New Branches for Old?
Opening Prayer
Help me, Lord, never to underestimate the extent of Your kindness. Without it I would not be in Christ.
Read Romans 11:1–24
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”
9 And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”
Ingrafted Branches
11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Agricultural metaphors abound in both Testaments. Most depict the spreading of the Gospel. This one depicts one of God’s most miraculous undertakings: the successful grafting of unnatural plant life into an existing form.
Paul concludes his argument with three points. First, God is faithful to his purpose for his people and has always acted through a remnant that remains faithful (1–10). Second, God uses the inclusion of Gentile believers to make Israel jealous, so that they might be saved (11–15). Third, God has not replaced Israel—he has actually enlarged it by including Gentiles. Israel is pictured as a cultivated olive tree into which wild Gentile branches have been grafted (16–24).
The Gospel for all people is the Jewish gospel, fulfilled through the Jewish Messiah. The tree into which Gentile believers are grafted has holy roots (16) in the testimony of the patriarchs and the prophets. It is the story of God’s continual faithfulness. That Gentiles are now included in the plan was God’s purpose all along, but this is no reason for arrogance. Rather, it is a matter of God’s “kindness” (22). The current situation is not necessarily permanent—when Jewish unbelief turns to faith, the old branches will be grafted back into their own tree.
This passage had an immediate application—and has an urgent contemporary one. Jews were not popular in Rome and had been exiled by the Emperor Claudius (Acts 18:2). They had now returned, including Christian leaders like Priscilla (Prisca) and Aquila (Rom. 16:3–5). There could be no place for anti-Jewish prejudice in the church. The Gentile Christians owed their Jewish brothers and sisters a debt of gratitude, not the other way around. The contemporary application is obvious. Since the time of Paul, the witness of the church to Jewish people has too often been appalling. Far from provoking jealousy we have created fear and loathing, reinforced by the horrors of the Holocaust in the land of the Reformation. Despite the temporary setting aside of the Jews, the Jewish apostle to the Gentiles still warns us: “Do not be proud, but stand in awe” (20).
Apply
Do I fully value the Jewish roots of my faith? Do I understand the tree I have been grafted into?
Closing prayer
Lord, give me a greater awareness of the crying need for the Jews to hear the message of Your Gospel and the boldness to declare it.
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