Romans 11.16a-Paul Uses First Portion-Lump Metaphor To Illustrate That God Has Not Rejected Israel And That Israel Will Be Regenerated In The Future
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 14, 2009
Romans: Romans 11:16a-Paul Uses First Portion/Lump Metaphor To Illustrate That God Has Not Rejected Israel And That Israel Will Regenerated In The Future
Lesson # 367
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 11:16.
This evening we will begin a study of the fourth paragraph that appears in Romans chapter eleven by noting verse 16 and in this passage Paul employs two metaphors to further illustrate his assertion in Romans 11:2-6 that God has by no means rejected Israel forever.
He also uses these metaphors to further illustrate his assertion in Romans 11:11-15 that there will be a future national regeneration of Israel.
This evening we will note the first metaphor and tomorrow the second.
Romans 11:16, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.”
The first metaphor is taken from Numbers 15:17-21.
Numbers 15:17-21, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where I bring you, then it shall be, that when you eat of the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the LORD. Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as an offering; as the offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up. From the first of your dough you shall give to the LORD an offering throughout your generations.’”
In this passage, the Lord instructs Moses to instruct Israel to take a cake from the first of their ground meal and present it as an offering to Him after they entered Canaan and reaped their first wheat harvest and this was to be repeated every year.
The cake made from the first ground meal of the wheat harvest was sanctified or set apart for God by being offered to God.
So the first part of the dough was to be offered up to God as a symbol that the entire lump belonged to Him.
Numbers 15:17-21 does not explicitly state that the first piece of dough offered to the Lord sanctified the rest of the lump.
However, it does imply this since the Lord explicitly tells Israel when they eat of the food of the land that they shall present the offering of the first of their dough to the Lord, which implies that the food of the land they eat is sanctified by that first piece of dough they offered to the Lord.
In Romans 11:16, Paul takes the principle taught in Numbers 15:17-25 to teach that if Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are holy, then their descendants who compose the nation of Israel and had faith in the Lord like Abraham are sanctified as well.
Romans 11:16, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.”
“If” is the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that the first piece of dough (analogous to Abraham) is holy.”
The responsive condition would say: “Of course we agree that this is true because it is taught in the Old Testament Scriptures.”
Paul’s readers would agree that that the first piece of dough is holy because this principle is implicitly taught in Numbers 15:17-21.
They would also agree that Abraham, who is analogous to the first piece of dough, is holy since this too is taught in the Scriptures.
The apodasis is “(then) the lump (analogous to biological descendants of Abraham through Sarah who like Abraham had faith in the Lord) is also.”
Paul is not attempting to prove that his protasis is true rather he is saying with the first class condition that we agree that it is taught in the Old Testament Scriptures that the first piece of dough is holy, which is analogous to Abraham.
The first class condition would then persuade them to respond to the conclusion that the whole lump of dough is as well, which is analogous to the Abraham’s biological descendants through Sarah who like Abraham were believers.
Therefore, Paul’s audience would have to come to his conclusion if they submit to this line of argumentation.
He wants them to come to his line of argumentation because he does not want them to be prejudiced against the Jews because of their rejection of Christ and to think that they are superior to the Jews.
Therefore, it is essential that they agree with him on this point since it will help them to understand that the nation of Israel has a future in the plan of God and has not rejected her as a national entity.
He is also attempting to build unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians.
Romans 11:16, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.”
“The first piece” is the noun aparche (a)parxhv) (ap-ar-khay), which alludes to the first piece of dough offered to the Lord in Numbers 15:20-21.
There are at least three different interpretations of the noun aparche in Romans 11:16: (1) The patriarchs, especially Abraham (2) Jewish Christians (3) Jesus Christ.
The first view is the correct one since the word is paralleled by the term rhiza, “root,” which is a reference to Abraham from which “the branches” (born-again Israel) originated from as indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 11:17-24.
Romans 11:17-24, “But 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 rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?”
In this passage, “the branches” (klados) refer to the biological descendants of Abraham who like Abraham had faith in the Lord.
This is indicated in that they are on the olive tree in contrast to the “branches broken off” in Romans 11:17, which refers to the unsaved biological descendants of Abraham.
This is indicated by the statement in Romans 11:20 “they were broken off for their unbelief.”
In Romans 11:17-24, “the branches” are connected to an “olive tree,” which in the Old Testament was a figure for the nation of Israel (See Jeremiah 11:16-17; Hosea 14:4-6).
Thus, “the branches” of the “olive tree” is a reference to born-again Jews since the latter is used in Jeremiah 11:16-17 and Hosea 14:4-6 as a figure for Israel and unbelieving Jews are broken off.
Now we know that the Jews originated from Abraham and that branches originate from the root of a tree.
Therefore, “the branches” are analogous to born-again Jews and since they come from “the root,” then aparche, “the first portion,” which parallels rhiza, “root” must refer to Abraham as well.
Furthermore, in Romans 11:16, Paul is arguing that the beginning of the nation of Israel guarantees that Israel has a future.
Paul is taking from the principle implicitly taught in Numbers 15:17-21 that when God accepts the first part, He sanctifies the whole.
The noun aparche refers to the first portion of something.
Now, the remnant of Christians in Israel does not constitute the first part or the beginning of the nation of Israel and neither does Christ Himself but rather Abraham is the progenitor of Israel.
Therefore, in Romans 11:16, Paul uses this first portion/lump metaphor to teach that if God had accepted the progenitors of the nation of Israel, especially, Abraham, He has then sanctified those of his descendants who had faith like him.
“Holy” is the adjective hagios (a^gio$), which describes the first portion that is analogous to Abraham, as having been “set apart as sacred or consecrated to God or by God for His use exclusively.”
Romans 11:16, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.”
“The lump” is analogous to the biological descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and who like Abraham had faith in the Lord since it parallels “the branches,” which as we already noted refers to believing Jews.
In the first metaphor that appears in Romans 11:16, the first piece of dough is analogous to the patriarchs and in particular Abraham and the lump is analogous to the biological descendants of Abraham through Sarah who were believers.
The first metaphor illustrates Paul’s assertion in Romans 11:2-6 that God has by no means rejected Israel forever and his assertion in Romans 11:11-15 that there will be a future national regeneration of Israel.