Grafting in and Cutting off the Olive Branches!

Having described the stupor of Israel and the remnant that will be saved, Paul now turns to the Gentile believers in Romans 11:11-24. Paul’s contention is that the Israel have not stumbles beyond recovery.

The stupor of the Israel and the consequent denial of Christ, had a purpose in divine plan. Israel’s denial of the Gospel led to the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles and opened a way for them to come into God’s provision of salvation. 

Paul and the other preachers of the Good News, when rejected by the Jews turned to the Gentiles, who gladly accepted their message. In Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas tell the Jews who were abusing them, “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it …we now turn to the Gentiles, … “

Divine providence brought something good out of Israel’s rejection of the Gospel. Paul is asking, if the transgression or the sin of Israel meant blessings to the world in general as God’s salvation was thrown open to them, and the loss of Jews meant riches to the Gentiles, how much more riches it would bring to the world if the Jews fully accepted Christ!

Paul also has a strategy. He says he is selected by God as the Apostle to the Gentiles. And he makes much fuss about this ministry, in the hope that somehow, he could arouse his people, the Jews, to jealousy, so that they would also accept Christ and come under God’s provision of salvation.

It looks like the prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21, “I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding,” was fulfilled. Gentiles were not selected or elected by God to be His own people and as such they had not much understanding of God’s ways, having not been exposed to the Law or His prophets. 

Still, the Gentiles accepted Christ and entered the inheritance, which Jews considered as their exclusive possession. This could move Jews to jealousy and they could decide to enter in too. Paul desires this for his own people and he wonders, when the Jews thus come in, how much more riches it will bring to the world!

The rejection by the Jews meant reconciliation of the world, then their acceptance would mean life from the dead! It would almost be like the dead bones of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 37:7-10, rising like an army of God! A general resurrection of all mankind!

We read in Isaiah 66:8, “Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.” This prophecy is yet to be fulfilled and would be fulfilled during the Second Coming of Christ, when the Jews will accept Christ.

As Zachariah prophesises in Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn child.” Paul is sure that when that happens all Israel will be saved and that will bring a greater harvest for the Lord.

Paul gives two metaphors to explain the whole phenomenon of rejection by Jews, the coming in of the Gentiles and the final acceptance of all Israel.

First is the offering of the first fruits to God, the ritual practice of the Jews, laid down in Numbers 15:19-21. When a portion of the food is consecrated to God by offering it to Him, the whole of that batch of food is made safe for people to eat. The whole mass becomes holy, though only a portion of it was offered as a holy offering.

Similarly, the converted Jews of the present since Paul’s days, are like the portion of offering made to God, the first fruits; but because that makes the whole batch of food holy, the whole people of Jews have been rendered holy and will be saved. That is Paul’s logic.

The second metaphor of Paul is an Olive tree, dedicated to God, whose roots are holy, which rendered the branches also as holy. When a sapling is planted and dedicated to God, then every branch that comes from it is considered sacred. Israel were the branches springing up from the roots of patriarchs. The faithful remnant is the consecrated portion of the dough.

All Israel have some holiness rubbed on them, from their patriarchs and the remnant. The whole of Israel is beloved for the sake of their fathers. Romans 11:28. Patriarchs were sacred to God; they were chosen, consecrated to God, from whom the nation of Israel sprang up. The special consecration of its founders made the whole nation sacred in a special way to God.

Paul further develops the second metaphor to show the status of the Gentiles in God’s plan. In an olive plant dedicated to God, most of the natural branches were cut off, because of their un-fruitfulness, and branches from a wild olive tree were grafted. The Jews were cut off, because of their unbelief. The Gentiles were grafted in in their place, because of their faith.

The Gentiles are not to feel arrogant, because they are the branches now. Paul warns them that the branches do not support the roots, but the roots support the branches. The Gentiles owe a lot to the original olive tree, the Jews and the Old Testament, for they share the nourishing sap from the patriarchs and their traditions.

Paul warns the Gentiles that they also have to be careful, because just as the natural branches were cut off, the grafted branches also can be cut off, if they become unproductive or show unbelief.

In Jeremiah 11:16 the Lord calls Israel ‘a thriving olive tree with fruits beautiful in form.’ In Galatians 6:16, Paul calls the whole church, comprising of Jews and Gentiles as the ‘Israel of God.’ This tree, the church of Christ, has risen from the old stock, Abraham and the patriarchs. Christians in Christ are the new branches that are grafted onto it.

Finally, Paul talks of the broken branches of Israel being again grafted to the olive tree, the church of Christ, if they come to Him in faith. The Gentiles grafted to the olive tree are from a wild olive tree, which is unnatural.

Usually gardeners will graft branches from a cultivated plant or tree to the stem of a wild plant or tree. In the case of Gentiles, the grafting has been totally unnatural, with branches from a wild olive tree being grafted to a cultivated olive tree, but it was done by God and in His kindness. If God could do this, He can also graft the natural branches again onto the cultivated olive tree, if Israel comes to Him in faith.

So, it is Paul’s faith that the whole nation of Israel will be saved and this will bring enormous spiritual riches to the world and a great harvest to the kingdom of God.  In the meanwhile, the grafted branches, the Gentiles, meaning us, need to be faithful and fruitful in the field of God on earth, or else, like the cut off branches of Israel, we too are in the danger of losing our roots, moorings and the reward.  

Let us be fruitful in God’s vineyard. Praise be to God.