See the Goodness of God
11I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. 12Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? 13For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; 14if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. 15For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? 16If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. 17But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; 18don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” 20True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; 21for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
The apostle Paul said that although Israel had abandoned God, God had not rejected his people and was at work through the remnant. I have pondered when such a God shows his goodness and when he brings severe judgment, and by what standard. The answer was love. Because he loves, he holds us close with a kind face; because he loves, he brings severe judgment; and he has cast away, without holding back, not only those he loved but even the love he had given.
A farmer who plants and raises a tree must put in great effort and toil. Yet the farmer who mercilessly cuts away branches raised with such care and grafts in branches from another tree must have done so out of an earnest longing for fruit. After tending the good olive tree for years with loving care and seeing it bear no fruit, the farmer grafted in sturdy branches from a wild olive, hoping it would become a tree that bears fruit. What do you suppose the farmer was thinking when first planting the good olive sapling in rich soil? The farmer would have expected that with good care for one year, two years, three years, it would grow into a tall tree heavy with fruit. But seeing branches that bore no fruit even after several years, the farmer resolved that, costly as it was, they had to be cut. The farmer had meant to raise the good olive tree well and use its oil to benefit many people, but the branches withered and bore no fruit. All the love poured out over those years had come to nothing.
The good olive tree stands for Israel, and the wild olive for the Gentiles. When God chose Israel as his people, he expected that they would proclaim the gospel to the nations according to his will. But human stubbornness was wicked enough to trample on God’s mercy. Throughout their history God gave them chances to know his love and to repent, but they treated not only the love they had received but God’s very heart like garbage. Seeing this, God cut away everything: the grace he had given in love, their abundant life, even their salvation. You must clearly understand this: even when God has given someone wealth, power, and a life worth boasting of, if these have nothing to do with spiritual fruit, he does not merely take away what they have; he casts away both those things and the person together. Fruit on a rotten branch is of no use. Scripture expresses this by saying that the branches of the good olive tree were broken off without being spared. If we fail to give thanks for the love that grafted us, once wild olives, into the good olive tree and made us bear the fruit of salvation, God will cut us off without sparing us. You will ask how a God of love could do such a thing; it can happen because of God’s goodness and his severity. If the farmer is already standing with saw in hand, studying a branch and weighing whether to cut it, that branch has already displeased the farmer, and it may have no more chances. The farmer has already done everything possible to raise that branch well, and will therefore feel no regret in cutting off a branch that bears no fruit.
Romans 11:11
11I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.
Israel spurned the will of God, who had waited through countless years in hope of fruit, and in the end they killed Jesus, the Son of God. Again and again God gave them chances, longing for them to be his children, but Israel cut that relationship off. Because the Jews thought that faith meant keeping the law by deeds rather than doing God’s will, they could take the lead in persecuting Jesus. You must consider how deeply it grieves the heart of God to watch Israel, the people he loved, persecute the Savior. The apostle Paul described Israel’s conduct as stumbling and falling, and the Jews stumbled because they would not change their thinking. No one can know the whole of God’s will, but for chosen Israel to defy it because they could not lay down their own ideas and righteousness was clearly sin. Works without faith are not love. Works without love are pretense. And works without obedience are a lie.
Israel tried to win God’s approval by keeping the law, but God did not count those works as faith. The zeal of the Jews was not the faith God desired. What he wanted was not zeal for works but faith. If the Jews claim that they loved God because they strove to keep the law, they understand nothing of God’s will. That God forgave Adam’s sin, and our sins today, is love. When he hears our foolish prayers with a kind face, and when with a stern face he raises the rod of suffering to stop us living as we please, it is because he loves us. Had it been a matter of effort, he would have had no reason to hang his Son on a cross, since God is the Almighty, who has no need to strive that hard. When we see God’s goodness, we do not truly love him. We pretend to love him because there is something we want, and we pretend to be diligent because we do not want to see his severe face. That is why we cannot give up our own righteousness or make sacrifices for God. Seeing such pretense in Israel and in us, God may decide to cut us off from the deeply rooted tree. He cut off the branches that bore no fruit after years of tending, grafted in sturdy branches from the wild olive, and made them bear fruit.
