ROMANS 11: 17-24
GOD'S TREE
[Isaiah 56:3-8]
Chapter 11 has been addressing the place of Israel in salvation history. Despite all Israel's faults, she has never been less than God's chosen means of bringing blessing to the world, and everything else that He has chosen to do must be seen in that context. [For the purposes of God in salvation were first revealed through His chosen people and His Son was, according to the flesh, a member of the Jewish people. Briscoe, Stuart. The Preacher's Commentary Series, Vol 29: Romans. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1982, S. 207.] Before further proving the future conversion of Israel, Paul pauses to develop an analogy of the olive tree and its branches [in such a way as to accommodate and illustrate his teaching about Jews and Gentiles].
The olive tree, cultivated in groves or orchards throughout Palestine, was an accepted emblem of Israel [as was the vine (Jn. 15)]. The cultivated olive tree here represents the people of God, whose root is the patriarchs and whose stem represents the continuity of the centuries. Both Jews and Gentiles are considered branches. Now some of the branches have been broken off, standing for the unbelieving Jews who have been discarded, and some wild olive branches, or Gentile believers, have been grafted in among the others (or the believing Jewish remnant), so that we all now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root (17). This connection to God's tree brings great blessing. Yet the blessings that salvation provides are not a ground for boasting [to us Gentiles,] but rather should cause thanksgiving and caution (CIT).
I. BE CAUTIOUS OF CONCEIT, 17-19.
II. BE CAUTIOUS OF COMPLACENCY, 20-21.
III. BE CAUTIOUS WITH GOD'S GOODNESS, 22-24.
Paul has a serious caution to relay to the gentile church. Verse 17 illustrates salvation as being grafted into and nourish by a cultivated tree. "But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,"
The olive tree was the most useful, productive, and valuable tree in Israel. It was precious both economically and for the welfare of the nation. A good olive tree produces abundant oil, an emblem of the Spirit. In light of this, Israel's relationship to God was often pictured as an olive tree (Hosea 14). The other tree pictured here is wild or uncultivated olive tree which represents the Gentiles. The wild olive tree produced poor fruit and little or no oil.
In the apostolic generation God broke off some of the old branches of the cultivated tree because they refuse to acknowledge Jesus and come to Him in humble faith. At the same time, God has no reluctance at all in taking wild branches and incorporating them into the old stock. The necessary provision, of course, is that the wild branches would do what the natural branches refuse to do—meaning, come to Him in faith. Those who are grafted into salvation's tree "now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root" (lit., "have become a co-partner of the root of the fatness of the olive").
[FYI. Normally a branch of a cultivated olive tree is grafted into a wild olive tree, the opposite of what Paul spoke of here. But he knew that grafting the wild into the cultivated was not the norm (though it was done), for later he said it was "contrary to nature" (Rom. 11:24). Yet it must be added that grafting a wild branch into an olive tree that was not producing as it should so as to invigorate the tree was a practice in Palestine [Sir William Ramsay. Pauline and Other Studies. 1906. pp 221ff.].
Verse 18 teaches that those incorporated into salvation's tree must not look down upon Israel or the Jews. "do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
To be blessed by God and His grace, however, is no reason to boast. To reinforce this warning Paul declared, "You do not support the root, but the root supports you." The root of the tree is the source of life and nourishment to all the branches, and Abraham is "the father of all who believe" (4:11-12, 16-17). So Gentile believers are linked to Abraham; in one sense they owe their salvation to him, not vice versa.
Since they were like "a wild olive shoot" grafted to a cultivated olive tree, they were indebted to Israel, not Israel to them. As Jesus said, "Salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). [Walvoord, John.& Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983, S. 483.]
As Gentiles, we were grafted into the olive tree. But because we partake of its goodness solely by God's grace, we have no room to boast, or look down upon the Jew. [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 964.] The blessing of both Jewish and Gentile believers comes through the root of God's covenant promises and power, not through our own worthiness or merit. The power of life is in the root, not in the branches.
Note that God did not cut down salvation's tree and plant a new one. God's choice was to graft other branches into His true and eternal root (Eph. 2:1ff; 1 Cor. 10:1-13). Thus the church does not replace the synagogue, but is joined to the historic root of Israel extending from Abraham to Christ. [Also note that an attack on Israel means an attack on the root and revelation of God.] God has but one tree indicating that there is but one people of God.
