Sunday School Notes: Romans 11:16-24

¹⁶ And if the firstfruit is holy, [so] also the lump; and if the root is holy, [so] also the branches. ¹⁷ But if some of the branches have been broken off, and you being a wild olive tree have been grafted in among them and become a sharer of the rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not boast against the branches, but if [you] boast [remember], you do not bear the root, but the root [bears] you. ¹⁹ Therefore, you will say, “The branches have been broken off so that I may be grafted in.” ²⁰ True; they have been broken off by [their] unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not think proudly, but fear. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. ²² See, therefore, the kindness and severity of God: severity on the one hand to those who fell, and kindness of God on the other if you remain in [His] kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³ And these also, if they do not remain in unbelief, they will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you, being cut off from [what is] by nature a wild olive tree also [are] grafted in to an olive tree against nature, how much more will those be grafted into, according to nature, their own olive tree.

This past Sunday we jumped back into Romans after a three-week break, picking up from where we left off in chapter 11. We did a brief overview of what Paul is arguing here, noting that the point of this whole section, from chapter 9 through chapter 11, is answering the claim that God has finished with Israel, and that God is now only dealing with Gentiles. Paul offers himself as a refutation of this: he is of the tribe of Benjamin, and yet God saved him. Like the remnant in Elijah’s day, God has preserved a remnant of the Jews that He will save. Indeed, part of God’s purpose with bringing in the Gentiles is to stir the Jews up, making them jealous so they will turn to Christ.

Paul speaks of how great it is when Jews become Christians. Certainly, every salvation is to be celebrated; but it is all the more wonderful when a Jew connects with what is the true fulfillment of the covenant promises given to his forefathers. Their acceptance is “life from the dead,” which can be understood in terms of personal salvation, but also perhaps looks forward to the resurrection on the last day. As we shall see, Paul anticipates a time when more than just a few Jews will come to salvation, and perhaps that’s what he has in mind in verse 15.

At first glance, verse 16 doesn’t seem to connect with verse 15. I think it helps if we understand verse 16 to be carrying on the idea of what it means for the Jew to come to Christ. God set Israel apart for a special purpose. It was to them that He gave the Law, the commandments, the prophets, and the promises. These came to the “root,” which we decided was best understood in this context as referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob–the Patriarchs–the ones who first received the promises of God upon which the nation of Israel was built. (Indeed, one could say that the “root” is Abraham, since Isaac and Jacob descended from him.) If that “firstfruit” was holy–which doesn’t have to mean “justified (i.e., saved),” but can simply mean “set apart for special use by God”–then, like leaven in dough, that set-apart-ness permeates the whole, so all those descended from the Patriarchs share in that special purpose: to be the carriers of the Law, the commandments, and the promises.

Paul then begins his tree analogy, starting with the idea that the holiness, or set-apart-ness, of the root is communicated throughout the whole tree, to each branch. This idea might justify the arrogance of the Jewish members of the Roman church, if not for the fact that some of those branches have been broken off (the passive voice strongly suggesting this was God’s doing). Not only this, but Gentile “wild olive branches” have been grafted in to replace them. This means the Gentiles now share the same root, and enjoy the inheritance of the same rich, life-giving promises as the “natural” branches that remain on the tree (i.e., the faithful Jews who turned to Christ).

It is well to note at this point, that Paul’s point with this picture is not to present an accurate portrait of first century agricultural practices, but to illustrate a theological point. That theological point is simply this: faithful (i.e., saved) Jews and saved Gentiles both share the same common heritage in the Patriarchs–the Jews by natural descent, the Gentiles by adoption (or being “grafted in”). In either case, the Christian Jew has nothing over the Christian Gentile in terms of heritage, but that also means that the Jewish heritage still matters, and God has not finished with the nation of Israel. God did not chop down the tree and plant a new one when Christ came. Christ is the tree’s purpose. And it is that tree’s rich root in the Patriarchs that feeds every member of God’s chosen people, whether Jewish or Gentile.

The Gentile might find in the idea of Jewish branches being broken off so he might be grafted in a reason to boast, but Paul warns against this. The basis of being a part of the tree is faith, and that faith is given by God. Every branch on the tree, grafted or not, needs to remember that they are there by God’s grace alone, and none can claim they deserve to be there. If God did not spare faithless natural branches, there’s no reason for the unnatural ones to feel complaisant. Their lack of fear could lead to a lack of faith and their eventual cutting off. God is both kind and severe: kind to those who love and fear Him, but severe to the unbelieving. Given that we are all guilty sinners, deserving God’s wrath, there is no injustice here.

We talked for a little about how this impacts one’s view of Perseverance of the Saints. Paul appears to be saying that those grafted in could be chopped off again, and in verse 23 he says that those who were cut off may be grafted back in if they stop being faithless and turn to Christ. First, we need to remember that Paul’s main point is not our eternal security, but how Jewish and Gentile Christians need to view one another, and the fact that our salvation, regardless of our natural heritage, is in God’s hands and according to His will and purpose. Second, it is fair to also point out that Paul himself was a “natural” branch that would have been cut off, but then grafted back in. And it’s possible that some may be grafted in for a season who are not really of the tree, and will eventually be eternally cut off. (That may sound like stretching the analogy, but Paul has already done this by speaking of branches being cut off and then grafted back in, which no-one would really do!) But I think this is going beyond what Paul intended with this picture. As I said, the tree analogy is not meant to carry a full discussion of the Perseverance of the Saints. There are other places in Scripture to go for a discussion of that topic. In this section of Romans, and particularly verses 23 and 24, Paul is warning against boasting about being a part of the tree. Whether or not you remain in that tree is in God’s hands. You were saved by grace, and you have no reason to boast. Even the Jew who is a “natural” fit for the tree, is there only by grace through faith.

Lord willing, unless I hear otherwise, we will pick up the discussion next week at verse 25.