Acts 13:46
46Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
Because Israel, chosen by God, would not listen to the gospel Paul preached, they did not enjoy the riches and privileges that were rightfully theirs. When the Jews failed to enjoy the blessings of heaven and acted foolishly, God saw it and caused the Gentiles to hear the gospel first and receive Christ. You believe your own judgments and decisions are right; but what will you do if, in God’s eyes, they are as wrong as those of the Jews? If God’s will and yours differ, then however right your judgment seems, you must change your mind. What is truly heartbreaking is that this careless abandonment of the gospel by the Jews was God’s plan to bring the gospel to the Gentiles first. Had Israel offered God a humble faith when they received grace, their blessing would not have been taken from them. Because God knew Israel would not be born again, he planned to use their stubbornness to save the Gentiles first. He used their hard hearts to cause the Gentiles to be blessed.
Paul and the other disciples preached the gospel to the Jews before the Gentiles, but when the Jews would not receive it, salvation turned toward the Gentiles. The news that God had saved the Gentiles first would have come as a shock to the Jews. In keeping with God’s promise to Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him, the gospel went to the Jews first, but they let their chance of salvation slip away. God still wants to bless his people today, but those with hard hearts do not know how precious that grace is, and so others are receiving the blessing first. The people who lost heaven’s prepared blessing to others in this way are none other than Israel.
God wanted chosen Israel to grow jealous when they saw the salvation of the Gentiles, whom they had not even treated as human, and he wanted them to receive Christ. This shows that Israel’s distance from salvation was not God’s failure but God’s plan for the salvation of both the Gentiles and the Jews.
Romans 11:12
12Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?
The Jews’ effort to preserve their faith by works ended in failure, and their failure became the opportunity for the gospel to reach the world. The Gentiles had never received the law, yet they heard the good news that whoever believes in Jesus Christ is saved, and they became God’s people. The stubbornness of the Jews, who refused the blessings of heaven God had prepared, instead gave the Gentiles the glory of meeting God. Had Israel, chosen as God’s people, been saved first, God would have accomplished his plan of salvation perfectly through their witness, since the word to Abraham, that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him, would have been fulfilled as a matter of course. If the Jews had shown the humility to receive Jesus Christ, they would have enjoyed spiritual riches until the last day. But because they stumbled, Paul said that their fall had become the riches of the world and their loss the riches of the Gentiles. Paul’s heart ached as he watched his own people take God’s love for granted and fall into pride, but because he believed in God’s goodness, he never doubted the salvation of the Jews. Knowing what verse 25 says, that “a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in,” Paul tells the Gentiles that they must be all the more humble.
Human stubbornness, it seems, is not something that gets cured. The Gentiles, who could be saved because the Jews had stumbled, refused to let the Jews into the church, and once they became the majority there, they forgot God and grew proud. Seeing this, the apostle Paul told them that while it was true the Jews had rejected the gospel, the Gentiles had been saved first because God planned to stir up the jealousy of the Jews through them. People who have forgotten to give thanks and people who have forgotten their first love behave exactly alike. When they are rescued from trouble, they thank God who gave them grace and those who went before them; but as time passes and grace comes to be taken for granted, they forget it all and do something as absurd as persecuting the Jews.
Just as Israel received God’s absolute love, the Gentiles are loved by God because of his good and kind nature. Just as becoming the chosen people was entirely God’s doing, the salvation of the Gentiles is likewise a grace brought about by God’s choice alone. If the Gentiles have received the gospel through the grace of God and the sacrifice of the apostle Paul, they must now pray for the salvation of the Jews to repay that love. If they nonetheless take their own salvation for granted and act proudly, God will not call such a person one of his saints.
Romans 11:15
15For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead?
The word “reject” in verse 1 means to throw away and no longer care for, whereas “rejection” in verse 15 means to set aside for a while. God did not cast them off for good; he held them back for a time, until the number of the Gentiles is complete. One day, when the full number of the Gentiles has come in, God will work for the salvation of the Jews, so the Gentiles must give themselves to the salvation of the Jews.
Romans 11:16
16If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.
The people of Israel offered God the first grain to ripen. Once that offering had been made to God, all the grain people used in daily life became holy grain. Israel is like the holy lump of dough offered to God, and from this we can see how great a love Israel received as it stood before God. Though the Gentiles were saved first in Israel’s place, God did not cast Israel away for good; he treasured it like a root that had not been pulled up. God wanted Israel to send its roots down deep and bear much fruit, and he wanted every nation to be changed through its witness. But when it bore no fruit, he grafted in the wild olive and caused it to draw the rich sap of the good olive tree’s root.
