Romans 11:17, commentary and pictures

Some of the natural branches were broken off because of unbelief and disobedience, and Gentile believers as wild olive branches were grafted in among those that remained to share the nourishment and richness of the root. The good olive tree is Israel, God's people and His true church in every age, and its true stock and root is Christ Jesus in whom all branches center for life. Those grafted in partake of the life and covenant blessings once given to ancient Israel, and they stand only by faith, for the root bears them and they do not bear the root. They must not boast against the branches or be highminded, but fear and continue in God's goodness by bringing forth fruit in obedience, for if God spared not the natural branches He will not spare the grafted branches but will cut them off if they fall into unbelief. Jews who do not remain in unbelief will be grafted into their own olive tree again, and believing Gentiles become the Israel of God with earnest responsibility to labor wisely for their restoration.

Olive Tree Symbols

The good old olive tree is Israel, the people of God and His true church in every age, and obedience to His commandments gives right to its privileges. Those grafted in share the root and fatness once given as privileges to ancient Israel, for believing Gentiles as a new Israel were grafted into that old tree and joined to the people of God to share its root, nourishment and blessings. The unbelief and malice and rejection of many Jews did not turn aside God's purpose to gather a people, for whole communities received the gospel gladly and glorified God for the light of an intelligent faith.

The true stock and root of the tree is Christ Jesus, the parent vine stock of the true church in whom all branches center for life. The seed of Israel who accept Christ are grafted into Him, and many of the broken-off seed may yet be grafted to that true stock through direct gospel work. That work is to be encouraged and helped and not hindered by many forbiddings, with the Lord working through men of different nationalities laboring for their fellow countrymen. The wild olive branches grafted in among the remaining natural branches are Gentile believers, admitted to the true church through preaching of the gospel after the middle wall of partition was broken down. They were grafted in among those that remain after some natural branches were broken off because of unbelief and disobedience, and being grafted in they stand only by faith.

To partake of the root and fatness is to share the root's nourishment, life and richness, the privileges once given to ancient Israel and the covenant blessings given to Abraham. Gentile believers made one with the original branches receive that life and strength, and the branch must remain connected to bear fruit. The grafted branches do not bear the root but the root bears them, supporting them rather than being supported by them. If the root is holy so are the branches, and those from the wild olive share its root and richness only by faith.

After Israel rejected and cast out God's planted vine, the vine was removed from human reach and planted where its stem cannot be harmed, while its branches extend within reach so that grafts may be joined to it. The rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles is one of the deep things of God, which finite minds comprehend little and few try to ascertain. Its truth is both beautiful and plain enough for all to understand and at the same time a deep mystery and doctrine requiring deep thought to understand, and it must not be misinterpreted, misapplied, or weakened as lightly inspired. Knowledge of it grows as God opens His Word, for the Bible is a progressive book and communication of its intelligence grows with its opening to the understanding.

Branches Broken Off

Some of the natural branches were broken off because of unbelief and disobedience. The wild olive tree grafted in among those that remained partakes with them of the root and fatness of the olive tree, sharing the root's nourishment and the privileges once given to ancient Israel and standing only by faith. The grafted branches do not bear the root but the root bears them, and election is conditional, broken by disobedience yet secured by complying with God's conditions with perfect obedience as evidence of love to God. Therefore there is no ground for boasting against the branches or high-mindedness, but fear and continuing in God's goodness are required, lest unbelief bring severity and the grafted also be cut off as the natural branches were not spared.

That unbelief was impenitence and unfruitfulness as guardians of truth, rejecting God's word, messengers and law and rejecting Christ. They refused His mercy and His offers of salvation, failed to discern the divinity of His mission though He worked miracles among them as His own chosen people, ascribed His power to cast out devils to the chief of devils, and crucified the heir. As a fruitless nation they were separated from Christ the living vine and cut off altogether from the parent vine and from God, while the branch must remain connected to receive life and strength to bear fruit. When God's presence departed the temple its ceremonies lost meaning and became mockery.

The unbelief and rejection and malice of the Jews did not turn aside God's purpose to gather a people. Believing Gentiles as a new Israel were grafted into the old olive tree, joined to the people of God to share its root, richness, heritage and blessings. Whole communities received the gospel gladly and glorified God for the light of an intelligent faith.

That grafting was prepared during Christ's life as He sought to lead the Jews out of exclusiveness by direct work outside acknowledged Israel in the conversion of the centurion and of the Syrophoenician woman. It came as the time for active and continued work among the Gentiles when the synagogues were closed against the apostles and they preached the word of God in private houses and in public buildings of the Gentiles.

Gentiles Grafted In

Gentiles were admitted to the true church through the preaching of the gospel after the middle wall of partition was broken down, grafted as wild by nature among the remaining branches to share the root and richness of the olive tree whose parent stock centers all life in itself. The broken branches remain objects of earnest interest, and the church so formed is composed not of ministers only but of many members united in that stock. Those thus grafted in stand only by faith, sharing with Israel the root and its fatness after some natural branches were broken off because of unbelief. The root supports them and not they the root, and if the root is holy so are the branches.

