Romans 11:16 – Set-apart by Him
For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Truth to Learn
Like the believing Jews, we are set-apart by God for His use.
Behind the Words
The word “firstfruit” is from the Greek word aparchē, which is made up of apo, meaning “from” and a form of archomai, meaning “to begin.” This word refers to that part of something that is taken from the beginning or the first part.
The word translated “lump” is the Greek word phurama, which is the noun form of the verb phuraō, meaning “to break,” or “to dissolve,” or “to knead.” In this case it refers to a mass of dough that has been kneaded in preparation for baking.
“Holy” is from the word hagios, which means “to be set apart.”
Meaning Explained
Paul has just been telling us that it was because of His rejection of the unbelieving Jews that God turned to the Gentiles. He is now going to show us that although the Jews as a nation were rejected, it was a few believing Jews who were the beginning of the church.
In the Old Testament, the “firstfruit” was the part of the crop that ripened first and was to be offered to God before partaking of the remainder of the crop. It was a way for the Jews to signify that the entire crop came from God. Even though man planted it, God alone caused the seed to germinate, God alone provided the rain and caused the plant to grow, and God alone caused the fruit to form and ripen. This current verse seems to be a reference to Numbers 15:20, 21 which says:
You shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meal as a heave offering; as a heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall you offer it up. Of the first of your ground meal you shall give to the LORD a heave offering throughout your generations.
I believe that Paul’s reference in the current verse is to the fact that it was a few Jews who were the first to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. And it was first to the Jews that the glorious message of His resurrection was announced. These Jewish believers were holy. That is, they were “set apart,” set apart from the world of unbelievers and set-apart to God for His use and for His glorification.
If these first few Jews were set-apart by God, so also will the remainder of the church be set-apart. Likewise, Paul refers to the root of an olive tree as being holy which causes the remainder of the tree, the branches, to be holy (set-apart). Paul will now use this metaphor of the olive tree to show us why we are totally dependent on God for His blessing and favor.
Application
Remember what Paul has been teaching us, that we are not the ones responsible for our salvation and the blessings that come from it. God, as we are told in Hebrews 12:2, “is the author and finisher of our faith.” He is the one who caused us to believe; hence, we are not the authors of our faith, He is. We do not cause the plants to grow and produce seed, God does. We are totally dependent on God for all of life and especially for spiritual (eternal) life. This should not make us proud; instead, it should humble us in the presence of Almighty God who chose us.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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