Treasures New and Old

Romans: Grafted into the Vine: Boast in Christ

This month we look at Paul’s argument regarding our reconciliation in Christ by being “grafted” into the spiritual Israel as new members of the nation. We are not Jewish by physical birth (unless you were, of course) but we are spiritual members of a spiritual Israel.

Let’s let Paul share his thoughts on the subject:

Romans: 11:16-24: 

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 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. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

Grafting Process

There are several grafting processes that can be used to take a branch, twig, or slit from one tree and graft it into another.

• Bark grafting, cleft grafts, top grafts, tongue approach, T-bud method, bench grafting, and whip grafting.
  

• The branch, trig. or slip (scions) you intend to graft must be carefully selected and then prepared for the grafting process.

• Often these “scions” are collected in the fall (November) after the tree has become dormant but not yet frozen.

• The scions are prepared for winter storage wrapped in moist material and refrigerated (to maintain the dormant state).

• In spring (April/May), as buds are starting to show on the selected host tree, you may initiate the grafting process.

• In every method, the host tree must have something cut from it, a branch or some bark, or a deep slit.

• You attach your scion after pruning the ends to ensure live wood, and secure with grafting tape, or compound, or both.

• After the graft is successful (you should see buds and leaves growing and sprouting on the grafting branch), you remove the grafting tape/compound so as not to restrict natural growth.

• Finally, when the grafted scion has matured (may take years), it will produce fruit and is maintained with normal husbandry.

We, as saved Gentiles, are comparable to the process as both Paul and Jesus used the vine/branches analogy in several places both in the Old Testament and New Testament in some fifty-eight verses, mostly in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we have two references that talk about the vine and branches: here in Romans 11 and in John 15 where Jesus talks about being the Vine and we the branches, and we must abide in Him if we expect to bear any fruit.

Verse 15 Notes: “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.”

• If the blindness of the nation of Israel has resulted in the salvation of so many in the world among the Gentiles as they are reconciled to God through Christ, can you imagine what will be the result when the whole nation is saved? It will seem that the dead nation of Israel has been raised from the dead!
  

• Here Paul further explains and illustrates the argument he had employed in the twelfth verse. The gospel was preached to the world only after Israel rejected it. This was not the result of accident; it was according to the fixed purpose of God. The middle wall of partition was then broken down. The command was given to preach the gospel to every creature. After the great sacrifice has been offered, it was no longer to be limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
  

Verse 16 Notes: “For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.”

• Who is our first fruits? Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:20: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”

• Leviticus 23:10-14 describes the Feast of First Fruits as a sheaf wave offering, a lamb to be slain as a sacrifice, and fine meal (flour) and wine offering to be added to the sacrifice. These elements also aptly describe the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, whose body and blood were sacrificed for us.

• In Leviticus 23, this sacrifice is described as a “Holy Convocation, a sweet savor unto the Lord”.

• So, is the firstfruits indeed holy? YES! And, therefore, the lump (the offered sheaves and fine flour) is also holy. That lump can be describing you and me as partakers of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Another analogy is the vine and branches or, as Paul puts it in this verse, the root and branches. If the root is Holy (and He is) than the branches are also holy. In other words, if the vine bears good fruit, so will the branches attached to that vine.

Verse 17-18 Notes: “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.”

• The broken of branches are, of course, Jewish unbelievers.

• The wild olive branches are clearly the Gentiles people, and those who are grafted in are Gentile believers.

• Paul is speaking to the church at Rome which had a mixture of both Jewish and Gentile believers; thus, he refers to them all being “grafted among them” (verse 17)

• Both partake of the fatness and benefits of the root, who is, of course, Jesus Christ.

• Paul warns the grafted-in Gentile believers to not boast that they were chosen and grafted in as if they are better than or somehow special when compared to the branches (the Jewish believers) that remain on the vine.

• If we are inclined to boast, we are in serious error for we do not support the root, the root supports us. We are to abide in Christ, not Christ abides in us!