The apostle anticipates a boast a Gentile believer might make in verse 19. "You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."
Though the "branches were" not "broken off so that I could be grafted in," the statement is accepted for the sake of argument. The natural branches were broken off for what they would not do; they would not produce the fruit of repentance and faith. The thrust of the following argument is for believers not to assume upon the grace and goodness of God, like the natural branches did.
II. BE CAUTIOUS OF COMPLACENCY, 20-21.
Verse 20 points out the real reason the branches were broken off and issues a warning so that it may not happen with us. "Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;"
The real reason the branches were broken off was Israel's unbelief. Any Gentile that has been grafted-in stands right before God (5:2) by faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore Paul warned Gentile Christians individually again, Do not be arrogant (lit., "Do not think high" of yourself; 12:16) but be afraid, or have a proper fear of God.
The wild branches must not overlook the fact that when natural branches refused to believe, God reserved the right to remove them, and He will not hesitate to do the same with wild branches. So there is no room for unbelief or complacency, only humble trust. It is the continuance in belief that is the true evidence of genuine faith in the same way that "the perseverance of the saints" reminds us that true saints do persevere.
["You" is singular (su) and could be applied individually or to the church as a unit. Most likely it references the majority of church just as it reference the majority of Israel.]
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN once described a visit he made as a young man to see the Puritan preacher Cotton Mather. Franklin recalled: "He was showing me out of the house, and there was a very low beam near the doorway. I was still talking when Mather began shouting, 'Stoop! Stoop!' I didn't understand what he meant and banged my head on the beam. 'You're young,' he said, 'and have the world before you. Stoop as you go through it, and you will avoid many hard thumps.' That advice has been very useful to me. I avoided many misfortunes by not carrying my head too high in pride."
Conceit is not limited to the young. Those who have received God's grace can also suffer from this affliction. Spiritual arrogance is the result of drawing false conclusions about God's dealings in our lives. After the Exodus, Moses warned Israel not to make wrong assumptions about their experience of grace: "The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples" (Deut. 7:7). Israel had been chosen because of God's love.
Paul strikes a similar note here. He warns the Gentiles who have experienced God's grace through Christ not to jump to conclusions. The fact that they have been chosen to receive mercy does not mean that they are worthy of it. The opposite is true. The experience of grace assumes the need for grace. There would be no mercy without the presence of sin.
In the case of the Gentiles, spiritual pride is doubly foolish. Not only does it fail to appreciate the nature of grace, it also misreads God's dealings with Israel. If God rejected His chosen people, gentiles should realize that they too can be rejected also.
Verse 21 indicates that gentiles by nature should not be part of salvation's tree. "for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either."
Paul reminded them, "For if God did not spare the natural branches," Israel, He will not spare you either. If God so dealt with prideful Israel the unchanging God will deal just as decisively with the gentile church. [In Greek this is a first-class condition in which the conditional statement beginning with "if" is assumed to be true. As clearly stated in the previous verses, this speaks of Israel's "fall" (11:11), "loss" (v. 12), and "rejection" (v. 15), for "the branches have been broken off" (v. 17) "because of unbelief" (v. 20). [Again the singular "you" (su) referencing the majority of church.] If God cut off an apostate Israel because of her unbelief, how much more certainly will He cut off an apostate church because of her unbelief.
The VISIBLE CHURCH TODAY is mostly Gentile, and that church encompasses a large percentage of apostates, heretics, and others who reject the absolute and inerrant authority of Scripture and deny its cardinal truths, including the deity of Christ. [Reference the Episcopal church -Anglican.] Though they may boast of their correctness and salvation the Lord's judgment will fall on the apostate Gentile church just as surely and swiftly as it did on apostate Israel. Jesus warned the church at Pergamum, "You also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth" (Rev. 2:15–16). And to the church at Laodicea, He promised that nominal, unbelieving Christians will be spit out of God's mouth in disgust (Rev. 3:16). Collectively, they are later referred to as the Babylonian harlot of the end times whom the Lord will cause to be brutally devastated by Antichrist and his ten-nation confederacy (Rev. 17:16).
