Was Jesus then talking about an old church that He was going to add to? (I lost track of this thread, so forgive me if I've asked that already.)
The New Covenant was made between the same two parties as the Old Covenant: God and Israel.
That did not change with Paul.
The cut-off branches are unbelieving Israel. They will be grafted back in again, upon the fullness of the Gentiles having come in.
The text allows for that, I think, when Jesus says He will "build my church", but I don't think it does when talks of building it on the foundation of Peter's confession (which is the same as building it on the foundation of Jesus Himself).
Sorry, what? That makes no sense.
Jesus said He will build His church on the Petra, which refers to Himself, not Petros, Peter.
Again, if 2 different churches, was one founded in the wilderness? or was that a third church? I understand you think Paul introduced a new church, but that doesn't jive with the Gentiles being grafted into the thing the Jews had been cut off from.
Yes, the first church was "founded" in the wilderness.
The grafting is done onto Christ.
Romans 11:16 NKJV - For if the firstfruit [is] holy, the lump [is] also [holy]; and if the root [is] holy, so [are] the branches.
Romans 11:17 NKJV - And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
(Is the olive tree one of those churches? If not, what is the olive tree? How are the Jews broken off from it, i.e., they were already part of it, then they became NOT a part of it?)
The Olive Tree in this analogy is Christ.
Romans 11:18 NKJV - do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, [remember that] you do not support the root, but the root [supports] you.
Romans 11:19 NKJV - You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in."
Romans 11:20 NKJV - Well [said]. Because of unbelief (Lack of faith, not lack of works)
Correct.
they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
Romans 11:21 NKJV - For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
(The Romans can be cut off, too, so it can't be about salvation--that true believers that have been grafted in are now in danger of being cut off.)
What is being said here is that direct access to God can be cut off, and God can go back to working with and through Israel. Indeed, it is not about salvation, at least not directly. The direct access is available to all gentiles, believer and unbeliever alike.
Romans 11:22 NKJV - Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in [His] goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Romans 11:23 NKJV - And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
Romans 11:24 NKJV - For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who [are] natural [branches], be grafted into their own olive tree?
Romans 11:25 NKJV - For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Because Paul talked about the middle wall of partition being broken down between the Jews and Gentiles, such that the Gentile become fellow heirs with the Jews.
Ephesians 2:14 NKJV - For He Himself is our peace, who has made both (both what? Both churches?) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
Both groups, Jew and Gentile. All now have access to God directly, rather than strictly through Israel's religious laws and customs.
Or that He revealed that Gentiles can belong to the first one, since the natural branches were broken off.
Gentiles had access to God, but they had to go through Israel, either as a Gentile, or by becoming a proselyte Jew.
The natural branches were, as you correctly identified, broken off because of their unbelief.
As the wild branch, we in the Body of Christ should not grow haughty because we now have access to Christ.
I appreciate that distinction.
Agreed, whether it is one or two, Jesus is the foundation:
1 Corinthians 3:11 KJV - For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
I've shown that it is what Paul teaches. You disagree, and that's ok--it's good to talk through our disagreements so that we all come to the best understanding.
The laughy faces are scorn, for not believing the same thing. Yet you (and others) have not presented a strong enough case, in light of scripture that speaks of the two groups becoming one. If those groups are two churches, that's fine, I guess, but Paul spoke of the two as if they were part of the same thing (see citations above).
Yes, both groups are part of the overarching Kingdom of God.
The kingdom of Israel is one that Christ Himself will rule over. But that kingdom does not encompass the rest of the world.
The Kingdom of God does, however. It includes both Israel and the Body of Christ.
Some hold that Jesus and Paul both taught that there were multiple churches--that there was a church in Jerusalem, and one in Antioch, and one in Ephesus, and one at Corinth, etc. (and they reject the idea that there is a universal church, although they just call it something different, they call it "the Kingdom of God"). But I think you are saying there was a universal Jewish church and a universal Pauline church. Scripture can easily be read, with no contradictions, in such a way, including Paul's letters, that those two groups were part of a single Christian church, with the "mystery" being that Gentiles would be invited into it (and Jews would be excluded from it if they didn't believe). Jesus taught this. Paul taught this.
Paul says "we" (the Body of Christ) "are all of one body":
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.
Unity and Diversity in One Body - For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink...
www.biblegateway.com
In that context, the different "churches" in different physical locations are just that, local groups of the Body of Christ,
Note that by "Jew and Greek" here, Paul is not talking about Israel, which are those under the New Covenant, but rather Jews who have been saved under Paul's dispensation of grace. (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:17-24)
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If I missed anything, please let me know.
