Rom 11:16-24 | JFB | STEP | 16. For —"But" if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root . . . so the branches —The Israelites were required to offer to God the first-fruits of the earth—both in their raw state, in a sheaf of newly reaped grain ( ), and in their prepared state, made into cakes of dough ( ) —by which the whole produce of that season was regarded as hallowed. It is probable that the latter of these offerings is here intended, as to it the word "lump" best applies; and the argument of the apostle is, that as the separation unto God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the rest of mankind, as the parent stem of their race, was as real an offering of first-fruits as that which hallowed the produce of the earth, so, in the divine estimation, it was as real a separation of the mass or "lump" of that nation in all time to God. The figure of the "root" and its "branches" is of like import—the consecration of the one of them extending to the other.

Romans 11:16-24

16. For—"But"

if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root . . . so the branches—The Israelites were required to offer to God the first-fruits of the earth—both in their raw state, in a sheaf of newly reaped grain (Le 23:10, 11), and in their prepared state, made into cakes of dough (Nu 15:19-21) —by which the whole produce of that season was regarded as hallowed. It is probable that the latter of these offerings is here intended, as to it the word "lump" best applies; and the argument of the apostle is, that as the separation unto God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the rest of mankind, as the parent stem of their race, was as real an offering of first-fruits as that which hallowed the produce of the earth, so, in the divine estimation, it was as real a separation of the mass or "lump" of that nation in all time to God. The figure of the "root" and its "branches" is of like import—the consecration of the one of them extending to the other.

17, 18. And if—rather, "But if"; that is, "If notwithstanding this consecration of Abraham's race to God.

some of the branches—The mass of the unbelieving and rejected Israelites are here called "some," not, as before, to meet Jewish prejudice (see on Ro 3:3, and on "not all" in Ro 10:16), but with the opposite view of checking Gentile pride.

and thou, being a wild olive, wert—"wast"

grafted in among them—Though it is more usual to graft the superior cutting upon the inferior stem, the opposite method, which is intended here, is not without example.

and with them partakest—"wast made partaker," along with the branches left, the believing remnant.

of the root and fatness of the olive tree—the rich grace secured by covenant to the true seed of Abraham.

18. Boast not against the—rejected

branches. But if thou—"do"

boast—remember that

thou bearest not—"it is not thou that bearest"

the root, but the root thee—"If the branches may not boast over the root that bears them, then may not the Gentile boast over the seed of Abraham; for what is thy standing, O Gentile, in relation to Israel, but that of a branch in relation to the root? From Israel hath come all that thou art and hast in the family of God; for "salvation is of the Jews" (Joh 4:22).

19-21. Thou wilt say then—as a plea for boasting.

The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.

20. Well—"Be it so, but remember that"

because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest—not as a Gentile, but solely

by faith—But as faith cannot live in those "whose soul is lifted up" (Hab 2:4).

Be not high-minded, but fear— (Pr 28:14; Php 2:12):

21. For if God spared not the natural branches—sprung from the parent stem.

take heed lest he also spare not thee—a mere wild graft. The former might, beforehand, have been thought very improbable; but, after that, no one can wonder at the latter.

22, 23. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them that fell, severity—in rejecting the chosen seed.

but toward thee, goodness—"God's goodness" is the true reading, that is, His sovereign goodness in admitting thee to a covenant standing who before wert a "stranger to the covenants of promise" (Eph 2:12-20).

if thou continue in his goodness—in believing dependence on that pure goodness which made thee what thou art.

23. And they also—"Yea, and they"

if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again—This appeal to the power of God to effect the recovery of His ancient people implies the vast difficulty of it—which all who have ever labored for the conversion of the Jews are made depressingly to feel. That intelligent expositors should think that this was meant of individual Jews, reintroduced from time to time into the family of God on their believing on the Lord Jesus, is surprising; and yet those who deny the national recovery of Israel must and do so interpret the apostle. But this is to confound the two things which the apostle carefully distinguishes. Individual Jews have been at all times admissible, and have been admitted, to the Church through the gate of faith in the Lord Jesus. This is the "remnant, even at this present time, according to the election of grace," of which the apostle, in the first part of the chapter, had cited himself as one. But here he manifestly speaks of something not then existing, but to be looked forward to as a great future event in the economy of God, the reingrafting of the nation as such, when they "abide not in unbelief." And though this is here spoken of merely as a supposition (if their unbelief shall cease)—in order to set it over against the other supposition, of what will happen to the Gentiles if they shall not abide in the faith—the supposition is turned into an explicit prediction in the verses following.

24. For if thou wert cut—"wert cut off"

from the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, &c.—This is just the converse of Ro 11:21: "As the excision of the merely engrafted Gentiles through unbelief is a thing much more to be expected than was the excision of the natural Israel, before it happened; so the restoration of Israel, when they shall be brought to believe in Jesus, is a thing far more in the line of what we should expect, than the admission of the Gentiles to a standing which they never before enjoyed."