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Author Topic: the good olive tree never died
epouraniois
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Here are notes, perhaps they will be of assistance to some. I believe they are from the chapel fo the open book by charles welch or stuart allen, if memory serves.

Romans 9 to 11
A tentative outline

A 9:1-5. Sorrow.

Doxology: ‘Over all (panton)
God blessed unto the ages' (9:5).

B 9:6-29. The Remnant saved. Mercy on some.

Corrective as to ‘all Israel' (9:6).

C 9:30 to 11:10. The Stumbling stone.
The Lord of all that believe
Christ the end of the law.
No difference.

B 11:11-32. All Israel saved.
Mercy on them all.

Corrective as to the Remnant (11:1-5).

A 11:33-35. Song.

Doxology: ‘Of Him, through Him, and to Him
are all things (ta panta).
To Him be glory unto the ages' (11:36).



Israel's privileges are given in detail in Romans 9:3-5:

Israel’s Dispensational Privileges
(Rom. 9:3-5)

A According to the flesh kinsmen.

B Who are Israelites.

C To whom pertaineth the adoption.

D And the glory.

E And the covenants.

E And the giving of the law.

D And the service.

C And the promises.

B Whose are the fathers.

A According to the flesh Christ.


With this emphasis on the privileges of Israel, the case of the Gentiles should be compared, as set forth in Ephesians.

Dispensational disabilities of the Gentiles
(Eph: 2:11,12)

A Gentiles in the flesh.

B Without Christ.

C Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

C Strangers from the covenants of promise.

B Having no hope.

A Godless in the world.

With the opening of Romans 11 the apostle begins to draw his conclusions. Stated briefly, they are as follows:

1. God hath not cast away His people: Proof -- I also am an Israelite and saved.
2. God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew: Proof -- In Israel’s darkest days, God had reserved unto Himself a faithful company, unknown even to Elijah himself.
3. There is now also at the present time, ‘a remnant according to the election of grace’.

Those who form this ‘remnant’ have believed in the Lord, and are justified. Their standing is in grace, and not in works. Israel as a nation has entered into a period of darkness and blindness, but the salvation of ‘the election’ foreknown by God, is in perfect harmony with God’s sovereignty as discussed at length in Romans 9. No Israelite was coerced into believing; no Israelite was prevented from believing. God’s foreknowledge covers the whole problem, without doing violence either to the principles of morality, or to Divine sovereignty.

The quotation from Psalm 69 with which the apostle concludes his argument is suggestive. The Psalm is Messianic, and contains the verse (25) quoted by Peter concerning Judas: ‘Let their (his) habitation be desolate’ (Acts 1:20).

Israel had betrayed the Lord. Their self-righteousness had blinded their eyes, and the great fact that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth became a stumbling block and an offence to them.

Only a remnant believed, and that elect company was not exclusively Jewish, but included those who walked in the steps of Abraham’s faith. There was no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for ‘the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him’.

Towards the close of Romans 10 the apostle quotes the statement of Moses, that the Lord would provoke Israel to jealousy ‘by them that are no people’. This he now unfolds in connection with the great subject of the reconciling of the world, which is dealt with in Romans 11:11-36. This, however, we must leave for the moment.

The subject-matter of Romans 9 to 11, the peculiar style of the apostle’s argument, the many quotations and analogies from Old Testament Scriptures, make the study of these chapters difficult, and perhaps a weariness to the flesh. The extreme importance, however, of the great theme of justification by faith demands that it shall be considered in all its bearings, whether in connection with the law of Moses, the call of Abraham, the headship of Adam, or, as in the passage before us, the failure of Israel, and the election of the Gentiles. Principles are brought to the light in these passages that are of vital importance to every believer who desires to understand the ways of God with men.

The Olive Tree and Israel’s National Position (11:11-32)

In the earlier verses of Romans 11, the apostle shows that the failure of the bulk of the nation of Israel in no way invalidates God’s purpose or His faithfulness. We have seen that the prophets foretold ‘a remnant according to the election of grace’, and we also learn that the defection of Israel has been overruled to bring about the reconciliation of the Gentile world. Looking on to the close of the chapter, we find that ‘all Israel’ shall be saved, because ‘the gifts and calling of God are without repentance’. The words ‘all Israel’, ‘Jacob’, and ‘Zion’, together with the prophecy alluded to, preclude our making any deduction from these verses but one -- namely, that there will be a national restoration and blessing of Israel according to the terms of the New Covenant. Quite a number of questions suggest themselves as we read this section, but it is evident that the apostle, when he wrote about the olive tree, had no intention of introducing a theological argument at this point. He had one and only one purpose before him -- to seek to show, by the figure of the olive tree, how the Lord had used Gentile believers, in order, if it were possible, to ‘provoke’ the nation of Israel ‘to emulation’. This, and this only, is the reason for introducing the figure, and the recognition of this will save us from almost endless argument as to the ultimate destiny of the branches that remained.

Before attempting any exposition of these verses, it will be wise to see what particular parts of the passage are emphasized by the structure, which we set out below.

