Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 4 Study # 2
February 3, 2019
Humble, Texas
(Download Audio)
<107>
Thesis: As Paul specifically addresses those who are "Gentiles" (11:13), he specifies their great privilege as it exists in spite of their "natural" condition.
Introduction: As we have attempted to follow Paul's argument in chapter 11, we have seen that he argues for the existence of a "remnant" which has its roots in "grace" as opposed to "works". This "remnant" concept is specifically focused upon "Israel" in the form of the northern kingdom (after the division of the Davidic kingdom because of Solomon's son into "Judah" and "Israel"), but it is not solely focused upon the northern kingdom. Paul calls upon David's imprecation (long before the division of the kingdom) in 11:9-10 to show that the distinction between that part of "Israel" that was "hardened" and that part known as "the elect" existed long before Elijah got into his complaint before God as 9:6 and 9:27 point out.
But, as we pointed out last week, the "category" of people that Paul is describing is not "Israel", but "My people". And, as "My people", Paul has already identified them as the larger category of "the Called" which is made of both Jews and Gentiles (9:24).
Then, Paul appealed to the analogy of a "root/tree/branches". In this analogy the focus is upon a "holy root that produces holy branches" that is complicated by an admitted "unholiness" of some of the "branches" so that they have to be "broken off" as well as some "holy branches" that come from a different "tree" that have to be taken from the "wild olive tree" ("broken off") and grafted into the "holy" tree that has grown out of the "holy root". The end result is the existence of a "holy root", a "holy tree", and a host of only "holy branches", some of which grew naturally from the "tree" and some of which were grafted into it.
But Paul is not only addressing the ultimate end issues (salvation, riches of the world, riches of the nations, reconciliation, and life from the dead), he is also addressing the interim period of his present time which is characterized by the processes of pruning out the "unholy branches" and grafting in some "holy branches that arise from what Paul calls "a wild olive tree". The "unholy natural branches" are those Jews who grew out of the "natural olive tree", but were "hardened" and, thus, persisted in their "refusal to believe" and their "constant argumentative attitude". The "holy natural branches" are those Jews who are "elected" and "called" as the inner "remnant". And the "holy unnatural branches" are those Gentiles who are "elected" and "called" and are "grafted" into the "holy tree".
This evening we are going to look into how Paul describes the "Gentile" aspect of the "holy branches" with a view to a significant danger that looms on the horizon.
- I. The Privilege Extended.
- A. Is extended in the context of God's rejection of those who persist in disbelief: some branches are "broken off".
- 1. This rejection is established in the face of the claim made in 11:16 that "if the root is holy, so also are the branches".
- a. This is clearly not a contradiction, but a qualification: some branches are not "holy" and, thus, must be "broken off" so that the tree's "holiness" is maintained.
- b. This "breaking off" is a doubly intensified action of some degree of violence and weeping (see the notes attached to this study <107> for this word's meaning).
- 2. This rejection is admitted in the face of both 11:1 and 11:11 where "rejection" and "casting aside" is emphatically denied.
- a. Again, not a contradiction, but a qualification: the "root/tree/branches" promises are valid and will eventually exist as promised.
- 1) Abraham, as the "tree", was promised the fatherhood of a "great nation" as "Abram" and a the fatherhood of "many nations" as "Abraham".
- 2) As the "tree" Abraham is viewed as "the father of us all" (Romans 4:11-12 and 4:16) with "national" distinctions only as a subset.
- b. The reality of both a partial "rejection" and a partial "casting aside" does not mean those promises are negated but it does mean that there is a process to the ultimate fulfillment.
- B. Is extended in the form of a kind of "harvesting" of "unnatural, but holy" branches from a "wild" tree that are then "grafted" into the legitimate "tree".
- 1. Paul has already said that he is addressing the Gentiles as their "apostle" and "messenger" who brought the Gospel of Faith to them and they "believed".
- 2. The imagery is that of some branches who are offered places in the "good" tree and they accept the offer and are, then, "cut off of the wild tree" and "grafted on to the good tree".
- C. Is extended as an offer to take a place "among" the "holy branches" so that they become "fellow sharers" in "the root of the fatness of the good olive tree".
- 1. The "root" is the basis of the "fatness".
- 2. The "fatness" is the characteristic of "the good olive tree".
- 3. The "root" is Jesus (15:12); the "tree" is Abraham as the recipient of the promises of both "nation" and "nations"; and the "fatness" is "salvation" (11:11), "riches" (11:12), "reconciliation" (11:15a), and "resurrection" (11:15b).
- 4. The final picture is of a new creation with Jesus as the King of the Nations, with Abraham realizing his "inheritance of the world" (4:13), and with the "believers" taking up their respective places in the Nation, in the Church, or in the nations.
- II. The Caution Existing.
- A. Consequential "boasting" will lead to a divine refusal to spare from severity.
- B. "He will not spare thee" (11:21).