Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] I'm going to do my best to stand. Let me just get it out of my system right now. I'm going to do my best to stand behind the podium today because we have a very thick, full, overwhelming message that we need to get through here with Romans 11. Okay. When I venture out here, I get off track. The message gets much longer. So if you see me come out from behind there, I want you to go.
[00:00:49] No, just kidding. It's so hard for me, especially been waiting, waiting to get to this. In July of 2024, hard to believe that was week two of a series called Repaving the Romans Road.
[00:01:04] I asked in the context then of Paul's audience and his purpose, I asked you what would necessitate him writing this letter?
[00:01:13] Why? Why did he need to write this? And why specifically did he need to write it to the Gentiles in Rome? And I explained that there was a critical exigency, and we've used that word several times throughout. A critical exigency and in a medical environment is something requiring immediate emergency attention, a heart attack, something like that, it must be treated. And I explained that there was a critical exigency occurring in Rome. And even though Paul had never been to Rome, he knew it.
[00:01:51] And for the sake of his mission and for the object of his mission, which was the people, the Christ following Romans in Rome, he needed to address it. This critical exigency was dangerous, not just to the Romans, but to the Jews. It was dangerous. And after 10 chapters, Paul has demonstrated through the letter that he is the apostle to the nations with a calling to the Messiah, that he, like them, has died in Christ, that he is a fellow believer, a fellow partaker of the blessings of Messiah, and he is a friend. He even refers to himself as a brother to these Romans. He spent all of this time through complex example, allegory, scriptural reference, explanation, to show that the nations maintain now a special connection to God, the God of Israel, through Messiah, Yeshua, their special place in the family of God. They've miraculously become the children of Abraham without conversion, without full allegiance to adopt the full Torah. They've come alongside Israel in a partaker of the promises. He's finally arrived at the place he needed to get to address the critical exigency that was occurring in Rome, to address a perception that was rising in Rome, an exigency that if it were not dealt with based on the influence of the Roman Empire and what it could do around the world, if this were not dealt with, it could have tragic implications for the Jewish People and for them. Do you know what the exigency is? Was.
[00:03:49] Paul wastes no time in telling you.
[00:03:54] And we finally arrived. Chapter 11. It opens with a very familiar structure. The interlocutor returns and this logical question the interlocutor asked, which lays out the critical exigency that Paul must address. Chapter 11, verse 1. I ask then, has God rejected his people?
[00:04:21] This is the interlocutor. Has God rejected his people? And here comes Paul off the top rope.
[00:04:32] Familiar response. We've come to know it, we love it, we have it echo in our hearts and minds. Has God rejected his people?
[00:04:42] Meganoito.
[00:04:46] Paul says, God forbid, may it never be.
[00:04:55] And here we go. Romans 11. This is not. I told you. This is considered by some to be some diversion, some tangent that Paul goes off on between 9 and 11. No, this is where he's working to this climax and we have a lot of work to do. The Romans are asking, they're curious. Based on the strong language which Paul will put forth here in Romans 11, they are believing that the answer to this question, has God rejected his people? Is yes.
[00:05:29] That's what Rome is believing. Yes. But Paul immediately comes and rejects the interlocutor's suggestion. By no means. Meganoito. I am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
[00:05:50] How could that be? Paul says, here I am and other Jews like me.
[00:05:57] But the traditional reading of Romans takes this in a direction that's different than what's actually being said. They say, yeah, fine, what Paul is saying is true. He hasn't rejected his people. But it's because Paul is a Christian.
[00:06:14] He's rejected every other Jew who doesn't believe in Jesus. But yeah, Paul can say that he's rejected all of the other ones who are not convinced of Yeshua's messiahship. But that is not at all what Paul will demonstrate over the next 34 verses of Romans.
[00:06:36] As a matter of fact, we'll read in verse 26 the very challenging statement that says all Israel will be saved.
[00:06:47] And as hard as centuries, millennia of traditional interpretations have pushed back on that to try to make it not say what it actually says for Paul in that verse, All Israel will be saved in some way means all means all.
