George Antonios
Well-Known Member
A question that often comes up concerning Romans 11:16-22 is: "Does that mean we lose our salvation?"
I do not believe that a church-age believer can lose his salvation, nor that that passage teaches that.
Here is my interpretation of the passage.
Please provide helpful feedback, I don't care if it's pro or con eternal security, as long as it's helpful. Thanks.
Rom 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Rom 11:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
Rom 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24 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 branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
First, let’s identify the elements, then, the context.
We have: firstfruit > lump & root > branches.
Ø The root (v.16) of the tree is Jesus Christ: Isa. 11:10 And in that day there shall be a
root of Jesse & Rom.15:12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse & Isa. 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground & Rev.5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. & Rev. 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. The imagery applies to Abraham as well for God invokes Israel to look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him [from being firstfruits] (Isa.51:1-2). Jesse’s root goes back to Abraham the father of the Jews, but in whom not only are the Jews blessed, but even all nations, as it is written: in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen.12:3) – Abraham being a figure of Christ.
Ø The olive tree arising from the root (v.17) is the commonwealth of Israel (Eph.2:12):
Jer 11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
Jer 11:17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
Ø The branches arising from the tree (vs.16-17) are shown to be, broadly speaking, the tribes of Israel. Jer 11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. Jer 11:17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal. That God mentions a single olive tree (Jer.11:16) but two houses, Israel and Judah (Jer.11:17), helps identify the branches (Ro.11:16-17) as the tribes of Israel. Indeed, as far as Jeremiah’s day, God first broke off Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh (refs), then rest of the northern tribes of the kingdom of Israel, Simeon (?), Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and half the tribe of Manasseh (refs), and then the tribes of the southern kingdom of Judah, Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Moreover, Joseph, patriarch of the eponymous tribe, is spoken of as a vine’s bough (Gen.49:22), and his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, also heads of their respective tribes, as branches (Gen.49:22). The branches are therefore tribes as well as individuals. The branches that are not broken off in the NT – for he says, very generously, that only some were broken off – matches the blindness which is only in part (v.25) which is happened unto Israel, since some Jews believed on Christ from the beginning and were thus never broken off, even the election of grace (v.5), who are thus the true Israel of God (Gal.6:16).
· The firstfruit (v.16) is again Israel : Jer 2:3 Israel [according to v.2, the historical reference is to the tribes that experienced the exodus and the covenant of the law in Sinai] was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase. The term is also applied to the first believing Jews of the NT: Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us [members of the 12 tribes of Israel (1:1)] with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.[1] Jeremiah says that then Israel was holiness unto the LORD (Jer.2:3), for it was then that God took them unto himself as an holy nation (Ex.19:6).
· The lump (v.16) therefore is the nation of Israel as formed and increased from those original firstfruits of the exodus. That the lump is, yet again, Israel, had been communicated by Paul two chapters earlier when he argued: Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump [Israel[2]] to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? The identification with Israel is confirmed by the fact that Paul references Jeremiah 18:1-6’s illustration which God addresses to the house of Israel (Jer.18:6).
I do not believe that a church-age believer can lose his salvation, nor that that passage teaches that.
Here is my interpretation of the passage.
Please provide helpful feedback, I don't care if it's pro or con eternal security, as long as it's helpful. Thanks.
Rom 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Rom 11:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
Rom 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24 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 branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
First, let’s identify the elements, then, the context.
We have: firstfruit > lump & root > branches.
Ø The root (v.16) of the tree is Jesus Christ: Isa. 11:10 And in that day there shall be a
root of Jesse & Rom.15:12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse & Isa. 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground & Rev.5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. & Rev. 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. The imagery applies to Abraham as well for God invokes Israel to look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him [from being firstfruits] (Isa.51:1-2). Jesse’s root goes back to Abraham the father of the Jews, but in whom not only are the Jews blessed, but even all nations, as it is written: in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen.12:3) – Abraham being a figure of Christ.
Ø The olive tree arising from the root (v.17) is the commonwealth of Israel (Eph.2:12):
Jer 11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
Jer 11:17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
Ø The branches arising from the tree (vs.16-17) are shown to be, broadly speaking, the tribes of Israel. Jer 11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. Jer 11:17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal. That God mentions a single olive tree (Jer.11:16) but two houses, Israel and Judah (Jer.11:17), helps identify the branches (Ro.11:16-17) as the tribes of Israel. Indeed, as far as Jeremiah’s day, God first broke off Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh (refs), then rest of the northern tribes of the kingdom of Israel, Simeon (?), Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and half the tribe of Manasseh (refs), and then the tribes of the southern kingdom of Judah, Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Moreover, Joseph, patriarch of the eponymous tribe, is spoken of as a vine’s bough (Gen.49:22), and his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, also heads of their respective tribes, as branches (Gen.49:22). The branches are therefore tribes as well as individuals. The branches that are not broken off in the NT – for he says, very generously, that only some were broken off – matches the blindness which is only in part (v.25) which is happened unto Israel, since some Jews believed on Christ from the beginning and were thus never broken off, even the election of grace (v.5), who are thus the true Israel of God (Gal.6:16).
· The firstfruit (v.16) is again Israel : Jer 2:3 Israel [according to v.2, the historical reference is to the tribes that experienced the exodus and the covenant of the law in Sinai] was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase. The term is also applied to the first believing Jews of the NT: Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us [members of the 12 tribes of Israel (1:1)] with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.[1] Jeremiah says that then Israel was holiness unto the LORD (Jer.2:3), for it was then that God took them unto himself as an holy nation (Ex.19:6).
· The lump (v.16) therefore is the nation of Israel as formed and increased from those original firstfruits of the exodus. That the lump is, yet again, Israel, had been communicated by Paul two chapters earlier when he argued: Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump [Israel[2]] to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? The identification with Israel is confirmed by the fact that Paul references Jeremiah 18:1-6’s illustration which God addresses to the house of Israel (Jer.18:6).