Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Romans 11:24

"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 [branches], be grafted into their own olive tree?" — Romans 11:24 (ASV)

Paul now expands the figures of root and branches by setting forth the allegory of the olive tree. Actually, there are two trees, the cultivated olive and the wild olive. Israel is the cultivated olive, the Gentiles the wild olive. The breaking off of some of the branches of the former and the grafting in of some of the branches of the latter represent the present partial rejection of Israel and the corresponding reception of the Gentiles. From this presentation two lessons are drawn. (1) Paul warns the Gentile Christians of the danger of repeating the sin of the Jews—boasting of their privileged position (vv.18–21). (2) Even more important, if God, by cutting off the branches of the natural olive, has made room for Gentile believers, how much easier will it be for him to restore the natural branches to their place in the cultivated olive (vv.23–24)! So the groundwork is laid for the next stage in the argument. God is not only able to do this; he will do it (vv.25–27).

By stating that only some of the branches have been broken off (v.17), Paul inserts a reminder of the fact that Israel’s rejection is not complete (cf. v.5). The “others” are the Jewish Christians who rub shoulders with Gentile believers in the church. Both depend on the “olive root,” the patriarchal base established by God’s covenant (cf. 4:11–12). This calls to mind Eph 2:11–22, where Paul writes that the Gentiles, once aliens and foreigners, are now “fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.” The two have been made one in Christ.

“Do not boast over those branches” (v.18)—i.e., the broken-off branches of vv.17, 19. The temptation to boast must have been considerable, a kind of antiSemitism that magnified the sin of the nation Israel in rejecting the Lord Jesus and saw in Jewish persecution of the church a sure token of an irreparable rift between the nation and her God. But Israel’s plight is not to be traced to a change of attitude on the part of God toward her. It is due simply to her unbelief, a condition noted earlier (3:3). The reason Gentile believers have a standing with God is that they have responded to the Gospel in faith, the very thing that Israel has failed to do. The current Gentile prominence in the church was made possible by the rejection of the Gospel on the part of the nation of Israel as a whole. Let Gentile Christians beware. Their predominance in the Christian community may not last!

“Kindness and sternness” (v.22) are aspects of the divine nature, the latter experienced by Israel in her present condition, the former being the portion of Gentile believers. But the positions can be reversed, and if this occurs, it will not be due to any fickleness in God, but to the nature of the human response. Once Israel’s unbelief is put away, God is prepared to graft her branches in again (v.23).

Paul’s concluding observation (v.24) has a double value. It helps to explain the curious circumstance that his illustration of the olive tree does not follow the pattern of grafting ordinarily found in the ancient Mediterranean world but is in fact the reverse of it. Paul grants that his allegory is “contrary to nature.” Normally, a tame olive branch was grafted into the stem of a wild olive tree. Furthermore, one would not expect that the natural branches, after being broken off, will ever be grafted in again. Paul’s argument is that if the hard thing, the thing contrary to nature—i.e., the grafting of wild branches into the cultivated olive—has been accomplished, one should not find it difficult to believe that God will restore the broken-off branches of the cultivated olive to their former position. Since in tree culture this would be impossible because of the deadness of the branches after they were removed, Paul is indeed talking “contrary to nature.” But he rests his case not on nature but on God’s being “able” to do it. With God nothing is impossible. The branches that will be grafted in are not of course identical with those that were broken off, but they are the same in two respects: their Israelite heritage and the attitude of unbelief they have maintained in the past. Then both Jews and Gentiles will share together the blessings of God’s grace in Christ.