Beginning in Romans 11:17, Paul begins to explain how some of the
"branches" of the Kingdom Tree were broken off and how other
branches were grafted in.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off,
and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among
them and became partaker with them of the rich
root of the olive tree,
18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if
you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who
supports the root, but the root supports you.
Paul was referring primarily to the prophecy of Jeremiah 11, which is
a messianic prophecy of the plot against the coming Messiah.
Beginning in verse 9 we read,
9 Then the Lord said to me, "A conspiracy has
been found among the men of Judah and among
the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their
ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they
have gone after other gods to serve them; the
house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken
My covenant which I made with their fathers.
The people were plotting against Jeremiah, who represented God and
was a type of Christ in this, for he is said to be "a gentle lamb led to the
slaughter." (Compare this with Isaiah 53:7.)
16 The Lord called your name, "A green olive tree,
beautiful in fruit and form"; with the noise of a great
tumult, He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are
worthless.
17 And the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has
pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the
house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they
have done to provoke Me by offering up sacrifices to
Baal...
19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;
and I did not know that they had devised plots against
me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and
let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his
name be remembered no more.
Even as the people plotted against Jeremiah, so also did they plot against
the Messiah 600 years later. But the point of this is to show that Israel and
Judah was called "a green olive tree." God had planted this "tree" in the
land of Canaan in the days of Joshua, but when it came time to bear fruit,
its branches were "worthless." In Jer. 2:21, which is a similar prophecy, the
"vine" is said to have degenerated into "a foreign vine" on account of their
seeking after foreign gods.
The divine judgment for thus breaking the covenant is to burn up the
worthless branches. God does to the tree what the people had thought to
do to Jeremiah, who is himself pictured in verse 19 as "the tree with its fruit."
The judgment of the law is "eye for eye," or in this case, branch for branch.
The "wild olive" in Rom. 11:17 is obviously being grafted into the "tree" to
replace the branches that had been broken off. So in this sense the "wild
olive" represents the ethnos. They are not only non-Israelites by nature, but
ex-Israelites of the dispersion who had become "wild" by following after
other gods.
This "grafting" process is the prophetic expression of the regathering of Israel
and other ethnos into the Kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ.
The other side of the prophecy, of course, is the fact that some "natural"
branches were being broken off. These are the ones who had rejected Jesus
Christ, who is both the "root" (Rev. 22:16) and "true vine" (John 15:1).
Branches must be connected to Christ in order to have any life in them, for
Jesus said in John 15:4-6,
(4) Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can
you, unless you abide in Me. . .
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a
branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast
them into the fire, and they are burned.
Those who rejected Jesus Christ were branches that were cut off and
"thrown away as a branch." They cannot claim descent from Abraham as
a reason to remain "alive," for their life comes only by being connected to
Jesus Christ.
Paul only warns the newly-engrafted branches not to be arrogant against
those branches that had been cut off. It is as if he sensed that the Church
would later come into a position of power and would use that power to
oppress the Jews and punish them, trying to coerce them by the flesh into
accepting Jesus Christ. That is the "arrogant" spirit that Paul foresaw in the
Church.
The Law of God is impartial toward all. Those with faith are treated with
"kindness." Those who do not have faith receive the "severity of God." One
cannot appeal to a genealogical connection with Abraham to obtain God's
kindness (grace) or to avoid His severity. There is only one way to be a
branch on the Kingdom Tree. It is by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
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