Verse 19 Notes: “Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in“

• Here, then, might be a common error and deception that one might falsely embrace: that the Jewish branches were specifically broken off so that you/me/we could be grafted in. Unfortunately, some religious groups out there actually make such a claim like the Worldwide Church of Armstrong that taught a form of Anglo-Israel replacement theology.

Verse 20 Notes: “Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:“

• Paul sets the record straight. Those branches that have been cut off were cut off not so that we could be grafted in, but because of their unbelief.

• Nor were we selected to replace any specific broken-off branch on the vine, but because we believed by faith, we were selected to be grafted in.

• Therefore, we are not to become prideful about our place in the vine. We did not do the selecting, or the grafting, of the placement. Nor were we the arbiters of our purpose in the vine as a grafted-in branch, but the husbandman was solely responsible for all the decisions and selections. We have nothing to boast about except Christ Himself.

• Indeed, let us be in holy fear instead of pride. Phobeo (Strong’s G5399): awe, a holy terror for the husbandman who grafted us in lest we to be broken off.

Verse 21 Notes: “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.“

• The actual Greek reads a little funny: “If for God the according to nature branches not spared perhaps not neither you he should spare.” This is more a warning of apostasy and reminder that we are to remain humble and watchful. It does not support a “lose your salvation” theology as some use it. It is a warning by Paul to remain humble and careful in our walk with Christ and not to become prideful as did Israel.

Verse 22 Notes: “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.“

• The Apostle lastly enforces his warning to the Gentile believers by four concluding arguments:

• First, he calls on them to behold the severity of God’s strict justice in cutting off and casting out the unbelieving Jews. God is an absolute judge. He can also cast out the unbelieving Gentiles. Like the Jews who were born in the faith but are apostate, so many if not most “Christians” today were born in the faith and may, indeed, not be true believers.

• Second, consider His goodness in conferring unmerited favor on the Gentiles who had attained that righteousness. Some appearing to have obtained such righteousness but then seemed to be cut off. Here, we turn to 1 John for some clarification: 1 John 2:18-19: “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

• Third, remark the necessity of continuing in that goodness, by abiding in the faith of the gospel; and,

• Fourth, to observe the assurance that if they abide not in the faith, they should be themselves cut off. I believe that that cutting off is not loss of salvation as much as it is the cutting off of life as described in 1 Corinthians 11:29-30: “For he that eateth and drinkesth unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”

Verse 23 Notes: “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.“

• Likewise, any unbelieving Jew (for it seems Paul is referring back to the Jewish branches), can be saved if they shuck their unbelief and, by faith, accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And in so doing, they, in effect, are “regrafted” into the vine where they are to abide as we are to continue and abide as born-again believers. Please note, this whole passage makes perfect sense when we consider it at the nation level and not at the individual level.

Verse 24 Notes: “For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?“

• Now Paul puts a final argument to the boasting and pride of any Gentile believer who thinks himself better than a disbelieving Jew (or Gentile) because he has been selected and placed in the vine.

• His argument is simple:

1. 1. If you, the Gentile, a wild olive branch, be grafted into the good olive tree and, therefore, accrue the eternal benefits of being a child of God,
   2. Consider the amazing things that will transpire when the original natural branches are grafted back in.
   3. Implication: You, as a grafted-in, wild branch, bear a certain amount of fruit, but when the natural branches are regrafted, they will bear greater fruit.

• It seems to me that we have four lessons to meditate on:

1. 1. The grafted process that the Father uses involves careful preparation, cutting, death (dormant) and rebirth, and abiding in the vine.
   2. We are not to boast except in Christ alone.
   3. 2 Peter 3:17: “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.” Not your salvation.
   4. We ought to check ourselves. Are we really in the faith, or are we merely playing church?

Don’t forget who you are: a child of the King, engrafted into the vine who is Jesus Christ. From Him we get our spiritual nutrients just as a grape branch gets its nutrients from the grape vine or trunk. Stay connected to the Master and draw strength and direction from Him.

May God Bless you!

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe

References

Strong, J. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. Meyers, R. (2005). e-Sword. [computer software] . Franklin, TN: Equipping Ministries Foundation. (Original work published 1539)

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