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Reading Romans 11:11-20, where Paul paints a picture of a cultivated olive tree as a warning to the Gentiles not to become too confident in themselves, but our confidence is in Christ. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
In Romans chapter 11, Paul gives this picture to the Gentiles of a cultivated olive tree, and he gives them this picture to warn them that they do not rely on themselves for their salvation but on Christ when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of Romans chapter 11, and I'll begin today reading in verse 11 through verse 24 the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?
No, by no means, rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean?
Now I am speaking to you, Gentiles, inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches.
If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith.
So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God, severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off.
And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?
So here we have the picture that Paul is painting of the cultivated olive tree of Jews and Gentiles grafted together in Christ. And we'll be talking about this picture that Paul gives between today and tomorrow.
So I come back to verse 11 here. I ask, did they stumble talking about the Jews? Did the Jews stumble in order that they might fall? Was the reason that they stumbled only so that they would perish? Like that's it.
They just stumbled in unbelief so that God would have somebody to destroy. Is that the only reason why they stumbled? No, Paul says, by no means. Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
God has a reason for the existence of evil in the world, and he is accomplishing something through it to his glory, even for our good and to his glory. Romans 8, 28, for we know that God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
And as we have in Genesis 50, 20, Joseph saying to his brothers the second time, for he actually said this to them before as well. But Genesis 50, 20 is that verse that we often cite. He says, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
What mankind is doing in the world is evil. As we read back in Genesis three, there is none righteous. No one does good, not even one person. But what we mean for evil, God means for good. He is using even the evil of man to ultimately work out some great purpose for our good and for his glory.
Even the death of his own son, which was the most evil act ever perpetrated by man, the death of the righteous one, Jesus Christ. God had predestined this for our good. Consider the prayer of the apostles that that we have in Acts chapter four, starting in verse 24, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who threw the mouth of our father, David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
God had predestined this, even the death of his son. We read earlier in Romans chapter three, that God put him forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. God is the one who has foreordained this.
This is all happening according to his plan. When we see the evil that is happening in the world, we should not despair knowing and trusting in God. He is doing something great that will be for our deliverance.
We are going to be saved. If you have faith in Jesus, there is salvation. God has not just set up people just to have someone to destroy. He is showing the full range of his glory through his wrath and through his mercy, through their trespass.
Paul says salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. And even here, the salvation of the Gentiles is not just to make Israel jealous, but it is one of those things that will help to convict the hearts of the Jews and bring them to faith in Christ.
When they see Gentiles, people who were not a people who had no nation, who did not call upon the Lord, when Israel sees those people in fellowship with God, it will stir them to jealousy and they will want to have that relationship with God.
Verse 12. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and this is another way of saying riches for Gentiles, and the richness comes not through earthly prosperity, of course, but the promise of a heavenly kingdom.
If their trespass, if the trespass of the Jews who put the Savior to death means riches for the Gentiles, and if their failure, if the Jews' failure to keep the law even comes down to resulting in riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean?
And full inclusion does not mean every Jew gets saved. That's not what that's referring to, but rather that there are Jews who will receive everything that God has promised to the Jews and even to the Gentiles by faith in Jesus Christ.
And so as we see Jews being included in these kingdom promises, we see the kingdom of God expanding, made up of both Jews and Gentiles. How much more the richness of this kingdom when we see both reconciled together in Christ?
Verse 13. Now, I am speaking to you, Gentiles. So now now Paul is focusing on the Gentiles here and the the image that we have here of the cultivated olive tree. That's what's coming up. This is a picture or a metaphor of how Jews and Gentiles are grafted together into Christ.
But we need to be careful not to read too much into this image. And you can't look at the image at the exclusion of other things that Paul has said in Romans. This really serves as a warning to the Gentiles when we get to this image of the cultivated olive tree.
He is saying to the Gentiles, there were Jews who were boastful in themselves and they depended too much on the fact that, hey, I'm descended from Abraham, so therefore I'm automatically going to get into the kingdom of God.
They were cut off. Gentiles cannot be too confident in themselves, thinking that we'll see now the promise of God has gone to the Gentiles, so I'm automatically getting into the kingdom of God because just as God had cut off Jews, so he will also cut off Gentiles.
And we'll talk about that as we get to this picture here. So in verse 13, Paul addressing the Gentiles in as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. So indeed, that Paul has gone out to share the gospel with those who were not born of the Jews.
But he magnifies his ministry, meaning that he speaks all the more emphatically, not just to rescue Gentiles, but even to rescue Jews. Verse 14, in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them.
Because again, they see, hey, Paul is now why is he speaking the Old Testament to Gentiles? We're the Jews. We're the ones to whom God gave the oracles from the prophets, from Moses, the the savior that was promised was even born to us.
So why are you saying this to Gentiles? And then that brings the Jews to want to hear what is being preached from our scriptures about this Christ, that by faith in Jesus, we get into the kingdom of God.
How is Christ then the fulfillment of those scriptures that God had given to us? So Paul preaches these things to make Jews jealous, and therefore some of them will be saved. And again, notice there to save some of them.
So be careful about any of those passages where he says things like how much more will their full inclusion mean? Again, that does not mean that every Jew gets saved. Some of them get saved, but they are fully included.
Those that are saved are fully included in every promise that God gives to Jews and Gentiles through Christ. So verse 15, for if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world. And again, that word world there, just like back in verse 12, is in reference to the Gentiles.
