The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 363

IMPLANTING IN CHRIST simply because this

is

not done in nature,

i.e.,

In John xv., Jesus does not even touch

God.

323

in the creation of

upon the question

of

That is the work of the Father. My Father is the Husbandman. In John xv. 3 he speaks only of a person who not abiding in Him withers and will be burned. Even Rom. vi. 5 does not speak of coming to Jesus, and Rom. xi. 17-25 only partly. The former calls it to become one plant with Him, but does not tell "how"; and " grafting " is not even mentioned. And the latter, speaking of broken olive-branches, and of wild olive-branches grafted upon a good olive, and lastly of broken branches restored to the original olive, makes no reference whatever to the implanting of individuals in Christ, as we will soon

how one becomes

a branch.

prove.

And

yet the figure

is

only partly applicable.

Indeed, in

Paul, with his characteristic boldness of speech

xi., St.

and

Rom. style,

work in nature; for while in bud is grafted on the wild trunk, he makes in this instance the wild bud to be grafted upon the good trunk. A bold stroke indeed and very profitable to us, for by it he makes for comparison's sake reverses God's reality the cultivated

us see clearly and distinctly the general implanting in Christ. that is

But

all.

For, notice

it

well, the figure is not to be pressed too far.

a mistake to make

it

It is

refer to the regeneration of the individual sin-

For a person once implanted in Christ can not be severed from Him: "No man can pluck them out of My hand"; "Whom He has justified, them He also glorified." ner.

And off

yet, reference is

made here

and which were grafted

individuals, then the Jews,

the Lord,

in again.

to branches If this

who during

the

which are broken

referred to particular

life of St.

must have been regenerate persons who

Paul denied

fell

away and

returned again before they died. If this had been St. Paul's meaning, subsequent events would have belied his words, and he would have revoked the whole tenor of his other teachings. But he plainly means that the tribes of Israel, who were in the Covenant of Grace, had lost their position therein by their own fault; yet that even outside of the Covenant they should be preserved throughout the coming ages, and that in the course of history the way would be opened even for them to be reintroduced into the Covenant of Grace. And this shows that

Rom.

xi.

17-25 does not teach the regeneration of individual per-

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