It is evident that the apostle is speaking here of the dispensational aspect of truth, for no Gentile could be justified by being placed in the position forfeited by one of the natural branches of Israel’s olive tree.

And moreover, no believer, who is justified by faith, can ever be separated from the love of God, or can be condemned (Rom. 8), so that the threat of excision in Romans 11:22 must refer to the ‘dispensational’ position which then obtained, and must not be misused to invalidate Romans 8:31-39.


Romans 11:11-32

A 11-25. Israel’s fall occasions Gentile reconciliation.

B C1 11. Provoke ‘If’.

D1 12. Fulness of Israel.

C2 13-15. Provoke ‘If’.

D2 16. Firstfruit.

C3 17-24. Provoke ‘If’.

D3 25. Fulness of Gentiles .

A 26-32. Mercy to Gentiles occasions Israel’s reconciliation.

B E 26. All Israel shall be saved.

F 26. Deliverer: turn away ungodliness .

G 27. The covenant.

H 28. Enemies Gospel For your sakes.

H 28. Beloved election. For the fathers’ sake.

G 29. The gifts and calling.

F 32. Concluded in unbelief.

E 32. Mercy upon them all.



The Olive Tree Explained

In endeavouring to understand the various factors in this presentation of truth, let us first seek an answer to the question: ‘What does the olive tree represent?’ In attempting to answer this question we do not propose to quote the parable of Jotham given in Judges 9:1-15. Jotham’s purpose in the parable is simple and evident, and it would seem to be a distortion of the context to make the olive, the fig and the vine in that parable stand for different aspects of Israel’s privileges. The Old Testament passages with which we are most concerned are to be found in Jeremiah. In chapter 11 we read:

‘The Lord called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit ... the branches of it are broken’ (Jer. 11:16).

Not only does Paul take the figure of the olive tree, and its broken branches, from Jeremiah, but he also refers to Jeremiah 31:31 in Romans 11:27, where the olive tree is once more complete. There are some who have sought to show that the olive tree of Romans 11 is to be found in Christendom today, but such teaching is contrary to Jeremiah 11 and 31 and Romans 11 alike. The Book of Jeremiah consists of fifty-one prophecies, each introduced by some phrase as, ‘The word of the Lord came’. The opening prophecy is indicative of all the rest:

‘See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to thrown down, to build, and to plant’ (Jer. 1:10).

The subjects of this prophecy are clearly ‘nations’ and ‘kingdoms’, not churches, either real or professing. Also the prophecy is two-fold: first, judgment in the form of ‘rooting out’, and then, restoration in the form of ‘planting’.?The second prophecy in Jeremiah occupies only two verses, which we give in full:

‘Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten My word to perform it’ (Jer. 1:11,12).

The word for ‘almond tree’ is shaked, and the word for ‘hasten’ is shoked, the almond being called the ‘watcher’ or ‘early waker’. When the time comes for the people of Israel to be restored, the same word is again used:

‘And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them (shoked), to pluck up ... so will I watch over them ... to plant, saith the Lord ... I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah ...’ (Jer. 31:28-31).

Moreover, in verses 36 and 37 Israel are assured that they shall not be cast off on account of their misdeeds -- a passage which finds an echo in the words of Romans 11:29 ‘For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance’. Returning to the prophecy of Jeremiah, we observe that where the green olive tree with the broken branches is spoken of, the prophet interprets the symbol as referring to Israel:

‘But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord’ (Jer. 12:17).

If we examine the context of Romans 11, we shall find that there also, Israel is portrayed as an olive tree:

‘To Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people’ (10:21).

‘Blindness in part is happened to Israel ... and so all Israel shall be saved’ (11:25,26).

‘As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes’ (11:28).

There can be no misunderstanding these references that stand on either side of the passage which refers to the olive tree. It is not a church that is in view, but Israel as a nation. The ‘they’ that ‘stumbled’ are Israel (11:11); ‘my flesh’ (11:14) refers to Israel; and those who were ‘cast away’, and who are yet to be ‘received’, are Israel (11:15).

We have next to consider the ‘branches’ of the olive tree:

‘God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew’ (11:2).

‘There is a remnant according to the election of grace’ (11:5).

‘Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded’ (11:7).

The branches that were broken off were the unbelieving among Israel, the remaining branches constituting a remnant. Into the place from which the unbelieving of Israel had been broken off, the Gentile believer had been grafted, ‘contrary to nature’.

