Church Series-The Church's Relationship to Israel-Regenerate Gentiles Are Engrafted Into Regenerate Israel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 14, 2016
The Church Series: The Church’s Relationship to Israel-Regenerate Gentiles Are Engrafted Into Regenerate Israel
Lesson # 27
Tonight, we will continue with our attempt to demonstrate that there is continuity between the church and Israel or in other words, they are definitely connected in some way.
I will also show that there is discontinuity between the two.
There are several points I will develop which will demonstrate that there is not only discontinuity but discontinuity between the two.
First, we noted that Paul taught in Romans 2:28-29 and 3:21-31 that a true Jew is one who is not only a biological descendant of Jacob whose name was changed by God to “Israel,” but also they have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Secondly, we noted that Paul teaches in Romans 9:1-5 that the nation of Israel was given the covenants which is a reference to the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New covenants.
Tonight, in Romans 11:17, we will note that Paul also teaches that Gentile believers, who he describes as a “wild olive tree,” are engrafted into regenerate Israel who he describes as an “olive tree.”
Consequently, regenerate Gentiles benefit from the promises of the covenants.
The Abrahamic covenant is the “rich root” in Romans 11:17.
In Romans 11:17, Paul also teaches that Gentile believers, who he describes as a “wild olive tree,” are engrafted into regenerate Israel who he describes an “olive tree.”
Consequently, regenerate Gentiles benefit from the promises of the covenant.
Romans 11 will teach us quite a bit about the relationship between regenerate Jews and Gentiles and in turn help us to understand the church’s relationship to Israel.
The apostle Paul in Romans 11:16 employs two metaphors to illustrate his assertion in Romans 11:2 that God has by no means rejected Israel forever and his assertion in Romans 11:11-15 that there will be a future national regeneration of Israel.
Romans 11:16 Now, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that the first portion is, as an eternal spiritual truth holy and of course, we agree it is because it is taught in the Scriptures, then the lump is, as an eternal spiritual truth also. Furthermore, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that the root is, as an eternal spiritual truth holy and of course, we agree it is because it is taught in the Scriptures, then the branches are, as an eternal spiritual truth, also. (My translation)
The first metaphor, the first piece of dough and the lump is taken from Numbers 15:17-21.
The first piece of dough is analogous to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who were the progenitors of the nation of Israel because they accepted by faith the promises that God made to them.
The second metaphor, the root and the branches parallels the first.
The root parallels the first piece of dough in that it is analogous to the patriarchs whereas the branches are analogous to the lump in that they are analogous to the saved biological descendants of Abraham, Israel.
In Romans 11:16, Paul takes the principle taught in Numbers 15:17-25 to teach that if Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are holy, then their descendants who compose the nation of Israel and had faith in the Lord like Abraham are sanctified as well.
If God had accepted the progenitors of the nation of Israel, especially, Abraham, He has then sanctified or set apart those descendants of his who had faith in the Lord like him.
In Romans 11:17, Paul presents the protasis of a first class conditional statement.
In this protasis, he reminds his Gentile Christian readers that branches were broken off, i.e. unsaved Israelites and they as a wild olive tree have been grafted in among the branches, i.e. born-again Israelites.
He also reminds them in this protasis that they have become partakers of the rich root of the olive tree, Abraham and in particular the divine promises given to him contained in the “Abrahamic covenant.”
Romans 11:17 However, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that some, which are a part of the branches were broken off but because you are a wild olive, you were grafted in among them so that you became joint-partakers of the olive tree’s root, which produces abundant oil and of course, we agree that this is a fact of history. (My translation)
Gentile Christians are joint-partakers with regenerate Israel of these divine blessings because they are his spiritual descendants and they are his spiritual descendants because like Abraham they exercised faith in the Lord.
“A wild olive” is the noun agrielaios, which is related to the adjective agrios, “wild” and elaion, “olive” and denotes the wild shoot of the wild olive tree.
As a rule, the wild olive is but a shrub, with small leaves, a stem more or less prickly, and a small, hard drupe with but little or no oil.
