Romans chapter 11 verses 16-18, the grafting in of the Gentiles, verses 16 and 17. For if the first fruit is holy, the entire batch is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and partake with them of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Paul gives two examples to illustrate his point.
First, he says," If the first fruit is holy, the entire lump or batch is holy." That is because the first fruit is the initial sample of the entire offering, whether of crops or of a loaf offering. Next, Paul says," If the root of the plant is holy, then the branches will be holy as well, for they are part of the same plant." These two illustrations demonstrate the same principle, but they have two different applications: the first fruit and the batch.
The first fruit is Jesus Christ, who is often called the firstborn. For example, Paul calls him the firstborn among many brethren, the firstborn of all creation, and the firstborn from the dead. Romans chapter 8:29. Colossians 1:15 and 18. Cyril of Jerusalem writes," Christ is the beginning of your salvation. For he is truly the first fruit, and you are the remaining batch. And if the first fruit is holy, obviously its holiness will pass onto the batch as well.
Origen comments," I know of no other holy first fruits except our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the first fruits of all. And from this holy first fruit, the entire batch of believing humanity is sanctified. Theodoret affirms this saying," By the first fruit, he means the Lord Christ in His human nature." The root and the branches. As to Paul's illustration about the root and the branches, the root refers either to Abraham alone, or to Abraham with all the other Old Testament patriarchs and prophets.
For example, Theodoret comments," By the root," he means the patriarch Abraham, yet Origen refers to the root of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Chrysostom writes," In this passage, Paul uses root to refer to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, the patriarchs, and all who were of note in the Old Testament." This heritage of Abraham and the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets was the privileged birthright of the ethnic Jews.
When God had originally chosen the Israelites as His special people, He told them," That you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Exodus chapter 19:6. However, through their disobedience and unbelief, most of the natural branches, the Jews, were cut off, and the believing Gentiles were grafted onto the olive tree. So now the olive tree has been transformed from the fleshly nation of Israel into the Israel of God. The Israel of God is comprised of Jews and Gentiles alike who follow Christ.
They comprise a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 1 Peter 2: 9, and partake with them of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Even though they are grafted onto the rootstock of Abraham, the Gentiles are not grafted onto the olive tree as second-class citizens. Instead, Paul says they partake of the fatness or richness of the olive tree, just as do the natural branches. Chrysostom writes," On hearing the words you were grafted in.
Someone may suppose the Gentiles to be deficient when compared with the natural branches. However, Paul makes them equal to the natural branches by saying you partake with them of the root and fatness of the olive. That is, you have been put into the same noble rank and have the same nature. As Paul had said earlier, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is over all and is rich to all who call upon Him. Romans 10:12. Paul emphasizes this key point throughout Romans.
Replacement theology or grafting and cutting. Some Christians disparagingly refer to Paul's teaching in this chapter as replacement theology. However, does Paul ever use the word" replace" in his discussion? Does he ever say that the believing Gentiles replace the Jews? Does He say that the Church replaces Israel? No, He never says any of those things. To begin with, Paul does not say that God has created a new olive tree. Rather, He speaks of the same olive tree that began with Abraham.
Its rootstock is Abraham, coupled perhaps with the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets. Christians have not replaced the olive tree of Israel. We have been grafted onto it. Both Gentile and Jewish believers are part of the historic olive tree that began with Abraham. Back in chapter 2, Paul had said that," Through faith in Christ, Gentiles become true Jews alongside their ethnic Jewish brothers. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.
But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart." Romans chapter 2 verses 28 and 29. Later Paul wrote," For they are not all Israel who are of Israel. That is, those who are the children of the flesh. They are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed." Romans chapter 9 verses 6 and 8. So the believing Gentiles do not replace the Jews. Rather, Paul says that the believing Gentiles are grafted onto the olive tree of Israel as branches.
They join their believing Jewish brethren as fellow heirs of Abraham. The early Christians repeatedly comment on this fact, Justin Martyr. For the true spiritual Israel and true descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham are we who have been led to God through this crucified Christ. For Abraham was approved of and blessed by God in his uncircumcision on account of his faith. And he is called the Father of many nations.
