A common assertion by Christians who want us to believe that the body of Christ and the Israel of God are one and the same is that Gentile believers have been “grafted into Israel,” as well as that we are now “fellowcitizens of Israel,” based on Romans 11:1-25 and Ephesians 2:11-22.
Now yes, Abraham is indeed said to be the “father” of those who follow the law as well as the “father” of those who simply have faith. However, as many Christians seem to forget, Abraham had many physical descendants who weren’t Israelites, which means that being able to refer to Abraham as one’s “father,” be it physically as in the case of his biological descendants, or even just metaphorically as in the case of the members of the body of Christ, just doesn’t mean someone is also an Israelite. To be an Israelite, someone also has to be a biological descendant of Isaac and Jacob as well (presuming they don’t marry or proselytize into the actual nation of Israel instead, of course). Paul was reducing the scope of membership within the Israel of God in Romans 2:28–29 to include only certain Jews, not expanding it to include the Gentiles in the body of Christ as well, since “neither Jew nor Greek [Gentile]” doesn’t mean “you’re all Israelites now,” considering there would then still be Jews, even if only Jews, in the body of Christ.
In fact, we can see quite clearly that the Israel of God is a distinct group from the Gentiles in the body of Christ because Israelites are only said to be the natural olive branches in Romans 11, not the whole tree. Remember, not all of the natural olive branches are pruned out of the tree in that figurative explanation of past, present, and future events pertaining to Israel and the other nations (at least it’s still future as of the time this article was written). Instead, some of the natural olive branches remained attached to the tree (with it being these particular branches that refer to Israelites who believed the Gospel of the Circumcision, and not the trunk itself representing them) while the wild olive branch was grafted into the tree next to the remaining branches rather than replacing them. And as Paul made clear in this passage, Israel is not cast away permanently, but is only “cast away,” so to speak, temporarily, until the full complement of the nations may be entering the body of Christ (I say again, entering the body of Christ, and not entering the tree, since the whole wild olive branch is already grafted into the tree), at which point the nation of Israel will become the focus of God’s purposes once again, at the time when the pruned-out branches are grafted back into the tree. If this seems confusing, the phrase “cast away” in verse 1 was translated from a different Greek word in the KJV — ἀπωθέω/“ap-o-theh’-om-ahee” — than the phrase “casting away” in verse 15 was — which was instead translated from ἀποβολή/“ap-ob-ol-ay’” — and is referring to a more forceful and permanent thrusting away in that verse than the temporary placing aside that the hyperbolic “casting away” of verse 15 in the KJV is referring to, for anyone who might be wondering how Israel can be not cast away while also being “cast away” at the same time. This case of being both “cast away” and not cast away at the same time is one of the many examples of how the translators of the KJV seemed to enjoy using the same English word or phrase to refer to contrasting concepts for some reason, and the same goes for how they used the English word “fall” to refer to both “falling” and also not falling at the same time in this very chapter of Romans as well. In verse 11, Paul asked, “Have they stumbled that they should fall?”, then answered his own question by saying, “God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.” So we can see that they didn’t literally fall far away and permanently, but they did “fall,” hyperbolically speaking, with the first “fall” being translated from a variation of the verb πίπτω/“pip’-to” in the Greek, referring to falling from a height, being thrust down violently or purposefully, or even to perishing, and the second “fall” being translated from a variation of the noun παράπτωμα/“par-ap’-to-mah” in the Greek, literally referring to simply stumbling and landing gently (or at least less violently than the first word implies) beside or near something else (this word is also translated as “trespasses” in other verses in the KJV, I should add). While this contrasting usage of the same English word in the same passage in the KJV can be confusing to those who don’t understand what’s going on, it seems that the translators were having fun with words in these examples, and that they expected the readers to be able to figure out when the words are being used literally and when they’re being used figuratively in the same passages, based on an understanding that the Bible can’t contradict itself. And so, we know from what Paul wrote in this chapter that, while the nation of Israel as a whole did indeed stumble (“fall”), and has even been “cast away,” so to speak (really just meaning temporarily placed on the back burner), so that Gentiles can have an opportunity to enjoy salvation without having to go through Israel for the time being (when he wrote, “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles…”, and, “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world…”), he also told his readers that the nation of Israel will be restored in the future (when he also wrote, “…how much more their fulness?”, and, “…what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?”).