The wild olive tree was very unproductive and actually a shoot or slip of a cultivated tree was inserted into a wild one in order to produce fruit.
The varieties of olive are grafted on to seedlings of the wild olive.
Paul uses the noun agrielaios in a metaphorical sense for the Gentiles in contrast to the “olive tree,” which in the Old Testament was used metaphorically of Israel (Jeremiah 11:16-17; Hosea 14:4-6).
“Were grafted in” is the verb enkentrizo, which means “to cause (a shoot or bud: scion), to unite with the stock of a growing plant, graft of trees” and is used in a metaphorical sense of Paul’s Gentile Christian readers being united with Jewish Christians.
Now the usual procedure was to insert a shoot or slip of a cultivated tree into a wild one but in Romans 11:24 Paul makes clear that the metaphor he is using is “contrary to nature” of grafting a wild olive branch (a Gentile) into a cultivated olive tree.
Such a procedure was unnatural and would be unfruitful, which is precisely Paul’s point with his Gentile Christian readers.
He wishes to underscore the miraculous nature of their new relationship with God and other Jewish Christians.
The normal procedure was to take a shoot from an olive tree that bears good fruit and graft it onto a wild olive stock whose fruit is poor and the result is a tree with vigorous growth, which bears good olives.
However, Paul reverses the procedure and speaks of grafting a wild olive onto the stock of a good olive and then later he speaks of grafting back some of the good olive branches that have been cut out.
So, a procedure of grafting a wild olive onto a good olive was not the normal process, which is why Paul reverses the normal procedure in order to humble those Gentile Christians who might become arrogant towards Jewish Christians and unsaved Jews.
He rebukes those Gentile Christians who might be arrogant towards the Jews, saved and unsaved because their spiritual heritage is from the Jews, salvation is of the Jews (John 4:23).
“Partaker” is the noun sunkoinonos, which denotes that Gentile Christians are “joint-partakers” with Jewish Christians of the divine promises that God made to Abraham and excludes the idea that Gentile Christians are now members of Israel since they maintain their racial character and saved Jews do so as well.
Israel is a racial descendant of Abraham who trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior.
Gentile and Jewish Christians share jointly in a relationship with the Trinity and possess through faith the divine promises that God made to Abraham, who is “the root” and Paul speaks of this Ephesians 3:6.
The mystery in Ephesians 3:3 is not that the Gentiles would be saved since this was prophesied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 11:10; 60:3) but rather, that the Gentiles would become fellow heirs with Jewish believers, fellow members with Jewish believers in the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the covenant promises to Israel.
Although, the four unconditional covenants of promise to Israel were specifically given to Israel (Romans 9:1-6), the church still and does benefit from them since they are in union with Christ who is the ruler of Israel.
“The rich root” refers to Abraham as indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 11:17-24.
As we noted earlier in our study of the “first portion” in this passage, “the branches” (klados) refer to the biological descendants of Abraham who like Abraham had faith in the Lord.
This is indicated in that they are on the olive tree in contrast to the “branches broken off” in Romans 11:17, which refers to the unsaved biological descendants of Abraham which is indicated by the statement in Romans 11:20 “they were broken off for their unbelief.”
In Romans 11:17-24, “the branches” are connected to an “olive tree,” which in the Old Testament was a figure for the nation of Israel (See Jeremiah 11:16-17; Hosea 14:4-6).
Thus, “the branches” of the “olive tree” is a reference to born-again Jews since the latter is used in Jeremiah 11:16-17 and Hosea 14:4-6 as a figure for Israel and unbelieving Jews are broken off.
Now we know that the Jews originated from Abraham and that branches originate from the root of a tree.
Therefore, “the branches” are analogous to born-again Jews and since they come from “the root,” then rhiza, “root,” which parallels aparche, “the first portion” must refer to Abraham as well.
Further indicating that rhiza, “the root” is a reference to Abraham is Paul’s statement in Romans 4:16 where he teaches that the patriarch is the spiritual “father” or “progenitor” of both Jews and Gentiles who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.