[00:07:10] God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, and he won't. And Paul goes on to point out, now, Darren, you can just. There, that's perfect. Just try to follow along with me as best you can. Paul points out there is a remnant. There's a remnant right now. Some of us have gotten it, Paul says. Some like me and those who've taken hold of my mission, my ministry, he says in verse 13, we'll come back to that, my ministry. But others, Paul admits, are missing it.
[00:07:44] They're not seeing it. And that's the purpose of this remnant language. Like the faithful remnant in the Elijah account that he quotes, this faithful remnant, like Paul, are faithfully carrying out the proclamation, the good news to the nations. That's Paul's message. Others, unconvinced Jews, are stumbling over the message. We read that. Stumbling that Gentiles can be part of the family apart from officially joining Israel.
[00:08:14] That's what they're stumbling over. They're stumbling over the idea that Messiah could have done that. They have been hardened. Verse 7 says the elect have achieved it, but the rest were hardened. As it is written, God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear down to this very day. I'm going to bring you back to the word hardened later.
[00:08:37] But what's important to note, God is not surprised.
[00:08:45] Paul does not even mention that God is angry.
[00:08:51] While the unpersuaded Jews are not without fault here, that's to be sure. They have missed the message. They have refused to acknowledge the miracles that are occurring around them among the nations. But they have not done it alone, it turns out. We'll see. Paul, explain that their unbelief, their hardening, their stumbling, their misstep have been set apart to serve God's purposes for the Gentiles.
[00:09:22] Eleven, eleven, the interlocutor asks, have they stumbled as to fall?
[00:09:30] Have they fallen? Are they out of the race?
[00:09:35] What do you think? Paul responds, the last one in the book, which means he's arrived.
[00:09:45] Me genoito. No, no, no, no, no, they have not fallen.
[00:09:55] I want to remind you, I want to take you back to Romans. If you can pull up nine, six, real quick, back to nine, six. Keep that word fallen. No, they have not fallen down. I want you to connects nine and eleven and everything in between so brilliantly. Verse six, you'll remember as Paul begins explaining in nine what God is doing with the Jewish people and why things seem confusing. It says it's not as though the word of God has failed.
[00:10:22] Okay? That's what a lot of your translations say. The other word pipto. It's pipto in Greek. It actually can mean the word of God has not fallen.
[00:10:34] The word of God has not fallen down. So here's the connection he makes in Romans 11. Now, the Jewish people have stumbled, but they have also not fallen because the word of God has not fallen. It's a pipto connection between 9 and 11. Now, I want you to notice something.
[00:10:58] Can you pull up the King James? Do you have the King James? Romans 11:11. I say, then have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but look at what the King James says.
[00:11:14] I say, then have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but rather through their fall.
[00:11:21] Do you recognize the problem here?
[00:11:25] And that is a subliminal issue.
[00:11:29] When you read that as a reader and you say, no, they didn't fall, but when they fell subconsciously, that takes up residence in one's interpretation of the book and the story and the Jewish people. So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means. But through their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles. So as to. You can get off the King James, please.
[00:11:55] Now. No, actually, the King James has plenty of really great things in it, much more literal translations that are much more appropriate. But there are some other things. There are a lot of other, better translations. Now, if their stumbling means riches for the world, and if their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion be? Now, if they're stumbling, that word translations read trespass, transgression. And those words work by this stumbling. The unconvinced Jews. I told you, they're not without fault. This message is not talking about how Jews are perfect and they never do anything wrong. That's not what I'm talking about. The unconvinced Jews. We talked about their trespass last week in chapter 10, refusing to see that God's righteousness has been made available in Messiah for everyone, refusing also to play their role in the redemption of the nations because they're not on board with it. That's a failure. That's a Jewish transgression. It's a failure.
[00:13:03] But through their stumbling, temporary rejection, God has used it for a purpose. The Gentiles must come in. That is, as we talked last week, a confirmation of what it means for God to be righteous. God's righteousness. He had to make a way for the Gentiles to come in. But I quote William Campbell and his wonderful Romans commentary, Paul's confident argument.
