Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 4 Study # 4
February 17, 2019
Humble, Texas
(112)
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..." (Literally, "Stop boasting against...").
- 2. Are further exposed by the declaration, "...but if you do boast..." (Literally, "But/Now if you are boasting...").
- a. The "if", in light of the assumption of the prohibition that they are to "stop doing what they are doing", means that Paul is exposing the roots of their attitude. The grammatical construction is what is called by Dana and Mantey "a simple condition" (ei plus the indicative mood) and "presents" the condition as a reality (even if it is not, it is presented so in order to make a point). Thus, Paul's words could be translated (and probably should be) "Now since you are boasting...".
- b. What Paul is doing is exposing the roots of "boasting over another" on the basis of some self-deluded sense of moral superiority.
- c. Since any/every sense of "moral superiority" is a delusion, anyone who expresses such a lie is actually contradicting the claim that he/she "believes" the Gospel. According to Paul, the Gospel of the Grace of God totally excludes such "boasting" as a fundamental reality (Romans 3:27) at the "faith" level. Thus, anyone who embraces the lie and expresses the notion of their superiority as the reason God made them a "branch" in the fruitful tree is in grave danger. The "danger" is that they "believe" they have a part in God's goodness by reason of their own moral superiority and that sets them up to be "broken off" from the tree which is a tree of "faith": what is believed to the degree of the divine response of "justifying the ungodly"; not what is professed as an article of "faith".
- 1) When a person "professes" to "believe" something, he/she very likely does "believe" in the sense of "accepting what is understood". But, even when something is "believed", the former "faith", in something that is now rejected in favor of a new "faith", is not washed from the mind and memory of the "believer" in the "new" "truth". And the continuing presence of that "faith in a lie" in the heart/mind makes it possible for that former "faith" to come roaring back when the "new truth" appears in a bad light.
- 2) And, if the "what is now understood to be truth" is extremely shallow, the "faith" is not yet at the point of "sustained belief in the face of difficulty". The Scriptures do not teach that God grants "justification" to anyone whose "faith" is so undeveloped as to be subverted as soon as some contradiction comes along (as in the Galatian epistle). There are many warnings in the New Testament against the movement into "apostasy"; a movement that brings eternal condemnation from God. The recognition of this is evident in the Arminian distortion that allows the "justified" to be condemned if sufficient cause is found, as well as in the Calvinistic distortion that argues for "the inevitable perseverance of the saints". Both branches of "Gospel understanding" come together on the recognition that "apostasy" sends people into eternal condemnation.
- B. Paul's first attempt to head this potential "failure of faith" off is in his words, "...you are not supporting the root, but the root (is supporting) you." The "you", the "not", and the "but" are in linguistic forms that emphasize.
- 1. This attempt is an attempt to forestall a "failure of faith".
- a. In Luke's record of Jesus' confrontation of Simon (Peter) in 22:32, He stated that Peter was going to be "sifted as wheat" by Satan, but that He had prayed for him so that his "faith fail not".
- 1) On the face of it, Jesus' prayer insists that "faith can fail" when "sifted". There is no need for the Savior's "prayer" with an "in order that" phrase attached if faith cannot fail.
- 2) Jesus' word, translated "fail", is only used three times in the New Testament and clearly means "to cease to exist as constituted" (Luke 16:9; 22:32; and Hebrews 1:12).
- b. That a "faith" can "fail" must be understood in its biblical sense [See A.2.c.2), above].
- 1) First, "faith" cannot "fail" if it is sustained by God.
- 2) Second, "faith" will be sustained by God if Jesus prays for Him to sustain it.
- 3) Third, Jesus told the Father in His prayer to Him in John 17:9 that He was not praying for "the world" but was only praying for "them which Thou hast given Me". This is a crucial reality in light of Hebrews 7:25 where it is Jesus' "intercession" for those who "come to God by Him" that produces "salvation to the uttermost". Jesus does not "pray" for the non-elect and God does not "sustain" the "faith" of any who are not "elect".
- c. Paul is addressing the reality of "faith cannot fail if it is sustained by God" in his "you are not supporting the Root, but the Root is supporting you" declaration.
- 1) At this point, Paul is emphatic about the truth that "branches" are "sustained" by God and that "branches" do not "sustain" either God or His plans.
- 2) When "boasting against" exists in the heart/mind of a person, any "faith" that exists is in "failure" mode because "boasting" and "faith" are seriously antithetical (Romans 3:27).
- 3) Because both "boasting" and "faith" are attitudes with relative degrees of dominion over those who possess them, both can exist in a person at the same time, but only for a time.
- a) Either "faith" will grow in dominion over its possessor so that "boasting" will eventually "fail", or "boasting" will grow in dominion so that "faith" will eventually "fail".
- b) During this "time of growth", the person is in jeopardy, and if it is the "boasting" that gains dominion, it will be the "faith" that ceases to exist. And the opposite is also true; if it is the "faith" that gains the dominion, it will be the "boasting" that ceases to exist.
- c) These truths are illustrated by Simon's towering boastfulness (even after Jesus tells him he is to be sifted), and his downfall to the very brink of a "faith" "failure", but Jesus' prayer keeps the "failure" from actually happening.
- d) The Root sustains the "boasting" branch unless that branch is not one of the remnant according to grace and its "faith" is too shallow to develop (Luke 8:13 in context).