<H3>Chapter # 11  Paragraph # 4  Study # 9<BR />March 31, 2019<BR />Humble, Texas</H3>

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1769 Translation:
<BR />23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
<BR />24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural [<i>branches</i>], be graffed into their own olive tree?

1901 ASV Translation:
<BR />23 And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
<BR />24 For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural [<i>branches</i>], be grafted into their own olive tree?

<ul><li>I. Another Conditional Clause. 
	<ul><li>A. This paragraph has multiple conditional clauses. 
		<ul><li>1. First class conditional clauses that assume the truth of the condition:  <b>11:17, 18</b>, <b>21, and 24</b>. 
		<li>2. Third class conditional clauses that lean toward the truth of the condition, but do not establish it:  <b>11:22, 23</b>. 
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	<li>B. The one before us in this study is the second of the third class conditional statements. 
		<ul><li>1. Paul raises the probability that "they", at some future date, will stop abiding in "the" unbelief. This "they" refers to the original branches that were "broken off" because of their unbelief (<b>11:20</b>).  These are "Israel", in general (not the specialized "Israel" identified in <b>9:6</b>), and are those whom God has "cut off".  At this point Paul moves from the "you" that is singular in his accusations of boasting against Israel and of highmindedness, to a plural "you" that sees a <u><b><i>group</u></b></i> of individuals who, in the unidentified future, come out of their unbelief into faith.  His point is to be made in <b>11:25</b>, but its foundation is laid here. 
			<ul><li>a. At issue here is this:  Paul has been addressing a "you" that is singular who is guilty of developing an "attitude" of boastful superiority; but now he is writing of a "they" that is plural who, at some point in the future, "may" not "remain" in "the unbelief" so that "they" are grafted back into the "tree". 
				<ul><li>1) This is significantly problematical at the individual level because of <b>Hebrews 6:4-6</b> and <b>12:15-17</b>.  These verses strongly imply that a "turning away", after having experienced at least some of the benefits of faith, is an irreversible decision. 
				<li>2) But, only to the degree that a "group", that is guilty at the <b>Hebrews 6/12</b> level, is the representative of a later "group" that came from the original "group", is the deciding factor in an "abiding unbelief" will this "abiding" remain. 
				<li>3) It is possible for God to reverse the impact of the original group's wilfulness upon some later "group" (as we clearly see when the impact of the sin of those of the wickedness of the tower of Babel is reversed by God at Pentecost and pursued by God afterward -- the Gentiles made a part of the Church even though they were descendents of the rebels of Babel. 
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			<li>b. This strongly implies a potential "group", made of individuals, who, as a group, and individually, "remain not in the unbelief". 
			<li>c. Paul is putting forth two probabilities. 
				<ul><li>1) That some of the individuals who were "broken off as branches as a group" will actually come to their senses after having been "broken off" (Jews who come to faith after the destruction of the nation by Rome)... 
				<li>2) And that there will eventually be a "group" of individuals who will, en masse, abandon their position "in the unbelief and be grafted back into the "tree" (the Jews of the "all Israel"that shall be saved in the latter days). 
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			<li>d. We can see the possibilities... 
				<ul><li>1) If we see the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the initiation of a massive dispersion of Jews within the nations of the world as an illustration of the actual "cutting off of the branches" as a group... 
					<ul><li>a) So that if there are individuals among the Jews, who suffered this example of God's rejection of those who were abiding in the unbelief, and who were to cease to remain in their unbelief, God would "reattach them to the tree"... 
					<li>b) <u><b><i>And</u></b></i> if there is a <u><b><i>future</u></b></i> repentance of the group so that the group is reattached. 
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				<li>2) This is, actually, exactly what Paul was writing when he wrote of God's use of "jealousy" to bring both individuals and the larger group known as "Israel" to Himself (<b>11:9-14</b>). 
					<ul><li>a) This "provocation by jealousy" was <u><b><i>Paul's</u></b></i> methodology to "save some" (<b>11:14</b>) as individuals out of the "group" who had been "cut off because of unbelief". 
					<li>b) But the prophetic scenario is of <u><b><i>God's</u></b></i> methodology of "provocation by jealousy" to bring about the "fulness" of Israel in a time when "all Israel shall be saved" (compare <b>11:12</b> to <b>11:26</b>). 
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<li>II. Paul's Rationale (and a Final Conditional Clause). 
	<ul><li>A. God did an unusual thing when He grafted "foreign branches" into the "tree". 
	<li>B. So it should not be seen as a "wonder" "IF" He grafts "natural branches" back into the "tree". 
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