Romans 11.24-If God Accepted Gentiles Who Had Faith In His Son, Then He Will Certainly Accept Those Jews Who Do So As Well
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 19, 2009
Romans: Romans 11:24-If God Accepted Gentiles Who Had Faith In His Son, Then He Will Certainly Accept Jews Who Do So As Well
Lesson # 379
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 11:16.
This evening we will note Romans 11:24, which teaches that if God accepted Gentiles who had faith in His Son but were not related racially to regenerate Israel, then He will certainly accept those Jews who repent and believe in Christ and who are related biologically to regenerate Israel.
Romans 11:16, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.”
Romans 11:17, “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.”
Romans 11:18, “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.”
Romans 11:19, “You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’”
Romans 11:20, “Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear.”
Romans 11:21, “For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.”
Romans 11:22, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.”
Romans 11:23, “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”
Romans 11:24, “For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”
Paul’s statement in Romans 11:24 does not demonstrate the reason why God is omnipotent so as to accept those Jews who repent and believe in His Son but rather the reason why God will accept those Jews who repent and believe in His Son.
“If” is the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
As we noted many times in our study of the book of Romans, the idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that, then...”
This would encourage Paul’s audience to respond and come to the conclusion of the apodosis since they already agreed with him on the protasis.
Paul is employing the first class condition as a tool of persuasion with his audience.
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument you (Gentile Christians) were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted into a cultivated olive tree (born-again Israel).”
The responsive condition would say: “Of course we agree that this is an historical fact.”
Paul’s readers would emphatically agree with his protasis because they would know from first hand experience that this was an historical fact and biblical doctrine that they were accepted by God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
His readers would also agree that they have been grafted in among Jewish Christians and had become partakers with them of the promises to Abraham who is the progenitor of the nation of Israel because he taught in Romans 4:16 that Abraham is the spiritual father of their faith.
The apodasis, “(then) how much more will those natural branches (Jews) be grafted into their own olive tree?”
Paul is not attempting to prove that his protasis is true rather he is saying with the first class condition that we agree that this is a fact that you Gentile Christians who were not biologically related to the Jews became partakers of the blessings promised to Abraham and the nation of Israel through faith in Christ.
The first class condition would then persuade Paul’s Gentile Christian readers to respond to his command in the apodasis, which states that God will certainly accept Jews who are biologically related to born-again Jews if they repent and believe in Christ.
Therefore, Paul’s audience would have to come to his conclusion if they submit to this line of argumentation.
He wants them to come to his line of argumentation because he wants to build unity in the churches between Jewish and Gentile Christians.
He also wants to protect his Gentile Christian readers from getting arrogant towards unsaved Israel because of their rejection of Christ.
He wants them to continue to evangelize the Jews.
Romans 11:24, “For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”
“Were cut off” is used in a figurative sense of God removing those individuals who had faith in His Son Jesus Christ but belong to the Gentile race, specially unsaved Gentiles.
“From what is by nature a wild olive tree” emphasizes that saved Gentiles are not related to regenerate Israel in a racial sense meaning that they are not descended from the patriarchs.
“Were grafted in” is the second person singular aorist passive indicative form of the verb enkentrizo (e)gkentrivzw) (eng-ken-trid-zo), which is used in a metaphorical sense of Paul’s Gentile Christian readers being united with Jewish Christians.
“Contrary to nature” emphasizes that Gentile Christians were united by God with those who did not belong to their race, namely Jewish Christians.
This prepositional phrase emphasizes the miraculous nature of this uniting of Gentile Christians with Jewish Christians and underscores the power of God in salvation.
“Into a cultivated olive tree” emphasizes that saved Gentiles were united with regenerate Israel through faith in Christ.
“How much more” forms the logical argument of a fortiori, which has two parts: (1) The greater (2) The lesser.
What requires a greater degree of effort is used as the basis for showing what requires less effort.
The logical argument of a fortiori emphasizes that if God can save Gentiles with whom He is not in covenant relation with, then certainly He will save Jews who are in covenant relation with Him.
If God can graft branches (Gentiles) into the cultivated olive tree (saved Israel) that do not naturally belong to the cultivated olive tree by nature, then certainly God can graft branches (Jews) into the cultivated olive tree which belong by nature to it.
Paul is not saying with this a fortiori argument that it was easier for God to save Jews than Gentiles since that would give the Jews an advantage and would imply that they have some merit.
He taught in Romans 1:18-32 that Gentiles have no merit with God and in Romans 2 he makes clear that Jews don’t as well.
In Romans 3:10-19, Paul summarizes his teaches in these verses by stating that the entire human race has absolutely no merit with God and all stand in need of the righteousness of God and are thus qualified for grace.
Paul uses the a fortiori argument to emphasize with his Gentile Christian readers that they are not superior to the Jews.
Romans 11:24, “For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”
“These who are the natural branches” is used with reference to those branches, i.e. individuals who have faith in Christ and descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in a biological sense.
“Will be grafted in” is the third person plural future passive indicative form of the verb enkentrizo (e)gkentrivzw) (eng-ken-trid-zo), which is used in a metaphorical sense of those Jews who repent, i.e. change their mind about Christ and believe in Him and are united by God with other Jewish believers.
“Their own olive tree” indicates that those Jews who repent and believe in Christ will be united with regenerate Israel.
Therefore, from our study of Romans 11:24, we can see that Paul teaches his Gentile Christians readers in Rome that if they were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, then how much more will the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree.
This illustration emphasizes with Paul’s Gentile Christian readers in Rome that if God accepted Gentiles who had faith in His Son who did not belong to born-again Israel (olive tree) then He will certainly accept those Jews who were broken off the olive tree because of their unbelief if they have faith in Jesus Christ.