Section 9
that you might marry another, even Him who has been raised from among the dead." Christ is our Husband, and we are His Bride. Between the Bridegroom and the Bride there is no exchange of life. Instead, there is a wonderful union. We are one with Him in person, in name, in life, and in existence. If a man and wife are to have a proper marriage, they must learn to be one in such a way. Likewise, our Christian life is a life of identifica tion with Christ and oneness with Him.
GRAFTING
Because neither the illustration of the vessel nor that of married life picture anything organic related to God's dispensation, Paul goes on to use a third illustration—the grafting of one tree to another. In 11:17-24 Paul uses the illustration of branches from a wild olive tree being grafted into a cultivated olive tree. As a result of grafting, the branches from the wild olive tree and the culti vated olive tree grow together organically. Each tree has its own life, but now these lives grow organically together and have one issue.
A surgeon may do what is called a skin graft. In this procedure healthy skin is transplanted from one part of a patient's body to a wound or burn elsewhere in his body to form new skin. After