p. 8 | Studies in Romans

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 29, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 31.

Studies in Romans

The Grafting in of the Gentiles.

THE eleventh chapter of Romans tells the real philosophy of the falling away of the Jewish nation and the accepting of the Gentile nations instead. Each statement of the chapter should be studied closely; while the entire chapter is quoted below for the convenience of the reader in studying it, yet we can find space to notice only a part of its wealth of truth.

"I say then, Did God cast off His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God did not cast off His people which He foreknew. Or know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he pleadeth with God against Israel: Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, they have digged down Thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened: according as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day. And David saith, "Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow Thou down their back always. "I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Now if their fall is

the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them. For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? And if the first-fruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive-tree; glory not over the branches; but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will He spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive-tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive-tree? "As touching the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of. For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy. For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and thru Him, and unto Him, are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Rom. 11:1-36.

The first verses state that God did not cast off His people, for Paul himself was an Israelite, and he had not been cast off. And all that Paul enjoyed of the Christian life could have been the portion of every other person living in his day if he had simply followed Paul's course in accepting it. God did not cast away His people. Our Father holds to and saves every one who will allow Him to do so. If any are cast away, it is of their own choice. They cast themselves away.

The apostle calls attention to the mistake that Elijah made in thinking that he was the only one left in his day who had not given himself to idolatry. But the Lord showed the prophet that there were thousands who were true to Him. And in this time it is not for us to think that there are none besides us that are true to God. We know not till the harvest is gathered into the heavenly garner who are the ones who are really true to the moral law of Jehovah.

God called out the Jewish nation to be a light to the rest of the world, but they had put their light under a bushel. They had hedged themselves in by barriers of exclusiveness until they thought that no other nation was fit to associate with them, and so the very light that God had given them had become darkness. The Spirit of Christ and of His work is a strong missionary spirit. And whenever one of His professed followers loses this missionary spirit, he has laid the corner-stone in the foundation of the structure of exclusiveness and hypocrisy that the Jews built about themselves.

God's promise to Abraham was, "In thee shall all the nations be blessed." Gal. 3:8. The Jews lost sight of this great commission to the world that God had given to Abraham, and hence they fell, and "by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles." But it is made plain that their fall was not necessary for the salvation of the Gentiles. For-"if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?" Verses 11, 12. God will save the Gentiles regardless of the falling away of the Jewish nation—regardless of the fact that they failed to perform the great commission that was committed to them thru Abraham. But how much broader and more glorious would have been this salvation if the Jews had fulfilled the infinite plan by doing their appointed work!

There is a disposition on the part of a great many to cast contempt upon the Jews. But such a course is forbidden to Christians as the following words show: "But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive-tree; glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee." The Gentile is grafted into the root "among" them; he does not supplant them.

"By their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith." Their own unbelief broke them off from God. The Gentile who has become connected with Christ stands in that position by the exercise of faith. And in view of this fact we have the exhortation: "Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will He spare thee. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell [behold His] severity; but toward thee [behold] God's goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." The tendency of mankind is to think that they hold special privileges because they have some peculiar endowments of birth or something of the kind. But these verses from God's Book show that He acts with absolute impartiality. He recognizes what men are, and not what their fathers were. The immediate sons of Abraham who committed the vile acts of the heathen around them were not considered in any more favorable light by the Lord than were the heathen themselves. It is not the usual thing for men to do in this way; but that is God's plan.

"And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive-tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive-tree?" There are two very important truths contained in this verse: God is yearning to graft the Jews in again into the place where they belong by nature of their relation to the original plan and promises that were given to their father Abraham. This truth is first stated, and then emphasized by stating it again in the form of a question. And then we have the further important truth that the Gentile is grafted into the tame olive-root contrary to the law of nature. In the natural world the fruit on the graft is always the same as the tree from which the scion was taken. But in this case the fruit is "contrary to nature,"—it is according to the root into which the graft is placed. Then the individual is grafted into the root so that he may bear the right kind of fruit, and not that he may improve the fruit that the root is already bearing.

This teaching of the apostle in the eleventh chapter of Romans, as in many other portions of the divine word, shows that God has just one plan of salvation. Both Jew and Gentile are to be saved thru the same Gospel. "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they that are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham." Gal. 3:8, 9. T.