Why does the apostle use the expression ‘contrary to nature’? The root and fatness of the olive tree belonged to Israel, and if Israel had repented, and had been restored at that time, no Gentile would ever have shared it with them, even temporarily. It was something exceptional that was in view. It is clear that Paul cannot be referring to the great promise of justification by faith, for two reasons. In the first place, he warns the believing Gentile that he might be ‘cut off’ -- a warning that cannot refer to justification by faith, for Romans 8 makes separation for ever impossible; and secondly, Abraham himself was an uncircumcised Gentile when he was justified by faith, and so can be the father of all who believe, whether Jews or Gentiles, without any necessity for a grafting in ‘contrary to nature’. So far as justification was concerned, the oneness of all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, was so close, that many have taken the words of Galatians 3:27-29 as though they were written in Ephesians. ‘Contrary to nature’ cannot, therefore, be used of the great doctrine of Romans 1 to 8, it can only apply to the dispensational teaching of Romans 9 to 11. The doctrinaltruth remains; the dispensational aspects change, and pass away. We have now seen enough, we trust, to convince us that ‘Church’ truth is not in view in Romans 11. Before passing on to the great conclusion, however, we must examine more carefully the apostle’s figure of the olive tree, and discover why he speaks of the process of engrafting into the olive tree, branches of the wild olive, contrary to nature.

To Provoke Unto Jealousy

If the reader will glance back at the structure of Romans 11:11-32, he will see that the word ‘provoke’ is given three times. Two of these references actually occur (in verses 11 and 14), while in verses 17 to 24 instead of stating the fact for the third time, we find that the apostle uses the figure of the olive tree. It is the usual custom in grafting to take a slip of the choice variety, whether it be apple, or pear, or rose, and graft it into the stock of some stronger, though not so choice a variety. For example, in the case of the standard rose, the tall stem is the briar, and upon this is budded the more fragile flower. Paul appears to reverse all this, and there are many who bluntly say that he did not know anything about the culture of trees, and must not be taken literally. This, however, cannot be. He hangs the whole argument of Romans 11 upon this figure, and if he is wrong in this, he may be wrong altogether.

Paul himself recognizes that the process is ‘contrary to nature’, but those who criticize and suggest that he is using a far-fetched illustration, are themselves in error. While the engrafting of a wild olive into the true was ‘contrary to nature’, it was by no means contrary to practice. Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, a Latin writer on Agriculture, Gardening and Trees, deals with the cultivation of the olive tree, and speaks of the very practice under consideration. It was found that when an olive tree began to cease fruit-bearing, the insertion of a wild graft had the same effect upon the tree that Paul hoped the insertion of the Gentile would have had on Israel; it ‘provoked’ the flagging olive tree to ‘emulation’. The practice has been revived in our own day to provoke certain shy-bearing pear trees to fruitfulness and came under the present writer’s notice while studying for his qualifications to use the letters F.R.H.S. Columella flourished about a.d. 40, so that Paul was not speaking ‘without the book’.

The fact that the Gentiles who believed had received ‘the blessing of Abraham’ in the form of the promised ‘spirit’ (Gal. 3:14), and that they possessed the gifts associated with Pentecost (1 Cor. 14:21), was intended to provoke Israel to wake up to the fact that their unique position was going.

The whole point of the olive tree in Romans 11 lies in the purpose with which the wild olive was grafted in -- namely, to provoke the flagging tree?(Israel) to jealousy. Gentile nations are not in view in Romans 11, for such cannot be addressed as ‘brethren’, neither do they stand ‘by faith’. If we teach that the ‘olive tree’ position still continues after Acts 28, let us see what the apostle’s words imply. Into that same olive tree from which some of the branches had been broken out, God assures us that He will graft them again. We shall see by the references yet to be adduced that when this takes place, Israel as a nation will be restored. How is it possible for Israel to be restored as a nation by having any number of branches grafted into any existing Christian community? There is but one answer. Only while Israel existed as ‘a people’ was it possible for believing Gentiles to be grafted in among the other believing branches, and so become linked with the blessing of Abraham, and partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree. We are preserved from any attempt at spiritualizing the expression ‘All Israel shall be saved’, by the fact that the apostle quotes Isaiah 59:20, where the Deliverer Who comes out of Zion shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. We have never met anyone who would teach that ‘Jacob’ can mean anything but the literal people of Israel.

Moreover, all this is in fulfilment of the New Covenant:

‘For this is My Covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins’ (Rom. 11:27).

Under the terms of the New Covenant, the forgiveness of sins leads to the restoration of the Nation (Jer. 31:31-37), and in verse 37 we read:

‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord’ (31:37).

With the knowledge of this promise under the New Covenant, the apostle writes:

‘As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance’ (Rom. 11:28,29).

Before the quotation of Isaiah 6:9 in Matthew 13, we have a series of events leading up to this critical point:

1. The failure of Israel to repent, even though the mighty works done in Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum would have brought about the repentance of notorious cities of the Gentiles like Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 11:20-24).
2. The threefold rejection of the Lord Jesus in His three offices, as Priest, Prophet and King. ‘In this place is one greater than the Temple’ (Priest); ‘A greater than Jonah is here’ (Prophet); ‘A greater than Solomon is here’ (King) (Matt. 12:6,41,42).
3. Consequent upon this rejection and non-repentance come the ‘mysteries of the kingdom of heaven’, and the citation of Isaiah 6:9 (Matt. 13:11,14).

