ROMANS: Grafted (part one)

We left off as Paul was concluding his warning to his Jewish audience about the ways they had missed God’s mission in the past. Paul has already mentioned that this certainly does not mean the Israelites were cast off or forsaken by God; he now takes the time to say it again:

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

Paul expresses great optimism in the people of God and their ability to learn from the path God has them on to correct their trajectory. Only this God who is in the business of redeeming broken things could take their mistakes and turn them into glory. Paul points out that God used their stumbling to bring the Gentiles into the family. If this is true, how much more could — no, not “could,” Paul says “will” — their repentance bring? When the people of God see His goodness and His plan and decide to partner with what God’s doing in the world, just imagine all the things that could be accomplished with that group of people!

NOTE: I hate the translation of “inclusion” here. The NIV84 used to translate it “fullness,” as does the KJV. The translation of “inclusion” only heightens the misconceptions of replacement theology, since the “they” in the passage is clearly the Jews. The Jews aren’t being “included” in anything; it’s their story to begin with. It is the Gentiles who are being included and that very inclusion is what drives the writing of Romans. But indeed, that’s where the passage heads next.

Paul now shifts his attention to the Gentiles and is kind enough to let all of his readers know:

I am talking to you Gentiles. In as much as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Paul says a large part of his ministry is done in the hope that his own brethren would see the story of God correctly and join him in blessing all nations. Paul isn’t just in this for the Gentiles — he’s in it for his own Jewish family, as well. He wants all people to understand the story of God and His plan to restore all of humanity. The phrase “arouse my own people to envy” in the Greek definitely carries the idea of provocation. It is Paul’s desire to prod and provoke his fellow Jews to do the right thing in the way they interact with the Gentiles in their world.

Paul also reminds his readers that God’s story is a Jewish story. If God has chosen to work through the Jewish people, then this Jewish story must be the right one and it must be enough. If this story is based on the right ideas — if the lump of dough is holy and if the root of the story is holy — then the rest of the story is going to share in that goodness.

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Paul tells his Gentile readers to make sure they check their arrogance at the door, because a proper understanding of the story they are part of will lead them to speechless humility. Paul points out that if Israel was a cultivated olive tree (a common image in the Scriptures for Israel), then the Gentiles were a wild, uncultivated olive tree. To the ancient world of the Middle East, the contrast would be a stunning one. A cultivated olive tree is a beautiful sight to behold; with light green leaves and big beautiful olives, the cultivated olive tree is incredibly pleasing to the eye. The olive tree gone wild, on the other hand, is stunted in its growth, producing pitiful leaves and virtually no fruit. It is not very attractive to look at and useless for production.

Wild olive branch on left; cultivated on right

Yet Paul says the story of God works in such a way that when the people of God stumbled, He pruned His cultivated olive tree, chopping off some of the branches that didn’t bear any fruit and preparing it for new growth. God then took wild olive tree branches and grafted them into His cultivated tree. Now, I’m no botanist, but I did have one tell me once that such an idea would be craziness. The wild olive tree branches would have a negative effect on the purity of the cultivated olive tree once the grafting process was complete. As wild branches drew off of the nourishing sap of the main tree, the rest of the trees’ productivity would be drawn back.

And yet, Paul says this is what God does. 

God’s gospel is foolishness. God’s love is scandalous. God’s forgiveness is complete.

As this lesson gets longer and longer, I can see that we’ll need to break it into two parts. So this is a good place to stop. We have much to consider. Most of my readers will be Gentiles and Paul gives them all a lot to ponder about the story of God and how He’s been at work. God has been at work for thousands of years trying to bless all nations. Way back in the beginnings of Genesis, God selected a partner and built a nation He desired to put at the “crossroads of the earth” and help Him restore the world — a kingdom of priests who would show the world what God is like.

But God’s people (Jew and Gentile alike) have often lost the plot of the story. We forget the scandalous nature of the God we claim to serve and worship and we begin to serve self. Throughout this story, God has always corrected, sometimes gently and sometimes with great discipline. God has pruned his tree when necessary and invited His children to new levels of fruitfulness.

And somewhere along the way, the Great Gardener decided in His infinite wisdom that it was time to graft into this cultivated tree some of those wild olive branches He loves so much. He decided it was time to display the beauty of inclusion in this tree that is His people. God’s tree has become His masterpiece.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.