By this grafting believing Gentiles become a new Israel grafted into the old olive tree, so that Jewish unbelief and malice did not turn aside the purpose to gather a people. Communities receiving the gospel gladly join God's people and share the heritage, nourishment and blessings already given to Israel, glorifying God for the light of an intelligent faith. Those brought out step by step from the world upon the platform of Bible truth become God's individual, personal Israel, the Israel of God. Therefore the Sabbath given as a sign between God and Israel throughout their generations forever remains binding upon them as a memorial of six-day creation and rest on the seventh day.

Election is conditional and can be broken by disobedience, because obedience to the commandments gives right to the privileges of the church in every age. It is secured by complying with God's conditions, with perfect obedience as evidence of love to God. Those grafted into the tame olive tree bear the fruit of the genuine tree under continual watchcare and providence over all their ways as they look to Jesus and become like Him with intelligent faith in the good and perfect government of God.

Warning to Continue

Those grafted in must not boast against the branches, be high-minded, speak of self, despise the Jews, or disparage the agencies God has placed, but must fear God. Gentile believers are as branches of a wild olive tree grafted in among the natural branches after some were broken off because of unbelief, to share with them the root and fatness of the olive tree and to stand only by faith, for they do not bear the root but the root bears them. Among the Jews the Lord has mighty men who will proclaim the truth and the immutability of the law with wonderful power, and when present truth is brought to Jews everywhere many will come to the light, so Jews are not to be despised. If the root is holy so are the branches, and Israel's branches were broken off because of unbelief while Gentile believers stand by faith.

God shows goodness toward those who continue in His goodness and severity toward those who fell in unbelief, and if He spared not the natural branches He will also not spare the grafted branches but cut them off unless they continue. Election is conditional and can be broken by disobedience, but is secured by complying with God's conditions, with perfect obedience as evidence of love to God. Those grafted in share the root and richness of God's people and the privileges once given to ancient Israel, because Christ has a church in every age and obedience to His commandments gives right to its privileges. Unbelief that broke off branches was impenitence and unfruitfulness of ancient Israel as guardians of truth who rejected messengers and crucified the heir, and the grafted-in must not boast but fear and speak of the matchless love of Jesus rather than speaking of self with envy and evil speaking.

Continuing requires bringing forth fruit, confessing and forsaking sin rather than covering sin and hardening the heart, fearing always, and obeying with humility. Humility and fear rather than high-mindedness are required, for those grafted in will also be cut off if they do not continue. Israel's sin in rejecting God's word and Christ stands before the church of today as its own possible fate if professed followers pass God's warnings by unheeded, leave opportunities for service unimproved, let the world's scorn, the pride of reason, and conformity to human customs and traditions hold them from service, and reject God's word and law as the Jewish leaders rejected Christ.

The warning forbids disparaging the agencies God has placed in the church even when tares are among the wheat and evils are seen among Sabbath-keepers, calling instead for purification that makes the church a bright light. Their place comes through faith, not superiority, so they must not boast against the branches broken off through unbelief or devalue what God has placed in the church, since they are supported by the root. Envy and evil speaking and high-minded talk of self are forbidden.

God's rising people are warned to be careful never to fall again, lest as branches they be cut off and others be raised up in their stead. Those cut off are those who let go of God and fail to keep the ascendancy above the powers of darkness, who become stubborn, rebellious, unfruitful and a dead weight wounding and tearing the hearts of God's people, and who lack vital godliness without partaking of Jesus' spirit and sanctification by the truth they profess, and they will be purged out of Israel and out of the camp of Israel. Others who had not heard the Adventist doctrine and rejected it will embrace the truth, bear fruit and work to the glory of God, and take their places. To remain and avoid being cut off they must daily rise, hold on to God by living faith, rise together unitedly, keep close to Jesus, and fast and pray to get the victory over the powers of darkness.

The verse belongs with praise of the depth of the riches of God's wisdom and knowledge, His unsearchable judgments and ways past finding out, as lessons for the whole church to study on religious duty. It shows the privilege of understanding and knowing God's will, increasing in faith and righteousness, and growing up in Christ the living Head. It calls every church member to his fitted work according to capability and measure of faith, all blending in a complete whole, presenting the body a living sacrifice, being transformed by renewing of the mind rather than conformed to the world, and not thinking of self more highly than ought.

Jews to Be Restored

The Jewish nation as a whole was cut off from the parent vine after rejecting Christ and refusing His offers of mercy, so that Gentiles might be grafted in, yet Jews who do not remain in unbelief will be grafted into their own olive tree again. Gentile believers stand only by faith as wild branches grafted in among the remaining natural branches to share the root and fatness of the good tree, and they must not boast or be highminded but fear and continue in God's goodness. Belief in Christ still gives Jews the privilege of becoming partakers with the Gentiles of God's salvation as children of heavenly birth, for the gospel has power to graft them in again, working transformation of character and manifesting the fruits of the Spirit in those once dead in trespasses and sins who might have become members of the royal family displaying the riches of His grace through succeeding ages.