At the close of the Acts we find a repetition of this crisis, but on a larger scale. This time Israel are set aside, but no command is given to make a fresh proclamation, as in Acts 1. The quotation of Isaiah 6:9 is followed by the dispensation of the Mystery, in which the olive tree and its branches, as such, have no place.

Between Matthew 13 and Acts 28 there were several excisions of the branches because of unbelief, of which two may be noted, at Antioch and Corinth. That neither of these was final, or intended to set aside the nation, Paul’s own action towards Israel makes clear. After Antioch he still preached in the synagogues; and after Corinth, he still gave Israel and Israel’s hope first place (Acts 28:17,20).

It is a difficulty with some students that the apostle does not actually speak of the cutting down of the olive tree in Romans 11, but only of ‘some of the branches’ having been broken off. The answer is that the epistle to the Romans was written before Acts 28, and still expressed the hope that, even at the eleventh hour, Israel would be provoked unto emulation, and be saved. No indication is given that the ‘fulness of the Gentiles’ would not be attained until nearly two thousand years had elapsed.

We have only to turn to Romans 15:12,13, to see that Paul and the Church were still expecting the fulfilment of Isaiah 11 as well as Jeremiah 31. The ‘hope of Israel’ was still the one hope before them all. It suffices for the apostle in Romans 11 that ‘some of the branches’ had been broken off, and, to provoke the olive tree to emulation, some wild branches had been grafted in. What would happen to the olive tree if that effort failed is not revealed in Romans 11, and in the nature of things could not be. Now that we have the light of all Scripture, we know that Israel were to be ‘plucked up’ and ‘scattered’, and to enter into a ‘Lo-ammi’ condition, while a new dispensation was introduced. But though all this is true, it was not revealed in Romans.

National Restoration

If the olive tree survived the crisis of Acts 28, where is it? It cannot be the scattered nation of Israel, for they are manifestly lo-ammi. It cannot be any of the denominations of Christendom, for if this were true it would follow that the denomination concerned would eventually receive back the broken-off branches of Israel, and resolve itself into the restored nation of Israel -- which is quite impossible, for the restored Israel will be made up of the very nation that is now scattered. If we will but distinguish between the doctrinal position of Romans 1 to 8 that has no reference to the olive tree, and the dispensational position of Romans 9 to 11, we shall see that it is quite in harmony with the teaching of Scripture for justification by faith to be enjoyed, whether Israel remained as a nation or not. The fact that the ‘believing’ branches are called ‘firstfruits’, no more argues for the unbroken perpetuation of the olive tree up to the present time, than the fact that Christ is said to be the ‘firstfruits of them that slept’ proves that, ever since, in unbroken sequence, they that have fallen asleep in Christ have passed straight into glory. The firstfruits were the pledge of a future harvest, and in the type, the harvest naturally followed without a long break. In the antitype, however, the harvest is the end of the age, and the interval between the first Pentecost and the present moment is some nineteen hundred years.

The Believing Remnant

A very real difficulty that some feel in connection with this passage is the fate of the believing section. If the whole tree is cut down by the roots at the end of the Acts, then believer and unbeliever are treated alike.

Yet the believing remnant constitute a firstfruit, and are holy. We must be very certain of all our terms here. If the olive tree represents the nation and its national standing, then whatever the problem may be, it is clear that, as Israel as a nation before God does not exist, the olive tree has been cut down. The believing branches, therefore, must have some other ground of blessing. If we change the figure from the olive tree to that of a divorced wife, as in Jeremiah 3:1 and 11:15,16, we may perhaps see more clearly that the believing remnant lost nothing when the national position of Israel was altered at Acts 28. Israel as a restored nation is represented as a divorced wife received back by the Lord (Jer. 3:1), but the believing remnant is spoken of as the ‘bride of the Lamb’ (Rev. 21:9). The ‘divorced wife’ is restored to the land, but the ‘bride’ is associated with the heavenly Jerusalem. There is, therefore, a great difference between the destinies of the believing and the unbelieving branches. In some cases the change was even greater.

Paul himself lost his national association with Israel when the nation was set aside, but he entered into a sphere of blessing so great as to enable him to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Others would find their sphere of blessing set forth in John 14 to 17, and learn that though they were no longer branches in the olive tree of Israel, they were branches in Christ as the True Vine, and so had lost nothing. If we recognize that dispensational standing may change to our advantage, as it manifestly did in the case of Timothy, Luke and Paul, our difficulty about the believing branches of the olive tree will be resolved. Doctrinal standing is not in view in Romans 11. The grafting in of the unbelieving branches into their own olive tree at the end, represents the restoration of Israel’s national position ‘in that day’. Neither in Paul’s epistles of the Mystery, nor in John’s gospel for the ‘world’, can the olive tree be discovered. The New Covenant, and the hope of Israel, are in abeyance, and not until God’s good time will they be put into operation.

Hosea, speaking of the day of Israel’s restoration, uses the same figures as we have been considering -- the restoration of the separated wife (Hos. 3:3-5), and the spreading branches of the olive (Hos. 14:6).