It also helps to understand that this passage has nothing to do with the salvation of individuals, nor does being pruned from the tree have anything to do with the idea of losing one’s salvation, which is made clear by the fact that the pruned-off natural branches were never saved to begin with and yet had to have been a part of the tree at one time in order to be pruned from it. This is also made clear by the fact that it’s a singular wild branch, as opposed to the plural natural branches. Of course, some who read the KJV might be confused by the fact that it says “a wild olive tree” in verse 17, but Paul explained in the same verse that this whole “wild olive tree” was “graffed in among them,” which means he was either referring to a single wild olive branch being grafted into the natural olive tree among the remaining natural olive branches, or to an entire (presumably much smaller) wild olive tree being grafted into the natural olive tree, trunk and all. Either way, that only one whole object — as opposed to multiple, separate wild-olive branches — was grafted into the natural tree is clarified A) by the fact that the Greek ἀγριέλαιος/“ag-ree-el’-ah-yos,” which “a wild olive tree” was translated from in the KJV, is a Singular noun, as well as B) by the fact the KJV also (correctly) uses the Second Person Singular “thou” in both this verse and verse 24, rather than the more catch-all “you” that most English Bible translations used to render the Greek word σύ/“soo” in those verses. This all tells us that the single wild branch (or “wild olive tree”) grafted into the natural tree refers collectively to every single Gentile who will have lived during the entire time that the dispensation (meaning the administration, or economy) of the grace of God is in effect — since Gentiles, both saved and unsaved, are being grouped together as a singular whole in these verses — rather than simply referring to only those Gentiles who join the body of Christ (and also confirms that the “grafting into the tree” only happened one time rather than happens multiple times — as each Gentile gets saved — the way most Christians assume Paul meant). And since the whole wild branch (or “wild olive tree”) will eventually be pruned from the natural tree, as it will have to be in order for the temporarily-removed natural branches to be grafted back “into their own olive tree,” every Gentile member of the body of Christ would lose their salvation if being grafted into and pruned from the tree was connected with being saved.
And so, no, being grafted into the tree doesn’t mean that a Gentile has been grafted into Israel, or that they have become a “spiritual Israelite,” which is a completely unscriptural term anyway. Instead, I would suggest that the “wild olive tree” being temporarily grafted into the natural tree simply refers to the fact that Gentiles currently have access to God (via justification by faith) without needing Israelites to help them do so the way Gentiles will need them for in order to get to know God in the future, after the “wild olive tree” is removed from the natural tree due to unbelief (since, after the body of Christ is taken up to heaven, there will be no more believing Gentiles left in the wild olive tree). This means that Gentiles don’t replace or become a part of the church called the Israel of God at all, but rather are currently able to join the church called the body of Christ instead, at least until the full complement of the nations has entered the body of Christ (meaning until the last person called for membership in the body of Christ has been saved), at which point the dispensation of the grace of God will come to an end, the “wild olive tree” will be removed from the tree, and the only way for Gentiles to approach God again (at least for 1,000 years) will be to go through citizens of the nation of Israel.
And this also all tells us that the same goes for the idea some Christians have that Paul said Gentiles join the “commonwealth of Israel,” or become “fellowcitizens” of the nation of Israel, when they join the body of Christ. Based on everything we’ve just covered, this obviously can’t be what he meant in Ephesians 2. Besides, the word “commonwealth” (translated from πολιτεία/“pol-ee-ti’-ah” in the original Greek) has to do with actual citizenship in an actual nation, and we don’t legally become citizens of the country called Israel when we join the body of Christ (if you’re a Gentile who disagrees, try moving to Israel and telling the government there that you’re now a legal citizen of their nation because you’ve come to believe in Jesus, and let us know how well that goes). Besides, our citizenship is in the heavens, not down here on earth where Israel is located, as we’ve already established, and I don’t see the term “spiritual Israel” anywhere in the chapter (or in the Bible, for that matter), so anyone who tries to claim we’re “spiritual Israelites” is just reading their assumptions into the chapter. Instead, we’ve become “fellowcitizens” of the kingdom of God, and of the household of God (which members of the Israel of God are certainly also members of), and not of the nation of Israel itself, although the nation of Israel will become a part of the kingdom of God after Jesus returns, at which point the land will be known as the kingdom of heaven, but it certainly isn’t a part of the kingdom yet, which means that we Gentiles can’t be said to become citizens of the nation of Israel, or really even a part of Israel in any way, when we believe Paul’s Gospel, but simply become citizens of the kingdom of God.
To learn more about the differences between the body of Christ and the Israel of God and our respective Gospels, please read my Things that differ article, of which this article you just read is actually an edited excerpt.