Discovery BoxRomans 11:16-25 
Context11:16 If the first portion 1 of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. 2
11:17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in 3 the richness of the olive root, 11:18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 11:19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 11:20 Granted! 4 They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 11:22 Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but 5 God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; 6 otherwise you also will be cut off. 11:23 And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?
11:25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, 7 so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel 8 until the full number 9 of the Gentiles has come in.
1 tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.
2 sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.
3 tn Grk “became a participant of.”
4 tn Grk “well!”, an adverb used to affirm a statement. It means “very well,” “you are correct.”
5 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
6 tn Grk “if you continue in (the) kindness.”
7 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
8 tn Or “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”
9 tn Grk “fullness.”