III. BE CAUTIOUS WITH GOD'S GOODNESS, 22-24.
We has just learned that God has temporarily put aside Israel as a whole for unbelief and that He certainly could put aside the Gentiles for rebellion and pridefulness. Now verse 22 references this kindness and sternness as aspects of God's nature. "Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off."
Scripture now warns those in the present who have identified with the saving gospel that they must continue in His kindness or they, too, will be judged severely like those in the past who were near the blessing and fell. That is a familiar New Testament idea, which affirms the reality of true, saving faith by its continuity. It is the perseverance of the saints which evidences their genuine conversion (see John 8:31; 15:5–6; Col. 1:22–23; Heb. 3:12–14; 4:11; 1 John 2:19). Steadfastness is a proof of the reality of faith and a by-product of salvation, not a means to it.
Because of God's blessing on ancient Israel as a nation, many Jewish unbelievers shared in that blessing. [It rains on the just and unjust alike.] In the same way, because of God's blessing on the church, many unbelievers within the church taste that blessing. But if they fall away, God's patience will be exhausted and His offer of grace withdrawn, that blessing by association will be of no value when unbelievers face the Living God in judgment and are eternally cut off from Him. Those who in unbelief refuse God's kindness in the offer of salvation are destined to be cut off by His severity. [MacArthur, NT Com. Moody. Chicago. 1994. p. 118.]
God in all His majestic power is thus seen to be a God of "goodness and severity," and it is the behavior of the people that determines which aspect of His nature will come to them. If they fall, severity in judgment is a reality. If they continue, the goodness of God will be their portion. In the same way that those who do not continue in faith reveal the bogus nature of their faith and are thus broken off, so those who previously were rebellious toward the Word of God but subsequently believe will be in-grafted. In other words, Gentiles should no more presume on the goodness of God than the people of Israel, because God has the power to graft in any who believe and to break off all who will not—Jew or Gentile—and He will use this power. [Briscoe, S. 208.]
Verse 23 teaches that once Israel turns from their unbelief in Jesus, God will graft them in again. "And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again."
So that no one thinks that God's sternness against the Jews is irrevocable we are instructed that God is able to graft Israel in again. There remains room on God's tree for Israel to be grafted in again to their former place. God is able to graft them in, if they will turn to Jesus in repentance and faith.
The assurance of this is drawn from the contrast between the natural and unnatural branches. A host organism is more likely to receive a transplant from a natural relative than from a stranger. This condition is readily seen in a kidney or bone marrow transplant.
The principle which the apostle had just stated as applicable to the Gentiles, is applicable also to the Jews. Neither one nor the other, simply because Jew or Gentile, is either retained or excluded from salvation. As the one continues in this relation to God, only on condition of faith, so the other is excluded by his unbelief alone. Nothing but unbelief prevents the Jews being brought back, "for God is able to graft them in again." [Charles Hodge. Romans. Banner of Truth. 1835. p. 370.]
The concluding observation in verse 24 explains why his illustration is contrary to nature. "For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
In other words the restoration of Israel will be far easier that than the calling and incorporating of the Gentiles. This ingrafting does not suggest a displacing or replacement of the Gentiles, but that both Jew and Gentile must be grafted into God's tree to share God's grace.
In the end times, during the Great Tribulation, it will only be the apostate Gentile church, the false church will itself be cut off, just as Israel once was. And at that time Israel, the natural branches, will then be grafted [back] into their own olive tree. Those natural descendants of Abraham will also become God's spiritual descendants and once again be the Lord's chosen people of blessing [MacArthur, 118].
IN CLOSING
The church which is truly Christian will join Paul's prayer for Israel to be saved (9:1). Humanly speaking the prospect of Jews turning to Christ does not seem hopeful especially considering the churches track record of anti-Semitism. But nothing is impossible with God.
The world and Israel waited many thousands of years for God to send His Son in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4). We continue to wait for God to send His Son a second time. While we wait, God is working to bring Israel back to Himself. And God will do so. For in order to be faithful to His own Word, the Lord must provide a future salvation for Israel.
