Scripture Reading: Rom. 11:17-24; 1 Cor. 6:17; John 15:1, 4-5
Ⅰ
The believers are branches of the cultivated olive tree; the cultivated olive tree in Romans 11:17 is the God-chosen race of Israel with Christ as the reality of their life and everything—9:4-8.
Ⅱ
As branches of the cultivated olive tree, the believers live a grafted life— 11:17; 6:5:
A
The Bible reveals that the relationship which God desires to have with man is that He and man become one—1 Cor. 6:17:
１
God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life—John 15:1, 4-5.
２
This oneness is an organic union, a union in life—a grafted life.
B
In grafting, two similar lives are joined and then grow together organically— Rom. 11:17-24:
１
Grafting can be effective only if the lives to be grafted are similar.
２
Our human life resembles the divine life; therefore, the divine life and the human life can be grafted together and then grow together organically— Gen. 1:26; 2:7.
C
In order for us to be grafted into Christ, He had to pass through the processes of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 1:14, 29; 2:19-22:
１
Christ became flesh to be the seed of David, the branch of David, that we may be grafted together with Him—1:14; Matt. 1:1; Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5; 33:15.
２
Christ was "cut" on the cross and then was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit so that we could be grafted into Him—1 Cor. 1:30; 15:45b.
D
As regenerated ones, we should live a grafted life—a life in which two parties are joined to grow organically—John 15:1, 4-5:
１
After we have been grafted into Christ, we should no longer live by our-selves; rather, we should allow the pneumatic Christ to live in us—Gal. 2:20.
２
We should no longer live by our flesh or by our natural being; instead, we should live by our regenerated spirit, a spirit grafted with Christ.
E
The grafted life is not an exchanged life but the mingling of the human life with the divine life—v. 20; Rom. 6:3-5; John 15:1, 4-5.
F
The most wonderful reality in the Christian experience is that the believers in Christ are united with Christ in the way of life.
G
In the grafted life the human life is not eliminated but is strengthened, uplifted, and enriched by the divine life—Rom. 11:17-24:
１
In the grafted life the branch still retains its same essential character-istics, but its life is uplifted and transformed by being grafted into a better life.
２
In the grafted life the divine life resurrects God's original creation—John 11:25:
ａ
As the divine life discharges the negative things, it works to resurrect God's original creation.
ｂ
In this way our original functions—the functions given us at creation— are restored, strengthened, and enriched—Gal. 2:20.
３
In the grafted life our faculties are uplifted—Eph. 4:23.
４
In the grafted life the divine life supplies the riches of Christ to our inward parts and saturates our whole being—Rom. 12:2; 8:29-30.
Ⅲ
As branches of the cultivated olive tree, the believers live by the sense of life, enjoy the fellowship of life, and walk in the light of life—v. 6; 1 John 1:2-3, 5, 7:
A
The sense of life is the feeling, the consciousness, of the divine life within us— Rom. 8:6; cf. Eph. 4:18-19:
１
The source of the sense of life is the divine life, the law of life, the Holy Spirit, Christ abiding in us, and God operating in us—Rom. 8:2, 9-11; Phil. 2:13.
２
The sense of life makes us know whether we are living in the natural life or in the divine life and whether we are living in the flesh or in the spirit— Rom. 8:6.
３
In living a grafted life, we should live according to the principle of life, not according to the principle of right and wrong—Gen. 2:9, 16-17.
４
If we would follow the sense of life, we need to live in a calm, steady, and unhurried way—John 14:27; 16:33; 1 Thes. 5:23; 2 Thes. 3:16.
５
The sense of life guides us and governs us—Luke 1:79; Prov. 21:1.
B
The fellowship of life is the flow of the eternal life within the believers, who have received the divine life—1 John 1:2-3; Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 1:9; Rev. 22:1-2:
１
The means of the fellowship of life is the Holy Spirit, and the location of the fellowship of life is in our spirit—2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1; 2 Cor. 6:6.
２
The function of the fellowship of life is to supply us with all the riches of the divine life—Rev. 22:1-2; John 15:1, 4-5.
C
To walk in the light is to live, move, and have our being in the light—1 John 1:7:
１
Light and life always go together—Psa. 36:8-9; John 1:4; 1 John 1:1-2, 5, 7.
２
When we walk in the light, the divine things are real to us—vv. 5-7.
３
When Christ comes into us as life, He shines within us as light, which brings the divine element into us as reality—John 8:12, 32.
D
In the grafted life God becomes us and we become Him; that is, we become the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead—1 John 4:15.