[00:13:30] If God was involved in Israel's negative response to the Christ event, then he must have intended positive outcome by it.
[00:13:40] Paul, after much reflection and soul searching, has come to the conclusion that the divine purpose for which Israel was hardened was not Other than to allow the incoming of the nations.
[00:13:53] In other words, Paul, the righteous Jew, the Pharisee, the proud Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin. He knows that God's promises to Israel can, must be trusted. And if God, God's righteousness was demonstrated so clearly to the nations to allow them to come in, then the righteousness of God must also apply to his own people.
[00:14:20] God's righteousness cannot skip over Israel. Well, because. Because why? Because Paul tells us later in chapter 11, for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.
[00:14:33] God cannot go back on his word. That would make him unrighteous. So Paul is saying to the Gentiles here, quite plainly, they' stumbled, they've misstepped, but you've benefited from it.
[00:14:47] And so if their stumbling is good for you Romans, how much better, how much amazing is their. How much more amazing will their inclusion be? In other words, Romans, don't think for a second he's making the point right away that God is done with Israel. Don't wish that Israel were out of the story. Don't think you've surpassed them because when they come in, it's going to be easy, even better than it is right now. That's what you should want, Romans. And it turns out that God is using you, the nations to speak to my brothers and sisters from Israel to provoke them to jealousy. You guys, Paul says y'all, you uns, you Romans.
[00:15:34] Now I want to spend some time talking about the provocation of jealousy concept. It gets a lot of air time, doesn't it?
[00:15:41] Provoking the Judah jealousy, right?
[00:15:46] Which translates basically the Jews will see the lives of Christians and say, wow, we want the Jesus you have.
[00:15:56] There's a lot to see in Christianity that no one would want anything to do with. That's a certainty. Any organized religion, forget it. But listen that I want to explain something to you about that. In Rome and we've talked about this, where the Jews live in Rome, there is no benefit to becoming a Christ follower leaving Judaism. Judaism was a legal religion in Rome. It was protected by the government of Rome. Fringe religions and movements and newly arising things. No, they were illegal. There was no protection there. Being Jewish was not something bad. It was not something they were trying to run away from. Even today, I have to tell you, the the idea of provoking a Jew to jealousy by being a Christian, that is not actually that provocative to an observant Jew. They're not looking for Christmas or Christian or church or the like. They're happy being Jews.
[00:17:04] But back to Rome To Paul, to his Jewish fellows. They would not be jealous of Gentiles getting saved.
[00:17:13] Okay, I need you to take this point in. If they were, that would either mean that Jews wanted people to be idolaters and to sacrifice, drink blood and fornicate. Jews didn't want that. They wanted the God of Israel to be served. Two, they might think that the Gentiles being saved meant that they were going to be written out of the story. We can't let them in. We'll be written out. No, they also didn't think like that.
[00:17:42] Jews knew and know they are covenant people, members of a covenant relationship with God. They could hardly be expected to be jealous of Gentiles who were being saved in some new religious movement by someone that they didn't even know or understand.
[00:17:59] Now, what does Paul mean in the context of this letter? Paul seeks to make his fellow Jews jealous, specifically jealous of his ministry. People miss this. It's in the text. 13. I'm speaking to you Gentiles. Note that I'm speaking to you Gentiles. Who have I told you that Paul was writing this letter to?
[00:18:22] Who was he speaking to?
[00:18:24] Who's he speaking to? Now, inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I celebrate my ministry in order to make my own people jealous. You hear that? I celebrate my ministry in order to make my own people jealous and thus save some of them. For if they're rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? His provocation is for them to see the work that Paul is doing among the nations and for Jews to recognize their place within it.
[00:18:55] That means, I'll quote Mark Nanos. They will see his success represents their own promised destiny, the hope of Israel. So they will conclude that they are not yet participating with him in this special covenant privilege because they've not shared his convictions that that the age to come has begun with Messiah. In other words, he hopes that through the work he's doing among the Gentiles that some of the unconvinced Jews will get on board and say, wow, oh my goodness. Baruch Hashem. The prophets testified to this, that the nations would come along and serve the God of Israel. And through this guy, it's happening. What are we doing? Our hands are behind our back. No, get busy. Get out there. Jews start sharing the good news. That's something to be jealous of. And Paul wanted them to be jealous so some would be saved. Paul says, okay, he plays a part.