Fulness, Reconciliation and Doxology (11:11-36)

We have seen that the grafting in of the wild olive was with the intention of provoking the flagging tree to new fruitfulness. The salvation and blessing of the Gentiles during the Acts, before the nation of Israel were saved and ready for their great mission to the families of the earth, were ‘contrary to nature’, and intended to ‘provoke Israel to jealousy’. We must now return to the opening verses of this section to give a little closer attention to the blessings that accrued to the Gentiles as a result of Israel’s lapse. The apostle here uses an argument which may be described as a minori ad majus (from the smaller to the greater):

‘If their fall has brought about so much, what must we not expect as a result of their restoration?’ (Rom. 11:12).

The failure of Israel is expressed in the following terms:

* the ‘fall’ (paraptoma: verse 11);
* the ‘diminishing’ hettema: verse 12);
* ‘casting away’ (apobole: verse 15);
* ‘broken off’ (ekklao: verse 17);
* ‘spared not’ (pheidomai: verse 21);
* ‘blindness’ (porosis: verse 25);
* ‘enemies’ (echthros: verse 28);
* and ‘concluded in unbelief’ (sugkleio: verse 32).

In these eight terms, we behold the ‘severity’ of God (verse 22).

The ‘fall’ of Israel is likened to the ‘offence’ of Adam, the word paraptoma being translated ‘offence’ in Romans 5:15,16,18 and 20. The word literally means ‘to fall aside’. Israel follow very much in the steps of Adam. Both fail of their high purpose, and are set aside; and both will realize their destiny only when ‘in Christ’. Just as in Romans 5:20 the abounding ‘offence’ was overruled by God unto much more abounding grace, so in Romans 11:12,15, we discover something of the same argument -- an argument which, approached from the wrong angle, has been resolutely set aside in Romans 3:7, for no amount of overruling grace can minimize the positive wickedness of individual sin, however much good may result by the intervention of grace.

In Deuteronomy 27 and 28 Moses gives the people the solemn words that were to be pronounced from Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Among the blessings we find:

‘And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath’ (Deut. 28:13).

This high position Israel forfeited because of unbelief, but a day is coming when the Redeemer shall come to Zion (Isa. 59:20), and Israel shall be restored, and enter into their high glory:

‘The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted’ (Isa. 60:12).

‘But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles’ (Isa. 61:6).

With this high destiny in mind, coupled with Israel’s terrible fall, the apostle uses the word ‘diminish’. The primary meaning of hettaomai is to be overcome as in battle or in a law-suit (2 Pet. 2:19,20), and so to be inferior (2 Cor. 12:13). Israel, by their unbelief and failure to repent, were losing their high prerogatives, set out so fully in Romans 9:4,5. This high position, now in danger of being forfeited, was not, of course, given to them on account of any intrinsic worth in themselves, but rather because of their place in the scheme of blessing. And so, when they fail, the apostle speaks of them as being ‘cast away’ -- as the blind man is said to have cast away his garment, that apparently encumbered him, or as the ship that was wrecked was ‘a loss’ (Acts 27:22). Israel had made shipwreck of their calling; they had fallen aside; they were becoming inferior; they were ‘a loss’. And so through all the terms used by the apostle to explain their condition.

Reconciliation

The failure of Israel has been overruled by God to the blessing of the Gentiles, and has resulted in their ‘reconciliation’, and their ‘riches’. These ‘riches’ find an exposition in the epistle to the Romans itself, as well as in the other epistles of the period:

‘Riches of His goodness’ which, though despised, would have led to repentance (Rom. 2:4).

‘Riches of His glory’, lavished upon the vessels of mercy which the Lord had afore prepared unto glory, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles (9:23).

‘The riches of the world’ and the ‘riches of the Gentiles’, resulting as we have seen from Israel’s failure (11:12).

The ‘riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God’ -- calling forth the apostle’s doxology at the close of chapter 11 (11:33).

With these passages we must also read Romans 10:12:

‘For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him’.

When dealing with the structure of Romans 9 to 11, we noticed that the whole passage is bounded by the conception that God is ‘over all’.

‘Who is God over all, blessed for ever’ (Rom. 9:5).

‘The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him’ (10:12).

‘Of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things’ (11:36).

This is assurance indeed that the purpose of God shall be achieved, whatever the failure of His instruments, and however dark at times the prospect may appear. The reconciling of the world, contingent upon the failure of Israel, is a most important part of Paul’s ministry. The apostle was not commissioned on the day of Pentecost. Israel had the opportunity of hearing the Word, with signs following, for a considerable period before the apostle to the Gentiles received his commission. Immediately after Acts 9 and the commission of Paul, comes Acts 10 and the indication to Peter that the unique and separate position of the Jew was passing. In Acts 13 and 14 the door of faith opens to the Gentiles, and Israel are warned lest that ‘come upon them, that was spoken by the prophets’ (Acts 13:40,41). The very call of Israel was associated historically with the failure and apostasy of the Gentile world, for Abraham’s call in Genesis 12 follows the failure at Babel in Genesis 11. From the call of Abraham up to the time of the Acts of the apostles, God had concentrated His attention upon that one people:

‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth’ (Amos 3:2).

