Romans 11:21 – The Almighty Gardner
For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
Truth to Learn
God rejected the Jewish people because they refused to believe that Jesus was their Messiah. Since He was willing to do this, He is just as willing to reject Gentiles in the future and deal exclusively with the Jews once again.
Behind the Words
“If” is translated from the conditional particle ei. When used as it is in this verse, it indicates a conditional statement of the first class. In the New Testament there are three classes of conditional statements. The first class condition assumes that the if clause is true, the second class condition assumes that the if clause is false, and the third class condition makes no assumption about the if clause. Therefore, in a first class conditional statement some translators use the word “since,” although it is not required.
The word translated “spare” is pheidomai, which means “to abstain or to treat leniently.”
The second half of this verse starts off with mēpōs in the Greek text. This word is made up of mē, a conditional negative particle and pōs, meaning “somehow, anyhow, in any way, or in some way or other.” Mēpōs is often translated as “lest by any means” or “lest perhaps.” Here it is immediately followed by the Greek word oude, meaning “also not” or “neither.”
The second occurrence of “spare” is again the word pheidomai. It is expressed in the subjunctive mood, indicating what might possibly or will probably happen.
Meaning Explained
The point that Paul is making is that if God did not spare the natural branches, the Jews, but rejected them as a people, thus turning to the Gentiles and grafting them in, then we should not be arrogant about this. Instead, we should consider our position as God’s chosen ones with reverential fear knowing that God is just as able to reject the Gentiles and turn back to the Jews.
In fact, I believe that this is exactly what God is going to do. If you study Daniel 9:25-29 you will learn about the 70 weeks of years that God has decreed for the Jews. The first 69 weeks cover the time from the decree to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem up to the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. Between the 69th and 70th weeks, however, there is a pause, which is where God turns to the Gentiles. This is the church age that we are living in right now. Just before the 70th week begins, God will rapture the church, removing them from the earth, and will once again deal with the Jews. This ushers in Daniel’s 70th week, the seven year period called The Tribulation.
During this seven year period, God’s focus will once again be on the Jews, not the Gentiles. In other words, during the tribulation God will reject the Gentile world. That is, He will break them off as branches. At the same time, he will deal directly with the Jewish nation once more, a remnant of them will believe, and He will graft them back into the holy root stock.
Application
God does as He pleases, not as we want Him to do. We need to be humble and in awe of Him. He is Almighty God and we are but His chosen children. Give Him thanks and praise!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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