Among the Jews the Lord has mighty men who will yet proclaim the truth with power, and they are not to be despised by those grafted in. When the light of present truth is brought to Jews everywhere many will come to the light. Those converts will proclaim the immutability of the law of God with wonderful power.

Gentile believers bear responsibility for the salvation of the Jews, with interest taken in those broken off and special earnest efforts made for the Jewish race. In the last days special efforts are to gather the cut-away branches out of the world and engraft them once more into the true vine stock, which is Christ Jesus the parent stock in whom all branches center for life and into whom the seed of Israel are grafted when they accept Him. That work for the Jews must be treated with special wisdom and must not be ignored, for the wisdom of God must come to His people so that in all wisdom and righteousness they clear the King's highway and give the Jews every opportunity of coming to the light. The grafting of many of the seed of Israel to the true stock is done through direct work in their behalf, to be encouraged and helped and not bound about by many forbiddings, with the Lord working through men of different nationalities to reach their fellow countrymen. This calls for careful study of the whole chapter of Romans 11.

The success to be sought through patient work is converts who, though cut off from their people for accepting Christ, are gathered into a refuge home where they are sheltered, trained and taught to work for their own people.

The Jews were broken off as branches because they failed to fulfill God's purpose, refusing to receive Christ though He worked miracles among them as His own chosen people, failing to discern the divinity of His mission and ascribing His power to cast out devils to the chief of devils, and by disconnecting from the True Vine through impenitence when Christ was revealed in human likeness they were cut off altogether. They can be grafted into the parent stock again and bear fruit to the glory of God if in humility they stand on the right platform, repent and receive Christ as Saviour. Through such conversion Jews and Gentiles alike are grafted into the living vine stock, receiving peace with God and a sanctified conscience, dwelling together in peace and love and unity because of oneness with Christ, transformed in character and temper to kindness, renewed in love to God through Jesus Christ, made partakers of the divine nature in disposition, words and works, and bearing fruit in good works by His Spirit.

Fruitful Union Applied

The graft shares the tree's nourishment, and this pictures how a sinner who is naturally opposed to Christ becomes united to the living vine by self-renunciation, faith and obedience, becoming dependent on Him and receiving life and strength from Him to bear the fruit Christ bore. The branch must remain connected to the vine in order to be living and fruitful, for the fruitless nation was separated from Christ while those joined to Him are made fruitful. That union is preserved through Christ's power to guard it and through the believer's continual, earnest effort, since spiritual life cannot be drawn from one another but each must receive life from Christ.

The evidence of the graft is bearing fruit exactly like that of the stock, which requires the Spirit of Christ and holding the truth in righteousness. What the truth is doing must be revealed in words and actions at all times, in conduct and character showing goodness, mercy, compassion, tenderness and lovingkindness that display the vine's worth, while harshness and coarseness fail to represent Him. A watching world judges the message by that spirit, and only such Christlike character will lead many by seeing good works to glorify the Father in heaven. Those who hold the truth should show by their words and actions what it is doing even in people not yet enlightened, for the Lord works with such branches and does not withdraw His grace until they are convicted of the truth and reject the evidence given to enlighten them.

All who claim to believe the truth, ministers and people and those who minister in word and doctrine, are grafted into the same parent stock and are not independent branches standing apart from each other. The church is composed not of ministers only but of many members united in Christ, with every consecrated life grafted as an individual into one parent stock where individuality is not sunk in another but is developed and beautified. That means unity in diversity, with mind blending with mind yet no two of the same mold, and abundant room for all in harmonious diversity to act the part assigned them. They must therefore stand shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart, work together in right lines, heed and advance with the light given for these last days and prepare the way for the Lord, gathering up the light on health reform and going forth together to give to others what they have received, lest the light already possessed become darkness.

Receiving the seed does not by itself change the kind of fruit borne, for if the seed is grafted onto the wild olive the fruit remains wild olives. Accepting the truth outwardly does not transform a person whose natural character remains unchanged, for without faith working through love and purifying the soul, unrenewed passions rule, humility gives way to coarseness, and selfish and inherited tendencies with pride produce deception and falsehood. Such a person is like a wild vine bearing fruit unto death rather than one living in renewed connection with God, and like a wild branch grafted among the olive branches that stood for errors entering in place of truth and bearing harmful fruit that brought centuries of darkness and ignorance. The fruit of the wild olive is opposite to the fruit of branches abiding in the vine, not palatable but very bitter, seen in family life when a husband is selfish, harshly critical, overbearing and dictatorial, refusing to bear household burdens and demanding privileges while neglecting duty as father and husband, so that the bitter course brings bitterness back upon himself.

God grafts a person from a wild olive tree into a good olive tree, giving grace to do what is right in His sight and making him a chosen vessel. This becomes possible through a course of obedience when, though born of a wicked father, surrounded with temptations to follow in his father's steps and with few counselors to encourage the right way, he refuses to repeat his father's unrighteousness, learns warning from the errors of fathers and grandfathers, determines to climb upward instead of descending to sin and degradation, chooses the right way and presses on in the upward path though surrounded by wickedness. The same grafting image also describes ideas given by the Lord being grafted into another person's stock, so that the person's articles carried those ideas.