[00:19:53] He plays a part them being saved. Some would be saved, of course. He wants all, but he says some. He's saying the ones who see me doing this, that I can impact directly, they'll come along and do it. He wasn't worried.
[00:20:07] God is going to take care of this because, as he's already said, there's a remnant at work. And that's a taste of what's to come. Verse 16. If part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy. And if the root is holy, then the branches are also holy. And this takes us into the meat of the matter in Romans, the olive tree in Romans 11. This is for many people, the most memorable allegory that Paul uses in Romans. It's actually not the only one he uses, of course, in 9 through 11, but as you read Romans 9, 11, you're going to see a number of these allegories just sort of being worked out as he goes along.
[00:20:54] We had the clay talking back to its maker earlier. We have the race, we have the stumbling and the falling. Now we have do and representing first fruits as a bigger part. And we have the branches, those allegories of the firstfruits and the remnant. That is to say, the whole is identified with the parts, and the holiness of the remnant extends to the whole of Israel with whom God is not done. Similarly, if the branches, I mean, if the root is holy, then the branches are also holy. And here's where he settles for the biggest point he will make in Romans. This branch allegory will serve to address the critical, critical exigency I mentioned. And in verse 17, Paul will now speak specifically to a very particular branch. Verse 17.
[00:21:53] But if some of the branches were broken off and you, a wild olive shoot singular, second person, if you were grafted in among the others to share the rich root, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember you, you do not support the root, but the root supports you. What has happened before your very eyes, here, before your very ears? If you were a listener, as Paul's reader was reading this letter out, what he has done right here is Paul has moved into diatribe mode, which we've talked about.
[00:22:34] The reminder of this rhetorical device, second person singular. Paul is having this conversation now with this personified wild olive shoot. Who is who? Who is who? A gentile grafted into the tree.
[00:22:53] It's diatribe, a structured argument. The speaker critiques an opposing view by addressing an imaginary opponent. You remember this. This is week 2, 4, 16. I don't know speech in character is occurring. Prosopopia used in diatribe. A writer presents a dialogue or thoughts as if they're coming from someone else. This then allow to put words in that speaker's mouth so that they can correct them and rebut them and make better arguments against them. The interlocutor is presented in a way that the broader audience can relate to.
[00:23:29] They see, even if it's an imaginary person, the broader audience of the letter can relate to this. In other words, Paul can speak to this imaginary character who his Roman audience can relate to. And they can understand this because what he's talking about, what is happening in Rome and most clearly stated, this is the critical exigency to which Paul now speaks. You will say, he says, Verse 19. You will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.
[00:24:07] Who's talking?
[00:24:09] The interlocutor, the wild olive shoot. That is true. Paul says they were broken off on account of unbelief. But you stand on account of belief. So do not become arrogant, but be afraid.
[00:24:24] Gosh, that's a powerful word.
[00:24:28] Do not become arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. This is a dangerous situation for Paul's Roman Gentile, one of which they should be afraid. Their arrogance toward the broken branches must be addressed. They must understand, as Paul calls it later, the mystery. So let's talk broken branches and oleiculture. Who knows what oleoculture is?
[00:24:55] Cultivation, production, study of olives, olive trees. Growing, harvesting, processing olives, producing olive oil, grafting, growing, oleiculture.
[00:25:06] But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted among the others to share the rich root of the olive tree. Do not boast. If you boast, remember you don't support the root, the root supports you. You'll say, branches were broke off, so I might be grafted in. That's true. They were broken off on account of unbelief. But you stand on account of belief. Don't become arrogant, be afraid. For if God didn't spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then, the kindness and severity of God. Severity toward those who have fallen. God's kindness toward you, if you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you'll be cut off. And even those of Israel, if they don't continue in unbelief, will be grafted in. For God has the power to graft them in again. For if you've been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree. How much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their olive tree? I'm going to step out. I want you to take a deep breath. Close your eyes.