What will their acceptance mean? But life from the dead, those who believe in Jesus, they will be accepted into the kingdom. The Jews are not fully rejected, like every Jew is not just automatically received a mark by which they will not enter the kingdom of God.
If they turn from their sin and believe in Jesus, they will receive the same deal that's being offered to the Gentiles by faith in Christ. You have eternal life, the resurrection from the dead. So if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, they rejected Christ.
So now the the reconciliation, the ministry of reconciliation comes to the Gentiles. What will their acceptance mean? Those who are accepted into the kingdom, but life from the dead. They will likewise share in the resurrection of the dead.
Verse 16, if the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. This is in reference to Christ. This again addressing Gentiles. Now, I am speaking to you, Gentiles.
Verse 13. So in addressing Gentiles, Paul is reminding the Gentiles that you are made holy through Christ. This is all about Jesus. It's not about you. You've not done anything special to receive inclusion in the kingdom of God.
This is about holding fast to Christ. And if you hold fast to Christ, you are part of the kingdom. If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy. And remember back to Romans chapter eight, where Jesus is mentioned as firstfruits.
It said in Romans 8, 29, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. So as the firstfruits, if the dough offered Christ, who is the bread from heaven, if the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump.
Therefore, everyone in Christ is also holy. Jesus said in John 6, 51, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
Whoever eats of Christ, whoever is filled with Christ, whoever abides in him will live forever. So the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then so is the whole lump. Everyone who feeds from Christ is is holy.
We're sanctified. We are made righteous in the presence of God and promised his kingdom. We have fellowship with God and this fellowship will last forever. We have fellowship now and forever. So Paul says, if the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump.
And if the root is holy, so are the branches. And we're going to go from there into this picture of the cultivated olive tree. Remember that Jesus said to his disciples in John 15, 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 does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. All already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.
Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. Now notice verse six.
If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. This is the the picture that Jesus gives of the vine and the vine dresser.
And Paul kind of adopts that metaphor into the cultivated olive tree. So verse 17. But if some of the branches were broken off and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree and who's the nourishing root?
That's Christ. You you have been grafted in. You were not part of these covenant promises in the first place, but have since been grafted in. So some of the branches were broken off. The Jews were broken away.
Those that did not have true faith in Christ, they were broken off. And you, although a wild olive shoot, so meaning that you came from another plant, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree.
Do not be arrogant toward the branches. Do not think to yourself that you have received some sort of you've inherently received some sort of a prize. See, I'm better than you because I didn't sin as you did.
I didn't have the law like I'm speaking in terms of a Gentile talking to a Jew. A Gentile would say, I didn't have the law. You did. And you disobeyed that law. But I didn't have the law to disobey. So I am something better because I have not committed the same sin that you've committed.
That's what Paul is warning against, having that kind of arrogance from Gentile to Jew. So do not be arrogant toward the branches. You're a wild olive shoot that's been grafted in those that were branches to whom the covenant was given in the first place.
Don't be arrogant toward them. If you are, remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Again, Paul's intention here is to bring the focus of the Gentiles on to Christ, not themselves, not looking at the difference between Jew and Gentile.
Even you focus on that difference and you have division. But let the focus be upon Christ. Verse 19, then you will say branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. Again, going back to verse 11, I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall by no means rather through their trespass?
Salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. So adopting that concept into this argument from the Gentiles saying branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. That's true. They were broken off because of their unbelief.
Why were they broken off? Because they did not believe not because the Gentiles were better, but because the Jews had sinned. They had sinned against God. They did not trust God. They did not believe his word.
They did not follow what the prophets and the law said. Those things pointing to Christ, they sinned and because of their unbelief, not trusting in God, not believing that Jesus is the promised Messiah, they were broken off.
But you, Paul says, you stand fast through faith. You don't stand fast because you're Gentiles. You stand fast through faith in Jesus. Do not put dependence upon your works just like the Jews did and they failed.
The dependency is not on yourself. You be firmly rooted in Christ. Stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. As we've been talking about in our Proverbs study on Thursday, Proverbs 1, 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
And as it says in Proverbs 16, 6, by steadfast love and faithfulness, iniquity is atoned for and by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil. So it is by fear of God that we trust in God. Peter says in 1 Peter 1, 17, if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.
So the whole time that we are alive here on this earth, we are to have the fear of God. It is that fear of God that keeps us from evil. It's that fear of God that keeps us from relying on our flesh, our trusting in ourselves, putting our minds on our own thoughts rather than turning our understanding toward Christ.
Again, in Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. So the fear of the Lord is a reliance on the Lord.
Do not become proud. Do not boast in yourselves. Do not rely on your own ability to maintain, sustain your own salvation. Fear God. He is the one who sustains you. And that's where I'm going to stop for today.
We can save a little bit of this picture and talk through it some more tomorrow. We're finishing here at verse 20, where it says, do not become proud, but fear. Consider what Paul said to the Philippians in Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the kindness that you have shown to us in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and may our reliance be upon you. We don't look to ourselves. We don't rely upon our own strength to either be saved or stay saved, but we trust in Christ.
We look to the root in whom we have been grafted in. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. So help us to give glory to God in all that we say and do today. It is the fear of God that keeps us from evil.
Help us to have that holy and reverent fear in this life that we live while we're here on this earth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.
Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.