Grafted! (Part 2 of 2)

Grafted in ChristThe four matters on grafting (see Grafted! Part 1 for context): 

1. With natural grafting, compatibility comes down to the point of the stock and the scion needing to be of the same species. This is an enlightening fact in relation to the creation of man recorded in the Bible. In Genesis 1, God spoke to bring forth living creatures after their kind but man was created in God's image and after God's likeness (Genesis 1:26). In other words, man was created after God's kind, or shall we say, God's species.

2. Cutting implies termination, or some kind of death. In grafting, both the stock and the scion have to undergo cutting, or termination. This parallels with the Bible: Christ as the stock died, was cut, on the cross, and at the time of his conversion, a Christian - the scion - was cut off from his old source of living, transferred to another root system, to be "born again".

God is spirit3. After the cutting, the stock and the scion have to make a direct contact in a very particular way; that is, the cambiums of both specimens need to touch each other and be properly aligned so that the two can eventually become organically one (this is how the stock and the scion can become one). Does that sound familiar to you? Well, what if I say, the cambiums are God as Spirit and our human spirit so when we contact and receive God with our spirit, or align our spirit with God, the two spirits become one. First Corinthians 6:17 says "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" - the scion that is joined to the stock is one cambium. What do you think?

4. Lastly, grafting is not a genetic modification. No mutation occurs. The product of a grafting should retain the distinct characteristics of both "parents". Likewise Christians are not angels, not mutants. The Bible consistently presents Christians as human yet divine: human because Christians retain their human essence and existence, yet divine because Christians now possess God's life in them and are now capable of expressing the divine attributes exemplified by the life of Jesus on the earth. Neither more or less. 

A grafted life is the life of the same branch (scion) but drawing from another life source (stock). A Christian life is the life of the same person but drawing from another life source (not I, but Christ).


Comments

  1. very interesting =D

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  2. so scientific! I like it :)

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  3. Katherine,
    Great post. I studied horticulture in college, and in the text we used for propagation, in the section on the principles of grafting, it refers to the process that occurs when the scion and rootstock are joined together. The text used the term "mingled" - the cells of the two lives are mingled together, and as they are mingled, a connection between the two is created, one vascular system (where previously there was none), so the 2 now share the same life supply. Christians are a mingled entity - the Spirit with our spirit, so the 2 become one - "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit". When you see a pecan orchard, with tall mature trees, you are actually looking a mingled grafted life, but we see only one expression. We surely got the better deal - "A poor life with better grafted, richer, sweeter life doth gain."

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  4. Keith,

    Thanks a lot for sharing! I was just fascinated with this matter of grafting after reading a book on how to do a successful grafting. Seriously, this is a great picture of the real mingling in the Bible. It's amazing how nature is truly a testimony of how our God has an eternal purpose, to be one with man. Your comment definitely strengthens this point.

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  5. Praise the Lord we are grafted into His life, into Him!

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  6. This is excellent! We have been grafted into Christ and now can be one spirit with Him! Lord, grow in each of us so that you can have your heart's desire!

    Dan from Athens, Ga.

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