[00:26:07] Take a deep breath.
[00:26:11] Exhale.
[00:26:15] I need you to get with me right now on what is about to be explained.
[00:26:21] Because this is deep, deeply misunderstood and deeply important.
[00:26:30] I need you to erase all of your preconceived notions of what you think you know about this olive tree and about the branches and grafting and everything else. All right, you ready?
[00:26:42] First of all, the olive tree is an allegory. It's not actually perfect, but it works in Rome. Olive tree grafting knowledge. Who is absolute well acquainted with olive tree grafting knowledge? I'll tell you one person who was. His name was Theophrastus. He was a Greek philosopher and scientist. He died in 287Bce. He is often referred to as the father of botany. He made significant contributions to the study of olive trees, grafting techniques, pioneering botanical texts. And Theophrastus texts were very influential in Greco Roman culture.
[00:27:25] They, the Romans were very skilled in agriculture. And what do you think was one of their primary cultivating crops, olives in the Mediterranean, central to their economy, their diet and culture. And I tell you all this to say Paul's audience understood this allegory better than we do.
[00:27:49] They know it. They got it. And according to Theophrastus, Listen, it's quite unusual, if not unheard of, for wild olive branches to be, or shoots or buds to be grafted into a cultivated olive tree for a number of reasons that I won't explain here.
[00:28:12] But that's exactly what's happening in Paul's allegory, right?
[00:28:18] Right. If some of the branches were broken off and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others to share the rich root. Don't boast. The root supports you. Okay, listen, point one. One thing we really need to observe here, this is making Paul's previous point that I've shared with you. Paul has said to the Jew first and also the Greek, right? But we explained. I explained that it's actually happening the opposite way. Gentiles are coming in and Jews are unconvinced. It' upside down Rome. This unnatural thing also happened on the olive tree. The wild branch was cultivated, was put into the cultivated branch. There's this upside down. That's not how that's done. And it's supposed to be Jew, then Greek. Right, Paul, but that's Upside down. Paul's saying, yeah, but it's a very unique situation and God can do anything you want. But it's nowhere stated that the olive tree is in need of what the wild olive shoot offers. It's vice versa.
[00:29:26] It seems opposite, but it's part of the plan. God has done this, including breaking some of the branches. Now, clearly something in the tree is broken, right?
[00:29:39] Some of the branches were broken off. What do they represent? Who are these branches?
[00:29:45] Israel, unconvinced, unpersuaded Jews, unpersuaded Israel are represented here. But I want to ask you a question. What kind of broken. This is a question you have probably never considered when you read Romans, because you read branches were broken off. Now let me ask you this question. That word eklao in Greek, which can and often does mean broken off.
[00:30:13] Eklao. But it can also mean dislocated, bent, displaced, broken but not separated.
[00:30:25] Now, here's an important consideration. I want you to answer this question for me. If you imagine a branch broken off a tree, what happens to it when it is broken off from the tree? Where does it end up?
[00:30:39] We walk through the woods and we see the broken branches off the trees. Where are they? They're on the ground. What happened to them?
[00:30:46] They fell. They've fallen. They were broken off and they've fallen onto the ground. It falls. It's no longer connected to the tree in any way. But I have a question. When we read carefully, we see that Paul tells the wild olive shoot in verse 17. But if some of the branches were broken off and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in and among them.
[00:31:11] Wait a minute.
[00:31:13] How?
[00:31:15] If the branches are broken off and they're laying on the ground, how is it that this one singular olive shoot was grafted in among them?
[00:31:23] It can't be. Some translations. Read. If the branches were broken off and you, although a wild olive shoot were grafted in among the others, that's not in the Greek.
[00:31:35] The worst, the New Revised Standard Version says you were grafted in their place.
[00:31:44] That is not found in any Greek manuscript. Do you see the difference in the translation and theological bias and what that can do? That's not what's being said. You, wild olive shoot were grafted in among them, among these broken branches. And here's the significance of seeing the word broken as not actually meaning broken off.