But Now All Men

The apostle speaks of this period of Israel’s ascendancy, and the corresponding Gentile darkness, when addressing the philosophers on Mars Hill, but he also indicates that a change had come:

‘And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent’ (Acts 17:30).

Israel lost their high position of favour, and the far-off Gentiles, through the instrumentality of the apostle’s, ministry, are brought in:

‘For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office’ (Rom. 11:13).

The ‘reconciliation of the world’ is dispensational. It does not mean that the world was saved, justified or glorified, but simply that the barrier that kept the nations at a distance and in darkness has been removed, and ‘all men everywhere’ take the place of ‘Jews only’ (Acts 11:19). The reconciliation which is individual and doctrinal is found in Romans 5:1-11. (See Reconciliation, page 1).

The apostle not only draws attention to the riches that have come to the Gentile world through the fall and diminishing of Israel, but goes further, saying: ‘How much more their fulness?’ A reference to the structure of Romans 11:11-32 will show that the ‘fulness of Israel’ is balanced by the ‘fulness of the Gentiles’, and we must therefore study them together.

Fulness

‘The fulness of Israel’, spoken of in verse 12, is most obviously restated in verse 15 as the ‘receiving’ of them back again into favour, and the ambiguous ‘How much more?’ of verse 12 is expanded as ‘life from the dead’. The ‘fulness of Israel’ would include their priestly office, the elevation of Jerusalem as the ‘joy of the whole earth’, the blessing of the ‘land of promise’, and the fulfilment of all those wonderful prophecies, that, with restored Israel as a centre, describe the earth as filled with blessings until it appears like another Eden.

The ‘fulness of the Gentiles’ is set in another context:

‘For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits ... until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in’ (Rom. 11:25).

If the ‘fulness of Israel’ means their restoration to privilege, glory and blessing, so also does the ‘fulness of the Gentiles’. The failure of the nations took place before a single Israelite existed, and in the covenant made with Abraham, the blessing of the Gentile is implied:

‘And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed’ (Gal. 3:8).

The salvation and justification of the Gentiles by faith, therefore, instead of causing doubts or murmurings among the Jews, should have caused them to rejoice, and the apostle himself does rejoice as he beholds the wisdom of God working all things after the counsel of His own will.

In Isaiah 6, where the fateful passage that speaks of Israel’s blindness is found, we read that ‘His glory is the fulness of the whole earth’ (Isa. 6:3, margin) -- so that the same passage that speaks of the failure of Israel prophetically, implies also the inclusion of the Gentiles. We must remember also the remarkable words of John the Baptist to those who were relying on the fact that Abraham was their father:

I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham’ (Matt. 3:9),

and the Lord’s own words concerning the great faith of the centurion:

‘Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out’ (8:11,12).

The first occurrence of pleroma (‘fulness’) is found in Matthew 9:16 where it is translated ‘to fill up’, indicating a patch in a torn garment.

This is evidently the apostle’s intention in Romans 11:25. The failure and diminishing of Israel had, as it were, caused a ‘rent’ in the purpose of God, and the ‘fulness’ -- ‘that which fills up’ -- is supplied by the believing Gentiles .

The completion of the period of Israel’s blindness synchronizes with the Coming of the Lord, when they shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced, and so ‘all Israel shall be saved’. We must remember here that the term ‘Israel’ has already been defined. In Romans 9:4 the Israelites were those to whom the covenants and glory pertained, and we must remember that while every Israelite must be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, every descendant of these patriarchs is not necessarily an Israelite in the true meaning of the term:

‘For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called ... the children of the promise are counted for the seed’ (Rom. 9:6-8).

Every true Israelite is a child of promise, an elect person, and it is not, therefore, true to say that the ‘all Israel’ of Romans 11:26 must necessarily include every descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who has lived in the past, or who shall be living at the time of the end. God alone knows whom He has chosen, and these must be saved. Just as we discover that the sovereign choice of Jacob has no reference to his having ‘done good’, and the rejection of Esau has no reference to his having ‘done evil’ (Rom. 9:11), so we find that the purpose of God according to election stands, even though many true Israelites were ‘enemies’ because of the gospel. The election of God stands firm, for ‘the gifts and calling of God are without repentance’.

With the contemplation of God’s great overruling, using the blindness of Israel for Gentile blessing, and Gentile mercy for Israel’s ultimate salvation, the apostle brings his reasoning to a close and breaks into a doxology:

‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are the all things, to Whom be glory for ever, Amen’ (Rom. 11:33-36).

At the close of the great doctrinal section of Romans, we have the glorious ‘persuasion’ that nothing can separate from the love of God (8:38,39). At the close of the dispensational section, we have the doxology quoted above. And at the close of the epistle itself there is a further ascription of praise: ‘To the only wise God’ (16:25-27).

