Romans 11:1-23 Circling Back to the Olive Tree

Romans 11:1-23 circles around a metaphor of an Olive Tree consisting of those who believe in God. It goes on to discuss that those who lose their belief in God are pruned off like branches from an olive tree. Furthermore, the Gentiles who weren’t part of the olive tree beforehand, are branches that are added to that tree.

Verses 19 and 20 infer that when the branches are cut off, the branches of Gentles who believe in God through Jesus are branches that REPLACE the ones that are cut off. That seems to imply that Gentiles have to wait for an opening created by cutting the branches off before they can be branches in that olive tree. Does that make sense, considering that in Matthew 28:18-19 the Holy Ghost of Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 28:18 “...’All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...’”? Seems that would mean a lot of people waiting for an opening on the olive tree!

In the context of the Bible, the implied keyword is that of “INCLUSION.” In that context, everyone who believes in God through Jesus would be ADDED to the olive tree, not waiting to REPLACE those on the olive tree who faltered in their belief in God.

And who are the people on the olive tree, and added to it, who would remain on the olive tree? Those who believe in God. That would include Jews who only go by the Old Testament in addition to Gentiles who believe in God. Nowhere in Romans 11:1-23 does it say only those who believe in God through Jesus will remain on the olive tree. Why might one think that is? Perhaps it’s a given that those who believe in God through the Old Testament are, in all intents and purposes believing in God through Jesus whether they realize it or not. In the Bible’s own words, Jesus in Matthew 5:17 says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Furthermore, Jesus says in the following Verse, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Get it? Jesus’ teachings revolve around the same Law that the Jews abide by! Ergo, is there any justification to cutting off those branches of the olive tree, if the Jews of those branches steadfastly believe in God?

In terms of the Law, there is no difference between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Law that is available for the Jews to abide by. I tell you that the Jews who do abide by it are part of the olive tree. Why, then, is there a New Testament of teachings? I tell you it’s because those teachings put the idea of there being one God who loves us and wants us to love Him and eachother, into a format that the Gentiles, who do not have a heritage of thousands of years starting with the Ten Commandments and producing a Torah and a Talmud to interpret those Ten Commandments, that have been communicated from generation to generation among the Jews. In this regard, in terms of the teachings, the New Testament summarizes the Old Testament in a manner that Gentiles can understand, given their lack of such literature the Jews have had through the ages.

The Gentiles who believe in God need not stand around waiting for branches to be cut off in the context of Romans 11 before being grafted on.