[00:32:11] Paul has said the Jewish people have not fallen.
[00:32:19] Broken branches fall to the ground.
[00:32:25] That correlates with an idea this proposed by Nanos.
[00:32:30] Many are not in agreement that when we understand, though that the Jewish people have not fallen, because Paul said they haven't fallen. That when he's talking about these branches that the wild shoot has been grafted in among these broken branches, it makes more sense to see the term eklao as meaning as it can, bent, damaged, displaced, but still connected. And still connected, but have suffered some kind of dislocation or injury. They're not broken off, but they are dislocated. And interestingly, the Wycliffe Bible in the 14th century translated it that way. And never again since, which correlates with the other analogy, have they stumbled so far as to fall.
[00:33:34] They have not fallen. To be broken off the tree is to be out of the tree. This idea that God has moved branches aside, that they're suffering for their disobedience, that's justified.
[00:33:45] But we need to also see, and this is really important, and this is sort of paradigm shifting, we need to see this tree for what it is or could be. I don't have the lock on the truth, but I support here also the work of Mark Nanos and others who ask the question to what are the wild olive shoot? What is it grafted into?
[00:34:09] The holy olive tree. Right, that's what it says. You're grafted into the holy olive tree. What does it represent? What does the olive tree represent?
[00:34:21] Probably in your mind you say Israel, because that's sort of how the analogy has gone for the years. Israel, Israel, Israel. But listen, the Gentiles are not grafted into Israel. In other words, they do not become Jews, they do not become Israelites. That's 180 degrees from what Paul has said in the right.
[00:34:54] The tree represents something bigger than Israel. The tree represents Israel, is a part of this tree and has been a part of this tree. But the tree now contains both wild and natural branches. And consistent with Paul's message throughout Romans, these wild shoots have not become Israel, but they become part of the family of God.
[00:35:20] The tree therefore represents the family of God.
[00:35:26] This as a visual representation. We open the word of God and yet when we bring it together, we have the people of God, Jew and Gentile 1 in Messiah. The tree is the family of God to which which the nations have been grafted in. But the tree cannot be the tree without both people, can it?
[00:35:52] Can God break off the branches, set them on the ground and throw them on fire? Set them on fire? Of course not. The family of God through Yeshua now includes Gentiles. It's part of God's righteousness and promise to Abraham. But it also must contain Israel. And Paul goes so far as to say all those branches will be there.
[00:36:17] But the interlocutor Paul has him say, but branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That's true, Paul says almost sarcastically, like, hey, good point, Caesar, good point. Yeah, that's true. But hey, let me ask you a question, Caesar.
[00:36:38] Do you want to put God to the test because you won't like the outcome?
[00:36:48] Because if he didn't spare them the natural, surely he will cut you off.
[00:36:58] I need you to let that sit there.
[00:37:04] Raises an interesting point when he's now talking about what God will do if the Gentiles become arrogant toward Israel. Because I told you about this word eklao, which can mean broken off. It can also mean bent, dislocated. But here Paul changes the word.
[00:37:22] Now it says, because the Greek changes to ekopte, which literally means cut off, he's now talking to the Gentiles about what God will do if they're arrogant. And he changes the Greek word and says ekapte, cut off.
[00:37:42] Note the kindness and severity of God's severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off. Now I open myself up to a criticism here. I'm aware of it.
[00:37:56] Although Paul doesn't state outright that the natural branches will be ekopte, if you look at the text, it says for otherwise you too will be cut off. Which implies that he's saying Israel had been cut off.
[00:38:19] He also describes in this very same verse 22, Paul now says severity toward those who have fallen, but kindness toward you.
[00:38:32] This is a difficulty.
[00:38:35] How can this make sense?
[00:38:38] Paul has already said they have not fallen, and now he plainly describes them as fallen. And he used different words for cut off. Has Paul lost track of his metaphor?
[00:38:57] You want the heretical truth?
[00:39:00] Maybe it can't be easily explained.
[00:39:09] Why does he change the word? Why does he change the meaning?
