A Study of The Book of Romans
Lesson 80 Chapter 11:16 – 19
By Pastor Randy Johnson
- Verse 16 - 17 “For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. (17.) And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;”
- We have four things to define in this verse to understand it properly; a “firstfruit”, a “lump”, a “root”, and the “branches.
a. It is true that the titles “firstfruit” and “root” fit the Lord Jesus Christ; He is “the firstfruits of them that slept” 1 Cor. 15:20, and He is also "the root of Jesse and David", Isa. 11:10. However this is not speaking of Jesus Christ.
b. The next word we need to define is “holy”, the word holy does not always mean – blameless – here it means - set apart – Vines says it means – separated – which is most likely the best definition. Israel was set apart from the rest of the world to be used of God.
c. It is believed that the firstfruit spoken of here refers to Abraham alone; he was the firstfruit of the Jewish nation.
d. The lump refers to the entire nation of Israel, not that they would all be saved nor that they all would be holy but that God set the whole nation a part as His chosen nation or His “chosen son” as a nation.
e. The root is also Abraham, the root is from where the rest of the tree grows, and produces branches, and all of the branches belong to the tree that belongs to the root, not all the branches are guaranteed to produce fruit, in fact some will die and fall off of the tree.
- Verse 17 “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;”
a. Some more words needing to be defined here for a proper understanding. “some of the branches be broken off”, and “wert graffed in among them”
b. First of all “some of the branches be broken off”, this goes back to the thought of the Gentiles and churches, This does not refer to the “Gentile Church” as some claim, there is no such thing as a “Gentile Church” however there are many churches made up of Gentiles. The first church was a Jewish church and then some Gentiles were being added so much so that some local churches contained more Gentiles than Jews. The phrase “the Gentile Church ” reminds me of “the Universal Invisible Church ” which also is non-existent.
c. God never promised to save or to make holy the entire nation of Israel , but He did promise to Abraham to save a remnant of them, but not only them but also a spiritual Israel which would be the saved Gentiles and saved Jews and we are all one in Christ.
d. “some of the branches be broken off” – means that God had broken off some of the branches from the tree. It they were not the remnant of the elect of God then God had no use for them and broke the off and set them aside.
e. “wert graffed in among them” – The word “graffed” means - to prick in, that is, ingraft – which is the opposite of pricking out or plucking out. This is the Gentiles, not over taking the tree and root but rather being ingrafted or being inserted into the tree and replacing the bad branches to make the tree beautiful once again, or just the way God wanted it to be.
f. The Gentiles should love the fruitful branches or the Jewish believers because it is they who preached the gospel to the Gentiles in order for them to be saved.
g. However let’s not forget the “supernatural” power of God here in this ingrafting because nature says you cannot take a branch from a wild tree (a Gentile) and ingraft it into a good tree and make it actually produce the fruit of the good tree, but God can. It would be like ingrafting a branch from an oak tree and ingrafting it into an apple tree and making the oak tree limb produce apples, but God can. “…and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;”
B. Verse 18 “Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”
1. We as Gentiles truly have nothing to boast of, we are not to boast over the fallen branches, and let us not forget we were “grafted” into the Jewish tree, the root is theirs.
2. Let’s just say, as a church and as saved Christians, let us not forget from where the root our salvation came from; John 4:22 “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.” That is they shared it with us, because of God but still they had it first because God elected to save a remnant of them first.
3. Paul did call the “natural good branches of the tree”.
C. Verse 19 “Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.”
1. Please do not misunderstand this to say that the broken off branches were broken off just to make room for the Gentile believers, there are other reasons which we cannot cover tonight.
2. Sadly for them their unbelief was the reason they were excluded from the tree, that means eternal hell for them like Ishmael, Esau and millions upon millions of others.
3. We simple cannot say that God made room for us but rather we should be thankful that God allowed us to be ingrafted in their place.
4. Let us remember what Paul said in Romans 11:11 - 12 “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. (12.) Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?”
5. Next week we will see the reason they were broken off of the tree.
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