Romans 11:18-19
18don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
When Scripture says the root was preserved, it means that although Israel sinned by refusing to believe the gospel, God did not pull it up by the roots, so that he might fulfill the promises he had made to them. God cut off Israel’s branches and gave life to the Gentiles, the wild olive; yet this time it was the Gentiles who forgot to be thankful and grew proud. Grafting is a cultivating technique in which parts of two different trees are cut and joined so that they grow as a single plant. It is said that if the branch grafted on is not healthy, the tree may even rot. You can see how much thought a farmer puts into cutting as well as grafting. The blessing rightly belonged to the Jews, but because they did not abide in grace and relied instead on human righteousness, they were cut off. How foolish it is to think one can reach heaven by one’s own righteousness without Jesus Christ, or get through this world by one’s own strength!
When a branch says it is safe because it is attached to the good olive tree, and the farmer brings a sturdy branch to graft and cuts away the proud branch that bears no fruit and only consumes nourishment, there will be no second chance. A farmer does not cut off a branch that bears fruit, even if it looks a little weak, because the farmer expects that one day it will bear much fruit. You may ask how God could cut off branches; but because he forsook his own Son for this fruit, he does not hesitate to cut a branch away. That is why Paul writes in verses 20-21: “True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.” If a wild olive branch grafted into the good olive tree harbors pride, God will not hesitate to cut it off, since he did not spare even the natural branches.
When Gentiles who have no merit at all, whether regarding Jesus Christ, God’s election, or the gospel, grow proud as they look at Israel, set aside for a while in God’s plan, it is folly indeed. If the Gentiles forget that they could be saved thanks to the Jews and grow proud, God will cut off his relationship with them, just as he cut off the natural branches. Look at the proud, at those who have forgotten grace, at those who have forgotten to give thanks, at those who are content with where they now stand as though their position had come from their own ability all along: strangely enough, they all say and do the same things. Such words and deeds are just like those of Satan, who betrayed God.
Before the Gentiles were saved, without any condition, there was Israel’s suffering, God’s endless patience, and Jesus’ complete sacrifice. It was because all of this came first that the Gentiles could receive salvation. To forget so much grace is, in the end, to admit one’s own sin when one meets the severe face of God. God set aside the Jews, who stumbled over the gospel, for the sake of the Gentiles. The Gentiles were not chosen because of their own dedication. The God who did not spare even Israel, the natural branches, has no reason to let proud Gentiles go on wasting the nourishment of the good olive tree. People who are proud because they believe they are saved, and people who forget God’s grace and set up their own righteousness, will not remain attached to the good olive tree.
Romans 11:22
22See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
God has both goodness and severity. Toward those who, though weak, strive in faith, he is boundlessly good; toward those who forget grace and show unbelief, he is boundlessly severe. If the Gentiles fail to stand firm in faith and grow proud, he will cut them off, just as the natural branches were broken off. Sinners thrown into death by Adam’s sin have been saved by God’s goodness and Christ’s sacrifice; why, then, are they proud? I cannot understand it at all. God is the Lord of your life, the Creator of this world, the master of angels and of Satan, and the King of this present age and of the eternal kingdom. If those who live by the grace of such a God cannot let go of their own righteousness and therefore fail to recover their first love, God has no reason to spare them. If God hides his goodness and shows his severity, he will take the life of the sinner, who is less than a worm, and shut them away in everlasting darkness.
Let me plead with you earnestly: I hope you will never show the folly of having no wisdom or the pride of having no gratitude. However much knowledge you have, could it exceed the true knowledge of God? However much wealth you have, could it exceed that of God, the owner of heaven and earth and all things? Once God raises his hand, there is no way back and no further chance. In a world piled high with deadly dangers, if God withdraws his hedge of protection, no one can turn his heart. If you think you have been blessed, if you think you have been saved, if you believe God has guided your life with a kind face, may you put an end to pride and sinful deeds. This is because God’s severity makes no compromise at all; it is utterly strict. It was our wrongdoing that made God turn his kind face into a severe one, and only our humble faith can turn his severe face back into a kind one.
Many Israelites are now returning, having seen the salvation of the Gentiles. As they watch them come back to God, the Gentiles must realize that little time is left. While God is giving you this chance, you must pray for the Jews to be saved through the gospel and evangelize so that God’s Kingdom may grow. If you lay aside the nature of the wild olive and remain humble so as to bear the fruit of the good olive tree, God will help you bear still more fruit. May you be people who give your utmost to make God’s goodness known throughout the world, and God’s holy people, who fill his kingdom with a good people.