[00:39:14] Is this the culmination of what he needed to communicate? And he's now talking about the Gentiles and all of a sudden it's like, guys, if you don't get it right, you will be cut off. And he's just emotional and, like, lost track of it?
[00:39:34] I don't know.
[00:39:36] But what we need to remember here is that Paul's point is not really about the broken branches in any of this. It is actually about the wild branch, the grafted in the wild olive. Shoot.
[00:39:56] They are the main thing. Don't be arrogant or you'll be cut out. Remain kind as God has remained kind to you. Paul will finish the book of Romans 12 through 15 with instructions on how you live together with kindness. Remember the interlocutor said branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Could Paul be saying. Could Paul be saying, okay, what if, what if you're right? What if they were cut off? What if they have fallen?
[00:40:30] Guess what? Paul then says God can put them right back in.
[00:40:37] That's what he says. Even they, if they don't continue on, their unbelief will be grafted in. For God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from wild olive. Shoot. If you were cut off from a wild tree, what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated tree, how much more will these, the natural branches be grafted into their own? The tree that is native to them, the tree that's been their tree. They've been in that family a lot longer than you have.
[00:41:14] You must understand, friends, in this analogy, it's always trying to be twisted to come back to Israel. But Paul keeps bringing it back to the Gentiles, to the wild ones. Yes, the Jews can't continue in their unbelief, and he doesn't believe they will. But he's talking to the, the Gentiles. They're his concern. They're the ones in need of correction.
[00:41:41] But let me just say this, and we're almost done. Maybe sort of, I don't know regarding Israel being fallen or being cut off. Paul has used a lot of scripture throughout Romans to talk to the Romans. They understand Israel's story. They understand and clearly it is true that in the past Israel has suffered.
[00:42:08] They have fallen. God's punishment has been strict and severe to the Jewish people. Plagues, wilderness, banishment, temple destruction, the golden calf, exile, all of this. But he's always brought them back.
[00:42:27] God has always shown kindness to his people. In other words, if they don't continue in their unbelief, God has the power to graft them in again. He's done it. He's done it. Nowhere does Paul suggest to the wild branch that they can be cut off and grafted back in. You need to understand that nowhere they'll be cut off, but Israel can and will be restored. Now Paul has addressed the critical exigency, my dear ethne nations, wild shoots.
[00:43:03] Please do not be arrogant.
[00:43:06] Please do not think what I think you're thinking. Because there is a mystery. You must be aware of God is still at work, the story is still being written, and Paul's Message in Romans 11 it still has very little to say to the Jews, as is the case throughout the rest of Romans.
[00:43:29] He's not speaking to the Jews, Jews and he's not done talking to the nations. Because we conclude here at Romans 11:24, 25 what we've covered today. This is not the end of chapter 11.
[00:43:45] The olive tree is not actually the concluding message. Paul has more to say. God is not done, the Jews are not out, but this is the conclusion.
[00:44:00] What's truly amazing, truly amazing to consider when we see the chapter through the lens I've just presented is that everything that Paul said had not happened, wouldn't happen, hadn't taken place has been twisted to mean exactly the opposite of that.
[00:44:25] That in Paul's day, traditional interpretation says, yep, Israel stumbled and they fell. Israel has been cut off and they fell. Israel has been replaced.
[00:44:43] Paul man, it's Romans, man, it's the book, and that's not what it says.
[00:44:54] Paul's message to the Gentiles about not being arrogant and thinking they had replaced the natural branches became exactly what they believed.
[00:45:07] Exactly what happened in the minds of much of the early founders of the Christian religion was to take all of that that I just pointed out and turn it into something completely different.
[00:45:24] Next week, the conclusion to Romans 11 and finally, through an expansion of if they do not continue in their unbelief, we will talk about the Jews and Jesus and conclude Romans 11 week Shabbat Shalom please visit our website shalommakin.org to learn more about us. Join our Live Services Access other Teachings Sign up for our Newsletter Join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world or contribute to the work of Shalom Macon. Thank you for watching and we look forward to connecting with.