In a blaze that robs the eye of its natural vision, we perceive something of the glory of Jehovah, the One ‘Who was, Who is, and Who is to come’:

He Who Was ‘Of Him’ Ex – origin In the Past
He Who Is ‘Through Him’ Dia – cause In the Present
He Who is to Come ‘To Him’ Eis – goal In the Future


The All Things

‘All things’ here is ta panta, a form to be distinguished carefully from panta, without the article.

And so, with every acknowledgement of the immensity of our theme, and of our own incapacity to plumb its depths, we leave this great dispensational section of a mighty epistle, glad at the close to have come to the silencing of all argument, not because of the challenge, ‘Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God?’ but because worship has taken the place of argument, and adoration fills our hearts with song.

The Mystery that had been Silenced (16:25-27)

We now come to the closing section of the epistle to the Romans, a section that is of the utmost importance to understand, and about which a great deal of discussion has arisen. The genuineness of the doxology has been disputed, (1) on the ground that its position is unsuitable either at the end of chapter 14:23, where it stands in 190 manuscripts, or at the close of chapter 16; (2) on the ground of its ‘un-Pauline’ lack of simplicity. The doxology is unusually elaborate for Paul’s epistles, but there is of course no rule governing such a matter, and the nature of the subject in the case in point fully accounts for any complexity in its composition.

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why call my side "argument" but presumably your side of course remains "discussion"? As others on this CBBS can attest, I rarely get in an "arguing mode" and I'm not in one now. I have asked you legitimate and reasonable questions. at least I have been willing to discuss the matter with you. I don't see many others doing that, dear sir.

BORN AGAIN

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Believe whatever you want, find whatever work around for what is written you desire, I was only trying to help you understand about olive trees and how they were treated in the days when Christ walked the earth. If it doesn't help, then so be it. I just thought that I might have studied in more languages than you, or read more books than you, or have a better understanding of the idiomatic nature of the common tongue of the day which leads me to try to help people understand where in the Bible to find the answers, that is the best I can do. I now excuse myself from what is appearently a desire for argument, as I cannot be made partaker of THAT.

Thank you for your anticipated acknowledgment.

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From Watchman Nee's The Normal Christian Life:

In Fukien I once visited a man who owned an orchard of long-ien[7] trees. He had three or four acres of land and about three hundred fruit trees. I inquired if his trees had been grafted or if they were of the original native stock. 'Do you think', he replied, 'that I would waste my land growing ungrafted trees? What value could I ever expect from the old stock?

So I asked him to explain the process of grafting, which he gladly did. 'When a tree has grown to a certain height', he said, 'I lop off the top and graft on to it.' Pointing to a special tree he asked, 'Do you see that tree? I call it the father tree, because all the grafts for the other trees are taken from that one. If the other trees were just left to follow the course of nature, their fruit would be only about the size of a raspberry, and would consist mainly of thick skin and seeds. This tree, from which the grafts for all the others are taken, bears a luscious fruit the size of a plum, with very thin skin and a tiny seed; and of course all the grafted trees bear fruit like it.' 'How does it happen?' I asked. 'I simply take a little of the nature of the one tree and transfer it to the other', he explained. 'I make a cleavage in the poor tree and insert a slip from the good one. Then I bind it up and leave it to grow.' 'But how can it grow?' I asked. 'I don't know', he said, 'but it does grow.'

Then he showed me a tree bearing miserably poor fruit from the old stock below the graft, and rich juicy fruit from the new stock above the graft. 'I have left the old shoots with their useless fruit on them to show the difference', he said. 'From it you can understand the value of grafting. You can appreciate, can you not, why I grow only grafted trees?'

How can one tree bear the fruit of another? How can a poor tree bear good fruit? Only by grafting. Only by our implanting into it the life of a good tree. But if a man can graft a branch of one tree into another, cannot God take of the life of His Son and, so to speak, graft it into us?

BORN AGAIN

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I responded to this in the other thread, but you are falling into a non Biblical perspective here, but don't get mad at me, let me help instead;

Now, the Bible definately says in prophecy the tree was to be 'hewn down', the warning was that if the tree was 'cut down' the gentiles un naturally graphed into it would also be 'cut down'.

Here is the faulty word - died.

No one said anything about the tree having 'died'.

Anyone in horticulture should be able to confirm what the common annalogy of the date was, which was the tree was first un naturally graphed into by non Jews, gentiles.

This was done without any expectation that the un natural branches were to bear fruit, but to provoke the tree to bear fruit.

This is how you treat an ailing, failing, unproductive olive tree.

If and when this does not provoke the olive tree to bear fruit, then the tree is 'hewn down', 'cut down', leaving only the roots, which WILL then grow again, bearing fruit.

That is the ananlogy which was being used to a people who would by nature and custom understand the full value of the comparison.

No one said the tree died. God, as it is written will raise it up again, and what will it be but life from the dead!!!

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The Good Olive Tree Never Died

In the course of my discussions with you on this MB, the subject of the good olive tree came up for me twice, and I wanted to discuss this good olive tree for a moment.

It is important to realize that the good olive tree has never died, and that it still exists today. Paul says in Romans that the good olive tree is the believing remnant in and of Israel.