Justin Martyr, all who through Him have fled for refuge to the Father constitute the blessed Israel. But you Jews have understood none of this, and you are not willing to understand. Rather, since you are the children of Jacob, after the fleshly seed, you expect that you will be assuredly saved. Irenaeus. The promise of God that he gave to Abraham remains steadfast. For his seed is the Church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord.
As John the Baptist said," For God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." Likewise, the apostle says in the epistle to the Galatians," Now we, brethren, just as Isaac was, are the children of the promise." Origen: Many of the present Egyptians and Idumeans who came near to Israel will enter into the Church of the Lord, being no longer considered as Egyptians and Idumeans, but as having become Israelites. Origen.
It appears to me that the whole people of Christ, when we regard them in the aspect of the hidden man of the heart, have in a more spiritual way the characteristics of the twelve tribes. For these people are called Jews inwardly, and they are circumcised in the Spirit. Cyprian, in the gospel, we find that children of Abraham are raised from stones. That is, they are gathered from the Gentiles. Lactantius, he was a Gentile Christian. Our ancestors were the patriarchs of the Hebrews.
Of course, as spiritual Israelites or Jews, neither believing Jews nor believing Gentiles, are under the regulations of the Mosaic Law. Rather, they are under Christ's teachings of the New Covenant. The grafting process is not something new. The grafting of Gentiles onto the Abrahamic olive tree is not something new that began with Christ. Instead, it had been going on since the days of Abraham. Isaac did not marry another descendant of Abraham. Instead, he married a Gentile, Rebecca.
She was a cousin of Isaac, but like Lot, she was born outside of the Abrahamic covenant. Yet by marrying Isaac, she was grafted onto the Abrahamic olive tree and became an heiress to the promises. This example of grafting by marriage continued down through the wives of the twelve sons of Jacob, and no doubt beyond. Moreover, a mixed Gentile multitude accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt. These Gentiles crossed the Red Sea with the Israelites and were received into the covenant at Sinai.
They were thereby grafted onto the Abrahamic olive tree and became part of Israel. Their descendants entered the Promised Land as Israelites. In fact, God had made special provision in the law to continue to graft such people onto the Abrahamic tree. When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you and would like to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
One law shall be for the native born and for the stranger who lives among you." Exodus chapter 12 verses 48 and 49. So Gentiles came into the Abrahamic tree on the same basis as those who were in the genetic line of Abraham. Throughout the history of Israel, this grafting process continued. Often it was through Israelite men marrying Gentile wives like Rahab or taking concubines during conquest.
At other times, various Gentile men and women, like Uriah the Hittite and Ruth the Moabite, voluntarily came to faith in the God of Israel and chose to join the Israelites and to come under the law. In fact, at some point in history, a large part of the Ethiopian nation embraced the God of Israel and were grafted onto the Abrahamic tree. Ezra describes a number of Gentiles in his day who were grafted in.
The Passover was eaten by the people of Israel, who had returned from exile, and also by everyone who had joined them, and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. Ezra chapter 6:21, ESV. So there was nothing new about grafting Gentiles onto the Tree of Abraham. It had been going on since the beginning of the Israelite nation. Why were Gentile converts suddenly controversial? So what suddenly made this grafting process so controversial?
It was that under the new covenant, the Gentiles were being grafted in without having to be circumcised and without having to come under the law. Their faith was sufficient for their being grafted in. That is why Paul spent so much time in Romans explaining why circumcision and the works of the law are no longer necessary. It was because that was the tipping point on the scale. If God had required the Gentiles to be circumcised and live by the law, the Jews might have embraced Christianity in larger numbers.
However, God's acceptance of uncircumcised Gentiles was a huge stumbling block to them. Another new phenomenon greatly offended the Jews. In the past, the Gentiles who were grafted onto the Tree of Abraham always constituted a minority of the Israelite nation. Normally, the ethnic Jews greatly outnumbered them. However, after Christ, things changed. Not only were Gentiles being rapidly grafted in, but the branches of ethnic Jews were just as rapidly being broken off.
