Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 4 Study # 3
February 10, 2019
Humble, Texas
(110)
1769 Translation:
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, [
take heed] lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in [
his] goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural [
branches], be graffed into their own olive tree?
1901 ASV Translation:
18 glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee.
22 Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural [
branches], be grafted into their own olive tree?
- I. The Real and Terrible Danger.
- A. The roots of the danger.
- 1. Are exposed by the command, "Do not be boasting against...".
- a. The word translated "boast" is used only in three texts in the New Testament (in this text by Paul) and in James 2:13 and 3:14. It is an intensified form of a verb that Paul used in five Romans texts (2:17, 23; 5:2,3, and 11). The basic meaning is to express the inner feelings of strong confidence that "things are going my way". But Paul is going deeper into the reality of this strong inner confidence to expose the basis for the confidence. In positive settings, that confidence is in God; in negative ones it is confidence in one's own superiority of nature and/or character.
- b. Kittel says that the element of confidence is paramount. The idea is that there is a root of "confidence" that shows in the "boasting".
- c. Paul's demand is that the gentiles not think that they have some "natural" element of superiority over the Jewish branches that were broken off.
- 1) The command is a "present imperative" which Robertson says generally means that one is being prohibited from continuing to do what he/she is already doing (A Grammar of the Greek New Testament, p. 890.) In this case, it would be translated, "Stop boasting against the branches...".
- 2) The potent implication is that it is "natural" in the early stages of "faith" in "grace" to be rather oblivious to the reality of "grace" even to the extent that it is barely embraced -- something extremely dangerous given the radical shift which the Gospel presents in the face of the Jewish perversion and perception of the Law.
- a) "Faith" in "Grace" is extremely often perceived as "believing that one does not deserve what the Grace offers", but this is a dangerous truncation of Grace in that it does not go far enough in either of two necessary directions: it does not drill down far enough into the reality of the profound lack of merit; nor does it fill up the understanding of the reality of Grace as a divine provision-methodology.
- b) If, in fact, I do not grasp the depth of my own depravity, I will yet "boast" over those "more depraved than I" and if, in fact, I do not see Grace as God's continuous willingness to provide what I need to live in a righteous manner, I will yet "fall back upon my own resources" when the difficult times arrive.
- c) Both "problems" are issues of "unbelief" created by an insufficient grasp of the truth of "Grace".
- d. This demand by Paul is an echo of Moses' declaration to "the nation of the branches" that God did not choose them to possess the good land because of their "natural righteousness", because they were inherently stiffnecked (Deuteronomy 9:6). The Jews ignored the Mosaic caution as Romans 2:17 and 23 clearly indicate. And what happened to them for ignoring the caution? They got "broken off of the good olive tree".
- 2. Are further exposed by the declaration, "...but if you do boast...".