In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul says in Romans 10:19ff:

19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy by a ‘no people’, by a foolish nation will I anger you.”

20 But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found of them who sought me not; I was made manifest unto them who asked not after me.

21 But to Israel he says, All day long have I stretched my hands forth to a disobedient and gainsaying people.

Paul then continues in Romans 11:1:

1 I say then, Has God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

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Here Paul is saying that in Paul’s time, God has not cast away His people, and as an example of that Paul points to himself as one of the Israelites who is still part of God’s people.
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Paul then continues in Romans 11:2ff:

2 God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Do you not remember what the scripture says of Elijah? How he makes intercession to God against Israel, saying,

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and dug down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”

4 But what says the answer of God to him? “I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 Evenso at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

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Paul thus says that from as far back as Elijah’s time and also in Paul’s own time there was and always has been a remnant of grace, that is, of believing Israelites to whom belief was counted as righteousness (election of grace).

Later on in Romans, Paul calls this remnant of believing Israelites the good olive tree.
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Paul then continues in Romans 11:6ff:

6 And if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. And if it is of works, then it is no more of grace; otherwise work is no more work.

7 What then? Has Israel not obtained what he sought for? But the election has obtained it and the rest were blinded.

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Paul says that general Israel had not obtained what it sought for, but the remnant of believing Israelites has obtained it.
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Paul then continues in Romans 11:8ff:

8 (According as it is written, God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear), unto this day.

9 And David says, “Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumblingblock and a reward to them.

10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their backs always.

11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.

*******************************************
The fall of the unbelievers in Israel made it possible for salvation to come to Gentiles believers, and when the unbelieving Israelites see how pleasure and fervor the believing Gentiles receiver from the Israelites’ former LORD, some of those unbelieving descendants of Israelites will be provoked to jealousy thereby and be stirred back into belief
*******************************************

Paul now proceeds to say in Romans 11:12ff:

12 Now, if the fall of them {of the unbelieving portion of Israelites} be the riches of the world, and if the diminishing of them {of the unbelieving portion of Israelites} be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more shall their fullness?

13 For I speak to you, Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles (I magnify my office).

14 If by any means I might provoke to emulation them who are of my own flesh, and might save some of them.

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Here Paul says that he hopes that his excitement in the LORD will cause some of his own unbelieving portion of Israelites, to be saved. But note that Paul says that only some of them will be saved.
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Paul then continues in Romans 11:15ff:

15 For if the casting away of them {of the unbelieving portion of Israelites} was the reconciling of the world, what will be the receiving of them be, but life from the dead.

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and you {Gentiles}, being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and the fatness of the olive tree.

*******************************************
Paul says that the Gentile believers were grafted into the places where the branches of the unbelieving portion of Israelites had been broken off, and that with them, that is, with the believing portion of Israelites who are still in the good olive tree we partake of the root and of the fatness of the olive tree.

This good or cultivated olive tree was Israel which had been cultivated by the LORD. The Gentiles were the uncultivated or wild olive tree, and the believing portion of those Gentiles were grafted in where the unbelieving portion of Israelite branches were broken off the cultivated olive tree.

But as you can see, the olive tree never died, nor has it ever gone away. The good, cultivated olive tree has always been alive, and since the time of Jesus Christ, this good olive tree now consists of believing Israelites and of believing Gentiles.

Only some branches were broken off!. The roots and the trunk and many of the branches of the good olive tree were and still remain intact!

So since the time of Jesus Christ, the good olive tree now consists of believing Israelites who have always been part of the good olive tree and of Gentile believers.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this good olive has never passed away and has never died. It has always existed from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Jesus Christ and it exist still now because I am part of it.
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Paul then continues in Romans 11:23:

23 And they also {the unbelieving portion of Israelites}, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted back in again.

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Please note that only if any of the unbelieving Israelites believe again in the LORD and in His Messiah, only then can they too be grafted back in again[/b]. But they must first believe again before they can be grafted back in again.
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24 For if you {Gentiles} were cut out of an olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall they {the unbelieving portion of Israelites} who were the natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness is in part happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.

26 And so shall all Israel be saved, as it is written, There shall come out Zion the Deliverer who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

27 For this is my covenant to them, when I take away their sins.

28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

30 For as you {Gentiles} in times past have not believed God, yet now have you {Gentiles} obtained mercy through their unbelief {the unbelief of the unbelieving portion of Israel}.

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he mighty have mercy upon all.

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I think we will admit that Paul says that the unbelieving portion of Israelites can be grafted back in again provided that they no longer remain in unbelief.

But what then are we to make of Paul’s statement in Romans 11:26:

26 And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out Zion the Deliverer who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

Has Paul suddenly abandoned the notion that the unbelieving portion of Israelites can only enter in if they believe again? I think not.

I’ll post this at this point to see what your answers may be to these last two issues:

What does Paul have in mind when he says, And so all Israel shall be saved? and There shall come out Zion the Deliverer who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

God bless, BORN AGAIN [Cross]

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