Within a matter of a few decades, most of the existing branches on the Abrahamic tree were Gentiles. The Jews found themselves a minority on their own olive tree. This was even difficult for the believing Jews to accept. As the Church became predominantly Gentile, the Jews became less and less inclined to become Christians, the proper attitude for Gentiles.
Romans 11:18," Do not boast against the branches, but if you boast, you do not support the root, but the root supports you." Earlier in his epistle, Paul addressed the boastfulness of the Jews. Now he admonishes the Gentiles not to become similarly boastful. Jesus had warned," Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:14. Chrysostom warns," Do not boast against them so as to separate yourselves from them. For it is into their place that you have been brought.
It is their goods that you enjoy." Theodoret adds," You need the root, but the root does not need you." Ambrosiaster explains further what Paul is saying:" Do not exalt over the unbelief of the Jews." As Solomon says," God is displeased when we rejoice over the downfall of others." Proverbs 24:17. Furthermore, the Jews were not rejected to benefit the Gentiles. Instead, because God rejected them, it afforded an opening for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles.
If you boast against the rootstock onto which you have been grafted, you are insulting the very people who have received you so that you might be changed from bad to good. Romans chapter 11 verses 19 through 22. The Believer's Conditional Security verses 19 through 21. Perhaps you will say the branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Very well. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. However, do not be arrogant, but fearful.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, take heed lest He does not spare you either. Paul continues to caution the Gentile believers not to become arrogant. They should remember that the Jews once were standing where the believing Gentiles now stand. Since the Jews were cut off the olive tree for their unbelief and disobedience, so will the Gentiles if they follow their example. In fact, arrogance itself is a sin that puts the Gentiles in danger. Origen makes this comment about boastful Gentiles.
These Gentiles were imagining that they had succeeded by their own merits, instead of recognizing it was through the goodness of God and the dispensation of His indescribable wisdom. All of us receive salvation as a gift. When we lose sight of that fact, we place our own salvation in jeopardy. If God did not spare the natural branches, take heed lest He does not spare you either." Here Paul corroborates the truth Jesus had already laid down in the parable of the vine.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit. He prunes that it may bear more fruit. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. John chapter 15 verses 1-6, NKJV. So salvation is not a once-and-done event.
After our initial salvation, we must continue to walk obediently and faithfully with Christ, bearing godly fruit, or we will be cut off the vine. As Paul says," If God did not spare the natural branches, take heed lest He also does not spare you." The early Christians frequently quoted the subject passage to demonstrate that our security in Christ is conditioned on our maintaining an obedient love faith relationship with Him.
Here are a few examples: Irenaeus:" Christ will not die again on behalf of those who now commit sin after baptism. For death will never again have dominion over him. Therefore, as a certain elder remarks, we should not be puffed up nor be severe upon those of olden times. Rather, we should be fearful ourselves.
Otherwise, after coming to the knowledge of Christ, if we do things displeasing to God, we might obtain no further forgiveness of sins." Hebrews 10: 26." Rather, we may be shut out of his kingdom." And for that reason, Paul said," For if God did not spare the natural branches, take heed lest He also does not spare you." Origen. However, as we have said, human nature always retains freedom of the will.
Therefore, the following is always possible: Someone belongs to the nation of fleshly Israel and is a branch on the good olive tree. However, he may still fall into unbelief and be broken off. At the same time, someone else belongs to the guilty and sinful people of the Gentiles. Because of this, he is called a wild olive tree. Yet he can be converted to the faith, for he too possesses free will. This enables him to be converted to good. As a result, he is grafted onto the good olive tree by faith.
He is joined to the root and participates in the fatness of this olive tree. Origen, commenting on Luke 3:9, John says that the branches of infidelity have been broken off and cut down by this axe. The goal was to cut off from the tree, not the root. Thus, branches from the wild olive can be grafted onto the root of the original tree. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. This is its end to be burned in the fire. Ambrose.
It was not to our advantage to know the day and hour. For our being ignorant of the actual moment of the judgment to come keeps us ever on our guard. It causes us to keep vigilant on the watchtower of godliness and to avoid the habits of sin. Otherwise, the day of the Lord might come upon us while we are caught up in sin. For it is to our advantage to fear the future rather than to know it. For it is written. Do not be arrogant, but fearful. Ambrosiaster.
