)
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 in 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.
It is God’s kindness that leads us to our salvation. In this section of Romans, Paul is outlining what happened to the nation of Israel. They were given the Law and Prophets and yet rejected their Messiah. Because of their rejection of Jesus, salvation was given to the Gentiles. The above passage is about two things regarding this salvation:
1. The source of it: God’s kindness
2. The obtaining of it: By continued faith in the grace of God.
Make now mistake, our salvation (Jew or Gentile) is solely based upon God’s kindness toward us. A kindness we do not deserve:
Romans 2:4 (ESV)
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?’
We need God’s kindness to draw us to Himself because:
Romans 3:12 (ESV)
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
It is God’s kindness that leads us to Him. We must then continue in faith. Those who temporally believe have no hope in Christ. Faith is a continued act. We have been grafted into the vine of salvation. That being grafted in means we abide in Him. The is the theme of John 15.
God draws us by His kindness and keeps us secure by our abiding continuously in Him.
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