I say, then, did Israel stumble so that they might fall? Let it not be! …For I speak to you—to the Goyim [Gentiles]—inasmuch as I am indeed an emissary of Goyim: …if Israel’s rejection is a reconciliation of the world, what will their reception be if not life out of the dead? And if the first-fruit from the dough is holy, then the whole batch is also; and if the root is holy, then the branches are also. But if certain ones of the branches were broken off, and you [Goyim], being of a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and became a fellow-sharer of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not carry the root, but the root carries you! (Romans 11:11-18)
The internal conflict between Jewish and Gentile believers in the Body of Messiah is an ancient one. Almost from the beginning, Jews and Gentiles were mistreating one another within their new, ethnically-diverse, spiritual communities. This was exactly the issue Paul was dealing with in his letter to the believing community in Rome—to correct the arrogance and judgmentalism that had infected and separated the believers along ethnic lines. Read more