Because of their unbelief, God has blinded the people who had received the privileges of their forefathers. This happened even though they had received the promise to be adopted as the sons of God. If that is the case, what will He do to those who are not worthy of any esteem if they are unfaithful? Indeed, who were honored when they were of no standing? Theodoret," It befits you not to become complacent, but to fear and tremble." Why?
It is because the natural connection did not profit the Jews at all, for they did not retain the same character and mindset as the root Abraham. Accordingly, if you do not preserve the grace given to you, how much more shall you become an alien from the root?
More quotations from the early Christians on the subject of conditional security, together with the scriptures on which they relied, can be found in chapters 5 and 8 of this commentary." Therefore, behold the goodness and severity of God, on those who fell severity, but toward you goodness if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off." Paul highlights two aspects of God that we must never forget: His goodness and His severity.
Our initial salvation was a gift from God, a product of His goodness. However, if we prove ourselves ungrateful for this incredible gift, we will learn that. God is not mocked. Galatians 6:7. We must continue in His goodness by remaining faithful to Him. Otherwise, Paul warns, you too will be cut off. This echoes the words of Jesus," He who endures to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:22. Chrysostom writes," You see that man's free will is a wonderful thing. You see how great the effectiveness of the mind is.
But none of these things is unchangeable. Neither your good nor the other man's evil." Notice how Paul raises up the Jew in his despondency and humbles the Gentile in his confidence, and do not be dismayed on hearing about God's severity, nor be overconfident when hearing about His goodness. The reason why God cut off the Jews in severity was so they might long to come back. The reason why He showed goodness to you, Gentiles, was so you would continue in His goodness.
That is, if you do things worthy of God's love toward man, for there is need for something more than faith. Clement of Alexandria adds," God does not inflict punishment from wrath, but for the ends of justice, for it is not right that justice should be neglected on our account. Each one of us, who sins with his own free will, chooses punishment. The blame lies with the one who chooses. God is without blame.
Paul says," Behold the goodness and severity of God, on those who fell severity, but toward you goodness, if you continue in His goodness." Theodoret comments," Behold how God has cut off those Jews because they did not follow the faith of their forefathers, and behold how He has conferred on you Gentiles the blessing of His lovingkindness. See how He has arranged for you to share in a root that was not naturally connected to you.
However, you will be altogether severed again from this root if you do not keep the gift bestowed on you." Romans chapter 11 verses 23 and 24. The grafting in of the Jews, verse 23 and 24. Furthermore, if they do not remain in unbelief, they too will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again.
For if you were cut from the olive tree that is wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature onto a good olive tree, how much more will they, who are the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree? We now see God's marvelous mercy on display. Even though Israel rejected Him, God still holds out His arms to the Jews, beckoning them to come back.
If God could graft the Gentiles onto the rootstock of Abraham, something foreign to them, how much more can he graft the Jews back onto their own rootstock? Of course, they must repent and come to faith in Christ. Paul does not say that they will be grafted onto a new olive tree. Rather, they will be grafted back onto the original tree they had previously been part of.
Chrysostom writes," If faith was able to do that which was contrary to nature, how much more will it be able to do that which is according to nature? For the Jew will not be grafted upon another root, as was the case with the Gentile. Rather, if he desires to come back, he will be grafted onto his own root. Theodoret adds," Paul aptly uses the words grafted in as regards the Jews also. For unbelief has altogether severed them from the root.
Yet faith can connect them with the root, exactly as was the case with the Gentiles." How many good olive trees are there? It should be noted that Paul says nothing about two good olive trees. The Gentiles are grafted onto the rootstock of Abraham. They do not have their own separate rootstock. Likewise, when the Jews return to God, they will be grafted back onto this same original olive tree. They and the Gentiles will be branches together on the same good olive tree.
This fits precisely with what Jesus had prophesied about the Jews and Gentiles. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. John 10:16. So how many flocks will there ultimately be? Only one. There will not be one flock for the Jews and a different flock for the Gentiles.