“For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” -Romans 11:15–16
The logic of this passage has been lost on some who believe Paul is referring to the Jews when he suggests that their acceptance means life from the dead, or resurrection. But the logic and the illustrations that follow indicate it is the Gentile world who will be resurrected from the dead. Simply stated, Paul is arguing that God’s rejection of the Jews provoked reconciliation of the world, that is the inclusion of Gentiles into the people of God as a kind of firstfruits. In turn, this inclusion is meant to provoke the Jews to repentance. And when the Jews do repent, their inclusion will then mean an even greater reconciliation Cf. Romans 11:12:
“Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!”
To illustrate his point, Paul draws on a couple of examples that would be quite obvious to Paul’s audience. The first is the illustration of firstfruits and the second is of a tree and its roots.
In the first example, the firstfruits were a portion of the whole that was to be offered to the priests before the whole of the bread was to be eaten. The first fruits sanctified the whole (Cf. Leviticus 23:9–14).
In the second example, the health of the roots of a tree determine the health of the rest of the tree. If the roots are healthy the rest of the tree will be healthy (Cf. Job 18:16, Isaiah 11:1, Mark 4:6, Luke 13:6-9)
Calvin summarizes Paul’s argument this way: “Since then God has wonderfully drawn forth life from death and light from darkness, how much more ought we to hope, he reasons, that the resurrection of a people (the Jews), as it were, wholly dead, will bring life to the Gentiles.”
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