Romans Chapter 11 Vs. 16

 

Gentiles Grafted In

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. Rom 11:16

firstfruit be holy... "The firstfruit" refers to the first Jews blessed in the gospel and "the lump" to the whole nation that will be blessed and become holy in the end (Rom. 11:16, 11:25-29; Isa. 66:7-8; Zec. 12:10-13:1; 14:1-21). "The root and fatness of the olive tree" refer to Christ and God’s blessings of the Abrahamic and New Covenant. "The branches" are the Israelites, like true Christians are the branches in the vine of John 15:1-8. Is also the first portion of the harvest, which was to be given to the Lord.

lump is also... Because the first fruit offering represented the entire portion, the entire piece of dough could be said to be holy, set apart to God.

the root be... The root of the tree is the covenantal promise to Abraham, which anticipated blessing to Jew and Gentile. Israel’s essential nature is holy (set apart of God’s purpose).

James 1:18 “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

Jesus Christ is the root. In fact, He is the Tree and we are the branches. A peach tree does not produce apples, but peaches. If Christ is the tree, then we Christians are the branches. A Christian should be Christ like.

In (verses 17-24), Paul sternly warns the Gentiles against pride and arrogance because of Israel’s rejection and their being grafted in.

Paul was convinced that Israel’s stumbling is temporary rather than permanent and that the nation will be restored as God’s people. With two illustrations Paul showed why he believed this. His first illustration was taken from God’s instructions to Israel to take “a cake from the first of [their] ground meal and present it as an offering” (Num. 15:20) after they entered the land of Canaan and reaped their first wheat harvest. This offering was to be repeated each year at their harvests. The cake made from the first ground meal of the wheat harvest was sanctified or made holy by being offered to God. As Paul explained, If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits (lit., “If the firstfruits”) is holy, then the whole batch is holy (lit., “the lump is also”). Paul’s second illustration was that of a tree: If the root is holy, so are the branches.

In both illustrations the principle is the same: what is considered first contributes its character to what is related to it. With a tree, the root obviously comes first and contributes the nature of that type of tree to the branches that come later. With the cake presented to the Lord, the flour for the cake is taken from the ground meal, but that cake is formed and baked first and presented as a firstfruit. Since it is set apart to the Lord first, it sanctifies the whole harvest. The firstfruits and the root represent the patriarchs of Israel or Abraham personally, and the lump and the branches represent the people of Israel. As a result Israel is set apart (holy) to God, and her “stumbling” (rejection of Christ) must therefore be temporary.